​Someone shared this with me and I had to say something. Clearly, the authors of this bullshit study have never even taken a class in their lives let alone picked up a book on the subject and know jack about healthy self esteem and how it is achieved. They look at some stats, compare to other studies based on stats and then draw conclusions and call that “science”. 

I have trained in, and studied martial arts since the age of 9. I have taught and trained professionally in different cities, different countries, and have worked with with different demographics, age groups and both genders since I was 18. I feel I am somewhat qualified to comment on this. 

I will say that not all martial art schools integrate the philosophy side of the arts into the class. Some are “just a business” and some are better than others at coaching children’s classes. Many coaches are great practitioners but horrible teachers. However, even with that said, anything that gets your child’s energy flowing, their heart pumping, their brain working, and trains them how to do things on their own without their helicopter parents nagging them every two seconds, will boost their concept of self and their overall confidence that they CAN overcome challenges. This is essential in the process of developing healthy self esteem and martial arts is literally the best crash course in my humble opinion. 

Martial arts gives the child a space to practice facing an adversary or a challenge that at first glance seems insurmountable. Combat is the theme. 
Why is this relevant to one’s self esteem you ask? Because a lack of self esteem is a sign that one has lost the inner battle that will rage on unabated until those dragons are confronted. It takes a Warrior to do just that. This is why we practice war. This is why we practice winning. It’s not to get the better of others, it’s to get better yourself so you can win at life. 

ENTER THE WARRIOR. 
The ‘Warrior’ is in one sense a physical status that can ONLY be achieved through practicing struggle, confrontation, and dealing with various forms of opposition and challenge. In another sense, it is an archetype of the psyche that is there to be activated by honing your own will. The process of simply discovering this ‘inner Warrior’ alone will boost that child into a winner for life because it introduces them to their own potential. With no concept of one’s own potential, the default setting is externalization and that leaves you  helpless, depressed and unfulfilled. 

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” 

You can’t truly know yourself unless you have suffered through some challenge, discomfort and failure. Every sales pitch in the world is there to offer you a way out of this by offering you every comfort imaginable and to eliminate challenge from your life. Be careful about what gets eliminated along with it...

The martial artist learns to thrive in these challenging conditions, learns to embrace it when the challenge comes, and doesn’t believe in permanent failure because they have so much practice picking themselves up after defeat in order to achieve a victory. That process is hard indeed, however contrary to what your present society is teaching your kids, it is a precious part of the human experience and is necessary for a fulfilling life. They must be taught that ‘mistakes’ are not the end of you, they are merely your teachers on the path to success. This mindset alone is foundational to self discovery and self esteem. This is the Warrior way. 

In order for this discovery process to happen, the student needs to confront internal challenges just as they need physical challenges to overcome in order to achieve a positive level of self knowledge and overall confidence. It is self confidence by way of self knowledge that allows you to deal with your internal angst, your fear of others and of life. Martial arts has very little to do with learning how to “beat people up” and everything to with SELF MASTERY. Without self mastery, there can be no self esteem. 

“All knowledge is ultimately self knowledge...” - Bruce Lee 
Only a martial artist could have said this and truly understood it in its fullest sense. 
A scientist would ask “I can’t measure this thing you call “self” under my microscope so it must not exist...back to the numbers on the screen!” 

The internal process of understanding all of this is just has difficult as the tasks a good Sensei will put in front of you. In one sense they do this to whip you into shape so you could actually survive a confrontation (or God forbid...a push-up...), in another sense it is to help you draw out your inner adversary so it can be mastered. This is why the challenges are given to the student within this framework. 
Each challenge must address and sharpen both the body and the mind. 
The spirit is the fuel of it all. 

If a child is not introduced to these aspects of themselves, which will be needed throughout their lives both in the physical world and in the mental/spiritual world, then that child will forever be easy prey for predators and bullies in life and also prey to their own inner doubts, fears, inhibitions and demons. Do you want to raise a demon-slayer or a pill-popper forever seeking out the nearest safe-space? 

