The Most Important Thing A Man Can Study

Sales, game, marketing, a good part of common sense, wisdom. All of these words are largely describing the same thing. The right understanding of this thing has made kings of men and made legends of commoners. It has allowed for take over of vast empires and was required for the empires to be built up in the first place. Without it you’d have a hard time consistently making sales or scoring dates, much less winning a war, cultural or otherwise. This thing has allowed evil to prosper when evil takes advantage of it. Likewise this thing has also allowed for good to grow in a fallen world.

Now I think I’ve teased enough and you’re probably wondering what on earth I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is the most valuable skill that a man can learn and that is to have an understanding of human nature. This goes by many names I always thought of it as wisdom but I’ve heard it called other things. And like I said sales, game, marketing, politics, and pretty much everything else on this earth revolved around it. If you fail to grasp it you’ll fail to attain success in life likewise grasp it and gain a deep understanding of it and the world will be putty in your hands for better or for worse.

The Irrational Ape

I do not mean to say that we are nothing but brute beasts completely enslaved to our lessen nature but rather to say that for the most of humanity the animal nature holds sway over the angel nature. As many wise men have pointed out man is a “cross” between an animal and something higher. In order for a man to attain success he must master both nature’s. He must bring the animal nature under his control and work towards the higher nature and cultivate it. But we are talking about a select group of any population.

The masses as a whole for better or for worse are completely controlled by their animal nature. The study and understanding of this animal nature therefore is essential for getting what you want from this world. Whether you simply want to get rich and go retire to a nice island and watch the world burn from a safe distance or whether you want to change the path that we’re on for the better, you’ll need a deep understanding of this.

As great as logic and morality are, and as essential as they are for all the best things in man, they in and of themselves are not good motivators and not enough to affect change. Hence those who appeal to the baser instincts often win out against those who try to raise everyone higher. I remember good copywriting was once described to me as essentially telling people which of the 7 deadly sin that the product or service would fufill but in flowery language. This may have been a bit of an exaggeration but there is truth to what was said.

Hacking The Human Animal

Those who are power in today’s day and age did not get there through sword (or gun) or through might. They got there through understanding the human animal. Identifying weak points or things that could be exploited and then doing so. They found that wisdom (meaning understanding of human nature) was more powerful than the sword, or the pen, or anything else for that matter.

Right now you have many conservatives reading “Rules For Radicals” after being soundly defeated since…well since their inception essentially (has the world gotten more or less conservative?) because they are starting to learn that without a understanding of human nature all the good intentions in the world are worthless. The same could be said of any political party, tribe, business, or anything else.

Those who understand human nature lead men for better or for worse. The two most valuable attributes you can develop are strength and wisdom. And in today’s day and age when a giant global power structure has legions of sheep dogs to call down on you should you display strength against them I’d say that wisdom is the more important one (but obviously both should be developed as much as possible). Things are more determined by the pen than by the sword today.

To Lead Mankind

Again whether you want to start a successful business, start a cult with lots of groupies, or lead mankind to the next golden age the development of wisdom meaning the understanding of human nature is critical. I’ve talked about many important skills on this site and how to develop them but broken down they basically fall into developing strength or wisdom. I’ll break this down further eventually but for now just understand the critical importance of grasping human nature.

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. You can follow me on Twitter here.

-Charles Sledge