Introduction

So I have seen a few post here referencing that the APA has now labeled masculinity as “harmful” from a psychological standpoint [link]. With masculine traits defined as stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression. It’s pretty naive to place stoicism in the same box as dominance and aggression as it’s an entire philosophical school of thought rather than an individual behavioural trait. When using the dictionary.com definition of stoic as a descriptive trait you get: ” someone who endures pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint”. In theory if we are attempting to remove stoic traits from our society we are consequently creating a society that is moving toward whining and complaining about every little thing that takes effort and isn’t instantly gratifying. Entitled dopamine junkies.

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Summary

Two of the more recent pieces of literature I’ve read is Rollo Tomassi's third book The Rational Male, Positive Masculinity and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, so I decided to detail the overlap I’ve observed between the teachings of the ancient stoics and the concept of frame from a redpill perspective. Followed up with some practical stoic meditations that can be applied to building a rock solid frame and assist in internalizing red pill concepts.

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Body

I’m going to start things off with some definitions so we are all on the same page. From the community details “The Red Pill” is described as sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men. For the purpose of this article I’m going to stay clear from the PUA and sexual strategy aspect and define it as: Understanding the true nature on the feminine imperative and how it’s been hiding/reinventing what it means to be a man. The notes and stories we share here are tools of enlightenment, towards what it means to be a man defined by the masculine core of a pulary male collective.

Obtaining a more fulling sexlife is merely a side effect of becoming a “real” man. Paradoxically the higher you prioritize obtaining women the less real power you have in the dynamics of your relationships with woman. The simple answer to why, is that in any relationship, whether it’s business or personal, the person with the most power is the one that needs the other the least. Furthermore from the perspective of the ancient stoics there was no feminine imperative or PUA seminars: they were brought up in the masculine, striving to become great men in pursuit of their greater life purpose and the furthering of mankind.

So let's just leave woman on the sidelines (where they belong) and talk about the first Iron rule from Rollos the rational male, “Frame is everything”. Although before I move on I think I owe Marcus Aurelius a brief introduction for those who are unfamiliar. Marcus Aurelius lived through a period where he undoubtedly was the most powerful man on the planet. A roman emperor and the last of the rulers traditionally known as the Five Good Emperors. Upon his death in the year 180 a personal journal of his was discovered containing his personal philosophical writings which were then composed into the book Meditations (PDF LINK).

Although you won’t come across the term “frame” in any of the ancient stoic literature often when describing the manner of how a man should live, there is quite an overlap with the red pill concept of living within your own frame. My interpretation of stoicism is all about building a strong internal frame. It is about being proactive rather than reactive to external factors outside oneself. It’s about doing the work of a man (your purpose) not for the praise or validation of others but to reach a state of self-fulfillment. Accepting the universal factors that lay outside of your control and remaining indifferent, remaining indifferent to pain or pleasure and staying focused on your purpose.

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“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.”- Marcus Aurelius

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There is no reason to remain resentful towards women's true nature, if his SMV> yours it makes perfect sense in her mind to leave you for him. Hypergamy is just part of nature and lies outside your control. Being angry at the existence of hypergamy is just like being angry at the existence of mosquitoes. You are being emotionally reactive to the nature of things outside your control and further more wasting your mental energy that could be put to better use working on oneself and towards your purpose.

Frame is quite an abstract concept and it’s obvious that there are people within the community that have a hard time grasping it as a whole. But I can’t stress enough that frame is everything and arguably the most important concepts for truly internalizing the red pill ideals discussed here. You are your frame, to build a frame is to build one's self; this is the key difference between real change from within and “acting alpha”. If you set aside the moral aspects from Meditations it reads as a general guide on how to be a strong, well-rounded man. Being unfazed by the factors outside oneself and ensuring that validation comes from within rather than external factors. This is your frame. You are your frame. Frame is the extent of which you are controlling your own reality and the truth is, often you have little control/influence of external factors. To build frame one must focus on what he can change, what one has control over and let go of the things he doesn't. This is why there is a common theme here of people starting their own business and being self employed; it’s directly linked to building frame. Becoming self sufficient puts you in a position where you never “have” to do anything you don’t want to. Being the boss, being in control of the decisions being made and the actions that follow is operating within your frame. When you are working for someone else, you are operating in their frame. If the date location you chose was somewhere you think she would like (without considering of what you want) you are operating in her frame. Damn, if the only reason you are lifting weights is to impress the girl next door you are still serving her reality. You are your frame but only to the extent of the things you have done and created on your own, for the sole purpose of furthering oneself. If you build great things people will naturally want to be a part of that. This is where we can derive real power, by remaining in control of the direction of our own lives and even start to influence the directions of others. Why? Because that’s one tasty looking cake you’ve baked up and they’re keen for a slice. Now you have the power to decide if you want to give them some. What can they provide for you? What's the going rate? What's your next best option? Fuck it! Eat the whole cake if you want, you can do whatever you want in this situation. Now you have others operating on your terms, within your frame.

I could keep rambling but if you still don’t have a sound idea of what frame is I found this post by dulkemaru51 to be pretty good. Although to be all theory and no action is a greater curse than to simply act with no theory. So lets segue into the first practical meditation that builds mental resilience and empowers you to act with intent in spite of discomfort caused by external factors.