Even more important to factor in, is that absent the Warrior archetype, deep down the child KNOWS they are missing this quality and need it desperately to thrive in a world such as ours. When self confidence is absent, they default to believing that THEY ARE A HELPLESS VICTIM. This mentality is the death of the self altogether. (See the current state of the youth circa 2015-2022 for more details on this...) 

I will now give you a definition for self esteem, something these “scientists” didn’t even bother with: 

“Self-esteem is the disposition to experience oneself as being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness. It is confidence in the efficacy of our mind, in our ability to think. By extension, it is confidence in our ability to learn, make appropriate choices and decisions, and respond effectively to change. It is also the experience that success, achievement, fulfillment – happiness – are right and natural for us. The survival-value of such confidence is obvious; so is the danger when it is missing.” 
-Nathanial Branden 
More on this definition here: https://nathanielbranden.com/on-selfesteem/

The only aspect I would add to that great summary is the role of the body and the importance of developing confidence in the ability to ACT CORRECTLY in the face of danger or chaos. 

Regarding the study, I also want to point out that some martial art schools have a strong focus on tournaments-which isn’t necessarily always bad thing, it just doesn’t always result in turning out a well rounded martial artist nor in developing authentic self esteem. In fact, it can do the opposite if the approach and focus is unbalanced. Balance is lesson one in a good dojo. (Too bad many are taught to think this concept only pertains to their fighting stance...)

A true artist develops their art for the sake of the art itself, not necessarily for the affection and approval of those witnessing what you are doing and achieving. 

Why would this “study” not even consider tracking and interviewing a wide spectrum of different martial arts coaches for a period of time and then observe and document the results in real time? 
It appears that science doesn’t roll like that anymore. It’s all about stats and data in computers and not always the real world. I’m not knocking computers or science, but for crying out loud learn the distinction. Speaking of which, I would go so far as to say that your average martial artist conducts more real world scientific experiments inside a month of training than these data miners do in their entire lives. Just my two cents judging by what I’ve seen from the scientific establishment of late...but I digress. There is zero discussion about how somatic intelligence (body intelligence/movement training) factors in to the process of building up self esteem in children, nor on how movement training in general promotes the progression of self expression and self actualization-which are essential elements in developing a healthy human being. 

There is also zero consideration of the fact that there are different styles of martial arts, different coaching styles within any of the arts, and even different philosophical approaches to both teaching and training methods within these various art forms.  
These authors also fail to define what a ‘self’ even is, let alone how to have self love. They are scientists looking at numbers on a screen. How can you possibly determine the “results” of a study...if you haven’t even actually studied the thing you are studying?  

In conclusion of this rather long but necessary rebuttal, here is a simple equation these academics could crunch some numbers on if they want to conduct a study: 

If Johnny knows he is capable of defending himself, that he is fit to face the challenges of the real world, that he knows both his strengths and his weaknesses, that by learning about himself he is learning about others, that he is gaining knowledge of himself thru trial and error, that he is valued because he KNOWS he is due the fact that he has proven himself-to himself time and again, that he is actively working on becoming his own superhero rather than worshipping fictitious idols, and practices bettering himself each day towards these goals...will he come out with more self esteem or less than the kid who stays at home and learns how to live vicariously through metaverse avatars, celebrities, video game characters and cartoons? 

I leave it to you, my peers, to review and decide for yourselves. 
-DW

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2766365/#__ffn_sectitle

I have looked into this theory (terrain) & it definitely has some great points in critiquing modern medicine & germ theory. So go for it. However that said, I’ve got a number of issues with it overall. 

For example, I am not at all satisfied with their explanations of how disease & identical symptoms manifest within multiple people at the same time after being in close contact. I’ve asked some of these proponents these questions & I can’t seem to get answers that truly satisfy the argument. It sounds smart, lots of fancy jargon, but it has felt quite hollow to me thus far on SOME of my critiques. Other points have merit. 

