There aren’t many American Orthodox monks who are candidates for sainthood, but Father Seraphim Rose (born Eugene Rose) is one of them. He led a worldly life that included an illicit relationship before turning to Christ and becoming a light for the Orthodox faithful around the world. His academic and philosophical style has appealed to many who crave a sharp, intellectual theology. While that style is hard for me to grasp early in my walk with Christ, his book Nihilism is important reading to understand the root of our present-day maladies.
You must descend before ascending
From his own experience, Eugene believed that modern man cannot come to Christ fully until he is first aware of how far he and his society have fallen away from Him, that is, until he has first faced the Nihilism in himself.
—Introduction by Father Damascene
There is no redemption without a fall. While you could be an exception, God is likely to permit you to be under the throes of Satan until you choose Him of your own free will. And then He will help you begin your new life.
Nihilism has become the default world orientation
Nihilism has become, in our time, so widespread and pervasive, has entered so thoroughly and so deeply into the minds and hearts of all men living today, that there is no longer any “front” on which it may be fought; and those who think they are fighting it are most often using its own weapons, which they in effect turn against themselves.
Nihilism is baked into the cake of our society. Most nihilists don’t even know they are one. Recently I watched a news segment at my father’s house. It described how subterranean bacteria evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, as if it was an obvious fact and not the theory it is, and last year while visiting America’s national parks, I saw countless informational placards made by geologists that pegged the age of rock formations with as much confidence as I proclaim my age to you. God surely use long stretches of time in nature, but scientific information is presented to you without any scriptural context, and so you hurtle down the default orientation of nihilism, Big Bang theory, evolution from salty water, and all manner of made-up events to explain your existence.
Nihilism is the opposite of Christianity
What, then, is the nature of the Nihilist faith? It is the precise opposite of Christian faith, and so not properly called ‘faith’ at all. Where Christian faith is joyous, certain, serene, loving, humble, patient, submitting in all things to the Will of God, its Nihilist counterpart is full of doubt, suspicion, disgust, envy, jealousy, pride, impatience, rebelliousness, blasphemy—one or more of these qualities predominating in any given personality. It is an attitude of dissatisfaction with self, with the world, with society, with God; it knows but one thing: that it will not accept things as they are, but must devote its energies either to changing them or fleeing from them. it was well described by Bakunin as ‘the sentiment of rebellion, this Satanic pride, which spurns subjection to any master whatever, whether of divine or human origin.’
Have you ever encountered a happy atheist? If he’s in the middle of experiencing pleasure, perhaps. He will be in a good mood and full of exuberance when you catch him at a fun party, the morning after sleeping with a woman (or man), in the middle of eating a craft burger, or upon buying a new gadget, but when the worldly high fades, he’s back in the doldrums to masturbate to porn, get drunk, take pills, and attack others in anger. Atheists claim that their lives are revolved around the pursuit of happiness, that they themselves conjure the meaning and purpose to their existence, but without exception they are unhappy people who live only by that which is fleeting.
All truth leads to Christ
No one has rightly sought the truth who has not encountered at the end of this search—whether to accept or reject Him—our Lord, Jesus Christ, ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’
[…]
…it is impossible to extinguish the thirst for truth which God has implanted in man to lead them to Him, and which can only be satisfied in the acceptance of His Revelation. Even those who profess satisfaction with ‘relative’ truths and consider themselves too ‘sophisticated’ or ‘honest’ or even ‘humble’ to pursue the absolute—even they tire, eventually, of the fare of unsatisfying tidbits to which they have arbitrarily confined themselves, and long for more substantial fare.
If you are honest about your pursuit of truth, you will come to Christ. It’s impossible not to. Many men claim to pursue the truth, as I have in the past, but apply that truth to primarily gain pleasure and worldly benefits. I shared the truth of fallen women and men and then used that within the confines of my bedroom to secure a steady supply of sex. I closed my eyes to anything that hurt my access to the female body. A tiny bit of truth gave me pleasure, I got addicted to that pleasure, and so my pursuit of truth was stifled.
Truth outside of God is demonic
It is the presumption of the fragment to replace the whole; it is the proud attempt to build a Tower of Babel, a collection of facts, to reach to the heights of truth and wisdom from below. But truth is only attained by bowing down and accepting what is received from above. All the pretended ‘humility’ of Realist scholars and scientists, these men of little faith, cannot conceal the pride of their collective usurpation of the throne of God; they, in their smallness, think their painstaking ‘research’ of more weight than Divine Revelation.
[…]
All Nihilists, but preeminently those of the greatest genius and the broadest vision, are the prophets of Satan; refusing to use their talents in the humble service of God, ‘They have waged war against God with His own gifts.’
