Apparently aliens are stealing my thoughts while I sleep. That is the only explanation that my cold-addled brain can come up with right now for the phenomenon I have just witnessed. First, Bill Powell wrote a truly excellent post on what happens when you take the Red Pill:

Taking the Red Pill has consequences beyond what anyone can anticipate when they start the journey for truth. Personally, it was something I had to do when I first encountered this section of the webz. Do I regret any of it? Not at all but I’ll admit it has made my life a hell of a lot harder than it would have if I had stayed in my blissful little bubble of working for the corporations, raising what I supposed would be a happy family, paying my taxes like a good little drone and believing the drivel that I was being fed on a regular basis. The thing is once you swallow the Red Pill, you can never go back.

But what happens is you become one of the very few who know how far down the rabbit hole goes. And as such, everything around you changes. Your interactions with your family and friends, the way you consume media and pretty much everything else that has to do with any social interaction.

And once you learn, everyone around you quickly becomes tiresome. People that you might have had a connection with after a while get to the point where you can’t stand the drivel pouring out of their mouths. And so you have to get away from all of that shit on a regular basis or you’ll go insane. Solitude becomes something to be desired rather than shunned. You’d rather withdraw than interact. Because every time you try to help them understand, you’re looked upon as a freak, someone who’s checked out of the narrative that bathes everyone every minute of the day they’re not asleep.

He’s absolutely right. Every single word he wrote in that post is true. And everything he wrote mirrors the dialogue that goes on in my head, daily, as I observe the world around me. I’ve experienced this isolation firsthand, particularly when discussing politics, religion, natural rights, and gender roles with my family. They love me, and I love them, but there is no question that I do not see eye to eye with them. When I began taking regular Red Pill doses, it quickly became clear to me that much of what they had taught me about how to be a man was flatly wrong. And what’s worse is, they didn’t know any better. Trying to educate them about what I had learned didn’t help- indeed, I’ve gotten into nearly violent disagreements with both of my parents regarding my seeming indifference to the suffering of others, and my hatred of the State. My absolutist position on gun rights appalls them. My refusal to bow to the pieties of political correctness on issues of race and religion threaten to make me an outcast at family gatherings. My “extremist” position on feminism makes my sister look at me like I’m from another planet. Yet none of them can come up with any kind of rational counterargument against what I’m telling them- they’ve largely stopped bothering to discuss these things with me by now, actually. I can literally see them retreat whenever I bring the subject up, just so that they can avoid the possibility of their comfortable little world being invaded by uncomfortable realities.

It’s even more difficult with the average person on the street or in your life. Bill’s not wrong when he says that solitude becomes desirable- because trying to talk with the sheeple becomes so onerous that the comfort of one’s own mind becomes far more pleasing and valuable. I have very limited tolerance for stupidity and BS to begin with, and when I have to listen to my co-workers talking about what happened on this or that TV show, or the latest Apple product, or the newest celebrity gossip, I often have to physically restrain myself from getting up and slapping people upside the head for being small-minded morons. Solitude goes from being useful to being a physical need, a way of dealing with the endless stupidity and shallowness of the world around you. As an INTJ (i.e. an off-the-scale introvert), solitude is my coping mechanism, and without it, my mind begins to suffer.

And then along came Danger & Play with a very different, but equally brilliant, take on solitude:

Solitude is a requisite to enlightenment. In undoubtedly the best modern treatment on the need for solitude, William Deresiewicz explains how groupthink leads to poor management decisions and costs lives.

Perhaps in an effort to not arise fear in truth seekers, few have explained that enlightenment is painful. Man, a social animal that he is, is not designed for solitude. Yet the more you[seek] fellowship with truth, the harder it is to [seek] fellowship with your fellow man.

In ancient Greece, criminals were given the choice between banishment and death – many choose death. In prison the worst punishment a man can receive is to be forced into solitary confinement. Some studies have shown that solitary confinement is more damaging to a man’s psyche than torture.

Charles Bukowski, a misanthrope if ever there was one, had to venture out with his fellow man to the horse races before he could write. Writing is as solitary an activity as any, and yet many writers work from within a coffee shop.

Perhaps lacking self-awareness or a sense of irony, how many guys brag about being loners within the community of an Internet forum?

And he too is right. Solitude, though absolutely necessary and inevitable for those who take the Red Pill, will damage a man’s psyche over time. Lord knows, my desire for solitude has damaged plenty of relationships with friends and family. Yet, I would not trade the enlightenment that I have now for anything that I have lost. To be self-aware is to be isolated, and there is nothing you can do about this except face the pain and the fear of being alone.

The knowledge that I have now has come at great cost. In just the last year alone, I had to learn the hard way that hard work will not be rewarded if you do not keep your mouth shut and refuse to toe the party line; that, with very few exceptions, women are largely useless in the workplace (it is a source of immense personal pride that I happened to train and mentor one of those exceptions); that the majority of people I interact with in person daily are just not worth knowing and are not useful to me or my mission; that most modern advice about how to be a worthy and good man is flat-out BS. These truths make it very difficult for any man to “fit in” with modern society, and the temptation to withdraw completely becomes overwhelming. I have given in to that temptation many, many times, and simply disengaged from others for very long stretches. Believe me when I say that this will cost you. It certainly has me.

Do not lose heart, though. Do not think that the truth is not worth the price. Through the crucible of pain and temptation, enlightenment can come. And when it comes, you will realise that the price that you paid for your knowledge was completely worth it, because you are a stronger man for enduring the pain. Take that knowledge, become a better man, and continue onwards and upwards with your mission.