My own personal experience seeing things like staph infection spread through my gyms over the years, (which I’ve personally had a two year battle eradicating naturally & I live a very above average healthy lifestyle), my own observed experience in seeing the same symptoms of things like flu, Norwalk etc go through my home, my neighborhood & my dojo contradicts their claims in this regard. 

Having children of your own or working in schools/daycares etc for any extended period of time will be evidence enough that illness does indeed spread from one to another & it can spread like wildfire. 

My whole family/neighborhood got something really bad early feb of 2020 that mirrored the covid symptoms exactly. Everyone had the same symptoms. Some more intense than others, but the same overall. I know it mirrors flu, but this was different. The shortness of breath, weird cough, change in smell/taste & the intense body aches were very pronounced in everyone. We cured it naturally. We do not live in a location that has 5G towers yet. In fact I live in a remote place on the Pacific Ocean with the best air quality & tree density in world that has few cell towers at all. 

Explain STD’s. I’ve never contracted these because I’m not a player, but I know many who have & their experience of how they contract these things contradicts the answers given on transmission of disease IMO. It just doesn’t add up. 

Also, they do not factor in the observer effect when conducting scientific experiments. This is key. 

Absence of evidence does not always automatically equate to evidence of absence. Think double slit experiment, the consciousness/observer effect etc. I am well aware this point can be used on both sides of this argument. That alone is an interesting study in itself that would help clear alot of this up. 

I really do like the proposed solution to overall health from the viruses don’t exist people, so on that we can absolutely agree. Health is an inside job, we are indeed energetic/spiritual beings, drugs & surgery cause more harm than good. Agreed. However we are also physical beings. I get the sense that one side, the materialist side of this (germ theory) are in one extreme of “everything is physical”, the other side (terrain theory, viruses don’t exist) are in another extreme: it’s ALL only about spirit & ethereal dimensions, nothing is physcial. 

I personally think it’s a bit of both at play, being that we humans are both physical & spiritual. 

The nonsense about how “bio-weapons don’t exist” is ridiculous IMO. On this I take a harder stance. Bio-weapons, be they “viruses” or “toxins” do in fact exist & have been used in many variations for centuries in warfare all over the world. It started with things like snake venoms, plant extracts etc, & evolved into very complex chemical compounds over time. This argument quickly devolves into semantics & both sides throw the baby out with the bath water. 

I have a few friends in this field in the military, there are whole schools of bioweapons research & mitigation strategy training. Just talk to veterans from the vietnam, gulf wars, or iraq/afghanistan wars. Heck even WW2 vets will tell you about it. In fact, Dr Zev Zlenko has recently proposed that virtually all flu strains are synthetically created bioweapons for the purpose of keeping the pharma industry in the profit margins.
I would suggest there are both natural “flu’s” due to ill-health & seasonal changes, vitamin/mineral deficiancy etc, & then there are also many synthetcially created biolgical agents that can indeed spread from one human to another when in close contact. If they couldn’t, bio-warfare wouldn’t be strategy worth investing in by virtually every regime or conquerer in known history. 

The other turn off for me is that this “viruses don’t exist” movement appears more & more to me to be very similar to the flat earth movement in it’s overall approach & worldview (ie gnosticism). The proponents of both of these theories end up attacking & shaming anyone who does not take their whole theory on board. 
Massive red flag for me.

From both camps, FE/TT, they slander anyone who does not hold their view as being “shills” or “disinfo agents” (I have experienced this personally) & have spread faster than any virus could, creating massive confltcs in the freedom movements rather than encourginig unifying paradigms of thought. Might just boil down to a maturity thing in it’s main champion advocates & ideologues, but it is true nontheless. 
They often haunt chats & forums starting fights in the chat & dropping their comments onto posts that are not even talking about these subjects in order to push their view. The zeal at which they push this is a bit too desperate for me & smacks of toxic religion. So even if true or valid as a theory, the overall approach & tactics used to garner support are highly suspect to me of a cult-like mentality & ends up creating more closed-mindedness rather than open-mindedness & paralyses intelligent discourse or theoretical proposal. 

