I've taken the freedom to put up some quotes from a recent thread that encapsulates a lot of what I'm seeing on TRP in the last 1-2 years whenever I occasionally check in. Its mostly for flavouring this post read them if you wish. Perhaps read the TLDR first too. PAU= Protestant Ascetic Ubermensch.

"I am playing the MMO of life. The best goddamn Game there ever was. Best graphics. Best realism. Best immersion. Highest challenge too - no saves, no cheat codes, no script or cosmic destiny railroading you. Just a big ass world."

"Down time is necessary, but my point is when the mind is no longer battered by huge synthetic dopamine spikes, it'll start enjoying productive things. Reading books, learning an instrument, learning a language, will eventually become fun, and that'll be what the mind prefers to do during its down time."

"This assumption is wrong at it's core. Everything in moderation, meaning: Playing vidya 40h a week=bad, 20 or 10h=okay Smoking a pack a day=bad, 10 or 5 cigs a day=okay? Shooting up a full spoon of heroin=bad, half a spoon=okay?"

"There's plenty of joy, beauty and excitement to be derived from life, you simply have to notice it. Lifting, improving, reading(non-fiction) etc are not escapes from reality, they're engaging with reality. You're learning more, becoming more and then taking that version of yourself to the world. When you go out to the world and live your life all sorts of incredible expierences come back at you, they won't all be great, in fact some will be terrible, but that's life. You live and you learn and you make tweaks so that next time it turns out better. It's all about where you put your focus and attention, it saddens me that such a defeatist comment has been upvoted because there's so much out there once you stop letting it pass you by and you start getting stuck in."

So before I really start this, there's a thing I need to get clear- the red pill is as is described on the sidebar a "discussion of sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men." it is in essence a guide to achieving your sexual desires because that is one of the most important and critical issues facing men in the west today. And what I don't understand is why the ascetic, ever 'self-improving,' protestant work-ethic, 'always in reality' man has become the defacto and only seemingly accepted ideal of positive identity for men. We are part of lost generations of men whom have been abandoned in some ways by traditional masculine role models we would have seen before and it seems that many of these role models have been completely forgotten and replaced with as I would call it the protestant ascetic ubermensch (PAU). On top of that the comments as I see them have become less so about the positive identity of this ubermensch but seem to have been composed by people who mistake perfection as the road to happiness in TRP. The truth is nobody expects perfection, it is tremendously difficult to achieve, setting it out as your goal is not necessarily the most appropriate path for oneself and finally if you think happiness through being this fictional archetype of a man then all the more power to you but I find this a very rare occurrence.

What I mean by this is that if you were born after the war let's take note of some of the breadth of role models you could have had- from protestant ascetic ubermensch GIs and war heroes, to alcoholic/smokers like Churchill and Patton, to rebellious rockers and Harley Davidson riding bikers, etc. From Las Vegas, to Washington DC, to LA, to NYC, to Texas and to Miami, the pre-internet/feminist age had various sub-culturally different role models of men. If you were a drinker, hell even an alcoholic and gambling addict you could simultaneously also be famous and successful in your field if not content with your life for the most part. And also, as many of these larger than life figures who have inspired generations of men have mentioned- is it a necessity to live healthy so you can live through your 70s-90s or is it better to enjoy the moment?

It is NATURAL for you to have VICES. Don't listen to TRP comments where everybody is some perfect PAU because they're probably lying to themselves and to you. The extent of the lie may be small but they probably are. Its likely they have drunk too much, or indulged in shitty women, been in meaningless fights, gambled, etc. Vices have been and always will be with humans so don't bother trying to eradicate them, try to manage them. Don't let videogames, porn and drugs take over your life and you'll be fine even if PAU's american fantastical idealist might tell you otherwise they don't really represent a realistic positive identity for men. Do things you enjoy instead of fulfilling male ideals preached about by the church since centuries past, male ideals which were in and of themselves created in order to firm up the social foundations of the church and drive guilty 'failed' men towards the church.

There's a lot more to being a man than being perfect and there's a lot more to happiness than being perfect. And here's where I discuss what I think one of the secrets to the PAU, and indeed the dirty secret of TRP in general.