I no longer see the value of receiving guidance or knowledge from someone who is not in communion with God. Just like how a broken clock is correct twice a day, the nihilist may very well be speaking the truth on some matters, but the secular packaging it’s wrapped in contains lies, urgings to participate in sin, profanity, vulgarity, and callousness towards life. I may observe the work of a nihilist to see what the nihilists are up to, and maybe to receive cheap entertainment, but when it comes to how I live my life, it’s safer to do the exact opposite of what they’re doing, just like how it would have been better for a man to do the opposite of me when I was deep into fornication.
The nothingness of nihilist existence
No man, we have said often enough, lives without a god; who then—or what—is the god of the Nihilist? It is nihil, nothingness itself—not the nothingness of absence or non-existence, but of apostasy and denial; it is the ‘corpse’ of the ‘dead God’ which so weighs upon the Nihilist.
[…]
[In the Nihilist universe] there is neither up nor down, right nor wrong, true nor false, because there is no longer any point of orientation. Where there was once God, there is now nothing; where there were once authority, order, certainty, faith, there are now anarchy, confusion, arbitrary and unprincipled action, doubt and despair.
[…]
The true Nihilist places his father [Satan] in things that pass away and end in nothing; all ‘optimism’ on this foundation is clearly futile. The Christian, renouncing such vanity places his faith in the one thing that will not pass away, the Kingdom of God.
[…]
He who does not live in Christ… already lives in the Abyss, and not all the treasures of this world can ever fill his emptiness.
Some men insist on learning this fact the hard way, or they think they are special enough to win when everyone else has lost. They really believe that they will be a champion of the world, but the higher they climb, the deeper the pit they dig, and the more divine the intervention they’ll need to be lifted out.
Satan’s lies become more appealing in a world void of God
For Satan is the ape of God, and once divine coherence has been shattered and men no longer hope for the absolute coherence God alone can give to human life, the counterfeit coherence that Satan is able to fabricate may come to seem quite attractive.
In previous ages, people had stronger foundations of faith to fall back on. They were catechized as a child, went off into a world of sin and depravity, and then returned to the faith before it was too late, but today, when a person gets horrified by evil, they merely jump towards a new pleasure or sin.
Weak faith allows evil to grow
Christian compromise in thought and word and negligence in deed have opened the way to the triumph of the forces of the absurd, of Satan, of Antichrist. The present age of absurdity is the just reward of Christians who have failed to be Christians.
The apostasy began a long time ago. The comfort, wealth, and mass-produced entertainment that the industrial age brought forth pulled society away from God. Weakened in faith, people no longer had any defenses to Satan’s schemes, from abortion to institutionalized pedophilia. The world is crumbling around us while moderners covet their smartphone, Tinder matches, OnlyFans revenue, and Starbucks coffee, believing they are just one more achievement away from happiness, but there is no worthy achievement apart from God.
Nihilism leads to the absurd (clown world)
From faith comes coherence. The world of faith, which was once the normal world, is a supremely coherent world because in it everything is oriented to God as to its beginning and end, and obtains its meaning in that orientation. Nihilist rebellion, in destroying that world, has inspired a new world: the world of the ‘absurd.’ This word, very much in fashion at the present time to describe the plight of contemporary man, has actually, if properly understood, a profound meaning. For if nothingness be the center of the world, then the world, both in its essence and in every detail, is incoherent, it fails to hold together, it is absurd.
[…]
If man is after all to end in nothingness, then in the deepest sense it does not matter what he does in this life, for then nothing he may do is of any ultimate consequence, and all talk of ‘living this life to the full’ is empty and vain. It is absolutely true that if ‘there is no immortality’, the world is absurd and ‘everything is permitted’—which is to say, nothing is worth doing, the dust of death smothers every joy and prevents even tears, which would be futile; it would indeed be better if such a world did not exist.
[…]
Absurdism is the last proof that Christian truth is absolute and uncompromising, or else it is the same as no truth at all; and if there is no truth, if Christian truth is not to be understood literally and absolutely, if God is dead, if there is no immortality—then this world is all there is, and this world is absurd, this world is Hell.
We all are living in the clown world of an inverted society where evil is promoted as virtue and good as sin, but God knows how to turn evil to good. Like myself, many of you have recently humbled yourself before Him in part from being a witness to evil.
Nihilism by Father Rose had more of a philosophical tone than books I prefer, but it provided great value in showing me what godlessness really can bring—hell on earth. I pray to God that He can give us the strength to endure the severe tribulations that are sure to come in our lifetimes, to release ourselves from the bondage of this world and to prepare for the world to come.
Learn More: Nihilism by Seraphim Rose on Amazon
Insightful article Roosh bass! I see aspects of nihilism everywhere in the clown world ever since I turned to Him for guidance in my life. Turning to Jesus Christ has actually made me care less about what the world deems worthy and valuable (like fame, greed, and sexual conquests). All those things remind me of the hedonic treadmill; eventually they won’t provide the same dopamine-hit intensity like they did the first time. All the sin promoted by our culture as “good†only ends up corrupting our spiritual mind and body. The highs are ephemeral and we’ll continue to seek other avenues of sin only to fill that void that should have been filled with our love of God instead. The crazy thing is that most people are unaware that they are living in this absurdist reality and end up participating in it blindly. It’s sad to witness because it’s like they’ve been stuck the matrix all their lives. People could have a deeper and more everlasting happiness if they cultivate a relationship with God, it’s that simple. Reach out to God and pray that he will protect And guide you from the perversions and inversion of this world. Stay strong and continue with these articles because they help refocus the mind on what’s really important. Thanks Roosh.
