What is a Good Man?

Marcus Aurelius tried answering this question long ago. His solution was to stop arguing about it, and just be one.

His philosophy is one I think the Red Pill community espouses today.

It’s better to do, than to think.

It’s better to take into action ideas, than to read the best ideas.

This is a place where men share their stories and insights into what makes a good man.

They go out into the world, test their mettle, and come back with solutions, and like a commander of war, they beget their fellow soldiers to follow them into battle.

I can see this community is sometimes torn a bit in different directions. We’re all trying to decide what makes a Good Man. And the men among us who decide to take up that mantle each have their own version, their own interpretation.

And surely, a Good Man must necessarily depend on the kind of Man you are. It depends on context and circumstances. It must necessarily differ from person to person.

But I also believe a Good Man transcends his culture and he transcends his suffering. We know these individuals as soon as we see them.

The Red Pill seems like a community of disenfranchised men trying to come to terms with a new reality in the world.

Not surprisingly, there is much anger. Maybe some fear. But as Jordan Peterson once said, “Anger is a very good emotion for overcoming fear.”

Surely, you’ve read some of the stories of the men who were sodomized by society. Divorced men, fat men, a very many hurt men.

The anger is justified. But I ask, is it necessary?

I can think of no greater and quicker path to resentment than that anger which many hold dear. It’s a wonderful tool for transformation. But it’s also a path to becoming a monster--that is, the worst version of yourself.

It is not a weakness to show compassion for your fellow man. And I don’t believe a Good Man gets defensive. They know their worth, and they realize they don’t know everything.

That’s why I believe a Good Man must necessarily be humble.

They must.

This life is far too complex, far too ambiguous to go through life like a Messiah amongst Men. You cannot grow that way.

And you must be confident. So it’s a delicate tension, a beautiful tension.

See, a Good Man knows what he must he do.

So he does.