Fireside Chat: On Giving

A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.

-      Winston Churchill

You give little when you give away possessions; when you give of yourself, you are genuinely charitable. What are your controls worth? Why do you horde for fear you may need them tomorrow, the following day, the next fortnight? What is worth wanting but the desire of need in itself? Some men give little of the much they have, and they give it for recognition, and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked. We are blessed with joy, thankfulness, and compassion when we give not of malice. All you have shall one day be shared, so why not give now while giving may be yours instead of your inheritor? As it is written in the 1st chapter of James: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Remember that God rests in reason and moves in passion. Therefore, give of yourself today, asking for nothing in return, so that your love will drive the Father into your favor, blessing you par Dieu.

Fireside Chat: Deep Work

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

-      Marcus Aurelius

The modern era adores those who can multitask. If a man can balance multiple roles, he is seen as quite a valuable employee. If a man holds his own with his superiors, subordinates, and equals, he is seen as respectable by everyone he knows. If a man manages to make his mark in multiple disciplines, he is ordained with the title of genius. However, as the demand for multitasking is on the rise, fewer men can delve into deep work. Instead of mastering one skill, men are often pushed into multiple fields, with numerous subjects, becoming a master of none and mediocre in all. When we realize workers devoted to mastering a singular skill are lacking, where is the call for more masters of their field? As it is written in the 12th chapter of Proverbs: “He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.” All things have two handles; we must beware of the wrong one. In fact, without both handles of industry, we risk destroying the workforce, pollice verso! Deep work is equally necessary within the confines of this society, and it is needed more and more every day.

Fireside Chat: The Gift of Self-Reliance

The man who is not self-reliant is weak, hesitating, and doubting in all he does.[1]

Life is an individual problem that man must solve for himself; he does this through self-reliance. Self-confidence may allow someone to see the individual's possibilities, but self-reliance will enable him to realize those possibilities. Self-reliance allows a man to seek constantly to surpass himself, moving on a uniform line of progress, ultimately granting himself the daring necessary to stand alone. Self-reliance strengthens a man's ability to judge himself not through competition with others but rather to improve his ability. He does not rely on others but grants his dependency on himself, acting for his intentions and purposes. His agency increases the more he abandons measuring himself compared to the ability of others. The man who does not live in the shadow of someone else's greatness will be a constant source of strength to others as he becomes to others a living lesson of the dignity of self-reliance.

[1] William George Jordan, The Secrets to Power, Mastery, and Truth (Semper Virilis Publishing, 2019), 34.

Fireside Chat: Parenting

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.[1]

As much as parents would like to be, they are not entirely in control of their children. A parent ideally does what he can to guide his son, leading him to have a better life than the Father lived. A parent attempts to provide the best education, quality of life, and love to ensure their children are cared for. A parent offers an excellent example for his son, so he will hopefully learn to do the same for his children. However, much like the arrow and bow, only one of these factors is entirely in the parent’s control. He may aim his son towards a good life, but the wind, rain, and trees of life can and will impact that shot. Children choose whether or not to take actionable advice from their parents, and should they fail to go their own way, parents should not blame themselves for it. Parents must realize they are not raising oysters; an oyster never makes a mistake because it has not the mind that would permit it to forsake an instinct. Parents must decide what they want their children to be, and children must decide whether or not to take advice from their elders.

[1] Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018), 18.

Fireside Chat: Posessions and Our Attachments

We tend to hold our possessions in high esteem. It is natural for us to do so, as we have worked to afford them. It is only conventional for our house, car, and phones to be held in high regard in our daily lives. Therefore, it is routine to feel a loss of these possessions when they are broken or lost. However, instead of sulking over their loss, we must accept that it is also natural that possessions are fluid, and not every situation is inside our control. Losing possessions, inheritance, and even family members are no excuse to drag oneself into a well of despair. Grief becomes bearable when we understand that we are responsible for how we interpret loss. Man must remind himself that guarding himself and his possessions against harm is unachievable and that impossibilities inevitably become nightmares. To diminish the world’s power over his psyche, a man must ensure that he reminds himself that loss is natural. It is a natural action from the world and is thus outside his control.

Fireside Chat: Duty Part II

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

There are consequences for short-term pleasures. When a man decides to push aside responsibility at work, he moves more of his duty onto his co-workers. When he decides to stay home, watch television, and forget his commitment to his family, he says that his spectatorial needs are more important than theirs. When a man decides to quit his job without having another lined up, he feels liberated. However, by liberating himself, he places his family at the mercy of the world. By freeing himself from the responsibilities of his position as the head of the table, he dooms his family, friends, and country. The truth is simple: if you want a strong nation, you need strong men; if you wish for strong men, you require a culture to explain that his self-worth comes from providing for his family. However, when the truth is inconvenient, we exclude it, consequences be damned. Men must understand their place in this world. If a country loses men, they also lose women, children, and the world.

Fireside Chat: Duty

Duty is the cold, bare anatomy of righteousness.[1]

            At times, the way that men look at their responsibilities is misguided. When he exclaims, "I have to go to work," he is acting out of the prism of duty. When he labors over his house, possessions, and available domain, he usually explains himself as doing what he has to do. When he witnesses the women and other men enjoying their lives while adhering to the same duties he is laboring at, he tends to draw anger and jealousy towards them. He fails to realize that he is living life with a cracked lens. As William George Jordan explains:

The man who gives one hour of his life to loving, consecrated service to humanity is doing higher, better, truer work in the world than an army of Roman sentinels paying useless tribute to the red tape of duty.[2]

Instead of saying, "I have to go to work," exclaim with thankfulness and joy, "I GET to go to work." Instead of saying that "I have to pay the bills," "I have to fix the faucet," or "I have to get my wife an anniversary gift," say to yourself that you get to do these things because you are now capable of doing these things. When you stop looking around at life, seeing nothing more than a long list of obligations, see your life as nothing more than endless opportunities to give thanks to God for allowing you to do these things in the first place. Remember that human life almost reads like a poem. It has its rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. A man must see life as an opportunity, not as an obligation.

