“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
The second trick the Devil played was to convince the world that there are no more tricks.
The last trick the Devil played was to convince the few that had reached this point to give up without even trying.”
Attributed to Baudelaire, adapted.
The intro above is not decoration, go have a read! This is the main metaphor for self-improvement expressed in three verses. This is exactly what happens when men discover the Red Pill.
Part 1: Discovery
The first verse speaks of an invisible evil. An evil we know exists in theory, it is all around us, but we can not verbalize or point it out. We can see its effects: modern dating is hard, divorces are through the roof, affirmative action, etc. But to make the invisible turn visible, we need to synthesize.
What Red Pill does is exactly this. It takes our collective empirical evidence and combines it into a narrative. This narrative has laws, drivers, and predicts outcomes. It is a full roadmap from evolution to society. Incentive structures come from the first, institutions and conventions come from the second. The full picture emerges.This is the Devil; we found him, we can point to him.
Part 2: Emptiness
The second verse discusses the emptiness that follows a world-breaking synthesis. We have peeked behind the curtain, and we have seen the ugly picture. The natural feelings at this stage are anxiety, uncertainty, stress, and fear. It is the equivalent of discovering the atomic bomb in sexual dynamics. The implications are immense and scary.
Many men choose to stay here; they stop questioning. They take the Black Pill, they become depressed, they give up.
Part 3: Catharsis
The last verse describes the truly brave. It is for the rare few who decided to keep walking in the mud. The old narrative has been dispelled, but they are tasked with rebuilding from the ashes.
This is where the spirit of personal rebellion hits the strongest. By stepping outside the matrix, we become the rebel, the outlaw, the bandit. We are carving a new path, outside society’s norms. Entry into this club is entirely voluntary. Any person can choose to keep going. Taking to heart the lessons already learned and facing reality with imperfect courage.
Eventually, these men will dispel the entire myth. They will face the Devil head-on. And they will come back with a new truth.
Journey demystified
On your journey through seduction and manosphere, this cycle will take place again and again. Simplified, it goes like this:
Discovery → Persistence → Breakthrough
This will happen both at the micro level, for example, a new infield concept, and at the macro level, for example, a new meta-level concept about the world.
From a bird’s-eye view, the process is very simple. The Devil’s tricks are neither sophisticated nor complex. However, here is where we need not confuse simple with easy. The initiated man has to rediscover the world. Rediscover the world through objective, or dare I say scientific, lenses. For this task, he will have to face two of the most elusive of all enemies. Encountering Truth and his own Ego.
On one side, Truth is scarce and rare to find. On the other hand, the Ego will try to divert him at every step of the way, distorting the Truth itself. This is the challenge that lies ahead. This is what makes self-improvement so hard.
