Distortion — a structural deviation in a cause-and-effect chain where interpretation replaces direct contact with present conditions.
Distortion is not error, pathology, or moral failure. It is a functional redirection of awareness that occurs when a chain is mediated by fear, conditioning, identity formation, or survival logic. Instead of tracking current input, awareness follows an inherited or protective pattern that once preserved stability or continuity.
A distorted chain remains operational. Cause and effect continue, but their outputs reflect prior conditions rather than present reality. Distortion originates as an adaptive response and persists as a repeating architecture when no longer required.
Within The Philosophy of Integration, distortion is not corrected or resolved. It is identified as a structural condition. Once visible, it loses causal authority and is replaced by a coherent sequence aligned with current conditions.
Distortion ends through replacement, not repair.