To understand the System, you must understand social status and signaling.
Social status is “the position or rank of a person within a society.”
Status is so pervasive that it’s causally slipped into MANY lyrics.
“Back in the days when I was a teenager / Before I had status and before I had a pager.”
The quest for status leads to what Alain De Botton coined status anxiety.
The desire for social status causes you to sometimes second-guess yourself.
Questions like, “Do I measure up,” and, “Am I good enough” are premised upon a desire for status and social recognition.
Alpha status, which is assumed to be desirable, increases stress.
An alpha NEVER has enough and must ALWAYS be on guard against challengers.
You can achieve status by building yourself up or tearing others down.
When an alpha lion takes over a new pride, he kills the existing cubs to avoid future challengers.
Status is always changing.
Today’s alpha has lions waiting to flat out kill him.
Status anxiety NEVER ends.
The System has totally hacked your brain.
A virtuous man of legitimate accomplishment achieves acclaim and most importantly, status.
Although some geniuses like Nietzsche die without recognition, on a long enough timeline your talent will generally be recognized.
The System does not want men of legitimate accomplishment, as achieving mastery generally requires an investment of TIME rather than MONEY.
The System has taught you to seek instant gratification.
“Life hacking” is one of the MANY tricks of the System.
You want to learn how to play the guitar?
Buy a used one at a garage sale and spend 8 hours each and every day playing it.
That is NOT profitable for the System.
The System wants you to live under the illusion that you’re actually mastering a skill… and the System will sell you goods and accessories to help you maintain that terrible illusion.
It takes years to understand the martial arts, and decades to actually master them.
The System would rather have you buy a Tap-Out t-shirt to signal to others that you “train.”
The System has taught you to seek status through consumerism.
The System has tricked literally EVERYONE, which is why you feel you must drive a certain car, wear a certain watch, and live in a certain home in order to impress other agents of the system.
You can hack the System.
You CANNOT avoid a desire for social status.
To live in society is to simply desire status.
As Aristotle observed, “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human.”
What if you changed YOUR conception of status?
What if YOU stopped caring about name brand clothing and luxury goods?
What if YOU instead shopped for comfort and utility rather than to “signal your status with luxury goods”?
What if you decided to stop trying to “keep up with the Jones’es?”
What if you chose to measure your status by the lives you’ve changed rather than the gadgets you’ve acquired and the complete strangers who you’ve impressed?
Do you want status or REAL actual inner peace?
Although I write about social dominance, my quest for dominance is MOSTLY largely defensive.
I want to be left alone to think, write, travel, and simply fuck.
Maybe that is NOT particularly your way.
Maybe you want people to THINK that you’re super cool, hot, and successful.
If that is the path you have chosen, recognize it comes with a cost and do NOT ever complain or cry about the high cost of status.
And above all else, be honest about what YOU actually REALLY want.
I can’t tell you what way to choose. I can only show you my way.
Until next time.
Your man,
-Elijah “The Realist”
