David Foster Wallace was a prolific author who was famous for writing about (in his own words) "fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being", and he said he wanted to write "morally passionate, passionately moral fiction" that could help the reader "become less alone inside". He sadly hanged himself at the young age of 46, ironic outcome for somebody who delivered the following message... But he was somewhat of a genius, and it's those deep thinkers who will often think "outside the box" and come to question and have trouble dealing with living in this society that's been constructed around us. Often I find that people view becoming alpha or being red-pilled and becoming dominant and confident requires hate, negativity, negging, etc. In my view this is the totally opposite of what people are attracted to. They're attracted to positivity; people who can help them escape their dreadful reality and be part of one of fun and happiness. In that sense, I present to you the end of a popular commencement speech he gave in 2005 at Kenyon College, and I recommend listening to or reading the speech in it's entirety (this is just an excerpt):
"[in reference to having to go food shopping in misery on your way home from a long shitty day of work] It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars-compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship...
Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship-be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles-is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things-if they are where you tap real meaning in life-then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already-it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power-you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart-you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.
Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default-settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves ATTENTION, and AWARENESS, and DISCIPLINE, and EFFORT (emphasis added), and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the "rat race"-the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.
I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr. Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to thirty, or maybe fifty, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness-awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water." <-- This is in reference to this famous parable: "There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"
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My additional two cents: The world will tear you down unless you build yourself from the inside. Improving YOURSELF and the way you shape the reality around yourself is how you develop a frame that will have women and new friends flocking to you like a school of fish. You don't have to go out proving you're THE BEST, or the MOST ATTRACTIVE. Awareness of what's around us and ability to frame it in a positive image. THAT is what's attractive. Remember women are bored, and crave emotion and stimulation, so you need to provide them with the BEST POSSIBLE FEELING of emotion and stimulation. Thanks for reading yall, let me know what you think in the comments.
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You need to PAY ATTENTION, HAVE AWARENESS, DISCIPLINE, and the WILLINGNESS TO EXERT EFFORT.
Edit: Formatting
follow_that_rabbit 6y ago
By your formatting is not clear which are the sections D. F. Wallace wrote and which ones you added.
Greatly appreciate your contribution, though. His words resonate a lot in me.
Alpha_Jedi 6y ago
Nice write up, I think the most important point is that men are drawn to the Red Pill not out of hate, bitterness, or spite, but are drawn for all of the positive aspects.
icecoldwhoknows 6y ago
Imagine your eyes are the CCTV in the top corner of the room. Visualizing yourself as a third-person to the scene or setting you are currently in is an exceptional way to regain awareness of yourself and your surroundings.
Loved the post.
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[deleted] 6y ago
Can't recommend his book Infinite Jest enough, its very long and hard to read at parts, but its one of those life-altering books that changes your perception on pretty much everything. Brilliant man, rip.
Metalgear222 6y ago
Too fucking true. Positivity is king and the ultimate social gravitational force. I would even say confident is synonymous with positive. Very surprising that a guy who's capable of writing that would deem the world not worthy of living in though.
[deleted] 6y ago
When you're that smart it's easy to feel like an outsider no matter how much social research you do
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jeddzus 6y ago
No it's not.. #1. Everyone can be loved, I mean unless you're like a highly contagious leper. #2. The need to induce fear in other people is often a defense mechanism caused by an underlying dislike of self/traits, or difficulty reconciling with past traumatic events.
lorum_ipsum_dolor 6y ago
I'm new to TRP and feel like a weary traveler who's stumbled onto an oasis.
It occurred to me that a really good example of Frame is the way old school professional wrestlers used to conduct themselves whenever the public was present. Known in the industry as "Kayfabe", it consisted of maintaining character at all times. They knew their livelihood depended on giving the impression that it was all real.
I remember hearing a story about one wrestler who would always show up (and leave) an event in a convertible with the top down wearing no shirt. It didn't matter if it was 10 degrees below zero and the wind was howling, he was going to stick to the script. He was a badass who just didn't care.
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AlterUltraEgo 6y ago
Positivity is a force-multiplier. A positive attitude makes every task easier to accomplish and produces a higher quality product.
Camjd10 6y ago
Great write up, I would really recommend everyone read Ralph Waldo Emmerson's "self-reliance". It's a short, albeit dense, read that fleshes out the notion of true value which Wallace mentions: Emerson calls these principals.
IntroiboAdAltareDei 6y ago
May have never known him other than in literature, but man, I miss him
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blackedoutfast 6y ago
good post.
highly recommend everyone watch/listen to the full speech.