Welcome, Traveler

Greetings. You are exceptional and I am glad to meet you. Not one person in a thousand would have taken the Red Pill after reading the Home Page. How often have you heard any of those topics discussed?

Most prefer certainty to inquiry, comfort to growth, and entertainment to understanding. Most never question the assumptions that shape their lives. Fewer still choose to examine them.

Yet you have.

If you choose to continue this adventure—this pilgrimage—you will encounter many great books, ideas, and authors. We will use every learning device available to us: books, films, podcasts, stories, exercises, and experiments.

Some ideas will strengthen you. Others may disturb you. A few may permanently change the way you see yourself and the world. You will expand your intellectual armamentarium. But every journey requires a map.

For our organizational framework we shall use Orwell's novel, 1984. Wherein Winston Smith recognizes that something is terribly wrong. He sees the prison, but lacks the strength to escape it. He rebels, but he has never trained his body, disciplined his mind, or forged his character. In the end, Big Brother wins.

The Traveler intends a different outcome. He will be free! You will gain intellectual powers that poor Winston never dreamed of. And strength too, for there is adversity in marching to a different drummer.

Some video games involve the protagonist possessing a secret weapon or magic saying. It is a single master value—a principle that acts as both compass and armor against the many forces that seek to define and control him.

                   The Master Value

It is what you are, not what you have.

The world trains people to pursue status, wealth, possessions, popularity, and approval. And you can be free of that right now. Is that not powerful? You now are above the judgements of others, and in this manner have gained much time and energy; freed yourself from self-doubt, and much more. Read it again, try it on.

                 It's what you are, not what you have.

You know, after a moments thought that status can be lost, wealth can vanish, and possessions taken. And Reputation often depends upon the opinions of others. But what you become belongs to you. Knowledge, character, wisdom, discipline, courage, and honor are all priceless, but you will earn them.

These become part of the structure of your being. Unlike possessions, they cannot be separated from you. They travel wherever you go. The Traveler therefore understands a simple truth: The journey is not about acquiring more, it is about becoming more.

To begin consider the Cargo Cult—those islanders who once saw planes, bringing gifts of food, medicine, and technology. When the war ended the planes stopped .

So they built mock airstrips. They crafted imitation radios out of coconuts. They stood in their fake bamboo control towers, speaking into carved wooden microphones, asking for the planes to return.

They did everything right—Given their assumptions, their conclusions were perfectly logical. They had a wonderful map. But it fit no territory.

Now, step back and look at the world around you, and consider how many of our institutions still stand in bamboo control towers?

Not so easy is it, perhaps the Cargo Cult can help us here. Let's visit them.