http://www.rubinghscience.org/jablon/vapkwoc1.html
June 2002







The Ethos of Strength

The mentality of
the Survivor, Conqueror, Builder, and Creator



Constructive Expansionism -- Aggressive Positivism











Make yourself mentally strong.

Fear is the mind-killer.  Never panic.  Fear and panic equals losing your own 'self', your own 'I'.



* * *


Supernaturalities do not exist.  Don't allow the belief in supernaturalities to capture your mind.  The belief in supernaturalities draws away your energy and your capability of independent thought and action.

There is a logical and materialistic explanation for everything.  All things in living and lifeless nature are subject to your actions guided by your own thoughts.  You must and can use elements in the world for your own purposes and according to your own insight.



* * *


Believe in yourself.  Losing your self-confidence equals giving in to the enemy.

You are capable of everything you wish to be capable of.  If you want it, then you can do it.

Free your mind of memes that are of no use to you.  Don't let others tell you what to think and what to believe.

Ideas and thoughts are mental tools, just like physical tools, and can be used for your own advantage.  Acquire the right tools.

The only criterium for what is 'good' is 'the thing that makes you stronger'.  Stronger mentally and physically.

Mental and physical strength are connected.  The mental and physical world are connected.  Every intelligent being is always carried in a physical carrier.  The interaction between the mental processes inside the intelligent being and the external physical world determines the effectiveness of that intelligent being.



* * *


Each surviving living entity is a warrior, by definition. 

Life equals battle.

Life, in order to at least survive, must be capable of offensive action.  Limiting yourself to defense-only equals stagnation.



* * *


You yourself are the only one deciding about your own actions and your own thoughts.  The world is not in control of you, you are in control of the world.

Be the boss over your own thoughts -- don't let hostile memes control you.

Sometimes, the way forward is to free yourself of harmful memes rather than to acquire new memes.

Incorporate into your lifestyle moments at which you do mental housekeeping.  Review new and old ideas, concepts, tricks and tools. 

Never adopt unquestioningly and uncritically a new idea or concept.

Defend yourself from bad memes, but don't isolate yourself from the world.  Actively go out into the world.  There are a lot of ideas and tools out there that may be of use to you.

Learn to actively test mental and physical tools for their usefulness to you.

Don't believe anything without testing it yourself.  Never simply take someone's word for it.  Never switch off your own active, independent mind.  Switching off your independent, critical mind equals mental death.

Compare your own mental and physical tools with others with whom you come into contact.  It is good and useful to imitate and to copy good tricks from others. 



* * *


If a theory or idea is not good and useful to you practically, then you are often much better off without it.  Every theory purporting to explain the truth behind things must be demonstrable through physical, tangible effects.

It is always allowed to ask 'Why ?'.  If someone cannot explain 'Why ?', then he does not know clearly himself, which means that you are reduced even more than otherwise to your own wits and energy to find out.  If a person, instead of admitting his non-knowledge, gets angry when you ask 'Why ?', and insists that the 'Why ?' is unknowable or that you take him on faith, then he is an impostor who is trying to take advantage of you. 

Only people who do not hesitate to admit their non-knowledge when they do not clearly know a thing, can potentially be trusted to tell things worth knowing. 

The first step to gaining knowledge about a thing is to clearly envisage that you do not yet know it.  Only if a container is first emptied of rubbish, can it be filled with valuable stuff.  It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to be able to identify and to bring into focus things you do not yet know. 



* * *


In a difficult situation, free your mind of all thoughts that reduce your effectiveness.  This is a mental trick that can be trained.

Gain experience with all your tools -- mental and physical -- through constant training and self-improvement.

Use everyday situations to hone your mental and physical tools.

Keep your tools in good shape; keep them ready to use for when you need them.

You are no sharper than your knife.

Don't allow your tools to rot.

A good mental trick is similar to a good sharp knife -- it makes you into a stronger, more lethal entity.

Your tools are a part of your body.

Your mental tools and your ideas are as much a part of your existence as your physical body and your physical tools.

Your mind is a weapon, just as your body is.



* * *


Great plans and objectives can be effected through small steps.  If a goal is far-off, break it down into small steps, then confidently and without haste put the first step.

The reason and workings behind everything can be discovered in the same way.  All problems are solvable and all secrets are discoverable.  Never believe those who say that something is not reachable or understandable by you yourself.

Never disbelieve that you can learn something.  You are capable of learning anything you want.  The trick to learning anything (languages, physical skills, mathematical tricks, anything) is to refuse to be worried or hastenend and to simply open up your mind to it.  Things are only learned by unhasty and unworried playing around with it.

Never let other people talk you into worrying about anything.  Worry makes you less effective in everything.

If you don't want to do something, then don't do it

Do everything your own way.  If you know that you know best, then don't allow yourself to buckle down mentally.



* * *


Even stupid, ignorant fools can have good ideas and good tricks that can be very useful to you.  Never isolate yourself completely from anyone (just distance yourself somewhat, if he is really obnoxious).

There is always more to any person you meet than appears at first sight.  Many people carry an useen and mostly-unused bag of both good and bad tricks.  It is often possible to strike up a way of interaction, useful to you, with the most stupid and ignorant people.



* * *


Pick your friends with care.  Your friends form your primary mental environment.  For each person you know and meet, a level of closeness of interaction, between him and you, can be found that is best and most useful to you.  Because you and others constantly change, this level is dynamic, and needs to be constantly gradually changed too.  Decrease the level of closeness with people who are of no use to you, who irritate you and who suck away your energy.  Increase your level of closeness with people who increase your strength, who inspire you to new tricks and skills, and who give you new energy.

Making your friends more effective helps making yourself more effective, too.

