Steer the Sun

These words were not written from theory or comfort. They were shaped through lived experience, prolonged observation, and exposure to both personal suffering and documented human brutality. The framework that follows reflects a deliberate attempt to understand how destructive patterns form, persist, and can be interrupted, first within the individual, then within larger systems.

What you are about to read is a practical method, built from real cost and real blood. It is intended to reduce unnecessary suffering through disciplined awareness and conscious participation.

The passage that follows presents a structured, first-person “field manual” describing a daily practice of disciplined awareness, where the narrator establishes an internal baseline before any engagement with the external world, observes thoughts without attachment, and sets a clear intention to recognize any persona trauma patterns they participate in. The unspoken far intention is to end human suffering through a shift in perspective.

As the narrative unfolds, it turns into a daily affirmation guide describing how an individual moves through the day by slowing down at moments of emotional activation or repetition, examining sequences of cause, action, and consequence without fragmentation, then questioning the origin of their reactions. Life becomes a mirror into the self. A moment of pause to digest new insight begets the next living journey of self-discovery.

The pause emphasizes there is no neutral position within any system, only conscious or unconscious participation in one. This frames each decision as either reinforcement or interruption of a larger system.

The account continues with repeated returns to baseline awareness: deliberate resistance to placing people into “other” roles, and a neutral end-of-day review focused on pattern recognition versus judgment. Every judgment in others will reveal hypocrisy in the self. Every day ends with a new awareness of the systems that persist through unexamined behavior. When applied to the self as a recursive mirror, a shift in every moment is applied to increase our collective awareness.

Author’s note: The guidelines, patterns, and practices are derived from the author’s nine-year writing project. His “Living Water Writing Project” is one complete cycle of patterns. Recounted as poetry in prose, it is a transparent life story that uncovered patterns of compression and digestion common to all humans. The 33 published essays represent a collapsed 3D spiral into a 2D story to study.

On March 18, 2026, once awareness of the single nine-year node is observed, the author compared the patterns within his nine-year self-study against a real-world 19-day account of graphic torture tactics by the Taliban to reverse-engineer a guide to deprogram destruction from our human consciousness.

Spoken Affirmation of a Free Human

I wake before I reach for anything external.
No screen. No noise. No sensory input besides rebirth.

I establish baseline awareness first as my action. Breath, body, environment. This lets me identify what’s mine before the world begins to layer over it as personas to wear.

I observe my first thoughts as the seed to the next story.
I observe my thoughts without attachment to them.
They are indicators of change, not commands.

I assign deliberate, layered intentions for the day.
Near and far. Not vague. Not emotional. Clear, simple direction:
“Today, I will remain aware of the patterns I participate in.”
This becomes an anchor.

As I move through the day, I watch for “compression points,” identified as nodes of probable positive change.
• Moments where people become labels instead of humans
• Complex situations reduced into oversimplified collective narratives
• Repetition that removes the need to think

When I notice these, I slow down.
Not outwardly. Internally.
I pause long enough to see the full pattern sequence:
Cause → Action → Consequence

I seek to understand unspoken intentions and actions by asking precise questions.
I do not allow my mind to fragment it into anything other than a simple script.

If I feel emotional activation (anger, urgency, fear), I treat it as a signal, not truth.
I ask: “Is this emotion mine, or was it introduced by others?”
This separates reaction from awareness.
If the emotion is “introduced,” I wonder why and by whom.

I accept responsibility for my participation.
There is no neutral position.
Every action I take either reinforces the pattern or interrupts it.
I choose direction: woven patterns of words with depth and intention:
• Speak or remain silent with awareness
• Act or pause with awareness
• Continue or break the sequence of pattern with new spoken words

I do not attempt to control the system.
I control my contribution to it.

Throughout the day, I return to baseline for a nervous system recalibration.
Short resets:
• Breath check
• Body check
• Thought check
• Ground to find balance
This prevents drift into autopilot.

When I encounter others, I resist reducing them.
No labels. No shortcuts. Only humans who know not their power.
I see the individual human being and not the trauma-cycle pattern persona.
This alone disrupts the system more than force because I hold the position where,
“Everything is God; but me.”
Every action and decision is guided by the wisdom learned through my lived attention.

At the end of the day, I review.
Not judgment.
Pattern recognition.
• Where did I act unconsciously?
• Where did I interrupt the pattern?
• Where did I avoid seeing?
I note it without emotion.
Data, not identity.

