Earthquakes

Life is short and fragile.  Human tragedy is followed by improvements and renewal.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 1,000 words
Reading Time: 6 minutes + 2 video clips (26 minutes total)

Oscar wrote an email to me, asking how I have been coping with the recent earthquakes in Taiwan.  We are doing fine, thankfully.  I appreciate his thoughts and prayers and those of other readers.

I have some information about the recent earthquakes and a story to tell about earthquakes in Taiwan.

Metaphysical Literacy

The worldly wise man is the Biblical fool, and double vice versa.  Can you identify this difference in yourself?

Readership: All; Men;
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 850 words
Reading Time: 5 minutes

The Metaphysically Illiterate Man is the Biblical Fool

The worldly concept of a fool is one who driven by impulsive emotion and has a lot of illogical mish-mashed ideas in his head, whereas a wise man has a well-ordered logic well informed by experience, or “street-smarts”.

The Biblical concept of a fool is one who has a lot of logical ideas in his head, “wise in his own estimations”*, but which have no basis or application in the present reality, whereas a wise man has spiritually informed and finely attuned appreciation of the nature of things, such that he can almost predict how things will go.

Analysis Paralysis is the Gateway to the Abyss

Dwelling in the vanity of the mind transports one to an alternate paradigm of reality in which lies are true and life is debased.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 1,800 words
Reading Time: 10 minutes + 2 video clips

Introduction

Several concepts came out of our discussion of the Black Pill last week.  One of them was the challenge of staying engaged with reality (e.g. facing hardships, interacting with people, etc.), and another was the problem of overthinking.  Actually, these two problems are one and the same.  This post will explain how it works and how to escape this deceptive trap.

Current Homesteads for the Faithful Few?

Exactly where are people conforming to God’s ordained order?

Readership: Christians; Marriage minded Men and Women;
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 300 words
Reading Time: 2 minutes

The prevalence of (relatively) early marriage and family formation is an indicator of God’s grace extended towards those communities and individuals.

This past week, the question came up about whether there now exist churches and communities where a sizeable number of Christian young people are marrying in a timely fashion (i.e. the girls are 25 or younger) and/or couples are having children in considerable numbers (i.e. 3 or more).

Several commenters have replied in the positive, but other commenters have refused to believe it, demanding to know the names and locations of these churches / communities.

In consideration of those who are seeking to join such communities, it would serve our interests to have a “map” of these locations.

So, if any readers are members of churches or communities where this is happening, please send Jack an email with the relevant information, or leave a comment below.

sigmaframe@protonmail.com

1. Name of church or community.
2. Location: County / Township, City, State, country.
3. Denominational affiliation (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.) and/or sect (e.g. Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, etc.)
4. Estimation of the population of the church / community.
5. Estimations of the average ages of marrying couples.
6. Estimation of the number of children in the church / community.
7. Estimation of the divorce rate in said church or community.
8. Other information you believe is pertinent or noteworthy.

Once I get a number of responses, I’ll put together a list and/or a map of these places.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Related

• Σ Frame (Scott): Scott’s conclusions on courtship and marriage incubation (2019-2-24)
• Σ Frame (Jack, Ed Hurst): Ed Hurst’s series: Return to Eden (2019-3-16)
• Σ Frame (Jack): Only God can grant a successful marriage (2020-5-20)
• Σ Frame (Scott): We can’t plant seed in the middle of winter. (2021-2-13)
• Σ Frame (Jack): Commonalities of Successful Marriages (2021-4-14)

The Black Pill as a Socio-Sexual Phenomenon

We are witnessing the splintering of society.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Reader’s Note: This post will conclude this week’s topic of the Black Pill.
Length: 1,500 words
Reading Time: 8 minutes

Overview

The assessments of the Black Pill that I’ve offered this week line up with those of several other Manospherian authors, including Blair Naso, Chateau Heartiste, Jim, Lexet, Opium Tales, Rollo Tomassi, and Scott.  The only majorly significant angles I’ve added to the fray are commentaries about the spiritual significance of the Black Pill — how it relates to Redemption — and some of the socio-psychological characteristics that act as either determinants or tells.

To briefly reiterate the spiritual significances of the various “Pill” phenomena…

• Feminism is a socio-sexual vehicle for women to rebel against Headship / Patriarchal authority and by extension, God.
• The Birth Control Pill is a vehicle for women to abandon their fundamental purpose as lovers and life givers and become sterile hoes.
• The Blue Pill is a socio-psychological vehicle for men to submit to women, worship them, and sacrifice themselves for the Curse of Eve.
• The Red Pill is when a man wakes up from his Blue Pilled delusions and sees reality for what it is.
• The Black Pill is when a man is so pessimistic about the truths of the Red Pill that he loses all hope in this world. This is a critical stage in which the man must (1) let go of all his attachments to the world as well as (2) his own angst and bitterness, and then (3) find a renewed hope in Christ, or else descend in a tailspin into the Abyss / hell.
• The White Pill is finding a renewed identity and purpose for living in Christ.