You yourself are the core of your own clan, your own state, your own world.  Never hesitate to take the initiative, to go out boldly into the world and be the initiator of things.  Not taking the initiative means waiting for others to grab control of things and to wait to be out-performed by others.  Be the center of action, the knowledge-depository, and the center of intelligence of your own world.



* * *


Sometimes you move faster by siting down, freeing your mind, and thinking, than by energetically running around physically.  It is a precious skill to be able to keep your mind cool always.

Never haste.  Actions done without haste are better and more useful to you in all ways.  To haste is to give up a part of your conscious control over things.

Talk carefully.  Don't talk automatically -- don't become an automaton who only repeats what you heard other people say in a similar cirumstance.  If that happens, it means you are thoughlessly following, rather than independently living your own life.

Often, especially when you have a lot of far-away goals, it is possible to let your day-to-day actions guide by what you best feel like doing at that moment.  If a whim makes you feel like doing something that is on your useful to-do list, then it is efficient to use that natural energy to simultaneously have fun and do something useful.  By training yourself mentally in this, it is possible to change your life so that you always and only do things you know to be worthwhile.



* * *


Anything that you discover that gives you satisfaction and helps you feel good, is worth to be considered to be tried out for deliberate repetition and worth to be tested out for possible addition into your bag of 'good tricks'.

Feeling better helps you to live and perform more effectively.  Do the things that give you satisfaction.

Long-term satisfaction is better than short-term pleasure.  The things that give long-term satisfaction are the things that are most useful to you, and the things that are truly most useful to you are the things that give you the most satisfaction.  Real satisfaction comes from successful building at one's own strength.  Utter satisfaction is to pull yourself to a new, higher level of operation through the permanent acquisition of general-purpose, long-lasting tools and skills.

One thing that is among the things that gives most satisfaction is to be your own boss, and to be in control of things.  Servants and those who let themselves lead by other things are wretched, unhappy people who don't accomplish anything and are sinking ever deeper into the morass.  Don't allow yourself to be caught in the morass.



* * *


Don't get stuck in a rut.  Doing the same tedious thing over and over again is never good.  One who has stuck in a rut always will get overtaken and outperformed by the hostile world, and probably is already being taken advantage of by someone or something.

All good tricks are never atomic, unchangable entities.  A good trick exists in infinite shades and varieties.  It is always possible to mix different good tricks from different sources, to fine-tune the mixture to suit you best.

Beware of dogmatism.  Rigid thoughts are the way into stagnation.  Stagnation equals death.



* * *


The world is your enemy. 

If someone or something threatens your survival, then have no compassion towards it.

Attack the enemy before the enemy attacks you.

Survival is to be tougher and more aggressive than the enemy.

Self-sacrifice is never good.  Expenditure of energy on your part is always done to further your own ends.

People who don't help themselves are not worth to be helped by others.



* * *


All moral precepts are attempts of the state, the church, or other large or small organizations or groups to mis-use you for their purposes, to make you into a self-sacrificing machine furthering their ends.  Never believe moral ideas being pressed onto you.

The world is filled with masses of bad memes (ideas, moral rules, fashions, theories), trying to control you.  Don't succumb !



* * *


'Good' and 'bad' are never attributes that are rigidly connected to things or ideas.  An idea or thing is good if and only if it is useful to you in a specific circumstance.

When there is even the least possibilty that a skill or technique is useful to you, then there is no reason whatsoever why you should be barred from learing and acquiring that skill if you so wish.  Don't let other people withhold knowledge from you.

'Good' is synomymous with 'successful', and with 'strong'.  Anything weak and unsuccessful will stagnate, diminish, rot, and die.  Successful things survive, live, and prosper, and give off the smell of creation, exploration, and change.

Choose as your friends those people who are successful and stong; study them, and copy their good tricks.



* * *


A lot of 'nice' and 'loving' moral ideas are really disguised sadistic cruelty, trying to keep you ignorant and dependent.

Lethal and dangerous technology must be learnt, and must be used for one's survival.  Not learning and passing on the skill of making and using guns is to make oneself and one's environment weaker and stupider.

Humbleness, 'devotion', and "being nice and compassionate to every living thing" is not good for anything, neither for yourself nor for anyone or anything else.



* * *


Being smart, fast, and strong is synonymous with being potentially dangerous.  Strive to be as potentially dangerous as possible.

One who is not willing to be dangerous is capitulating even before any battle is joined, and is debilitating himself.

Never let others bluff you.  Be as brutal and mean as your adversary.

Make yourself independent of other things and people.  Self-sufficient people are stronger.

Always learn the 'why' behind things, and the methods to re-create your tools from scratch if necessary.  One who does not know how to construct a space-ship is stranded on the planet he is dumped on by his enemy.

Know the basic 'why' and construction behind all machines and tools you are using.

A tool you cannot upkeep is doomed and will disintegrate, just as a wounded and infected limb will rot and fall off your body if not repaired.



* * *


Do not be afraid to make mistakes.  Mistakes are the only way to really learn really new things.  People who never make mistakes -- who are also exactly the people who are too afraid to try out new things -- never learn really new things, and therefore will stagnate and die.

Always fight back.  Never give up.

Do not go down with the ship.  If something pulls you down into peril, then free yourself of that thing.



* * *


Do not uncritically trust other people's promises; similarly, do not uncritically believe the things assured to you by 'authorities'.  Always test things independently yourself.  It is better to rely on your own actions and insights than to rely on the promises and assurances of others.



* * *


Strength is its own reward.  Strength builds more strength, and leads to self-improvement, and to learning, building and creation of more new tricks and tools -- which in turn again leads to more strength, and to more insight and more wisdom.

Strength equals health equals success equals life.