Submitted, Objectively

To those who’ve known and never heard of such ideas,

“It’s a cult,” they yammer. Like blood spilling from their frothy lips, they speak of sacrifice and dying and suffering. They, however, never speak of joy, life, and excellence to be found on this Earth. They, still, call it a cult. The irony is overwhelming, their system of fate relates to tribalistic leanings and following mystical patterns that would herd all heads under a single yoke. After, they would be plucked one by one with the simplest assertion that their faith cannot be tested. One thing is to believe in something. Another is to say it’s real. If you believe in something, you don’t have to say it's real because it already exists.

With a sound mind and a full soul, I reject and resign from the notion that I should be shoved aside or pigeonholed into a corner screaming and gnashing at the mystics, collectivists, and altruists. I stand on the ground once tread by intrepid leaders who knew that the philosophy to which I subscribe is not a cult. By going against the sheer force of persuasion and even force, I continue on my journey. It is one fraught with the perils of renunciation, chaos, and spite. I’m prepared for that. The ones who are closest to me have chided my proud stance and called it narcissistic, and yes a cult. This followed a free trip to California and a splendid time gaining instruction, living by the principles of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and basking in the glory of clean ideas.

I will never again just take the ill thought that I’m supposed to accept whatever anyone, family member or not, spouts from their mouths. Vitriol and odious words continue to spill as they say that the philosophy is foul. That is their problem. Yes, the philosophy can be challenging and it requires every virtue encompassed in it to go through the world, but it is doable, of course. I resign from the fact that so few people fully understand the wondrous rhetoric espoused by the set of ideals.

Imagine the scene of a young adult saying, “I object,” upon hearing me say I’m going to yet another Conference. He said it as if in a courtroom. It didn’t rankle me. I just knew I had to counter with, “It’s more like objective reality.” I bit my tongue. In the past, I struggled to meet people who are averse to learning about the philosophy. Not now. I have resigned from that position. I remain focused on the actuality of what I want out of life. I wish to soak up the succulent moments this existence has to offer.

Whoever does not respect this new resolution, can, like the words of a hero from my favorite novel, “get the hell out of my way.” I am taking up this sword and shield. I place my helmet on my head and go to battle. Whether bloodied or even killed physically, I will forever wave the banner of this radical morality. So, I resign from the onslaught of hatred pointed at me from near and far. I resign from the various barbs hurled at me through speech and action. There’s a Curtis Mayfield song called “Move on Up.” He mentions, “Your folks might understand you by and by.” While this affirmation seems positive and buoyant, the truth is my folks will never understand my reasons for choosing this philosophy. Or rather, it chose me. I had already been a leader and been respected by teachers and peers. As a community college dropout, I had to fill my mind with nothing but the reality as a man of color who happens to live in America.

I resign being pushed into corners by even the adherents of the philosophy. During a talent show I read a poem and one lady proclaimed I had rapped. Now, I could have thought this as a slight but I just simply said, “The only things I wrap are gifts.” There have been instances where I have disagreed with some of the people in the philosophy. Now, isn’t that peculiar? How can a “cult” have division and quarrels amongst its members? Shouldn’t people all agree to drink poisonous fruit juice or don black and white sneakers and hope some force will take their bodies to some celestial place?

That’s why this is a philosophy and not a faith. That could mean any faith. Even though I’m an atheist, there are those without faith who worship material, spirits, and atoms. I resign from the notion that I must force feed people the ideas. Most devotees can relate that they were obnoxious when they first discovered the philosophy for themselves. They may have stomped their feet and shouted the three Cardinal Values at every chance afforded to them. I know I did. I effused plenty of ideas like a johnny pump issuing water on a city street. Then the realization that I’m not doing something right crept into my soul. I can’t just present these ideas like this. I’ve gotta formulate a plan to keep the rhetoric down and just live my life within the philosophy. I just had to exemplify the virtues and values established by this system of thought.

I resign from the notion that this is a passing phase that will go away some day. This has happened on numerous occasions. For instance, the showrunner of the television series Billions once said the philosophy wasn’t, “Fair, or possible or nice.” I send that statement to the pit of hell that the believers claim they know is real. To renounce the light that illuminated the pathway and turn your back on the principles that guided you, that is a sadness, a shame. I resign any inkling that I might even want to go out of this bright and shining comprehension of existence and my place in it.

It’s a running theme through the magnum opus on which this philosophy is based. The world’s CEOs and top executives drain their brains from the various companies. They are picked off one by one by a mysterious figure showing them a way from all the meanness and puniness of the world that wants their products and services but despises how they got there. They shrug. They make it so that they couldn’t be encumbered by the detrimental and untrue accusations of graft and narcissism. Instead, they witness the power of their virtues and restrict them from the people with their hands in the air reaching and yearning but never acknowledging their own “selfishness.”

I resign from the idea that self-interest is a vice and altruism is a virtue. This is the main sticking point for the world today. In another novel in the canon of this thought, the main character says that “The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrifice.” This means that people propagate the idea of letting go of self to care for their worst enemy’s children. It is a malignant force that has wrapped around the minds of the populace and it has been this way for millennia. I totally cast away any notions of the evils of selflessness and unselfishness. I know that’s a rogue and bold statement. I don’t care. I’ve resigned from holding back when there is enough of my own space to write my resignation letter to any human being with a functioning brain.

From the vantage point of someone who has been within the philosophy for nearly two decades, I must say that “walking away” from everything I was taught from just a bitty baby to being a grown man, was well-worth the trek. I’ve stumbled and stammered and fell flat on my face. Yet, my confidence and resolve sustained me and allowed me to continue on this journey of self-acknowledgement, self-renewal, and self-respect. It is because I am resigning, quitting, and giving up that I am able to see with a clarity that some folks never get to see in their entire lives. I am not blessed like the mystics of spirit say, nor lucky like a mystic of muscle would mouth. I am fortunate that in my youth, I discovered something so pure and revolutionary as this philosophy.

I proudly submit this tract as an example of how it is indicative of anyone who cares about ideas and Western civilization. If humanity is to be saved from the ugly wreckage it is ensnarled in, this is a shining beacon amidst a wasteland that can eliminate all of the fears and doubts of the naysayers. Those same people who dribble words of distaste and rancor against the philosophy are the ones who need it most. For those who have had no contact with it, it is time that they learn about it and introduce themselves to each of the ideas which it encompasses.

Sincerely,

Skyler Saunders