[1] William George Jordan, “The Red Tape of Duty,” in The Secrets to Power, Mastery, and Truth (Semper Virilis Publishing, 2019), 24.

[2] Ibid, 25.

Fireside Chat: What Can We Control?

Every man is the son of his actions. – Cervantes

            Things that are within our power are:

            Our opinion

            Our aim

            Our desire

            Our aversion

            Things that are outside our control are:

            Body

            Property

            Reputation

            Office

            Misery is, in effect, attributing one’s value towards those factors which are outside our domain, and striving to control them. One has power over one’s opinion because it is within one’s power to control one’s mind. One’s aim has been constructed, projected, and attempted by the individual, independent of any other factor. One’s desires are decreed through one’s aversions, which serve as barriers to leading one’s desire toward one’s aim in life. However, as much as one would like to think so, one’s body is dependent on nature, not one’s ambitions. Trust me, one day you will be completely whole, with no crippling factor on your person; the next moment, you will be fortunate if you can stand up again. Property is exposed to the external factors of taxation, natural disaster, and war. Try as we may, there is nothing one can do to make their domain completely safe and secure. Even more perilous, one’s reputation is only partially affected by one’s actions; the remainder is the result of good and vicious men who surround you, and which camp others decide to listen to. Finally, one’s office is a determinant of reputation, the most unstable concept in existence.  

            Most men will see this list and decree that they can surpass nature’s dependent factors outside his control, bend them to his will, and force them to serve his purpose. To this, I say, good! You have now understood what it means to be a man. A man understands what is directly under his control, i.e., his opinion, his aim, his desire, and his aversion. He also desires to control nature, itself. For as long as there have been Men, the human race has continued to expand its domain throughout the world, and it has been through the attempt to control those factors outside our control that Man has advanced, knowing that he will never completely control nature itself. It is the dragon that man knows he will never defeat, but he fights anyway, not for the glory of others, but for the ascending of his humanity.

Fireside Chat: 2023

This book almost never got written. To be honest, even the continuation of this website nearly never happened. To those who know me already, you already know the reason for this. To those who have just heard of me (first off, welcome and thank you for devoting your precious time to something I wrote), I’m a disabled veteran. I broke 39 bones in my body, have a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and am doing well if I can make it to work in the morning. I initially wanted to become a College Professor, so I graduated from the college I began my journey at and continued to Georgia College and State University. It was there that I decided I was not cut out to be a professor. The reason was simple: I could not stand the arrogance, the political divides that cut far and wide, and the blatant affronts that were everywhere I looked. Instead of teaching the classics, there were Food Way programs. Instead of encouragement of critical thinking, it was made obvious that I was participating in an indoctrination factory. Instead of professors who encouraged others to reach the heights that they themselves have achieved, I was blatantly informed that it would be nearly impossible for me to achieve tenure. After a year of my life wasted here, I decided to leave.

            I realized something over my time away from academia, something that I wished someone would have told me years ago: I could make more money than these professors could dream of if I entered a trade. At the time of this writing, I am making more than the average instructor, and due to being necessary for my place of employment to function, I have achieved a version of tenure in itself. I also realized that my initial idea of what academia was had been foolish; I could write historical books and sociological texts without a 100,000-dollar piece of paper! The only difference was that I would not be held to an academic field littered with academics who wanted nothing more than to hold onto the miniscule amount of power they think they have. I was never told that it was possible if I had not gotten a Ph.D. behind my name. Now, I feel more at piece building at a sawmill, mostly because my salary pays me enough to take care of my family. I am at peace with my life for the first time since I was injured nearly 5 years ago.

            This brings me back to writing again. I didn’t feel ashamed of my writing not being up to the academic standards anymore. In fact, I felt that I could do MORE without academia. I felt that now, I was given the opportunity to reach out to others through my writing being uncensored and disassociated with the bloated pyramid scheme of academia. Now, I’m back, and I’m ready to continue to provide the best content I am capable of creating, something that I would devote time to.

            Thank you for your support, as well as your patience.

Fireside Chat: We Need Masculinity

A plant which is frequently moved never grows strong. – Seneca

            If a boy has stability, he will have a successful life. If a boy has a father in his life, then he will know what to do to become a man himself. If a boy learns that a man requires strength, courage, mastery, and honor, then he will be a shining light in the secular age. If he is heralded by another boy, the cycle will continue. However, in the modern era, men are deemed vile. Instead of a defender, a man is seen as misogynistic if he safeguards himself or his family. Instead of being deemed venerable for speaking his mind, standing up for what he believes in, and not giving an inch of his virtues, his actions are deemed privileged. The truth of the matter is simple: emasculation is commanded by the modern world. For the men who have bent the knee to this misandry, in the 24th chapter of Proverbs, it is written: “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” A man needs to take responsibility for himself, rekindle manhood in boys, and provide constancy for him. In this manner, the mentoring of the next generation, and the next, can continue.