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Cold showers

I’ve used cold showers as part of my meditation every morning. It reinforces two concepts. It helps build resistance to seeking pleasure and to become indifferent in the face of pain/discomfort. We all know that pleasure seeking weather it be porn, drugs or Netflix is counter productive towards self development. Furthermore being outside your comfort zone can be uncomfortable at best and agonizingly painful at worst; but it's where we have to be if we want to grow. During the first week of taking cold showers I’d be hesitant before I entered, I would almost squeal as my body flinched and my breathing accelerated when the freezing cold water fell upon my body. It didn’t take long before I learnt to control my breathing and with no hesitation jump straight into the shower with indifference, as if it were a steaming hot shower on a cold winter's morning.

I’m staying calm and collected as I chose to be, not reacting to the freezing water. I am not allowing cold water to control my actions. I’m behaving in accordance with how I have chosen to behave, I am standing my ground, I am holding frame.

I’ve noticed most people can’t comprehend why anyone would willingly choose to shower cold. Their basic deductive reasoning goes something like: “but hot showers feel good and cold showers feel bad”. They can’t see the reward as it is not instantly gratifying, unlike the comforting sensation of stepping into a steamy hot shower.

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Achieving a state of being unfazed by discomfort is the reward.

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It pays to be mindful of the reasons why you are doing the exercise during every repetition. As the goal is to apply these principles to every aspect of your life, it will help you become aware when a situation arises when you may be tempted to seek comfort over personal growth or help you come to a realization that on a subconscious level you may be avoiding an action due to the fact that taking action under the current circumstances lies outside your comfort zone.

Meditation can be a powerful tool to internalize new belief systems. As we are all aware having a good understanding of RB principles is not even close to half the battle. It’s the internalization and the constant work involved of changing ones behaviour accordingly. To break old habits and face the fears that have kept you locked in your own mental prison (your comfort zone).

I can’t provide a straightforward roadmap to building frame as it’s tied to the strength and influence of ones identity, that's made up by our unique experiences and how we interpret them as individuals. We all have different strengths and weakness and are at different places/stages in our life journeys. The benefits of building mental strength and resilience from cold showers is broad, can easily be incorporated into anyones morning routine and is objectively beneficial to this entire community. The same can be said for weightlifting. So if you intend on using meditation to facilitate internalizing new beliefs, it would be wise to first understand which of your strengths can be utilized and weakness minimized/eradicated.Then decide what concepts you specifically need to internalize and incorporate into a routine that insures you remain mindful of these qualities in everyday life. Deciding what you need to work on should come after a period of introspection. I’d even recommend taking some time off and getting away for a while, go hiking or fishing or some shit before making up your mind: as deciding on the most beneficial concepts for you is critical to optimizing your progress.

Having an understanding of the basic fundamentals of mindful meditation is key to optimizing the internalization of new beliefs. For those of you unfamiliar with the practices of mindfulness, the main concept is not necessarily to clear your mind but to be consciously aware of where your focus is. For example a common meditation is simply focusing on your breath. After time has passed it’s likely your mind will drift off to other things. What you are practicing is becoming consciously aware when your mind has wandered off and bringing your attention back to the breath. Controlling your thoughts by consciously governing where your focus lies, rather than allowing the mind to do what it wants. Let's apply this to everyday life. If you give in to what the mind wants, it will just follow it’s natural conditioning of a providing beta mindset. Now we are replacing this conditioning with beliefs we have consciously selected in light of “our red pill awakening”. So we can move our focus from the breath and onto a concept that you wish to internalize. For example let's say you're a “sorry” guy. You know, the type of guy who apologies nine times a day for walking within inches of what he perceives could be another person's personal space. Now this behaviour typically stems from a low perception of self worth. It makes sense to apologize for getting in someone's way if you have an internal belief that you have little worth comparatively to them. You can replace the last few minutes of your meditation reminding yourself that you are a man of high value and don’t need to apologize for acting in your own best interests. You can even think of regular examples that are likely to occur in your day when you use “sorry” and replace it with your desired behaviour. Repetition is key, if you are able to do this even for a few minutes each day it will be in the back of your mind. The probability of you noticing when you are about to say sorry (as you usually would) will increase dramatically. From there it’s a matter of noticing, changing your behaviour accordingly and eventually you’ll form a new habit. The “new you”,that you’ve consciously created, so to speak. To anyone new to mindful meditation I highly recommend the headspace app. It provides guided meditations that start and end with some explanations of what a state of mindfulness is and what you can hope to achieve by practicing it; with each session building on top of the last. After completing the introductory courses you’ll have a solid foundation and it should be obvious how RP concepts can be applied.

If you’ve read this far you’re probably part of the top 20% in regards to maintaining focus, as valueless facebook notifications have withered away the attention span of the modern man. Focus is yet another skill that must be nurtured to pursue our purpose and live a life of meaning. I wish you all the best in your journey of striving for excellence. But the reality is, it’s all on you.

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Summary:

Due to the social conditioning imposed by the ever more feminized West, the default state of man in modern society is to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. To build frame you must pursue your purpose at all costs, with a mindset of indifference to pain or pleasure. Mindful meditation can be a powerful tool for internalizing new beliefs and changing one's behaviour in accordance to what's beneficial to himself as an individual man: rather than what's best for the furthering of an increasingly feminized culture that rejects personal responsibility, craves instant gratification and then blames it's dissatisfaction with life on the fact that everything one wants should be free and easy to obtain.