The modern woman farts like rotten eggs because of the amount of sperm (yolk DNA) that she swallows.
Servant, I would not even go as far as you and say that, because I legitimately think that in a sane world, we would not have the feminist dystopia we have today and could live and collaborate with women to create healthy families, in a sort of a “great bargain compromise†type thing.
But that is not where we are today. To deny this is basic fact is to deny reality and to live in insanity.
It is very depressing to think that while I am a highly “eligible bachelor†as a widower without kids, who is in prime physical shape and great financial situation, has to pass up on marriage (as God intended) because of a total lack of quality, marriageable women is terrible.
Men and women do not get along in this country. Look at polls, single men support Trump at about 80% rate and single women are for Biden 75%.
Look at how women support indefinite lockdowns because they think collectively and are supporting the permanent curtailment of freedom for this false sense of security from CoronaVirus.
Men and women have such polar opposite goals, ideas, and priorities today, it is almost insane to think we can enter in a grand bargain of marriage and try to work for same goals. It is just folly. Like starting up a new business with a business associate who has totally different goals and plans than you do. It is a recipe for a bad business breakup. A breakup the male partner loses all and the female partner gets it all.
Only a fool would sign up for that. And I did not get to where I am at today by being a fool.
So if we put aside the slim chance of meeting a quality woman for marriage today, you are playing Russian Roulette with someone who does not really agree with you Almost anything and she has loaded 5 rounds in that 6-round drum and the man gets to go first.
That is the core of the problem. The feminists have succeeded making men and women into enemies when they were always intended, by God, to be partners in life. They have rigged the system against men to a point that they have to walk away if they have any brains. Wen the weight of the world becomes too overwhelming, Atlas simply shrugs.
Women getting the right to vote was a great victory for Jews and their NWO.
Lot of good stuff here, Roosh, thank you. Enjoy your last stretch of construction work and I look forward to your next video. God bless, brother.
Why on earth this piece of paper with “There is no God” on it – looks exactly like map of Poland??
Daryush, I know you hate Poland “by association”, because of your successful fornications there, but we Poles are not Satan. In fact, Satan attacks Poland in the very moment I’m writing this, as we have a neo-marxist revolution going on on the streets after our Constitutional Court ruled that killing unborn babies because “suspicion of disease” was unconstitutional.
What are you talking about? It looks nothing like Poland. Poland looks much closer to a square, whereas the paper she’s holding looks closer to being rectangular. If I had to compare it to the shape of a country, it would be much more similar to Ukraine or Turkey.
It is little bit flattened, but it is still map of Poland for sure with almost all details. I do not think Daryush did it entirely on purpose, but hardly total coincidence.
Well, now I know what a map of Poland looks like. I’d say your right about the top.
Why are there so many Lews in Poland?
What created the universe from nothing?
Who created G0d? A Lew?
1) Because the Haulow,cost wasn’t done properly.
2) The Creator
3) The Ju1ce created h3ll on earth like T0r-0nto, the Mark Lepine suburb of M0ntreal and Isla Vi$ta.
You Caucasians have no culture. You stole the religion of the Black and Arab man and appropriated it as your own with the Italian ped0phile posing as “Geezus”
I am half Italian and Italian guys are not pedos, there are very few cases of pedophilia among Italian men. You are taking the Catholic church scandal but that was NOT because of Italian priests. Look at the last names of the pedos, they are not Italian names.
Christianity flourished in Europe, in different flavors (Catholics and Orthodox), but you forget the Reformation and the current Charismatic reforms within Catholicism.
Pope Francis is a Marxist disgrace for sure, I deplore him, but I am not Catholic and have no say in the matter.
But do not blame all of Europe for the mess Christianity is in the continent. And stop blaming Italians, you have no idea what you are talking about.
As an African I find your comment quite appalling and distasteful to say the least. Christianity is not the religion of the Black man or the Arab, it is a religion of humanity. Christ came for all, no one race can claim. He came as neither black nor white but more in the middle ( middle eastern) to buttress that point.
The Soul After Death is also another interesting read by Father Seraphim Rose.
How was the universe created if it was nothing?
What if there was nothing before the universe was created?
What created the universe from nothing?
1) God.
2) Then we wouldn’t exist now.
3) God.
Humans should not be that egotistical that they should expect to understand everything about our universe.
It’s an absurd and flawed perspective, proving scientists wrong over, and over and over again.
This is the typical nonsense we hear today. Just because we cannot fully grasp such concepts or comprehend such complexities of Creation does not make them invalid or false.
