So, you've taken the Red Pill. You've had your eyes opened. The truth of the world is slowly coming into clearer resolution. You're starting to see and understand the code that underlies every social and sexual interaction. You're developing an acceptance (and maybe even an appreciation) for the transactional nature of every interaction you have with other people.

Most importantly of all though, you're finally in touch with members of an awakened community. These people were trapped in the Matrix, they shared in the same delusions, they suffered similar losses and humiliation, and they managed to free themselves. They get it. It's possible that you've spent your whole life trying (unsuccessfully) to communicate with people in Real Talk, only to be spurned for your gracelessness and cold, hard reasoning. And now you've finally found a community where speaking truthfully is not only possible, but encouraged.

The Red Pill can feel like a haven at times - a place of rationality, where people speak to one another directly without ulterior motive or hostile intent. So naturally, you want to spend as much time here as possible, speaking with ease and comfort in a place where everything makes sense and risk and deception don't factor into the equation.

But here's an idea I want to put out there: Regardless of your own awakening, the world is still populated mostly by people who maintain The Collaborative Delusion and communicate with one another in the language of Pretty Lies. And these people are also the ones in possession of the things you want in life - the money, the status, the power, and the subservience to your will. In order to wrest these things from their grasp, you must interact with them, and like it or not, these people will move to block you if you dare to shatter their tenuous illusion with the guileless tones of Real Talk.

If your goal in life is to achieve wealth and success, then you must plug yourself back into the Matrix and speak its language once again - not as a recaptured slave, but as an awakened man whose goal is to covertly seize power, now free of the shackles that previously inhibited your manoeuvres.

We were all fluent in the language of Pretty Lies at some point in our lives - because we BELIEVED the lies. But unplugging from the Matrix changes all that. Your grasp of the language weakens as you gain a foothold in reality. And the more awakened you become, the more unclean and demeaning it can feel to hear the language (much less speak it yourself).

But speak it you must. It is the only language that the indoctrinated can hear without breaking into paroxysms of denial and hatred. Like any language, you only become fluent in Pretty Lies by speaking it. And the longer you spend in havens of Real Talk, the less practice you will have becoming fluent.

I posit that we treat Red Pill communities like this one as a sort of break room. You can come here to swap theories, insights, and amusing anecdotes by the water cooler. But you cannot live here. The break room is not where you make your money. If you wish to grow in power and influence, you must set aside your pride, steel your nerves, and plug back in, this time as an unshackled man with his eyes wide open.