In the end, when I see two completely polar opposite positions creating division like this, it means both are missing something & are most likely both incorrect overall. When I see emotionally charged, dogmatic thinking on both sides, I know everything I need to know.

I think there is also a satisfactory & comforting feeling generated for some people with these new trendy movements that help them feel like they have access to special knowledge nobody else has, and never forget the fact that many scientists and authors are competeing for market share and popularity. Being edgy and confrontational is a quick startegy to achieving a following and everyone knows it.

Another thing ignored by these kinds of “white-board” types, is psychology. When factored into the overall equation, much can be understood and explained. 

That’s just where I’m at right now after seeing this kind of stuff come and go in the alternative research community for years. They all have the same blueprint and appeal regardless of the specific subject. 

I encourage everyone to do their own research on this, avoid emotional attachments to these things & make up your own minds on the matter while continuing to seek out the truth as you get exposed to new information.

“We view the world through the lense of the self.” 

The responses to my statement here will be quite enlightening I’m sure.

My humble opinion:
Good people, are often the cause of great evil and tyranny.

Allow me to explain.

Remember the old adage “evil persists because good people do nothing.”

We need to think deeply on this and also reflect on how this has ALWAYS gone down throughout history. “Good people” are usually unaware of the nature, magnitude, or even presence of evil or tyranny in their midst, BECAUSE OF THEIR GOODNESS.

We are often blinded by the light. We project our desire for good, onto corrupted people who depend on this dynamic for their survival and control. Our naïveté in this regard is why we are here now. They gain power because of this. But we can change this, once we become aware of how this really works.

Good people often project their own virtue onto others expecting that everyone is just as good and virtuous and well meaning as we are. Sadly, this isn’t always the case. In one sense this mechanism is a virtue, because we always want to see the best in people. In another sense however, it is our greatest weakness when left unchecked. Those manipulators and corrupt ones in power know this well.

Good people detest evil. So much so, that they will defend it without even realizing it.
Many will say “I meant well!”
Nature says: “not good enough.”

Harsh I know, but in my experience, true nonetheless.

Think of a tapeworm and how it operates in the body. Through it’s excretions, it eventually convinces the host that it is an organic part of the host, so the host feeds it thinking it is indeed part of the host. (Deception) The host does the “good thing” and feeds what it thinks is itself. The tapeworm grows and becomes stronger, eventually killing the host after depleting it.

Sound familiar?

Goodness without crystal clear awareness of the nature of evil, never survives, just as prey that is unaware of the nature and cunning of the predator, also never survives.

We grant quarter to evil because we don’t want it to exist. We wish so much that it didn’t exist, that we begin to pretend and operate as if it doesn’t exist at all. When we see it, we deny it outright. We edit it from our reality thinking it will just go away. We then become blind to it. Then we permit it. It then takes over unchallenged.
We scratch our heads....

We don’t want to believe it’s there, because we are not it. We don’t want to admit it exists to the extent that it does. It unfortunately becomes a major blind spot that psychopaths exploit time and time again be it tyrannical dictatorships, bizarre cults, serial killers, or mad scientists. We could never admit to ourselves that they can only exist in the vacuum of our denial.

Think of how innocent and naïve the vast majority of people are in this regard, those who have never experienced evil directly.
We want good things. We want to live and be free. We are generous and open. “No borders” say the good. Evil couldn’t be more supportive of this notion.
No guards at the gate.
No barriers of entry.
Perfect.
So open, we let evil right in the front door so long as it talks and acts like us. Our fear of it’s existence, strangely enough, wills it into existence.
Easy lunch.

Tyranny and evil stalk the lands unchallenged because of this blind refusal in good people to accept it, let alone train themselves to defend against it, challenge it and defeat it.

Way I see it, this is our current predicament.

In order to win this battle, we must face this hard truth.
The warrior classes in ancient times understood this process well. Most people today never read from them, they went to listen to the pedophilic priests & cults instead. Most people hate a warrior until there is an enemy at the gates. Given our current situation, I’d say it’s wise to hear them out.