This is the typical atheistic mindset. They sees themselves as gods and therefore, if they do not like or understand something, they simply treat it as false. It is an arrogance that baffles the sane and logical mind.
I guess this is what happens when a whole generation is raised by the Baby Boomers, in dummy factories we call “public schoolsâ€, and be told they are perfect just they way they are under this insane “self esteem at all costs†fantasy. The Millennials and the Gen Z are what what my friend correctly calls the “s#ithead generationsâ€.
And then these same “little gods†delete any comments they do not like on FB and Then report/ban any dissenting opinions on Tweeter. *sigh*
Atheism was borne out of the arrogance of megalomanic scientists.
appeal to complexity, god is infinitely simple
I like these book reviews you do. You do a good job of using quotes interspersed with your own comments and observations.I’m always interested in reading the book after reading your column.
I was wondering recently if someone who has a genuine, deep faith & relationship to the divine, can suffer from depression? You always hear that depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, however anyone I know who is depressed is often ambivalent if not hostile towards religion. Conversely, I’ve never met a devout person who wasn’t pretty happy-go-lucky
I know some pretty grumpy Christians. Perhaps they would be even grumpier without their beliefs.
Correlation doesn’t equate to causation.
I’m not sure why you’ve stated ‘grumpy Christians’ like it carries significance.
In my exploration of the Christian faith I’m yet to find anything suggesting Christians can’t feel, like any other human.
You have to carry your cross. A seed first has to die under ground before it is reborn above ground. We are all under ground.
A fair point made, but let’s remember seeking enlightenment is a process.
We are ultimately humans and the trials and tribulations of life would cause difficulty to even those with the strongest and deepest of faith.
Emotions are valid, they make us human.
Could you elaborate upon the hostility and ambivalence?
God bless
Here’s a couple of comic strips from a Christian who struggles with intense depression and anxiety, for a perspective on that:
https://adam4d.com/anxiety-depression-truth/
https://adam4d.com/meds/
Ecclesiastes 7:1-3
“You know when you are doing wrong; your whole being tells you, and that feeling is God’s voice. If you don’t listen to Him, He becomes quiet. But when you wake up from your delusion and want to do right, He will guide you. In wanting us to depend on Him alone, God does not mean that you should not think for yourself; he want you to use your initiative. If you fail to seek conscious atunement with God first, you cut of the Source, so you cannot receive His help. When you look to Him first for all things, He will guide you; God will reveal to you what your mistakes are so you can change yourself and change the course of your life. Remember, greater than a million reasonings of the mind is to sit and meditate on God until you feel calmness within. Then say to the Lord: I cannot solve this problem alone, even if I thought a zillion different thoughts; but I can solve it by placing it into Your hands, asking first for Your guidance, then thinking out the various angles for a solution. (…) Beyond the senses and the intellect, intuition manifests in the calm consciousness as feeling, perceived through the heart. (…) Though colossal intellects and famous theologians may be well read about the soul, they may nevertheless understand little about it. On the other hand, even illiterates given to deep meditation will be able clearly to comprehend the nature of the soul from their own experience.” Paramahansa Yogananda
tldr; author is an idol worshipper pagan
he was deeply into biblical teachings…
I don’t think it is a good idea to use religion to oppose science. It is the duty of science to understand as much as possible the universe and the duty of religion to spiritually guide people. Please don’t make this mistake anymore. They can be together in peace. And by the way did you know that the guy who actually proposed the big bang was actually a priest who was trying to prove the universe had a beginning so a creator? If you try to oppose science by religion…it is not a smart move at all.
As Maplestan sheeple would ask me “But who created the Creator?”
Canaduh worships the $hyster and the femiMarxist.
A guy I knew who lived in Trudopeland attempted soycide many times due to the culture of Tronno.
In his near-d3ath experiences, he witnessed elves, cyborgs and angelic beings. He told me that it was the most pleasant feeling in his life.
He also had a good sense of humor. In the near-d3ath landscape, he felt liberated from the Shanty Binx and the ho0k n0sed $hyster.
1) there is no sainthood. sainthood is created by men. you either die and go to heaven, or go to the pit.
2) stop calling religious “leaders”, father.
1) One should strive to be the best they can be inline with the lord. The aim is to be as good a human as possible, and in hope of making it to heaven for eternity, rather than hell.
2) You’re sounding like a typical egotistical Satanist with a problem with authority trying to dismantle faith.
why the personal attack? did i personally attack roosh? who is being egotistical? did i say anything about disobeying authorities?
i merely referred to
1) 1 Timothy 2:5. there is only one intercessor/ mediator – Yeshua. so stop praying to the dead. while doing good honours God, it is not sufficient – we live in the flesh and will have our failings, every single day (even a single bad thought is impure). we need Yeshua to wipe our slate clean.
2) Matthew 23:9.
Wrong!
