The Black Island
We have reached a pivotal point for this project. Now its future must be decided.
Becoming Noble was born from a personal endeavor. As I exited a decade of conventional employment into a space of greater financial and professional independence, I recognized an opportunity to become a more effective contributor to our movement.
The essays on Becoming Noble emerge from reflections on the standards I should hold for myself and the actions I should undertake as an aspiring ‘elite’. Realizing that few practical guides exist in the space, I decided to structure and release these plans for others on similar journeys.
Thus was the mandate for Becoming Noble born:
Build power, resources, family, and security as the West declines. Learn to protect your own in the face of an increasingly unstable society, and to lay the foundations of virtue and order for what comes next.
Our task is to be a focused counter-entropic force that gradually asserts independence from an entropic society. We see the tidal force of dissolution on the horizon and feel the tremors of instability at our feet. The wave’s distance remains hard to gauge, but it draws closer.
We cannot hold back a tidal wave. Instead we must seek out foundations that are stable enough to survive it. Rock. Here we must place one stone on top of another, to build a small but resolute island: a place of order that expands slowly but surely until it becomes broad enough to stand on. Each rock must support the next - solid, dependable, strengthening those around it.
There no longer exist the organizations and institutions that, in a traditional civilization and society, would have allowed [the higher man] to realize himself wholly, to order his own existence in a clear and unambiguous way, and to defend and apply creatively in his own environment the principal values that he recognizes within himself.1
The creation of such an institution - an island citadel - is our task.
The Black Island.
As promised, an experiment with a more exclusive product is being initiated.
For the last few months I have had some unused professional time due to an interlude between projects, which I chose to devote to Becoming Noble. As this window closes, I must make a call: relegate this project to my personal free time and release new articles on an irregular schedule, or treat it with the seriousness of a professional endeavor.
I very much hope for the opportunity to choose the latter. I have been surprised and honored by the rapidity of the growth in subscribers and by the quality of the audience. While identities naturally remain confidential, among you are professors at prestigious academic centers, researchers in fields including AI/ML and energy tech, and prominent dissident thought-leaders.
I’m grateful for the levels of engagement you’ve given, which is many multiples of the expected standard. I want to have something special to give to the existing (voluntarily) paid members, to whom I’m terribly grateful.
Frankly, not only do I not want to slow down. I want to double down and accelerate.
Schism in the soul, schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme to return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements [of civilization]. Only birth can conquer death―the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new.2
Here’s the plan for for the premium subscription tier (The Black Island):
Initially, one exclusive post a month, to increase over time as we exit the growth-focused early period of the project.
These premium posts will assume that readers are already aligned with the way that we see the world and understand the realities that we do. This assumption will allow us to avoid providing a lot of background before diving into more detailed, advanced, action-oriented subjects than would otherwise be possible. Likewise, we can get deeper into personal and esoteric revelations.
Conversely, when a piece is intended to be accessible to a wider audience it will bias towards being free. Regardless of tier, I recognize that it is a privilege that each and every one of you has subscribed to this publication, and I will endeavor to hold myself to a high standard of quality that reflects that.
Longer term, the intent is to not just give paid subscribers more, but categorically different and special content. Funds will unlock radical new possibilities, including travel for research and interviews, and supporting other members of our sphere, by commissioning art, research, and translations of more obscure texts.
Each rock must support the next - solid, dependable, strengthening those around it.
Now is a good time to join. The earliest subscribers will receive not just my tremendous gratitude but also a chance to get in before any price adjustments to reflect the increased value that the future project provides.
I’m going to take the entirety of the first month’s revenue, personally match it, and commission an original work from an aligned artist, which I will share with you all once complete. I have a few in mind, but suggestions for artists also very much appreciated.
See you on the island.
Sic transit imperium,
Johann
Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul
Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History (Volume VI)
Very exciting article! I will share it widely.