John Calvin’s teachings in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book II, ch. 2, sec. 26) highlight the distorted state of human knowledge due to sin’s noetic effects (Romans 1:21): our understanding of truth is mediated through divine revelation, where God's glory (kabod) illuminates the finite mind. Calvin warns against the arrogance of human pride—"Man's mind, full as it is of pride and temerity, dares to imagine a god suited to its own capacity"—which echoes the critique of irrational streams leading to false images. The "united understanding" —connecting causes, means, and ends in a divine pattern—reflects Calvin’s view of providence: everything unfolds under God's decree, ultimately leading to the glorification of the elect (Romans 8:30: “whom he justified he also glorified”). Still, mystery remains; as Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” symbolizing the limited and enigmatic nature of human understanding until the eschaton. Biblical references further support this framework. James 1:8 warns of the instability of a "double-minded man," whose vacillation between truth and shadows exemplifies the internal division. Psalm 86:11 pleads: “Unite my heart to fear your name,” emphasizing the need for inner integration against fragmentation. The "divided soul" you mention aligns with Augustine’s depiction of the internal schism in De Civitate Dei (Book XIV, 9), where after the fall, humans are split between worldly desires and spiritual aspirations, making self-understanding a continual tug-of-war—an ongoing dialectic of attraction to worldly pleasures and the desire for divine truth. This metaphysical analogy—where truth and its shadows or modal distortions are contrasted—mirrors Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of truth as the adequatio intellectus et rei (the correspondence or fittingness between the mind and reality), as discussed in Summa Theologica (I, q. 16, a. 1). Aquinas emphasizes that truth is not merely propositional but participatory, sharing in the divine essence. He explains that divine simplicity (simplicitas divina) means that all created truths are analogical reflections of God's infinite truth, which is the ultimate reality. The notion of truth following a pattern from causes through means to ends echoes Aquinas’s teleological view: everything naturally tends toward its final cause (causa finalis), which is ultimately God—the highest good (Summa Theologica I-II, q. 1, a. 7). However, in human experience, this rational procession is often disrupted by irrational currents—your "stream of irrationality"—which leads into the "dark abyss" of misconstructed ideas. This aligns with Aquinas’s concept of error as privatio boni (privation of good), where falsehood is not an independent entity but a deficiency—a departure from divine truth. The "rebuilt inner child" signifies a redemptive transformation—an effort to reorder the finite, mysterious self-image toward its divine archetype, Christ the Logos (John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”). This reordering aims at healing the division and restoring unity through divine grace. Søren Kierkegaard deepens this understanding by exploring despair as a misrelation of the self to itself, describing the "divided soul" as a state where the finite self clings to its shadows, avoiding the infinite unity that truth demands. In The Sickness Unto Death (Part I, A), Kierkegaard states: “The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self... Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity” (p. 13, Hong trans). The concept of "anti-truth" as a modal semblance—appearing similar yet fundamentally opposed—parallels Kierkegaard’s notion of "defiant despair," where the self fabricates illusions of independence and security, seeking refuge in superficial ideas of wholeness but ultimately resulting in a profound disconnection. This "reflection of the inner child" also echoes the aesthetic stage described in Either/Or (Vol. I), where truth is aestheticized rather than ethicized—mystery becomes an aesthetic spectacle rather than a call to divine commitment. The pursuit of truth here is momentary and superficial, delaying the leap into religious faith, which demands the suspension of rational ethical understanding for the absurdity of divine trust (Fear and Trembling, p. 54). In conclusion, the singularity of truth—its rational precision intertwined with metaphysical beauty—requires that the "inner child" and its shadow be subsumed into divine purpose. This process involves transforming our fragmented self-understanding into a unified whole, achieved only through divine grace and divine revelation. Mystery is not an obstacle but an invitation—an opening into infinite incorporation within the divine life. Philosophers and theologians from Augustine to Kierkegaard affirm that this reconciliation, despite its inherent divisions, finds its ultimate resolution in the Triune God, whose glory redeems the finite from the abyss of anti-truth. As John 14:6 proclaims, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”—Christ embodies this perfect unity, rendering all shadows and distortions obsolete in His radiant fullness. The discussion of the unique nature of truth—the idea that it is an unavoidable metaphysical reality that guides us along a single, necessary path—brings to mind a deep Augustinian view of human nature.  Describe how our rational journey from causes to means and finally to ultimate ends reflects this pursuit of truth, culminating in a unified recognition of worldly glory. This resonates with Augustine’s anthropology, which sees the human soul as inherently restless due to its fallen state, caught in a struggle with its original divine image, the imago Dei, which has been distorted into a shadowy semblance. In his Confessiones (Book X, 8.14), Augustine famously laments this disquiet: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te). This statement captures the concept of the "inner child" as the pure, original self-image—innocent but limited, longing for completeness—and its "reflection" as the mediated, rational effort to grapple with anti-truth, where mystery veils the process of self-integration.enjoyment demands the teleological suspension of the ethical, subordinating rational process to faith's absurdum (Fear and Trembling, p. 54). Biblical precedent abounds; the "divided soul" evokes James 1:8 ("A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" dipsychos anēr akatastatos en pasais tais hodois autou), where instability arises from vacillation between truth and its shadows, or Psalm 86:11 ("Unite my heart to fear your name" yached levavi l'yir'ah shemekha), beseeching integration against fragmentation.John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book II, ch. 2, sec. 26), underscores the metaphysical disproportion: human knowledge, corrupted by the noetic effects of sin (Romans 1:21, "Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened"), perceives truth only through the accommodatio of divine revelation, wherein God's glory (kabod) irradiates the finite image. Calvin warns against the "dark abyss" of self-deception: "Man's mind, full as it is of pride and temerity, dares to imagine a god suited to its own capacity" (Book I, ch. 4, sec. 1), echoing your critique of disproportionate images as irrational streams leading to false incorporation. The "united understanding"  posits—of causes, means, ends yielding glory—mirrors Calvin's providential schema: all transpires sub specie aeternitatis under God's decretum, rewarding the elect with participatory glory (Romans 8:30, "Those whom he justified he also glorified" hous de edikaiōsen toutous kai edoxasen). Yet mystery persists; as Paul confesses in 1 Corinthians 13:12 ("For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" blepomen gar arti di' esoptrou en ainigmati), the finite self-image remains enigmatic until eschatological consummation.In summation, truth's singularity—its rational exactness conjoined with metaphysical attractiveness—demands the subsumption of the "inner child" and its reflective shadow into the divine telos, where mystery is not obfuscation but invitation to infinite incorporation. Theologians from Augustine to Kierkegaard affirm that this process, fraught with division, finds resolution only in the Triune God, whose glory redeems the finite from anti-truth's abyss. As John 14:6 declares, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (egō eimi hē hodos kai hē alētheia kai hē zōē), Christ embodies the unified pattern, rendering all comparative shadows obsolete in His radiant plenitude.