Why does RooshV allow evangelicals to use his site as a pulpit? I and others don’t go on evangelicals sites and post smack ðŸ˜
Roosh, one issue with Nihilism today is that many people, including many earnest Christians, have lost hope in a good future ahead For the next generation.
I myself am one of these people (to a lesser extent). Those who have read my comments on RetOfKings and here know I am a widower with no kids. Young enough to re-marry easily (getting to my late 30s now, so tons and tons of women wanting to marry in my age group), and with the support system (financial, etc) to have kids.
I always thought that one day I would have kids. At one point, I actually considered marrying again, in an attempt to stay true to my Christian faith, which I have kept since I was a young boy. But today, I look at the country I choose to live in (the USA) and Western Europe where my parents hail from, and I do not see a future ahead.A harsh and impoverished future, one where tech monopolies, oligarchs, and govts impose total control and freedom of even basic thought is punished. This is not even a Brazilified future for America and Western Europe, it is far worse. It is a blend of China, minus the Chinese superpower status. I, like many others see a pure dystopia that makes 1984 look like a pleasure cruise.
It is also no secret I will NOT get married again, not in a feminist country where A flaky woman can steal most of what I worked hard for and send me to prison for 30 years for “s#its and giggles†and to gain advantage on a divorce or to “get back at meâ€.
It is simply not possible to marry anymore, not in a society that will treat me like a 3rd class citizen without any rights to life, liberty, fair due process in court, or even basic humanity. Because of my immutable qualities (white, male, hetero, Christian), I am treated worse than foreign Jihadist.
I think many Christian men today know exactly what I am talking about. We still hold on to faith and still hold out for a miracle from God, because the world ahead of us is purely dystopian. becoming permanently unemployed because someone “doxed you†on social media for a “thought crimeâ€. Or being charged with a felony crime for defending your own home (see the McCluskeys in Missouri for an example) It is Brazil in a nutshell.
Look at mass immigration and how volatile this country has become. Jobs outsourced, mass immigration to lower wages even more, and then stoke anti-white hatred starting at kindergarten and literally have people hired for jobs, accepted to colleges, and even criminally charged based on skin color. Brazil is a preview of what America and Western Europe will look like in 30 years, heck what it will be in 10 years if we have an amnesty and 100 million new immigrants flood into the country in 10 short years. Brazil is relatively peaceful compared to the type of civil unrest and violent we are talking about in a formerly rich country that is on the verge of collapse. It so so bad, I think we are HOPING for Brazil and not Yugoslavia or Venezuela.
The worst of it all is the lack of freedom. The Western world have reached such Depravaty and self-destructive folly, in Scotland they are pushing a bill that would require monitoring of all homes for “hate speech†and arrest people who say anything unapproved inside their homes. How would they monitor your home? Not sure, it is unclear on the bill, but probably through Mandatory Alexa-type systems installed in every home, church, and workplace or using cell phones as listening devices.
1984 seems tame compared to what is coming down the pike. Given that if Biden wins next week we will have Kamala come in a week later and take over and impose national shutdowns (backed by the military if you believe her 2019 primary comments), then you know what is next. They will disrupt the food supply to gain total authoritarian control over the population, like they did during Holodomor or Like they do in North Korea.
So to stay optimistic enough to live and be as happy as one can be while serving God is possible, to bring up a child in this dystopia is really hard.
And I get it, the J’s were facing same situation during the Babylonian captivity, but they had a promise from God they would be freed in 70 years. We, today, do not have such assurance, so what you may call “nihilistic mindsetâ€, may simply be a realistic view that raising a kid given this reality is really really hard.
Not discouraging others from having kids, PLEASE DO SO, but for me, that is simply too much to ask, to spend my life and energy raising a kid to be indoctrinated by a 1930s germany style of schooling to turn on me or become a degenerate, despite my best efforts (which may be outlawed by then and replaced with 1930s German style of social cohesion).
Is that nihilism or giving up/black pilling? I guess it could be seen that way, if I had completely given up on living a happy and productive life, minus re-marrying again and have kids.
My .02 cents on this. I know it is a lot, but this is a serious topic that many may think about often.
Christian Cool,
From your posts, you were blessed to have been married to a virtuous woman, and remained married until her death. You have my utmost respect (as for any other man like you) for doing this.
Your journey shoots holes in the red pill/mgtow/black pill/PUA narrative. In my circles, everyday life, and faith base, I see far more like you, then I see unlike you.
That being said, to your valid points on current social conditions.
I see no silver bullet other than St Matthew’s gospel of taking up your cross daily and following Christ, and enduring until the end (now comes the unsolicited scripture quoting and impertinent sermons from the born again crowd on here).
Some may submit the Benedict Option, thereby forming faith based communities to withdraw from the world, while some (think the Gospel Coalition and ERLC crew) preach “engaging the cultureâ€, and offering up some watered down feel good capitulation to the world.
