Machiavelli and Living In the World As It Is, Not as You Wish It Would Be

One of my all-time favorite philosophers is Machiavelli, who gets a bum rap from people that hate the fact that he dealt with the world as it was, not as people wished it to be. That was one of the themes of his writing. For example, this is classic Machiavelli:

“And many writers have imagined for themselves republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for there is such a gap between how one lives and how one ought to live that anyone who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns his ruin rather than his preservation: for a man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not good.”

This is the essence of modern politics in the United States. It’s a bunch of spoiled brats going, “The world should be like this instead of how it is!” There’s very little reason involved, no attempt to understand why the world is this way now and almost no consideration of consequences. Just babies laying on the floor, stomping their feet and holding their breath until they get the candy they want.

Americans tend to increasingly be like this as well and they’ve taken their own personal failings and tried to transfer them to the world. For the most part, feminists are women who aren’t pretty enough to play the traditional game, so they want to rewrite the rules. We need to have 14 million genders that people can change between at will because it makes weirdos sad when we tell them that they need therapy. Traditional masculinity has to be “rewritten” because it’s hard for “men” raised by single mothers who wet themselves at the idea of shooting a gun or getting punched in the face.

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Once you get out of politics or mediocrities that think all of society should be changed around to make them from winners into losers, what you start to find is that us “normals” tend to have this mentality as well. We’re not as deep in the well or as irrational about it, but so often we look at the world as it is, see it clearly and then spend all of our time trying to find a way around the obvious.

How many articles about relationship problems have you read about on this page where you knew exactly what needed to happen almost immediately? How many times have you met people complaining that they’re unhealthy who eat bad food, smoke, and do absolutely nothing to take care of themselves? How many people do you know who complain about their job, yet do nothing about it?

This is why all those ridiculous ads that promise a miracle solution to our problems are everywhere. It’s because we usually know what to do, but it’s HARD and we want a shortcut.

“I want big muscles!” Start working out every day, eating right, and learning what to do.

“I want to make more money starting tomorrow!” Get a 2nd job!

“I want to get better with women!” Get in shape. Improve your wardrobe. Start making friends and doing more interesting things. Start talking to women every day. Regularly ask women out and be okay with getting a “no.”

“I’m broke all the time.” Then cancel your cable TV, stop going to Starbucks and quit buying booze until your budget gets right and you can save up some money.

“I don’t like living in this area!” Then MOVE. Save money, pick out a new place, look for a job there, and get out of town.

“I want to spend more time with my kids.” Start rearranging your schedule to make that possible and prioritize your kids over drinking with the boys or watching TV.

I’m not saying EVERYTHING is that simple because it’s not, but a lot of it is. What it ISN’T is EASY.

The more you accept reality as WHAT IT IS and react accordingly instead of wishing, wanting, and hoping for a miracle to occur that will bend reality to your will, the better off you will be.