Lastmod, a self-professing Black Piller, has disagreed with my take on the Black Pill.  OTOH, RedPillBoomer wrote a summary of his take on the Black Pill that is pretty darn close to mine. I’ll take this as evidence that the message has gotten through to the readers.  What is missing from RPB’s description is the background social setting that foments all the dynamics within the Black Pill.  So the remainder of this post will give a description of this paradigm.

Scott is not Black Pilled

Pointing out the not-so-obvious.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 1,000 words
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Scott is unlike the others

Scott has often been characterized as being Black Pilled. But here, I’ll describe why this is a gross misnomber.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Scott, he’s a retired Major from the U.S. Army. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology and specializes in counseling. Currently, he runs his own business offering clinical services, Treasure State Psychological Services. He’s 50 years old, lives on a huge ranch in rural Montana, and he’s happily married with several children. He’s been around the Manosphere for at least 10 years. He was the author behind the blog, American Dad (now closed down). From 2013 to 2015, he hosted a weblog promulgating institutionalized courtship procedures for Orthodox Christians. That site was called Courtship Pledge (archived ca. 2015). He started writing at Σ Frame in early 2020, and has contributed posts on an irregular basis since then. Recently, he opened a new blog on Substack entitled, The Age of Subjectivity. His biggest contributions to the Red Pill lore concern (1) the Meet Cute phenomenon, (2) implications of the Meet Cute, and (3) Life Trajectories. A full listing of his posts on Σ Frame can be found here.

In addition to all these accomplishments, Scott maintains a Tingly Respect Headship within his own marriage, and he is rather vocal about this reality, unlike many other Manosphere authors who claim to be happily married but who say nothing about their personal lives.

Black Pill Competition

Competition can either build a man up or bring him down.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 900 words
Reading Time: 5 minutes

The Black Pill is Competitive

In The Status Signaling Narrative (2022-3-21), I described how many Manospherian personalities avoid talking about their personal lives and will say and do things that signal status, such as AMOGing, c0ck blocking, competitive bullying, being condescending, criticizing, making comparisons, mocking, and showing contempt.

My larger point was that men who signal status and habitually deliver a narrative that is more or less a “man up” lecture are usually Black Pilled.

The Black Pill is the Natural Outcome of the Secular Mating Paradigm

Running the gauntlet is playing by the world’s rules.

Readership: Christians; Marriage minded Christian Men;
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 1,500 words
Reading Time: 9 minutes

A Review of Running the Gauntlet

NovaSeeker wrote a high impact post over a year ago, entitled, The Sexual Market IS the Marriage Market (2021-2-22), which described the necessity of “running the gauntlet” before one can arrive in marriage. I wrote about this most recently in a post On Choosing the Flesh over Christ (2022-9-10).

To briefly review, because of The Demise of the Christian Life Script, and The Centrality of Sex in Western Culture, dating and/or hooking up has become the core vehicle for both the SMP and the MMP for virtually all participants.  Marriage only occurs as one possible outcome, or rather an ego affirming afterthought, of a very successful venture in the SMP. As such, the MMP is embedded in the SMP.  In other words, the entrance door to the MMP is, for most people, located in the SMP, such that one must successfully navigate the SMP in order to enter the door of the MMP.

What is the Black Pill?

The essential recipe of the lethal concoction.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Author’s Note: This post contains excerpts from previous comments. Links to the original comments are given in the initial words.
Length: 700 words
Reading Time: 4 minutes

There’s been some confusion about what the Black Pill is all about, so I’ll cite a few relevant comments and clear things up.

Does the Red Pill lead to the Black Pill for Low SMV Men?

“The black pill is stating that physical attractiveness is the most important factor in initial relationships and there is a minimum level of physical attractiveness needed.”

It is not Black Pill to state facts. The Black Pill is when one responds to the facts with hopeless resignation. It is also Black Pill to present the facts as a goal that a man must meet or else be doomed to a lifetime of misery and rejection.

The Ever Looming Black Pill

Identifying one’s fear and facing it.

Readership: All
Theme: Redemptive Headship and Masculinity
Length: 2,500 words
Reading Time: 14 minutes

Rollo’s 5 Stages of Unplugging

In The Five Stages of Unplugging (2012-7-25), Rollo describes some of the heartache that men endure when they wake up from their Blue Pill delusions and fantasies. He rounds off the list with a sixth addendum – being Jaded.