Becoming the renaissance man.

A lot of the focus of this subreddit has been interactions with women and physical fitness. I think this is missing out some important aspects of self improvement that should be equally important to red pill men. All men should strive to achieve a level of mastery. Mastery of ones own mind, endeavours, physical self, ones relationships and ones understanding of the world around him.

There is plenty of information here about mastery of mind and relationships, /r/fitness and /r/bodyweightfitness have been very good for mastery of physical self.

The idea of being a renaissance man, or polymath, is that you are good at everything. Obviously being good at everything is impossible, but there are some core areas in which being good at will allow you to cruise through 90% of life.

Mastering and understanding the world around you

In order to dominate, you must first understand. I would argue that almost all great men achieved great things because they knew where they were, where they wanted to be and most importantly, what is required to get there. The foundation of this is comprehensive knowledge of their environment.

Knowing where you are and holding your own without resorting to insults or degrading your integrity:

A hero of mine has always been Christopher Hitchens, who I'm sure a lot of you here admire. The crux of Hitchens' strength of character was his confidence in his knowledge. Reversion to absolute empirical truth during any argument and an incredibly vast knowledge of what was going on in the world. Coupling this to his own code (mastery of self), he was able to argue almost anything to a point where it was at least logically irrefutable. This knowledge does not appear out of nowhere.

I think there are two important elements to accurately assessing your current position in the world. For anyone wishing to emulate Christopher Hitchens' ability to hold and argue solid, intelligent beliefs, these two factors are also congruent with "knowing where you are":

• Travel. Get out of your own country and experience a new culture at least once a year. You don't become a man of the world by fencing yourself in to a small part of it. Knowing what your options are in various places is a powerful tool. The old saying "travel broadens the mind" is as true to day as it has ever been.
• Study and question news/politics/current affairs from around the world, not just your own area. As you can't be in all places at all times, studying financial markets and current affairs etc. is an excellent way to counteract this. Always remember that accepting what you see at face value is not the behaviour of an educated man and will allow others to dictate your position.

Knowing who you are and what you want

An excellent example that illustrates the importance of knowing yourself and having a goal in life is Edmond Dantes in "the Count of Monte Cristo". This example is analogous to a lot of men in the world at the moment, all at various stages. The red pill influence in this case is Abbé Faria, the priest who instigates this change in Dantes. He is an old man, a symbol of wisdom and mastery of his own internal conflicts. A practical man who does the best in his surroundings and most of all, preserves himself in adversity.

Dantes is the typical blue pill, doing everything "by the book" as he was brought up to do. He is then shat on by his best friend and various other people and willingly strolls in to captivity with rose tinted glasses, as he did not know any better. Dantes spends a few years rotting in prison, wallowing in self pity, attempts suicide and spends his imprisonment in confusion, cursing the darkness and asking why this has happened to him. The prison is where a lot of people get stuck. A lot of people arrive on the red pill forum still "in prison". They have had some life shattering event and don't see a way out, cursing their circumstance and surrendering to a wasted life, enslaved to the confines of his situation.

Upon the arrival of the priest, Dantes awakens within himself. Dantes breaks down the causes of his current situation and is able to identify goals and achievements that will allow him to break free and take the life he wishes he was living. Using the prison as a metaphor for being stuck in a life you don't want, he was only able to break free of this after he learned economics, etiquette, fighting skills, mathematics, languages etc. and everything else that would allow him to elevate himself to a higher position in life through self improvement.

Now some of you might point out that this is just a revenge story. Revenge is not the simple blood-thirst that you might think in this story, it's a metaphor for avenging your previous self. Upon breaking out of prison, he faces a test that would have killed his former self and defeats it on his own terms (allowing Jacopo to live). Dantes is no longer living for others or by other peoples rules. He understands his value, the value of others and has the confidence to negotiate. He takes charge of his situation and the world around him improves (from his point of view). He now has a job and a purpose with the pirates, while planning his next action (recovering the gold). Now, again I'm sure some will point out that none of Dantes' success is possible without the goal, but it's a metaphorical career goal. He knows where he is now, where he wants to be (a count) and what he needs to do to get there (gold).

