I used to be angry at how most of us suck. It bothered me because some of the people. I thought already “made it”, in fact did not. I started a discord server in the hope of giving guys a chance to explore these ideas together and to apply it in our own lives. I failed to do so, only because all of the work required is on them, and not on me. This realization frustrated me for months. It took me a long time to resolve this issue for myself, but I think I’m not angry anymore. And here’s why.

I was wrong to assume that men, if untouched by society, are going to live their lives as self-sovereign individuals. Quite the contrary. All men for the vast majority of human history were entirely slaves in one form or another, whether as prehistoric humans, as ancient peoples, or as modern creatures. Consider the following:

• Only in the last few thousands years did mankind have the ability to choose which goods and services to buy.
• Only in the last thousand years did men realize that rulers could be persuaded to act on the needs of the many.
• Only in the last five hundred did the notion of the people choosing who ruled become a reality.
• Only in the last 100 years has technology freed us from the land, made our labor super efficient, and gave us the free time to do whatever the fuck we want.

The rest of that history? Being a slave for the pack. Being a slave for the king. Being a serf for the lord. Being an upright citizen of the law. And working for “the man” on company time.

Slavery is our default setting. Human freedom is the anomaly. All the evolutionary, societal, and life scripts we have, for the most part, do not optimize for mental point of origin. You should not be surprised to see men suck.

All of our instincts are wired for us to find direction in others, if not others, an abstract ideal that has no real relation to our personal interest.

Why then would you be angry? We’re animals doing animal things running on animal scripts.

So if you’re doing work, what does this observation mean for you?

It means that this takes effort to go from slave to master. You need to do continuous reflection on yourself to figure out where your weak spots are and to work on them. You need to figure out whether this thing you’re doing is for your best interest or for somebody else or to seek validation from somebody else. And that work never stops, but it does become trainable.

There’s a lot of places you can take this insight. Maybe you don’t want to be a slave and you want to change your lot in life. Maybe you’re content with your station and are okay with life coming to you as it sees fit. Maybe you want something in the middle, where society can lead you into doing something that’s beneficial for it, but other times, you get your slice of the pie. Whatever you choose, and whatever people choose, understand that you’re a slave first, but not forever if you wish.

Originally posted on Substack.