The Hidden Minds

The Framework

Approval

Identity / Approval

An identity that holds on its own, against a self that lives on the regard of others.

Every profile lands somewhere between identity and approval. Use this page to see which figures are pulled most strongly toward each pole, then follow the links down into the stories themselves.

Most toward Identity

  1. 01DanielUnshaken before kings and lions; undone only by what he was shown.
  2. 02DavidAnointed and adored, which is how a rooftop became his undoing.
  3. 03JobEverything stripped away, and still he would not lie about God to feel better.
  4. 04Mary MagdaleneSeven demons gone, and the first clear mind at the empty tomb.
  5. 05RuthA foreign widow who clung where everyone else, sensibly, let go.
  6. 06JonathanThe crown prince who handed his own succession to the man who would take it.

Most toward Approval

  1. 01SaulA king who could not bear that anyone might rule better.
  2. 02HamanRage at one man who would not bow, scaled up into a plan to erase a people.
  3. 03PilateHe washed his hands of the verdict he had the power to stop.
  4. 04PeterHe lunged, failed, wept, and that was not the end of him.
  5. 05NebuchadnezzarMade godlike by power, unmade into a beast, healed by looking up.
  6. 06AaronThe man who could not say no, and melted the gold when the crowd asked.

Keep reading the framework

Back to all nine axes
ShameRepair / ConcealmentEnvyGratitude / EnvyControlSurrender / Control