Some other things (that you already know) like voting (biting your lip until it bleeds), keeping a low profile, and being proficient with firearms (I just purchased my second 1911 Colt this week, and no, I don’t need some $1,500 over rated AR15). Further, boycotting the state universities in lieu of schools like Hillsdale College, Benedictian College, Le Tourneau University (for Engineering and STEM), and trade schools. Many of the name Christian colleges have become woke. Still yet, home schooling or private faith based schools, avoiding occupations that appeal to the woke (think education and government to name a few), tuning out Hollywood and the entertainment industry, limiting contact with the woke, and avoiding progressive areas (Portland, Austin, Minneapolis/St Paul, Chicago, NYC, Raleigh Durham, California, etc.).
Hi Zoli!
Sorry for the late reply, I had been working hard to help get out the vote (only to see the whole thing be stolen brazenly and publicly as the world watched and did nothing… until today, Justice Alito seems to be giving us breathing room to tackle this in the courts).
So first things first, yeah, since we both have been posting comments before, we got to know each other’s way of thinking quite a bit. I feel extremely blessed and lucky to have married my late wife, even thogh I am pretty unapologetically Alpha, I admit I could not have made the gains I have in education and finances without her. She truly was a blessing from God and I still feel the sting of guilt today that I get to reap the beenfits of what we built together and now she is not around to ejoy, which is a tragedy. Not just a tragedy for me, but one for my community as whole, since she was a wonderful, pretty, and caring Christian woman. I was not 22 when we married and we started from scratch and I thank God for that blessing of a woman in my life, I mean this.
That said, we never had kids because in our pursuit of better financial stability and for me to be able to afford to have her be a stay-at-home mom on my income alone, she passed before we had any kids (in a way, I am grateful for that, last thing I wanted was for my kids to endure losing their mom).
Thing is, I was always somehow been flirting with the Red Pill over the years, even before that was “a thing onlineâ€. I “officially†became Red Pilled 2 years before she passed, and she was shocked at how much more determined and more aware of things like McChurchianism, white knighting, and the absurd treatment of men in our society. The Red Pill had a profoundly positive impact in my life, I made even bigger strides after being Red Pilled.
Your post, however, saddens me to hear I am not the only guys in my sitution that is just weary of marriage and kids anymore. That bodes badly for our country for sure.
Some (maybe even Roosh, whom I have always greatly admired over the years – and still do), may think that I (and perhaps even you) are nihilists.
That could not be furether from the truth. Just because I have “given up†on the hopes of raising a child in this country today (which if Trump loses in the courts, will become a literal 3rd world hellhole dominated by China), is a terrible idea.
I cannot say that is Nihilist. I think that is not even so much being “red pilledâ€, looking at the dystopia growing around us and denying it is happening is a level of denial that borderlines on insanity. That is like getting a cancer diagnosis and pretending it is just a bad stomachache.
I can also say that the CoronaVirus and the insanity that followed this hysteria (lockdowns, mask mandates, Karens calling cops on people refusing the useless Chinese-made masks), and the willingness of 80% of Americans to simply give up their freedoms so willy-nilly was the last straw for me. Do I want to raise a kid in a country that cane be whipped into such hysteria so easily and allow all civil rights to end like this?
Looking ahead, we are not looking at a positive world, not even the outlines of some light at the end of this tunnel right now. Totalitarianism and authoritarianism are likely to become the norms now. The Chinese system is what the globalists who run tech, finance, and academia wants and now may have the power to implement. And IF Biden manages to “Complete The Stealâ€, it is hard to see a bright future ahead, especially if they pass an amnesty of any kind. If you want a sign America is finished, look for an amnesty for illegals of any kind. Utah and Wyoming immediately become battleground States, while every other State becomes solid blue overnight.
Given Lindsay Graham, who just got re-elected is already talking about this if Biden wins, it is easy to see how bleak it looks with endless lockdown, the almost total curtailment of speech under threat of prison or permanent unemployment, attempted gun bans, and simply an impoverish future for most of the next generation of Americans.
Continued….
So Zoli, the problem with “The Benedict Option†(from that book) is that a full retreat of any kind will not last in the totalitarian regime the left wants to set-up in this country. And they are close, very very close, in fact they are an election fraud and an amnesty away from achieving it.
How can anyone think they can “live in segregated Christian communities†without having the totalitarians come after them?? It is preposterous. The left does not believe in “live and let live anymoreâ€. They demand total compliance and conformity or face harsh social consequences. I saw this in Brazil in the early 1990s when I lived there. Outside of Scandinavia, I have never seen a people, like the Brazilians. They conform to whatever the elites determine for them. No one questions anything. “If it is in the news, then it is true†told me a Brazilian I met here in Florida a couple years back. That is their mindset. The mindset of a people who lived for decades under authoritarianism.
The other issue I have with the Benedict Option of full retreat is that these same authoritarians will NOT allow what the “Benedicts†want to do, which is to raise their kids as they see fit and home school them.
