Love isn’t strictly Christian…See God in Everything.
How many of you feel you are living out your purpose in life? Do you have a truly meaningful existence? Do you think you are reaching your personal potential? Do you have a crisis of meaning? Do you feel defeated at times?
“What I’m doing makes no sense. I’m not contributing to anything. I’m living day to day, repeating things for a logic I just don’t understand. I’m trapped.”These intrusive thoughts are all too common today.
Young men, make your name worth something. Many young men want to contribute to society. They want to make a legacy for themselves. They want to be of value but don’t know exactly what that pertains to. Give a man purpose, and he will crawl over broken glass with a smile.
Modern American society has a massive void for spiritual belief and community.
Humans are believing creatures. Every era of history has been deeply religious or ideological. We now use pop culture and politics to provide meaning and purpose. Don’t fall into that. That is not where you are going to find meaning and purpose.
So, as religious beings in the human experience, we need to find our reason to get out of bed every day. As religious beings, we must find God's work for ourselves in our world.
There are four drivers of meaning within the human race:
Continue the species- To repopulate. To be a parent. This option is becoming harder and harder as the cost of living rises and the buying power of average Americans decreases)
Master our mind- To understand ourselves. Psychology, Philosophy, Education.
Master our environment- increasing our command over it. Business, defense, science
Increase in satisfaction- religion, culture, art, etc.
These are the four categories of progress for humans. Even the best and brightest humans in history can barely make a dent in one of these four categories. These are collective goals. We are puny to the mighty goals of humanity, and yet, we shall still strive to contribute to them.
We can’t fall to the sickness of individualism- don’t measure it on its own. Measure to the bigger picture. We live in multiple dimensions, the immediate vs the grand. The immediate is where we are right now. In this church. At work. At the gym. The grand is the immediate compared to the bigger picture. The Milky Way galaxy. The universe. The 200,000 years homo-sapiens have been around.
You may not feel like you contribute, but you're connected to the grander story of humanity. Participating in any of these four categories brings you to the progress of our species.
Now, while all these categories are positive catalysts for a positive impact on the world, our main focus should be religion. We are not human beings who have spiritual experiences. We are spiritual beings in the human experience.
They say a nation is born a stoic and dies an epicurean. The Stoics cared about virtuous behavior and living according to nature, while the Epicureans avoided pain and sought natural and necessary pleasure. The Epicureans avoid pain. The Stoics seek it. My question is, can we subscribe to both schools of thought? I think they both serve different but equally important purposes.
There are positives and negatives to Stoic and Epicurean values. Knowing how to use both daily will provide a stronger sense of purpose.
Be a Stoic and an Epicurean.
Being a Stoic: Stoics believe in 4 cardinal virtues that bring happiness- Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Moderation / Temperance. Stoicism is as follows: the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and complaints. Life is very difficult. Stoicism is helpful when we are in turmoil and when we struggle. Stoicism helps us with anxiety and blankness. Stoics don’t give consolation to struggle. They don’t believe in false hope. Hope does not provide inner peace to the stoics. It only lifts you up higher for the eventual fall. Instead, stoics imagine the worst-case scenario. Everything might go terribly wrong, BUT you will be okay! Marcus Aurelius- We are each of us stronger than we think. We will get through it. Stoicism emboldens us to the worst fate can throw at us. Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life for someone who has understood existence. They strive to reach a state where nothing can disturb their peace of mind. Every tragedy is already priced in. The goal of life is to know your duty and do the right thing to maintain happiness.
Some famous stoics are Seneca, Epictetus, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Green, Ryan Holiday, Mathew McConaughey, Camila Cabella, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jocko Willink, and many more.
The school of thought of Stoicism is very popular for highly successful individuals. Not the same can be said about Epicureans.
Being an Epicurean is all about happiness. Instant gratification. What is fun? The only intrinsically valuable thing is one's own pleasure; anything else that has value is valuable merely to secure pleasure for oneself. The goal of life to Epicureans is to seek out pleasure and enjoy friends and learning. Like the stoics, the goal of life is happiness, but epicureans reach that happiness differently.
The Stoics cared about virtuous behavior and living according to nature, while the Epicureans avoided pain and sought natural and necessary pleasure.
