There are many things that can inspire a man to greatness. Just as there are many things that can sap the greatness out of him (like comfort and numbing agents). However I want to talk about three common themes I see with men who forge themselves to the highest that they can be in all aspects of their life. Men that burn away all their weaknesses and become the strongest that the can be in every facet of their life, leaving no stone unturned and no angle weak. For most of these men who have achieved such great development the kind men respect and women desire and the gods look down upon with pride is usually a combination of these things I’m going to lay out.
Maybe they’re all not applicable to you but enough of them will be to use them to further your own ends and development. Consider these things the opposite of numbing agents, consider them invigorating agents that spur you on to more (though obviously their purpose stretches beyond just that). But that’s enough of an intro let’s get into the three greatest things that’ll lead you to greatness and how to make the most out of each of them.
Pride
By this I mean your pride in yourself. The standard that you hold yourself to and your own personal honor. A strong sense of pride in himself is one of the strongest thing that any man has, especially on his own (but even with others he should still develop it as much as possible). The slave moralists will tell you that pride is a bad thing (they’ll also tell you that getting your ass kicked or worse is a good thing as well) but for those that are men there are few things greater than their pride in themselves.
A strong sense of pride is essential for not only being masculine but also to being the best man that you can be. Now pride is different than hubris, doesn’t mean be an idiot rather it means hold yourself to a high standard and have a sense of pride in yourself and who you are. To not allow insults to go unchallenged (while also being smart), to not allow yourself to grow weak, and to always look in the mirror and eviscerate your weaknesses. And so much more. There has never been a man who was great who was not also filled with pride (not arrogance or hubris). Cultivate your pride.
Honor
Pride is what I would call personal honor so therefore when I’m talking about honor here I’m talking about a group honor (or pride). Meaning a code of conduct or standard that a group holds you to that forces you to be and strive to be more to hold up the honor of the group and yourself. For example I have friends that if I ever got fat, weak, pussy whipped, disgusting to women, not able to fight, or a whole list of other things would give me tons of shit for it until I self-corrected and addressed those weaknesses.
Of course my pride would bide me to do the same, so as you can see these can work as a great combined force. Find an honor group of men who hold themselves to very high standards and expect the same out of you. A group that calls out bullshit and weakness instead of rationalizing it away. A group that’ll hold your ass to the hottest fire and you the same to them and where those who can’t hack it are expelled eventually. I know this is hard to find, which is why I started with pride. Because pride will develop you into the kind of man that’ll attract like minded men where a group like this can be formed. Find a tribe that is big on honor (intra-tribal honor not slave universal morality) and not showing weakness.
Love & Blood
Yes, love in it’s real sense not the white washed or limp wristed universal version but the true meaning of the word can inspire greatness. Love of brothers, blood, pride, tribe, and more has inspired many men. But the love of brothers and blood is what runs the deepest. Love should play an even greater role in a man’s life than hate (but both play a role) however it should only be intra-tribal love. Extra-tribal love is simply a way to enslave and eventually destroy you. The protection of your blood and brothers has driven men to great deeds.
Most acts of valor in warfare (at least modern warfare) have been inspired more by love for brothers than anything else. Same with great acts of valor outside of warfare, many have been done for the protection and love of blood. Never underestimate what you’ll do or become for those that you love and for their protection. Blood and love run deep and can inspire you to great deeds, feats, and to become the strongest that you can possibly be.
Combine Them All
Of course all of them working in your life (pride, honor, & love) is the best way forward. Each will cause the other to be greater leading you to strength and development that you may have never known you were possibly of achieving. If you are estranged from family and have no brothers (work on fixing both those issues) then start with your pride and go from there. Work on becoming stronger and better in every single last way possible (leave no stone unturned). Whatever you do just get moving and get cultivating.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