After finding the gold, we see the rest of his plan come to fruition through mastery of his domain. The world is his oyster because he has put himself in the position to be its master (through self improvement in prison). The last and most important act is when he decides to call off his plans for vengeance and escape with Mercedes and his son, he knows where he is and what his final goals are. He has what he wants and alters his plan. At this point, the last shattered remains of his former self (expressed as Mondego) make an effort to ruin all that he has achieved and Dantes vanquishes that which brought him to his knees, permanently.

The important lessons from this:

• Do not imprison yourself in despair, seeking external forces to blame. Instead question and understand.
• Identify what is keeping you in this prison, i.e - analyse events from a perspective where you hold full responsibility for the outcome, because a master of his domain does hold full responsibility for the outcome.
• Set goals clearly so you know when you have reached them and when to move on to your next goal. Learn things --> break free --> get gold --> avenge etc.
• Recognise when weakness is seeping in and strike it down (killing Mondego).
  
• Most importantly, HAVE A GOAL. Have a demand of yourself that eats away at you as harshly as revenge would. The world was built by men with purpose. The difference between men we remember and men who dwell in obscurity is literally as simple as dedication to a goal.

Knowing what is required to achieve a goal

This is again, where a lot of men fail in life. They may know where they are in society, in a relationship, in a job and where they want to be in any of these things and they either don't know how or lack the tools to get there. This is where the importance of study comes in (in the example above, learning everything the priest taught Dantes). Life, as with mechanics or anything else, requires tools to do specific jobs and unless you understand what each tool is for, you will not be able to use them to your advantage. A lot of you here have sought the tools for success with women, some of these are similar to the tools of being a successful man in your own right.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and ended up writing a lot of lists in an attempt to narrow down some key areas that I think all men should study:

• Economics (not just money, actual economics)
• Social economics (ties in to the above and covers the majority of TRP social dynamics)
• Psychology. This is ridiculously important to understanding other people and predicting behaviour, as well as understanding your own behaviour.
• Mathematics, including things like critical path analysis
• Science (basic principles of physics, chemistry and biology)
• History (enough to understand why some things are how they are)
• Language (mastery of at least your own)
• Politics, particularly if you don't like politics. Don't disengage because you disagree with something, educate yourself and form your own opinion. Politics is the domain of leaders, master it (particularly if you work in an office).
• Mechanics and engineering principles. You will be surprised how often a base line understanding of how an engine works (or similar) can help you in life.
• The human body (basic CPR, rough idea of how it works)
• principles of philosophy and logical thinking, including critical thinking.
• physical fitness
• Physical readiness (i.e, learn how to fight even though you should never need to)
• etiquette. If you are turning up to a black tie event in a suit, you will not be taken seriously. As Mark Twain said, "Clothes make the man".

Feel free to add to this list, they are things that I've studied so far. I'll add an extra list of secondary factors that can make life easier (or bump your value up):

• cooking
• music (learn an instrument)
• language (learn an extra one)
• literature, there is a lot of intelligent thinking expressed within literature and I would urge people not to write this off as wasted time.
• the arts in general. This in particular will open a lot of doors to people you would otherwise dismiss.
• learn to fix things, computers, cars etc. If you want to increase your value, skills that you can use to have people "owe you a favour" are worth their weight in gold. You also rely less on other people.

It doesn't matter where you start, I've just read through psychology for dummies, economics for dummies and am about to read through a book detailing the principles of philosophy and thought. Having read these books, I have 12 other books to read based on what I've learned from these two initial tomes.

Mastering your endeavours

I had written a long spiel about this, but recently there was an excellent thread on the universal strategy for mastery which sums up exactly what I wanted to say about it in much fewer words. Which highlights the importance of time management, dedication and planning.

I'll say that again: Time management, dedication and planning

TL;DR: don't divert all your attention to getting women.