So, the Stoics and the Epicureans were both interested in happiness. They just had different avenues to achieve such happiness. Going about your Stoic duty in life is important, but all work and no play make Johnny dull. Stoicism offers strength in the face of adversity, a much-needed quality. However, we must make time to smell the roses. Epicureanism offers us that time. As I said, a nation is born a Stoic and dies an Epicurean. While we must have stoic values for our days, we must also take the time to enjoy life as an Epicurean would. It balances both schools of thought, resulting in a harmonious life.
We can subscribe to many schools of philosophy to give ourselves a more purposeful and satisfying life, but it all comes down to our own mindset. What God has revealed to us and how we use that information to better ourselves. It’s our mindset.
You can have two different types of mindset: Growth and fixed mindset.
A Fixed mindset goes along the lines of: “I’m good at x, I’m bad at y.”
A Growth mindset is: “I’m bad at x, but I can get better.” Talent vs effort. “ I’m someone who can struggle.”
We must adopt a growth mindset. We can always get better at whatever it is we strive to achieve. God sees us as we are and approaches us as we could be. He sees our potential before we see it. He knows what we are capable of. He has a fate planned out for us. We must not be idle in this fate, though. Our destiny is already laid out for us, but we must do the work to achieve it. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. I’m called to the struggle. Every time you fall and get back up, that’s a victory.
Through the years, I’ve pondered whether everything happens for a reason and we all have a destiny or if everything is random and we all float around accidentally like a breeze. I think it’s a little bit of both. Maybe both are happening at the same time.
We all want certainty. It’s only natural. We all want to know what to expect, but that’s not the beauty of life. The uncertainty is beautiful. Life would be dull and boring if everything were planned and expected. Every day is a new chance for something great to happen. When nothing is certain, everything is possible. The future is unknown, and so is your potential. The future will play itself out. Nothing will most likely go as planned, and that’s okay. That’s the beauty. The unexpected events that unfold in our lives make us who we are. Be content and confident to live in uncertainty. Uncertainty is God's certainty.
He will ensure we are on the path he has fated for us. All we have to do is be open to his plan and listen. We must follow his plan when he reveals it to us. I feel that God called me to find this movement of Divine Masculinity. I feel reviving God and Men in this generation is my calling. It’s what I think God put me on this earth to do. I am lucky. I have found my purpose at this point in my life. That said, there are days when I don’t want to partake in this venture. There are days when I wish I were a writer or an entrepreneur or a firefighter. Nothing is perfect. No matter your purpose, there will be harder days than others, yet you must trust his plan and push forward. Onward soldier. Get your needs met through God.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a proposed structural truth of human existence. It states that our first-world nation may be getting physiological needs met (barely), but all other needs aren’t even close to being achieved. A meaningful and purpose-driven life must hit all five categories proportionately.
Most young adults are not even close to meeting their needs. We don’t feel safe, we don’t feel a sense of love and belonging, we don’t have good self-esteem, and self-actualization is never achieved.
In our capitalist society, most businesses only address basic needs, completely missing our higher spiritual and psychological needs. This is the void Divine Masculinity wants to fill. We want to provide an in-person, underground community of “sigma” males who want to be the best that they can possibly be. We are willing to push ourselves to the limit each and every day to be just 1% better. That is our goal. 1% better each day. We need to become better so that we can help others. Help the helpless. Right now, we are arguably helpless ourselves.
Social media has made us anti-social. The fast-paced tech world has made humans lose touch with themselves and each other. Anti-social disorders, depression, anxiety, and other mental health illnesses are constantly rising for young adults. They are the real social issues of our generation. We are working to fix those issues through organic human connection, free of technology.
As members of this organization, we want to become harder to kill. Harder to kill physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. We want to thicken our skin and bring back strong, virtuous, righteous men. No one will bring us down. If God is with us, who can be against us? We are striving to be as close to invincible as physically possible. But how do we become this? How do we grow?
We grow through understanding, knowledge, and spirituality. This is our secret weapon.
You are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. You are a ball of abundant potential. All you need to do is find what you want to do with that potential. Embrace the uncertainty. Try as many things as you can. Find a duty you can do that makes you happy. Live in Christ and ask him what he wants from you. God has revealed to us how to live. We have a guideline to live in the holy texts. In the teachings of Jesus, the apostles, saints, and other prophets. All the holy men and women who have lived and continue to live. We have examples.
Life can be very confusing. Balancing the Stoic and Epicurean lifestyles of purpose vs. pleasure isn’t easy. Finding God’s individual purpose for you can be hard. It’s a vigorous process that takes much trial and error, but God has a simple and similar purpose for us: Love.
