Summary: Be cautious of pursuing TRP for non-RP reasons.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16).”

The Bible emphasizes the idea of nominal Christians – that is, those who merely proclaim belief without practicing it. Take, for instance, the Pharisees. They created for themselves an outward appearance of piety, but Jesus condemned them for their irreligious motivations, calling them “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Christianity’s encouragement of believers to live according to a genuine faith is of great importance to the concept of masculinity.

Many proclaim an adherence to masculinity, but many still are deceiving themselves. They are the Pharisees of the masculine world, having a valueless outward appearance of manliness. These same individuals are using masculinity for non-masculine reasons, coping with unresolved fear, insecurity, or suffering. They are enslaved by the delusions of society and yet appear to have broken free. This state of being generates an illusion of progress; however, net regression is the only possible outcome.

Let us consider a well-known idea in the realm of masculinity: we shall not fear the losing of a romantic partner. In other words, we shall not change ourselves in order to keep a woman in our lives. Women may choose to enter our lives or to leave them, and we are to be indifferent if the latter is the case. Now consider the many men that practice masculinity out of fear of losing their girlfriends. They workout, they adopt masculine body language, and they learn how to pass shit-tests, but they do these things with the intent of keeping their girlfriends. Instead of pursuing masculinity for themselves, these men use masculinity to please others. Essentially, they are still seeking validation from others – they simply alter their methods of obtaining it. They are being masculine for a non-masculine reason.

Now we shall consider the two Bible verses that I have shared in the introduction to this article. Although it is not desirable to be feminine (cold), it is better than to exist in a state of self-deception (lukewarm). The goal is to be masculine (hot), so we shall not cherry-pick from the concept of masculinity. We are either committed or we are misleading ourselves. The Christian authors knew that the lukewarm individuals were often lost causes, for even though they knew the truth, they did not act upon it.

Analyze your own life. What aspects of masculinity are you struggling with? What are your motivations for pursuing masculinity? What social delusions are you still clinging to? Do you truly desire to live a masculine life? Ask yourself these questions with the goal of discovering where you stand.

If you struggle with a certain aspect of masculinity, you shall test it during several occasions to discover if it holds true for you. To hide behind inaction and doubtfulness is to limit yourself. Do not dig yourself into a comfort zone of half-masculinity.

If you have faulty motivations for pursuing masculinity (e.g. the fear of losing a girlfriend), reconsider your stance. Is masculinity simply a tool for you to obtain non-masculine desires? If so, temporarily forget about masculinity and weigh your desires, deciding for yourself what is more beneficial in the long-run. If you do not have the desire to pursue masculinity, do not pursue it! Rather, be aware of the issues of living a non-masculine lifestyle. If you decide later that a change is warranted, you will know where to next explore.

If you are clinging to social delusions, you are clinging to the hope that society might actually be correct about these matters. A simple remedy is to observe the world around you. The words of society do not match the actions of society. The way of life that society parades as best is failing – causing dissatisfaction and a deterioration of the foundation of society. We must judge both ourselves and others by our actions, and not our words (Matthew 7:16). For words are often ideal but impractical.

In the same way that Christianity is a mindset rather than a collection of actions, words, and responses, a masculine mindset must be embedded into our daily lives in order to be productive. Learn from the Pharisees that Jesus condemned. Otherwise, we will be nothing but adherents to a nominal masculine.

[You can find more of my work here.]

Lessons Learned: We may be pursuing TRP for non-RP reasons. The solution is introspection.