The totalitarian will call the Benedicts “bigots†or “religious extremists indoctrinating and abusing kids†and etc. “Racist†and “white supremacists†probably coming their way too. That is basically the biggest flaw in the Benedict Option plan. They simply will be vilified and the totalitarians will not allow them to live in peace. I doubt they will leave the Amish alone much longer either. They demand total obedience and conformity, think the H’s Youth in Germany in the 1930s.
The other problem is also that people like Amy Coney Barrett or Scalia will simply not gonna be around in large enough numbers, given the level of indoctrination and discrimination we face in Universities to keep the Supreme Court majority (over time) to protect said liberties. It is not gonna happen long-term and we know this. This process will simply speed up the more real Christians “go Benedictâ€.
So I don’t know…. maybe I have become a bit nihilist since the Corona Shutdowns and this election. It is had not to be. That does not change my devotion to God or my desire to live as happily as I can.
I had always promised my wife (and she to me) that we would move on and re-mary one day, and to live meaningful lives as much as we could, if we ever became widowed. Today, I feel like I cannot make good on that promise anymore, if it means raising a child in the dystopia that seems to be heading our way soon. That, more than anything, stings for me, it is the one thing I could not do for her, even though I have tried and considered re-marrying at one point even. It would just be terrible to raise a kid in this environment today, just too bleak of a future to do so.
Cool,
I’d say you’re not a nihilist (nor am I), but we’re both “realistsâ€. We live in the real world, and we see reality as it is.
I don’t identify with any of this red pill worldview, nor have I seen it openly avowed outside the pages of the internet world.
I’d ascribe to a “masculinist†perspective, but I want nothing to do with this other world of the disaffected and villainous red pill.
There once was a time when a widower like you, childless, and in the prime of his life, would’ve been a catch for women. But today, you’d need a string of failed marriages, or a brood of out of wedlock children by multiple women on social services, or common law wives, to validate you. That being said, I’ll be turning 63 this winter, and the shenanigans and hypergamy you, and others face (and this is not the nefarious former ROK site we’re on) in the dating/mating game, is not new hat. Back in the day, I faced it, and had it flaunted in my face, as did my late father, and his father before him.
I see the Benedict Option as somewhat valid in intent, but like you, impractical in implementing, especially in the woke authoritarian world we live in today.
While I still submit avoidance can help, one is not exempt from the ambushes, and the “bearing of false witness†(book of Exodus) by the woke activists. It’s no longer being mouthy or irritable. It’s a new form of a puritanical virtue signaling religion for the non-religious neopagans and NONES. Today it’s go after someone, bear false witness, scream like a petulant child to get your way, then take them down. I still contend that pushing back, will win some victories, be they few and far between, going forward. While both our faith bases sustain us, if it comes to this, I’m an old man now, and will I be able to take up the sword, where as you still can?
Zoli, I never got the feeling that you are not a nihilist. I wonder if you ever taken a MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test. I have little doubt that you are a “P” (perceiving) personality as well. We are the realists. That does NOT mean we are “negative”, just that we see the world and life for what it is, not as we want it to be.
Would you say you are a traditionalist/conservative Christian believer?
I have to admit, I have taken the red pill whole years ago… while my wife was still alive. It shocked her to see me react much more directly and with much more force regarding to clear injustices against men.
Just the other day I saw this article about a typical British woman who slashed, scared, and almost blinded a man (shredded his face!) at a bar in London. Her punishment? The judge told her to “grow up”. It sounds like a joke, but it is not.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/28/woman-scarred-mans-face-pint-glass-spared-jail-told-grow-10999607/
Pre-Red Pill, my old “white knight” (to an extent) self would have said something dumb like “wounds like this guy was a Beta and allowed himself to be taken out by some drunk woman”. Today, I would call for equal justice and for her to get 20 years in prison, which is about what a man would get for an aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon. That is what the RP did for me… it changed my perception of women and opened my eyes to injustice.
The Red Pill also helped me survive my prior line of work (legal field), before I went into business consulting. No way I could have survived and thrived without the RP and my ability to better handle the almost entirely female staff.
The danger with the RP is that it can turn into the Black Pill… totally giving up. Depression and failure.
That is what worried me about The Benedict Option. The issue is that CoronaVirus has opened up an opportunity for the global elites to literally interfere with every aspect and minutia of our lives.
In the past, Republicans and Democrats would win and take over gov’t during certain periods, each would make changes, sometimes really bad ones (i.e. ObummerCare, bad justices on court, etc)… but now… the totalitarians are creating laws and rules about whom you can be close to. Who you are allowed to hug or talk to. Who is allowed into your home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc (under threat of being ratted out to the Gestapo by your so called “neighbors”). How you are allowed to dress (i.e. masks, etc), when and where you can be outside, etc. How long you are locked down. How you can buy food (i.e. they shut your job down using “medical lockdowns” and then you become desperate for govt handouts for food and shelter). Saint Fauci is now declaring “masks indefinitely, even with a Corona vaccine that is 100% effective”. Totalitarianism is here to stay, unless we really fight back!
