Man's Purpose in Western Civilization

With the suicide of Fred (among others) and an increasing amount of young men approaching me about "what am I supposed to do in life," I found this consultation I did somewhat helpful in providing lost men a roadmap or at least some basics in terms of how to deal with their existence, and more importantly what to do with it.  Gone are the traditional reasons people had to live in western society.  One sex is completely disinterested and absolving themselves of the other.  Laws are making interacting with the opposite sex and family formation too risky.  And false gods of politics, socialism, activism, the state, and all other "isms" have replaced love for one's fellow man and community.  And since this is what traditionally gave people (religion or secular) reason to life, but now it is gone, three generations of men (and women) are looking for a new point and purpose in living so their finite life isn't wasted.

It isn't an end-all-be-all answer, but it's as far as my logic takes me.  And if you enjoy reading the below, please consider purchasing some of my books which generally address existentialism through an economics lens.

Hi Anon,

OK, I got some time to answer this.  However, first, I would recommend watching the video on "The Red Pill and Sucide" that I did yesterday as I think it will touch on many of the topics.

First, understand that nihilism isn't wrong.  It's right.  We are all going to die.  The earth will be torched when the sun turns into a red giant star, eliminating any records of what you did.  And unless you believe in the afterlife or a religion, you ARE a nihilist.  MOst normal people don't think their assumptions about the afterlife through to their final conclusion, but smart people do and then became aware they re nihilists.  The issue is how they handle it.

If you end up believing in a religion, boom!  Your problem is solved.  But the problem is no religion has any proof it is correct, and it is a faith or a belief that people genuinely become religious, not knowledge.  So that contradiction with religion is something you have to wrestle with.

However, what I am going to assume is that you are too scientific minded and too intelligent to believe in religions, and so now you get to wrestle with your nihilism and finiteness.

This then brings in the incredibly difficult chore of what to do with your finite and brief life.

Historically, your purpose and reason in living was to find a quality girl you liked, fall in love, have a family, love your children, raise them, and then get to spoil your grand children.  And while that may still exist in non-western countries, that dream/birthright is fully dead here in the US. 

Yes you may find a quality girl.

Yes you may get married.

Yes you may have kids and be happily ever after.

But given the low grade slop most humans have become in the US, your chances are very low.  Worse, it's not just the women who are shit, but the men too.  You are unlikely to find good quality friends, let alone a significant amount of them to create an engaging and fulfilling social life.  You throw in your intelligence, and man, good luck finding anybody who doesn't sound a like a complete retard compared to you.  And don't even get me started about people who may agree with you philosophically, but are too fat and lazy to go and enjoy life.

Additionally, your background was harsh enough that you saw the dark underside of most western humans and don't even want to engage in some kind of socializing or romance.  Your brain is perpetually in the lower-two levels of maslows hierarchy of needs because you see a ton of threats to your existence both today and in the past, and your primary concern is survival and stability, not love or belonging.  And so not only are most people shit, you can't gamble on investing significant personal time and resources in personal relationships (romantic or not) that don't pay off, or worse (in the case of divorce) cost you greatly.

So for multiple (good) reasons, you are not able to find purpose and reason in living today that most people (nihilists included) found in the past.

And so I wish I had a solution for you, but I don't, because frankly, there is no solution.

You can find purpose and reason for living outside of family and friends in adventuring.  You can find purpose and meaning in work.  You can find purpose and meaning in any one of an unlimited number of hobbies out there.  But you are not going to find it through other people (or the chances are very very low).

All this being said, none of this changes that you are biologically hardwired to WANT to get with other people (romantically or socially).  And since not satisfying that scratch will at least put some depressionary pressures on your mind, I'm not against putting some tacit, but well placed interest in finding some quality human relationships.  The key thing is to ALIGN YOUR EXPECTATIONS WITH THE LIKELIHOOD YOU WILL FIND THIS.

So first, use the internet to find true intellectual equals.  It is a large and fine net that will certainly find you some quality friends over the internet, and maybe even some quality women.

Second, invest the time and money to visit these people.  For the most part, nobody is going to come visit you.  YOu will have to visit them. But whether it's a very promising young lady who seems to have her shit together on a dating profile, or a really cool guy you bond with like a brother, you are likely going to have to fly to visit them.  And though it may sound like a significant time investment (and it is) that is a FRACTION of the time you will spend trying to find some quality people in your local area, sifting through all the turds of humans at bars and clubs or meet up groups to find barely entertaining ones.

Third, I would travel to truly different cultures that are traditional.  Obviously eastern cultures would be on this list, but former soviet countries, latin, even the mid east.  Not so much to find yourself a wife (though certainly that too), but just to find a culture that isn't such shit, so degraded, and so depressing.  A culture that likes itself, is proud of its accomplishments, and a culture that is beautiful.  Architecture, history, food, and basic civility and kindness of its people.  Heck, just being among people who aren't disgusting morbidly obese sows walking around in sweats would do wonders for your mentality.

And then finally, considering all these options, figure out what is the best this world can give you in terms of meaning and purpose and then pursue it.  It may be you stay here for a decade, making money off of the American system to then retire in a quiet village in Albania.  It could be you excel at your career here and get poached by a foreign country to work there and lead their industry to great new heights.  You might find a nice portly Mexican wife you loves you to death and just wants to cook for you.   Or you just don't have the personality type to mingle with people and so you travel the world and enjoy it.  But whatever it is, your sole mission in life is to figure it out, because you are going to suffer a miserable life until you do. 

beyond that I can't tell you what it is.  It took me decades to figure out I like hiking, motorcycle riding, fossils, working with my hands, and more or less being left alone in a quiet house to listen to jazz.  It's going to take everybody else in the west decades as well to replace "wife and family" with something else as well.  And understand most humans today will die not knowing what their purpose in life is/was supposed to be. 

So for now the minimum purpose of your life is to figure out what it's supposed to be about.  THAT in itself will at least ease the nihilism.  And about the only goal I can concretely describe you should have in life that will assuage your concerns about being a nihilist is to make sure on your death bed you have no regrets.  Beyond that, you got me.

Best of luck,

Aaron