Before rest, I release the day.
I do not carry unresolved loops into sleep.
Awareness resets overnight.

I repeat this process daily.
Not to change the world directly, but to remove unconscious participation from it.

Because the living algorithm system is not sustained by force.
It is sustained by people who move without awareness.

And when I step out of the web of daily patterns,
however brief, the pattern shifts.
This is how I steer the Sun.
A summation of my “Living Water Writing Project.”

FIELD GUIDE: Ranger Handbook

SECTION I: PURPOSE

This manual provides a repeatable daily protocol for maintaining conscious awareness within dynamic human systems. The objective is to reduce unconscious participation and increase intentional action with exponential results across all systems.

SECTION II: MISSION

The individual will:
• Establish baseline awareness
• Identify systemic patterns in real time
• Maintain control over personal contribution
• Interrupt unconscious behavioral loops

End State:
The individual operates with awareness instead of habit.

SECTION III: EXECUTION

PHASE 1: WAKE (BASELINE ESTABLISHMENT)

Task: Establish internal control before external input.
• No immediate exposure to devices or external stimuli
• Conduct internal check:
• Breath
• Body state
• Thought presence

Standard:
The individual can distinguish internal state from external influence.

PHASE 2: INTENT ASSIGNMENT

Task: Define operational directive for the day.
• Set clear intention:
• “Maintain awareness of patterns I participate in.”

Standard:
Intent is simple, repeatable, and retained throughout the day.

PHASE 3: ACTIVE OPERATIONS (DAY MOVEMENT)

Task: Identify and assess pattern environments.

Monitor for:
• Identity reduction (person → label)
• Narrative simplification (complex → binary)
• Behavioral repetition (automatic response cycles)

Action:
• Slow internal processing
• Observe full sequence:
• Cause → Action → Consequence

Standard:
No fragmentation of observed events.

PHASE 4: EMOTIONAL CONTACT PROTOCOL

Task: Handle emotional activation.

When experiencing:
• Anger
• Fear
• Urgency

Execute:
• Pause
• Assess origin:
• “Is this internal or introduced?”

Standard:
Emotion is observed before it is acted upon.

PHASE 5: DECISION CONTROL

Task: Maintain ownership of actions.

Understand:
• No neutral position exists
• Every action:
• Reinforces pattern
• Interrupts pattern

Action:
• Choose response deliberately:
• Speak / remain silent
• Act / delay
• Continue / break sequence

Standard:
All actions are intentional.

PHASE 6: BASELINE RESET (RECURRING)

Task: Prevent drift into autopilot.

Conduct periodic checks:
• Breath
• Body
• Thought

Standard:
Awareness is re-established multiple times daily.

PHASE 7: HUMAN INTERACTION PROTOCOL

Task: Maintain individual recognition.
• Do not reduce others to roles or labels
• Observe individual behavior and presence

Standard:
Engagement occurs at the human level, not the categorical level.

PHASE 8: AFTER ACTION REVIEW (AAR)

Task: Conduct end-of-day assessment.

Evaluate:
• Points of unconscious action
• Points of pattern interruption
• Areas of avoidance

Method:
• No judgment
• Record as observation only

Standard:
Data is collected without emotional distortion.

PHASE 9: RESET (PRE-REST)

Task: Clear operational carryover.
• Release unresolved loops
• Do not carry active processing into rest cycle

Standard:
Mental state returns to neutral before sleep.

SECTION IV: PRINCIPLES

• Systems are sustained by repeated participation
• Awareness introduces friction
• Friction slows repetition
• Slowed repetition reveals choice

SECTION V: END STATE

The individual recognizes:
• The system is not external
• The system is carried through behavior

Final Understanding:
There is no external force maintaining the structure.
Only individuals continuing to feed it.

CLOSING DIRECTIVE

Maintain awareness.
Interrupt when necessary.
Repeat daily.

_____________________________

Scott Chapman is a former U.S. Army Ranger whose writing draws on military service and later security work. He served in the early years of the war on terror, including the invasion of Iraq, and completed five deployments. He later worked in executive protection before returning to Afghanistan with Blackwater and then supporting the U.S. intelligence community over 22 deployments in six years. For The Havok Journal, he often writes about Afghanistan and the aftermath of war, along with more reflective pieces on writing, mental health, and meaning. Learn more at www.ScottChapmanAuthor.com.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.