We are in this situation due to a lack of knowledge and understanding about how this world really works, and how we let it happen without knowing it.
Hard truths.

Good news is, it’s never too late. This is why we need to make a valiant stand against evil. No denial, no backing down, no quarter, no surrender.

Why do I charge for some of my work & have zero issue making fair money off of what I do?


SHORT ANSWER: I am not a thief, a beggar, nor a socialist. Personally speaking, none of these are a fit for me. Rather, I believe that freedom and prosperity are earned, not automatically given. I prefer a win/win relationship in my associations, rather than being in a lose/win, win/lose, or lose/lose scenario.


LONG ANSWER: I actually enjoy giving freely. I believe in good charity. However, I will never submit to being forced to do so. I reserve the right to use my own discretion in this regard. Given the direction of the world at present, I recommend you consider adopting that mindset for yourself, but to each their own.


I love what I do, invest heavily in what I do, believe in what I do, work extremely hard at what I do, and actually put most of my work out for free. This is a risk I take knowing that if my free work and content are top shelf, people will freely support my work via my paid content/services etc., which must also be top shelf, or I go broke. That is both the incentive and the risk any entrepreneur must take, and rarely if ever, gets any recognition for.


I believe that for sound relationships/partnerships/trades/transactions to occur between human beings, incentive MUST be built in on BOTH SIDES. Anyone telling you different is a scammer IMO.
Read on.👇🏻


Personally speaking, I willingly do the beyond full-time hours to DEVELOP great value. Those who value the result of that work support it voluntarily, those who don’t, move on. Natural law. Wouldn’t have it any other way to be honest.


I don’t “charge money for the Truth.”😆 I always get a kick out of that accusation. The Truth is freely available to all who are willing to go through the time and effort to seek it out for themselves. When I used to run a martial arts/fitness 🥋🥊 business back in the day when humans congregating together to sweat and bleed on each other was actually a thing, I never made a dime off of “selling martial arts.” I earned my income by working extremely hard, taking on all the risk in order to pay for and provide a space for training, by investing in my own education so I would be capable of offering the best service of value possible, and by teaching others the skills and knowledge I personally invested in and developed over my time in the professional martial arts field. I groomed many who went on to start their own businesses. That field is highly competitive so you really have to know your stuff in order to make a living. Not much different from my present field of work.


*If you have ever charged your boss for your time and labor, or charged your own customers for a product or service, you’ll understand. If you create nothing but demand everything, as our present media and culture are currently glorifying at every possible opportunity, you won’t understand.


Like any other, I charge money for the unique value I feel I bring to the table with my creations. If I’m wrong in my value assessment, the people let me know by skipping past my online kiosk.
Because I fully realize that nothing is new under the sun☀️, I cite and point to every source I lean on or integrate into my work, so that their contribution to my life and my various project(s) are not stolen by me in the process. I purchase their works in the exchange of what they offer me in return, which is usually more than I end up paying. If I have ever missed a source in this regard, I humbly apologize. My intent is to do business honorably and yet, I am imperfect.

I believe that what I charge for or get sponsored, is more than a fair trade. The process of creation is not free, it’s a steep investment of time, money, education, risk & ENERGY. Everything is energy. It’s either wasted, or efficiently utilized for maximum benefit for all involved in the energy exchange. Many detest risk. Thank God for those who embrace it or we would be a distant memory on Earth’s timeline. (Still a possibility...)👇🏻