But when you add Tech Oligarchies like FB and Tweeter, tracking and monitoring of everything you do, say or where you go, and you have a perfect storm. It is 1984 on steroids. This is not gonna be easy to unwind, especially if Creepy Uncle Joe manages to “complete the steal”.
It went from being a far away problem in DC to inside your home. That is why benedict Options will NOT work. The totalitarians will send the Gestapo to your home to take away your homeschooled kids, for instance under guise of “abuse” or “racist/homophobic teachings”. Â Trust me, right now, one call to Dept Children and Families gets you a “Friendly” visit by an armed cop with a “social worker”. Imagine if Christians “Go full Benedict” and have no voice in the culture or politics… being away from society will never happen now. The govt is everywhere, in every detail of our lives.Â
Zoli, while my previous comment awaits approval…. one more thing…
You said that “there once was a time when a widower like you, childless, and in the prime of his life, would’ve been a catch for women.”  I will susprise you when I say that I AM indeed a “catch”. The thing is, even within my “evangelical church” community here, I refuse to date within the church. Why? Because of what happens when you allow some middle-aged married woman who “loves to play matchmaker” to set-you-up with this “you need to meet my (friend/cousin/sister/etc) lady, she is amazing!”.
Why? Because all it take sis one date with said “amazing lady” and get ready for the backlash next time you see Mrs. Matchmaker at church. Her “amazing friend” is anything but, and if she feels slighted by me or feels that “I am not good enough for her, how dare I waste her time”, all hell will come down on me. Any small “fault” on my part can result in a barrage of hate by some woman and burn me before my own church group (which is quite clos,e the men’s adult group is small only 7 of us, but we do tons of stuff, like bowling, gunrange, Bible study every other week, and much more).
I have to say, I am stunned to hear that even you being 63 now, faced the same BS hypergamy (dating games) as we do today. I am not yet 40 and hypergamy has always existed with women. The issue is that it was under control, to the extent that after marriage, her hypergamy was over, as divorce was hard to obtain and local social structures (church, friends, neighbors, etc) would keep her hypergamy in check.
Being false witness against a man of any kind (FalseRape, false SexHarassment complaints, etc) today is rewarded with online “celeb status”, gets a woman promoted at work, or gets her tons of sympathy and attention. Being caught falsely accusing a man of a crime carries no punishment for the woman, so why not do it.
I read this story about this man who fixed a woman’s car free and she falsely accused him just for fun. The guy spent 2 weeks in maximum security prison with no bond over his white knighting for this woman.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6996829/Good-Samaritan-says-woman-accused-assaulting-fixing-car-up.html
Note: I previously stunned many on ROK and Dalrock’s site when I said my strategy at work for years was to say I am a “discreet gay man”, which immunized me against all false harassment accusations a straight man faces. heck, I even got invited to baby showers (which I never attended, but gave some small gift anyway), and was treated humanely and not like a threat. Â Is that a little lie? Sure. But I managed to navigate extremely hostile legal office environment for a decade safely and effectively. Now I work in business consulting and choose my clients and do not have to deal with HR nonsense anymore.
Will you be able to take up this battle for the soul and future of this country? I don’t know… but I can tell you this: the older you are, the less “life in prison” really acts as a deterrent. My .02 cents on that! LOL :-DÂ
Kind of burying the lede to classify this Eugene dude’s homosexuality as an “illicit relationship.”
“There is no God”- bellows a bolshevik as he storms into the barrack, disturbing whatever semblance of peace there could be in a gulag, just as the prisoners in their bunks were getting ready to fall asleep after a long day of toiling.
Unable to elicit a reaction, he repeats the mantra even louder, making sure his voice penetrates into every corner of the shanty structure. But again, nobody would even turn his head, with many barely alive.
Undeterred, the uniformed champion of the working masses, gives it yet another try to re-educate the enemies of the people, and engage them in an enlightening conversation.
Бога нет! – There is no God! – he screams loud enough to be heard outside from a distance.
“But there’s the devil”- a clear, steady, authoritative voice replies plainly, without excitement, interrupting the brief period of silence.
“This issue, I haven’t yet pondered”- stunned and left speechless for a moment, the unwelcome visitor gives his sheepish response turning on his heel.
One of the things I remember from father Krolikowski’s book entitled Stolen Childhood.
I love reading these articles. Roosh’s journey echoes my own in many respects. As an atheist until very recently, it has struck me how I began to perceive the machinations of the hordes in blind service to the “shiny one” first,which then very rapidly led to the realisation that we are being led away from God by the master manipulators of material and emotion, who it is now clear to me are not really atheists at all but are luciferians or atheists in servitude to luciferians.
You said: The true Nihilist places his father [Satan] in things that pass away… It should say: The true Nihilist places his faith in things that pass away….
I love all of Father Seraphim Rose’s work. This is a fantastic article, filled with great quotes and insightful commentary. I very much enjoyed reading this.