Ditch the Meditations. Become mad instead.

Any man can die for something, but only a hero is willing to die for nothing at all. Stoicism is out. Junk it. Throw it away. The decadent philosophy of slaves and cuckolded emperors and managed to climb. It's cope. That's why this has been the popular philosophy of the past 15 years. No war! We need a new rage. Literally, something else needs to be the rage. The odor. We need new poetry and madness and magic. We need more Don Quixote hotels. We need more Miniver Cheevys. We need knights. Ditch the Meditations and get the Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton. Long story short, in 1984 London, there was one man who takes chivalry very seriously while nobody else does. And so he looks mad. He looks like a joke. But this is what makes him dangerous. Every man is dangerous, who cares only for one thing. I was once a dangerous myself. Sorokin says the same thing. Heroism is innately absurd and irrational. The hero is the greatest fool, but nothing is as foolish as a serious man, and nothing is as serious as a child at play. The hero is a child at play amongst everybody else's humdrum. The enemy of heroism and chivalry is stoic resignation. And this is the function of demoralization, to rationalize failure. The function of demoralization is to convince the enemy that they have nothing worth fighting for. That it's no big deal, that it's not that deep, but this is the language of tyranny and narcissism. It's a big deal to me. That's what Adam Wayne the Provost of Notting Hill says. It matters to me. That which is large enough for the rich to covet is large enough for the poor to defend. That is the irony of the hero. That is the paradox of the hero. But all around him people are going to try to convince him of his absurdity, which he is absurd. But the absurd is the only thing worth fighting for. The hero dies for nothing at all. What is it worth? Nothing. Everything. It's easy to fight to the death when you're back into a corner and there's no way out. But only the hero is willing to die before it is necessary. That's what makes him a hero. He lives and dies for a time that is not his own. And people will laugh at him. You must realize how tyrants operate. When you draw a line in the sand and say no more, they don't just cross it. They tell you that the sand is not a big deal. But there's other sand in other places. That there's nothing particularly special about your sand. And they'll try to persuade you of your insignificance so they never have to cross the line. You'll first cover it back up and invite them through. Evil progresses by degrees. It advances with your participation and vote of competence. An abusive partner does not win through force but by convincing you that you are silly, paranoid and insane. But the hero owns up to his insanity. A despot gives gifts to discourage revolt. Because if you care about more than one thing you'll give up the one thing you really do care about. Most dangerous thing about evil is that it does make sense. And that goodness makes no sense, sacrifice makes no sense, hara-kiri makes no sense. It's a laughable offense. It is serious because it is ridiculous. Because it is worth nothing. It is worth everything. The hero dies for nothing at all. All the property in the world is still worth less than nothing at all. There is nothing so invaluable as the principle of the soul. And this is something I cannot be negotiated with.