Contrary to popular opinion, things don’t just magically appear out of nowhere. “Whhaaaattt!?!?” Yup. True story. The Truth is, true entrepreneurs are only rewarded publicly for what they have sacrificed and practiced for years privately (take the Int’l bankers and their fiat rigged economy bull$hit off the table here. They are a pack of losers & pirates and are not entrepreneurs. There’s a massive difference. I am talking about underlying principles of honest value exchange.✅).
I never lock people into contracts. All are free to come and go as they please because I believe in merit, not ass-umptions. I believe in freedom of choice. I believe that it’s on me to earn respect not demand it, and to bring big value if I am asking for value in return. If what I offer sucks, it’s on me to either do better or suffer the consequences. If someone then steals that value from me, it’s on them to suffer the consequences of that theft. Nature itself demands this same exchange rate from you in every regard. Every inhale requires an exhale. We often forget this due to the illusion of unlimited access to the creations of others who have come before us. We take far too much for granted. I’ll just go ahead and say it, If the lights ever go out, we will soon know who the real entrepreneurs are. Make sure you friend some now...
I have no excuses for making a living doing what I believe I was put here to do, nor do I need to make any. I earned my way through blood sweat and tears. Literally. It was those early trials, mistakes and lessons on the way to where I am now that made me truly believe in the value of what I offer. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t engage my content/products/services because they would be total shite. Agreed? 
“We see things not as they are, but as we are.” - Anais Nin 
☝🏻Keep this in mind at all times. 
Observe nature. I mean really observe it. It’s a massive system of give and receive. Any system or creature that only gives, or only receives, gets wiped out. Nature has a funny way of balancing things out. Nature also rewards sacrifice. Not of virgins or animal “offerings to the gods,” but of personal investment into the process of creating something out of nothing. Humans must sacrifice in order to create something out of nothing, in order to survive, and in order to have or gain anything of value. Nothing is free in the end, except your WILL (by “nothing” I am speaking figuratively.😉).
Funny how we are cool with earning money doing things we hate or don’t really believe in, yet so many shake fingers at those who make money doing things they love and really believe in. Weird!  Probably largely due to a combination of envy and a brutal public education system. 
The way I see it, fortune and freedom favors the brave, the disciplined, the creative, the free. These qualities cannot be stolen and are earned, they are not automatic. The world will never grant you freedom. That’s a gift that you give yourself through your own efforts. Basically, if you’re expecting handouts in life, wrong planet. (Sorry Trudeau. Someone lied to you big time man. Can I have my hard earned money back now pls? That’d be greaaaaat.) 
Don’t listen to those around you shaming you for making sound money. All the wrong people have the money because they never earned it, all the right people who would earn it properly and do good with it are too brainwashed by the wrong people to stay broke and out of the way. 
Money is simply a medium of energy exchange. (Still not talking about fiat-debt-based-wanker-banker money). We don’t have to play the banker’s/government’s dirty games. We can do proper business together properly and starve them out of the game entirely. It all starts up here 👉🏻🧠 
So there you have it. Agree, disagree, love it, hate it, it’s all up to you. I for one hope you go out there and stake YOUR claim on this crazy planet. Ignore the crabs in the bucket on the way. They secretly admire you. 🦀 ❤️ 
From me to you, I wish you all the success in the world. It’s yours for the creating. 👊🏻🔥


~ DW

Some of the greatest lessons I have been taught by my best teachers over the years that make more sense now than ever before: 

1. You could live in a perfect & free society, & yet still be dissatisfied, unfulfilled, & chained within yourself. If this is the case, are you really free? 
2. You could be “safe & secure” externally & yet be insecure within your own mind. Reverse your perspective on this process & your life will change for the better. 
3. You could have all the money & wealth in the world & yet be poor in health & in your thinking. Start there & learn what true wealth really is. 
4. Internal impoverishment leads to external poverty. Take a look around at the world. Make sense now? 
5. Internal victim mentality leads to external tyranny. This is because it invites predators into your midst to take the charge over your life that you never took for yourself. Adopt the mentality of a victor instead & see what happens next. 
6. Freedom has never been, & is never going to be granted to you by an external force, group, individual, organization, institution, or government. Freedom is internal & attitudinal. It’s a gift you give yourself. 
7. The greatest violence in this world is psychological violence. It is the violence we do to ourselves & that we permit others to project onto us. This is the true source of where evil & corruption begins & ends. The secondary form of violence, meaning the external sort, is merely an expression of the first. (Noticing a pattern here?)
8. Change your mind, change your world. Not just a fancy slogan. 
9. Surround yourself with people who allow you to be who you are. Break up with the people who only allow you to be who they want you to be. No slave-masters above you, no slaves below you. 
10. Nature is your greatest teacher. 
11. Turn off your television & only occasionally watch the news so you know what most people around you believe. Become your own journalist. 
12. If you have a great enemy, its because you yourself are great. You deserve that enemy because the more powerful your enemy, the more it’s going to awaken your inner power. 
13. Only the powerful have powerful enemies. 

