Post: #1

I joined this forum recently and there are some comments and thoughts I wanted to share, as I can't think of anywhere else were I could start such topics and receive constructive feedback.

I have been big into self improvement for the last three years and have digested the whole "red pill" idea. On the whole this has made my life more interesting, I no longer get depressed or bitter about situations. I feel a powerful drive to push myself and set myself new limits. This feels great when you actually see tangible results in your life.

However for me to get better with women, work, social life, business, travel. I have had to become pragmatic, to truly embrace rejection in all forms. After some harsh experiences with rejections and treachery, I became desensitised towards it. However in the process, I begin to feel very detached from my feelings.

I am not talking about becoming a Patrick Bateman here, but genuinely I don't feel compassion or empathy for people in the same way. I can't help but see people like pieces on a chess board, rather than actual human beings.

I recently saw a piece by Stefan Molyneux* regarding the murder of a man's heart. It features a monologue on how male disposability and a lack of understanding of the male's emotions, leads to induced sociopathy. Especially for those who aren't raised in a masculine environment and hence forth, are unable to digest rejection. Which is the at the core of a developing male. His very calling in life is to face rejection and laugh it in the face so he can procreate and spread his seed. How many approaches do you have to instigate, before you actually get a "bang".

So here is the question, is there possibly a middle ground here. Part of me no longer feels alive, I cannot describe it, I feel like the third person in my body. I am not sure if this is a healthy part of my development, or if its a unhealthy reaction to the commoditization of Western society. On the plus sides, nearly all aspects of my life have improved, although I still feel that there is something missing.

Post: #2

Trying to be a smartass and post Bateman's finale speech, but never mind.

I don't think you have sociopathy. You have simply stopped dreaming so hard about the softness of life or have become somewhat jaded to its experiences that it's given you.

I remember coming back from war and feeling like a video camera. I could take in everything around me, but felt very removed from people. I had some strong feelings but felt a great loss of connection. Socializing was an exercise in repetition. My actions were acted out from what I thought people would expect of me. Since then I've gained back a lot of my self by entertaining my passions of arts and learning.

Post: #3

You are not a sociopath if you are aware of it. Nor do you blame the rest of the world for your flaws as you are big on self improvement. You are just what we call jaded or just apathetic.

Post: #4

What you've discovered is an amazing power. Just be careful and be mindful of the Machiavellian thoughts. It comes with a price.

There is a middle ground though, you'll discover there are certain people who manage to burrow through your extertior. They'll be good people and that paternal instict will fire up.

Post: #5

I think you've just become hardened to things that used to cause you pain. I have undergone something similar recently, but mine was due to a health issue.

Get some bloodwork done and a hormone profile done. If you feel "off" in the way that you're describing, it could be health related.

Post: #6

Ah yeah thanks, this makes me feel better. Not that I was expecting to flip out and do a Patrick Bateman, I just genuinely noticed a change that was alien to me.

Post: #7

You're just toughening up mate; accepting the world as it really is rather than what you'd like it to be.

The sooner it happens to one in general, the better; it;s like that moment when you realise your parents are just human beings and are flawed like everyone else...you forgive them for the things you blamed them for before and become an adult.

P.S gents, true students of Nicolo would renounce his words

Post: #8

Even though you are probably correct about the OP. There are sociopaths that are aware of their condition, they just simply dont care.

Post: #9

I don't think you're a sociopath. You're probably just a narcissist. You've repressed your emotions so deeply that you can't even relate with them anymore. Retreating to an inner world where you're omnipresent and omnipotent is a pretty natural reaction to the trauma of rejection.

If you were a sociopath, you'd hear about it from people in your life. You'd do impulsive and callous things with no regard whatsoever for others.

Post: #10

It's unnatural to be empathetic to strangers. Humans were not built for that and that's why so many look askance at altruistic liberals who want to "save the world."

Men were meant to have empathy for the people they're closest with: their families, their comrades in arms, their parents, and especially their children.

Somehow society's "it takes a village" mentality bled into our school system and workplace and a lot of us go around thinking we're not caring enough. But if you're taking care of yourself and those you have responsibility for, you are caring enough. Simply by being a good citizen you're taking a load off the cops and whoever would have to deal with your drama (parents, wife). So you can think of it that way.

The part about no longer feeling alive either means you're really going against your social programming or you're having some mental issues. You have to draw a line somewhere. If you're treating those around you well, living responsibly, and behaving with manners and no behaving in an outwardly cruel manner, there's no need to sweat much else.

And I always saw people, to some degree, as pieces on a chessboard. Maybe you were taught to trust more than I was. But I remember in high school plotting to get to the popular girls by befriending, in increments, each popular guy who hung out with them. This actually took up most of my senior year. It worked, too.

Post: #11

I know exactly how you feel. I've undergone so many dramatic transformations over he last two years from hospitalizations, extreme poverty, layoffs, personal breakthroughs, and huge shifts in consciousness that I'm just numb. As a consequence to prevent the extreme highs and lows, I seem stuck in an emotionless middle ground. I do self medicate with occasional joints and drinks but I also juice and practice muay thai. I hope it's just another phase because I don't really "feel" anything and it's very disconcerting.

Post: #12

When you start to define your life on your own terms, and learn to not find validation and/or peace/well being from sources beyond your control, then it's very unlikely you'll feel hurt or too emotionally affected.

You remain unphased. For the most part anyway...

It comes with a price though. It just becomes hard to care about other people, especially women, on a genuine level. It just doesn't factor in. I behave properly towards others, but with the exception of a few close friends, how I behave towards them is merely out of self interest, and not genuine care towards those people.

I suppose most people engage in that kind of behavior to a certain extent. I suspect it is not very conscious on their part, aka most women who are kinda sociopathic, and er, kinda not smart at all.