Love isn’t a feeling. It’s an ability. You are made for love. Love is choosing the good in life.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8a Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
“Whoever then understands what is good can also know how to love, but he who cannot distinguish good from bad, and things which are neither good nor bad from both, can he possess the power of love? To love, then, is only in the power of the wise.” -Epictetus.
What is love?
While there is much talk of love in our society, very few people truly know what it is or what it can provide for us. Everyone thinks that they know love, but their actions speak differently. I could give a personal testimony of what love is to me, but the result would be the same. The strongest emotion drives humans; we must learn to understand and appreciate it properly. We must learn not to think it’s soft to be loving, but that love comes from a point of strength. We must fall in love again.
Love is a complex and multifaceted emotion often described as a strong affection or attachment towards someone or something. It can take many forms, including romantic, familial, platonic, and love for oneself.
Romantic love is typically characterized by passion and intimacy towards a romantic partner, while familial love refers to the deep affection and loyalty felt within a family unit. Platonic love, on the other hand, is a non-romantic affectionate relationship between individuals, often marked by mutual respect, trust, and understanding. Finally, self-love refers to a positive attitude and appreciation of oneself, including acceptance of one's strengths and weaknesses.
Love is often associated with positive emotions such as joy, happiness, and contentment. Still, it can also be accompanied by sadness, loss, and grief when love is not returned or lost. Love can be expressed through actions, words, and gestures and can be a powerful force that inspires people to do great things for themselves and others.
To paraphrase What Love Really Is and Why It Matters by the School of Life:
Love is our kindness to what is weak and misshaped. When we see others beaten down, we do not turn away but instead consider them a version of ourselves. We help them. We don’t dismiss them. We take the time and trouble to do what we can to serve them. Love sees beneath the mask and strikes down to the core of humans. Who they are. Love wonders what has hurt others and why they might be so scared.
We see love when a baby cries at church. We don’t think of how inconvenient it is, but we recognize that that baby and the parents deserve the utmost empathy for what is happening. The pain of that baby is our pain, too. It’s no feet to love someone who's on their best behavior, looks beautiful, and moves with grace worldwide. What cries out for attention is crooked, damaged, and self-disgusted. In this definition, love is the effort required to imagine oneself more accurately in the life of another human who has not made it easy to admire or even like them. In the West, Jesus of Nazareth has given us the most memorable definition of this sort of love, who made it glamorous to love differently than the Romans or the Greeks. To love the prostitute, the prisoner, and the sinner. Show love not only to your friends but especially to your enemies. The authority of divine intonation is to love. Here. Now. When it feels natural to hate or look away, your duty is to love. Be committed to love. Nothing is more important. This is the love that rescues nations from intolerance, pauses wars, calms furies, and allows civilization to continue. True love is not giving someone their due but giving them what they need to survive.
[Who says], "Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Quran- Surat al Imran 8
To love and to be loved. There is nothing better in life. I get it if you don’t have anyone who loves you or you don’t love yourself. I’ve been there. No matter how alone you feel, know that God loves you. Love is such a powerful force. God’s love for you can propel you to do great things. To be the person you want to be. To be your ideal self. God’s love never fails. You just have to be open to receive it. That is a lot of the time easier said than done. I’ve been in the position of “ I don’t deserve love.” I’ve been there. I know how it feels. But that notion is wrong. You do deserve love. Every single person does. If people tell you differently, don’t listen to them.
Men being loved is the strongest and most masculine thing you can do.
We are told it’s a man's world, but we don’t see it. There are more and more adult boys in the world today, but very few men left. Chivalry is dead. Love is absent. So many adult boys these days don’t know how to be strong and don’t know how to love. Love gives you the strength to transform pain into power. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s easier to close yourself off, lock the key to your heart, and be a cold mother fucker. While the cold mother fucker is needed from time to time in this world, to be able to turn that off and feel when in acceptable circumstances is true strength.
“Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these” -Mark 12:31
Treat others the way you think they would want to be treated. With all the kindness and compassion you could possibly provide. We need more love in our society. Why, you might ask? It’s quite simple.
We need it to grow and prosper.
Our society needs more love. It is a fundamental human emotion. It can bring us together and create positive change in the world. Love can help us overcome differences and conflicts and promote understanding, empathy, and compassion.