I'll first note that my father is an example of a former PAU who's achieved happiness to some extent through his traits of hard work, moderation and so on in his earlier life. And this is despite the fact that we've come from a war-torn country which was never protestant so we haven't the cultural/religious background to living a life like this- my father has found his happiness through living like this entirely organically. But he's happy, why? Because despite all the work he's done, 14h a day every day for decades, he's always loved his job, he's achieved great professional achievements and a high level in it and been paid well and MOST IMPORTANTLY he's had a loyal wife and children since he was 19 and that's where he derives most of his happiness from.

But women like my mother, one can hardly find in the west. In the west is where I find my own career successes, much like my father I have always aimed to become at least a c-suite executive or equity partner or politician. But what I don't find is the same relationship my father found in my mother, during the heady days of war in the Balkans. The loyalty and respect aren't something that one can find in the west. The gratefulness especially so. As this post adroitly pointed out on TRP "If Not Men, Then What? - "the biggest con in human history was convincing women that working, commuting, and paying taxes was fun" men have become anything but #1 in the hearts and minds of western women.

I can't leave the west because the jobs I find interesting, which pay out 6 figures, which give me a chance of becoming the leader I've wanted to be don't exist in the same place where I can find more traditional women because a traditional women worth their salt won't just be some 'easy' approachable woman who latches on to you at first opportunity without you knowing their language or traditions. That Ukrainian girl coming to america with you that you've known for 3 months isn't the same thing as that Ukrainian girl your Ukrainian friend has been with for years and who have known each other for longer than you've been with all you exes combined. Couples who have been together through thick and thin and who have serious traditional, familial and religious ties which enable the system of loyalty that allows for the 'blue-pill' romantic ideals to be achieved.

I've found myself often reflecting on this paradox- I have to sacrifice one or the other. But I did once believe that if I emulated the PAU then I would be successful and in this line of thinking is where I think one of the most pervasive ideas of TRP exist- perhaps if you're perfect, if you're hard working, if you're so much more interesting, so much more put together, so much fitter, so much stronger, so much richer than the woman you've chosen you just might get to experience this kind of romance, this kind of relationship, this kind of marriage which despite ourselves we still argue about constantly on TRP. Many of you when you read 'you can't marry' on here don't believe it. Don't want to believe it. And I agree with that sentiment especially as my parents and grandparents have proven the opposite. But the older I get and the more I experience the less likely this become and the more likely AWALT becomes at least in the west and other globalized places where those traditional systems of society have fallen apart. Because women aren't rational- if you aren't #1 in their hearts and minds due to their own personal worldview and what they were taught growing up then no matter how superior you are that doesn't mean that their treatment of you will be the kind of eternal respect and loyalty you want. It will always be contingent on these PAU traits. That's why imo I see so many of these pro PAU comments- trying to be happy to be a PAU involves for many a complete rejection of all these distractions in life because it is essentially a life of asceticism.

But it is similarly in primarily the non-traditional west where I have rediscovered many of these male role models who weren't perfect. They weren't PAUs but they enjoyed their lives. They've achieved great things. They were flawed human beings, they often didn't have wives or at least didn't keep them. They were the rogues, rebels, commanders, leaders, politicians, musicians, artists, etc who represent positive identities of men apart from PAU and in my opinion are a much better fit for the reality of the modern life than a PAU.

TLDR Getting high on MDMA at a techno concert, going on trips around the world, spending your time playing videogames, watching TV/going to the cinema, drinking til blacked out at a dive bar with a bunch of weird people, fucking off your career for a year to go live like a hippy and backpack through South America. All these things aren't healthy. They're not reality. They're not going to make you more productive. Some of them might not even be attractive, but if you've learnt enough to take care of your sexual desires then you've already achieved the TRP goal. You becoming a PAU won't fix western women, it'll just make your life less entertaining. And if your entertainment is sitting at home on videogames then so be it, its not any less unproductive, health damaging or anything else than the other ones. Its just less attractive but if you're already achieved your TRP goal what do you care? One important thing I should note is that you should at LEAST TRY. If you're only spending your time on videogames and never tried backpacking, or hanging around weird bars, or gone to festivals then you should at least TRY.