Cultivating Honor

Honor is to “regard with great respect.” Who? Yourself!

It’s a concept that has plagued men for centuries. I say “men” because honor is simply something different in women, something more along the lines of empathy or charity.

I say it has plagued men for centuries because it has, because honor has never been an easy thing to cultivate. The world is not very good at rewarding honor. In the modern world, we watch people become successful by lying, cheating, acting like thugs, and often getting themselves elected to public office.

Where is the pay off in honor? Good guys always finish last! In the mediated reality we call culture, we see a lot of thuggery and women pursuing it, as if it is some desirable quality in men. The most tweeted photo by women recently was of a good-looking felon with turquoise eyes. Kanye West comes to mind, people see his success, his wealth, his women, and think what the heck is going on there??

Honor is a somewhat irrational thing, in terms of it doesn’t always get you want you want immediately. That’s a real problem in our culture right now, we measure success with external things and we want quick results. Honor is a long-term investment requiring some sacrifice and often it will appear as if you are finishing last, while those with no honor harvest all the goodies.

When push comes to shove however, and everything else has fallen away, your own honor, your ability to “regard yourself with great respect” is a powerful tool. It is all you need and sometimes all you will have.

When I read these churchian gamers and some of the red pills, that is what screams out at me the loudest, all these men desperately seeking their honor, arguing with themselves over whether or not honor has any value, trying to define themselves by what they perceive women want.  It shouldn’t really be about women at all however, it should be about you. How you treat women who are often smaller, weaker, and sometimes even more confused than you are, is certainly a piece of the puzzle, but it begins with you.

Honor is a virtue you cultivate for yourself, because it is what speaks to who you are as a person. Honor is what defines YOU, not anyone else. It is where you find your authentic power, not the false bravado we often see on TV, but the real deal.

Your honor really matters. It is vitally important. It should be your work, your mission in life, to cultivate the ability to regard yourself with great respect. That concept seems to be getting lost in many places and it’s kind of sad because people are seeking external solutions for what is an internal problem and that will lead to nothing but despair and unhappiness.

Honor is not fragile like Venetian glass, it has genuine bouncibility, completely unrelated to those whose egos are so fragile, they must have everyone around them walk on eggshells. Honor is worth cultivating because it gives you a resilience that is simply unshakable.