In a world where there is often so much division and animosity, love is essential to fostering unity, building stronger relationships, and creating a sense of community. Love can help us to see beyond our own needs and desires and instead focus on the well-being of others. When we show love and kindness to others, we can create a more positive and supportive community.
Love can inspire us to address social issues and injustices and motivate us to work towards a more equitable society. By cultivating more love in our personal lives and our communities, we can build a more peaceful, compassionate, and caring world.
Love is the answer. It may sound corny, but it only sounds that way because we are all scared, and rightfully so. Trying to love people and being rejected or taken advantage of are real concerns. We all just need to take a breath. Relax. Love each other. This world needs more love.
Don’t let the world change you. The weight of the world can bear heavy if you let it. Don’t carry that on your shoulders. We were all born with an abundance of love in our hearts. This life that we live molds us, for better or worse, into who we are today. After so many heartbreaks, it’s only natural to question if letting go of your heart is the right course of action. It will save you the pain of another episode of grief and sorrow.
It’s easy to close yourself off. To build up walls that no one has the capacity to tear down besides you. It’s easy to ask, “What’s wrong with the world?” rather than “What’s wrong with me?” We secretly ask ourselves both of these questions when we are hurt. “Where is my love?” “Why did this happen to me?”
Nothing is wrong with you. Your love is always right here (point to chest).
Black-eyed peas: Where is the love? “If you never know the truth, then you never know love.”
If you never know the truth, then you never know love. The truth sometimes hurts, but we must be strong enough to be objective and accept truths as we see them. The truth is always there, acknowledging it’s just your choice.
Love and peace are strong.
Dear Lord, Teach me to trust in you so that when the unexpected storms of life come, I will expect peace amid these storms, knowing that you are near, you hear my cries, and you are with me and for me, always. God’s love is everlasting and abundant. Love and peace is strength. If you love yourself and love others, nothing will ever keep you down.
“For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times” -Proverbs 24:16
Love is hard. Shakespeare said, “The course of love never did run smooth.”
Let your character, morals, actions, and virtues endear everyone you meet and come across. Let your love be an attractive force that drives people towards you and inspires them towards righteousness. Let your warmth heat and comfort others. Let your example of strength and tenderness existing hand-to-hand drive others to reach the same state. Be admirable. Be the love you want in this world.
John 15:12: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Luke 6:31: Do to others as you would have them do to you. Corinthians 16:14: Do everything in love. Proverbs 17:17: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Love vs hate
It’s better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not. -Andre Gide
Hate will never win. Never. Winners will never want to hate. Haters will never win. Hate is a nasty parasite that seeps into the soul. It panders to our worst qualities and feeds them. Learn to loathe hate. It is important to listen to your mind in society and stay logical and unemotional. However, the heart must be the driving factor. We must learn to world with the heart and the mind, to allow the heart to speak in decision making. To bask in love. To live out our purpose through love.
We all have a purpose in this world. Our motivation to reach this purpose should be driven by self-belief rather than fear. Love rather than hate. We all have a personal journey we must embark on. A quest to conquer. The heroic drive into the unknown. To slay the dragon and save the princess. This is our duty. This is our purpose. Otherwise, our life is meaningless.
Ask God for advice if you don’t know which dragon you must slay yet. Ask God for guidance. He will show you. Pick something and aim at it. If nothing comes to mind, choose to fight for God and this country. That’s a start. Embark down that road. See where it takes you. Through that process, you will see what you want in this life. You will find that purpose. As you move toward it, you’ll get wiser. Maybe your aim will change. It most likely will happen multiple times. The first attempt might not work. That’s okay. That doesn’t mean we should throw it away. It will change in an informed way. You have a responsibility to others, but more importantly to yourself, to slay that dragon. It will take sacrifice, but nothing can stand in your way if you have God, Love, Strength, and Determination in your heart. Nothing wants to try and stop something relentless. If something is valuable, you will make sacrifices to obtain it. We can let go of what we value in the present and gain something we value in the future. There is a pain to discipline, but it is minuscule compared to the pain of regret.
Your quality of life will follow when you uphold your responsibilities and duties. It will increase.
Jordan Peterson- “We derive certain amounts of satisfaction from past accomplishments and generally in proportion to their difficulty.” “You are not everything you could be, and you know it.”
Purpose, love, and belief. It's a personal journey. Slay the dragon and save the princess. It’s quite simple.
I fall between the beliefs that you must be obsessed and everything in moderation.
