This is a free chapter from my book The Outlaw’s Handbook: How To Be A Modern Outlaw & Gain Freedom In An Unfree World. Enjoy.
When it comes to talking about the outlaw it’s important to realize that he represents duality if not a paradox of sorts. Here’s what I mean by this. I want you to think of the outlaw, what comes to mind? Of course it’s going to be different for different people. Some people are going to think of a Hollywood movie potrayel, while another is going to think of a local gang or perhaps their own, while another is going to think about a loner that brings to mind “outlaw” when they think of them. My point is while we may often think of an outlaw as a loner and a fierce individualist the truth of the matter is that outlaws generally reside in gangs. Even a powerful man is not going to last long on his own, when compared to how long he’d last with others around him.
Yet we cannot help but notice an outlaw’s love of individuality (by standing out from the masses) as well as a love freedom. An outlaw swears to oath to a loyal and trusted few to declare himself separate from the nothingness that makes up the masses and not having an identity. So the outlaw is both a “rugged individualist” as well as a gang member and leader. He represents what is best about one who wishes to stand on their own two feet with what is best about the pracitcality of having other men around you on your side. One could learn much from this well balanced duality of the outlaw. One can be an individual without being a fool and one can be part of a group without suffering the same fate.
A lone wolf appeals to the imagination but a strong gang appeals to reality. What the outlaw seeks is a group of “lone wolves” that are simply alone because they live among masses of sheeps and yapping sheep dogs. However when these lone wolves become part of a pack they don’t suddenly turn into sheep. They stay wolves, but wolves in a pack. That is the outlaw and his gang. They are seperate from the masses yet bounded and binded to one another. One can be both a lone wolf that stands apart from the sheep yet also part of a pack. As a matter of fact that is the ideal that an outlaw strives for. No gang of sheep ever accomplished something and no sheep on his own does anything but feed predators.
The Rugged Individualist
The rugged individualist is an ideal that has caught the mind of many a man and for good reason. The rugged invidualist represents what we all want to be. A man who is so strong and powerful that he stands alone, unbowed, against all that this world can throw at him. He walks his own path seperate from the bleating sheep. This is an ideal as the lone wolf, rugged individualist, or whatever you would call him doesn’t translate quite as well to reality. Sure in an atomized society a strong man (the lone wolf) will always be stronger and more able than any single weak male (sheep). However a lone wolf is pretty much guaranteed to get hunted down by the slave master’s sheepdogs who go in groups and will have no mercy on one not in chains.
However as an ideal this has great power. Everyone is the gang should seek to get as strong as they possibly can in order to theoretically stand as a lone wolf as long as they can. They should seek the ideal of the rugged individualist as a lone wolf who could keep the sheep dogs going for days or tear out the throats of many before falling. Of course as I’ve said and the outlaw believes there is nothing noble in dying or losing. The nobility resides in living and overcoming. Again this is an impossible ideal to strive for. One can never achieve it short of divine intervention, but that’s not something I’d be betting on.
But it gives great power. When everyone (or simply you) are striving to be able to face this world alone it brings great strenght to you. Facing an impossible task yet fighting with all you have. Not practical but a golden ideal. The rugged individualist represents something deep within man that he wishes to achieve. To have risen above the world and truly conquered it. While one can never do so they can get far, without great ideals there would be no great men throughout the ages. No great conquerors, kings, warriors, or outlaws. It’d be a boring existance without impossible ideals. We’d be a whole lot weaker and a whole lot easier to control.
The Gang Member
Now is where we get practical. One should strive to be the rugged individualist of myth and legend. The hero who slays the dragons single handedly. However that simply isn’t going to happen to have a standing in this world you need a gang of brothers, you need a wolf pack. The ideal is a gang of all striving to be the rugged individualist yet watching out and caring for one another at the same time. Many things can brings men together but nothing so much as adversity. Many find themselves in the bond of a gang simply to survive the harsh conditions around them. You cannot go through combat with someone without having a very good chance of that man becoming a brother.
It’s not weakness to know that you cannot stand alone in this world, it’s wisdom. You should always be looking for those that can aid you and help you and your cause. Imagine that you have a plot of land somewhere deep in the woods and you know that the apocalypse is nigh and you need worthwhile people to survive with. That’s how you should treat those that you allow into your life. Remember and outlaw’s loyalty is not something that is given out freely but rather is something that must be earned.
You need to be careful who you allow into your circle. Better to be a lone wolf destined for destruction than surrounded by bleating sheep as you slowly contemplate suicide or who scatter at the first sign of distress leaving you out alone. Better to have no friends and allies than to have friends and allies that sabotage you or ditch you when times get tough. At least with no friends and allies you know what’s coming and can adjust. It’s a whole lot different when you expect others to be there for you and then have to restrategize in the middle of a fight when they don’t show.
Takes What’s Best Of Both
Both sides the rugged individualist and the gang member have their bad sides. The rugged individualist is an impossible ideal more likely to get dreamers killed when used improperly as anything else. An the gang member can be nothing more than a sheep that was needed to beef up numbers yet when times get tough will do as all sheep do. You want to take what is good about either side and then combine them into something that is greater than the sum of the parts. The outlaw.
Even if the gang fades the outlaw has strengthened himself enough to stand on his own even if only for a short period of time. The outlaw combines his strenght with wisdom allowing to survive above all else. Of course alone he cannot do as much as when he is with like minded others, he is still a force to be reckoned with. At least as much as any one man can be. It is when outlaws band together that true forces capable of change and self sustaining come about. Put simply be strong, be wise, be with your brothers, be an outlaw.
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