👊🏻🔥

(Click here for my 5-min breakdown on Rumble - audio only)

1. Spiritual blindness.  Logic is not enough.  You need spiritual awareness.  You are a spiritual being having a physical experience.  Nature is Spirit and Spirit is Nature.  Upcoming v-log about this coming soon.

2. Laziness. 
3. Social pressure - Fear of being ostracized from the tribe. 
4. Naïveté regarding the nature & prevalence of criminality, corruption & evil in the world. 
5. Many people believe they are smart due to an ability to memorize information given to them by people they consider authorities. “Smart” doesn’t automatically equate to intelligence or good life choices that actually correspond to the facts of reality.
6. Paralyzing fear = lack of courage = need for constant external direction. “Smart” alone loses to the power of fear. 
7. The media is more powerful in regards to narrative creation/control/management, even amongst the so called “smart” people, than many can possibly believe with their logical mind.
8. NARCISSISTIC ARROGANCE. Smart people know they are smart. They falsely believe that’s all there is to it. It can turn into an unrealistic assessment of themselves. The true source of this is repressed trauma which, when left unexamined, inflates the EGO. 

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. 
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
- William Pitt 

​Here are some research notes/links/quotes/references on the subject of Secret Societies. Enjoy!

Found on my telegram feed from Jan 31st.  Join me there.  Updates daily.

In every great myth, story, or film, the villain always gets the upper hand for a time and all seems lost. 
The villain always gets a chance to beat down the good guy and showcase their insatiable desire for power and control. They get to win for a time. They start doing really bad things to the good people in the story. You almost walk out of the theatre or throw the book out of the window because you can’t bear it and really want the happy ending. 

You decide to go a little further into the story at this stage because you really need to see some sort of resolution! You force yourself to stay awake a little longer just to see the tyrant fall so you can sleep soundly. 
This is why the really good ones are page turners. You deeply desire for good to triumph over evil, but you take pause because you wonder if this is one of those stories where evil finally wins. But then, just when all hope is lost, something unexpected occurs and the hero makes a shocking comeback and absolutely decimates the villain in some sort of extremely gratifying fashion so as to warn off all other wannabe villains. The day is saved. The wrongs are set right. You celebrate! You can’t wait to go through the adventure again. 

However, You realize it can never be the same the second time through now that you know for sure that victory is won in the end. In retrospect, the best part was the unknowing, the uncertainty and the suspense. That’s what made it an adventure worth sticking around for. You suddenly understand that if you always had foreknowledge of every story and how it ends, no book or film would be worth much to you. 

You then recommend the story to everyone you know and reference it for years to come in your various discussions, jokes and comparisons. You tell the story to your children. They tell theirs. Some of these stories are so good they last for centuries and are re-told in many variations to keep the power of the story alive. Only the brink of annihilation brings out the best hero’s and make the best epic stories. 

These stories are not just fables. 
The reason these stories have such a profound effect on you is because they convinced you to undergo a sort of simulated underworld experience. This process is very much a part of creating a new dimension of thought that can enrich your life in many ways. These stories teach you that only when all is lost, only when you doubt yourself or doubt the force of good, can you really understand your own mind or value what you have and who you are. Only when evil directly confronts you can you be your best good self. 

We are participating in a story like that in this time. This whole world is. Don’t lose hope. Don’t walk out of the theatre just yet. 
You are the hero.