I believe everything in moderation, including moderation. But simultaneously, I believe that to do something truly great, you must be somewhat obsessed. All work and no play make Johnny a dull boy, and that may be true, but quiet desperation scares me more than sacrifice now for a reward in the future.
But you can’t do this if you don’t love yourself first. You will fail in the long run. Love is the driving factor to positive human change. It is our duty to provide for the collective of society, but we can’t do that if we are not first in a place where our strength qualifies us to put ourselves out there.
Put on your mask first before helping others. The same lesson applies here.
We must be open to loving ourselves, disregarding all the hate the world has to offer. They want you to pick a side. They want you to have enemies. They want you to fight each other. It’s quite amusing. If we must pick a side, pick God’s side. Pick your side. Don’t do it in a shy way, either. It’s way harder to love yourself than most people think. But it must be done.
Say the things you truly feel and not the words of one who kneels (My Way by Frank Sinatra)
Kneel for God only. He is our love. He is always with us. 24/7/365. He doesn’t take a break from loving us. We should not take a break from loving him or ourselves either.
See God in Everything.
“It is good to guard the secret of a king but gloriously to reveal the works of God and, with fitting honor, to acknowledge him” Tobit 12:7.
How often do we acknowledge the works of God? How often do we truly see the blessings and beauties in life? We must be open to seeing the works of God. We must be conscious of life. I am not sleepwalking from day to day, but I am noticing stuff at this moment.
Enjoy the little things. It’s so simple yet so effective.
A secret of the Saints goes as follows: Every moment comes from the hand of God. Everything comes from the man above. This comes from you, God, you are the source of this day, and I am grateful.
Raphael stated, “Gloriously declare what God has done in your life.”
Announce to people what God has done. You don’t have to be overbearing and shove it down others' throats but do not be afraid to share your testimonies about how he’s affected you, no matter how big or small.
Personal testimony.
The way I show my love to God for others is vast. I wear my cross outside of my chest wherever I go. I am always open to religious discussion with anyone willing to listen. I try my best to pray before every meal, even in public. I invite loved ones to church. I try to speak the word of God and the universe to you. I try my best to unite the young men of this country under God again, not only under God but under ourselves, too. Our self-belief must be rock solid to change the minds of others.
I do things my way, the way I think God sees best. If I split up, I ask for God’s forgiveness and guidance. These are how I gloriously declare what God has done in my life. He has saved my life numerous times. I owe everything I have to him. I would not be here today without him. Because of this, I am forever in his debt, and happily so.
So how do you do this? How do you see the daily works of God? Be observant and open to seeing it. Open your eyes. That’s all. That’s the easy part. Now, what do we do when we see the daily works of God? This answer is threefold. Thanks to Father Mike Schmitz for making this clear to me.
First: To notice. Keep your eyes open for the works of God; they are always around you.
Second: Note it. Remember it. Keep it fresh in your mind. Know that this is the work of God.
Finally, Declare it. Share your story. Tell others. Exclaim it from the rooftops. Go to the top of the mountain and shout it.
To do the work of God, we must believe.
To do the work of God, we must believe in him. We must believe that we have been chosen to do so. We must not fear the persecution that may come from our actions. We must take up our crosses each and every day. We must believe in him.
Keep your faith in light daily; you will always keep the devil in fright!” “If you drop your beliefs, you drop your success. God's mighty people fall even as achievers when they begin to drop the beliefs they pursue initially.” “One thing is needful: to know and abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus Christ or whatever higher power you believe in, keep your faith. It’s called faith for a reason. “The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials.” -George Muller.
Colossians 3:23-24
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
We were put on this planet to serve Christ and to serve others. We must believe in this fact with all our hearts. We must want to do the work of God, not for a reward, but because it is the right thing to do. Serve others means doing something primarily for the benefit and goodwill of another person or group of people. When we serve, we look outside of ourselves, beyond our own problems, and seek to bring value to others. Christian service. Throughout Scripture, service is the modus operandi (mode of operation) for God's people. We are all his people. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Believe that. Believe in him each and every day. When times are good, praise him. When times are bad, look to him. You must help people hold onto their faith in God against all odds. As St. Benedict of Nursia said, “Operi Dei nihil prœpontur,” “nothing should be put before the service of God.”
Change can happen in an instant. Take that next step. You know what God wants you to do today, and that’s all that matters. One step, one day at a time. Brick by brick, we will rebuild his church. We are the church, and we must represent it in an appropriate fashion.
