I want you to try something for a second.
Open your right hand.
Now use your left hand
and pinch the index finger of your right hand
hard enough to sense the pain.
How do you feel?
Do you feel confused?
Do you feel angry?
Do you feel scared?
Do you feel alert?
Do you feel alive?
You know, sometimes all it takes to shift our focus
from frivolous and ordinary tasks to something deeper
is some pain.
Before watching this video,
you were most probably occupied with some other video or activity.
Now, I have your attention.
Pain has mainly two forms.
It can be either the driver of change
and a reminder that our life isn’t exactly close
to what we envisioned it to be.
Or it can be a devastating force that leaves us powerless
and reduces our ability to objectively evaluate our self-worth.
The former is empowering.
The latter is weakening.
Your interpretation of pain says a lot about your character
and how much you have invested in this interpretation.
Regardless of which form you decide to embrace,
pain will inevitably lead to a change in your present state.
That change will create an imbalance in your rationale
and undoubtedly lead to the initiation of decision-making processes.
Pain is a tool.
It is a tool used consciously and unconsciously
by many agents in most facets of your life.
It is a very effective motivator
that can influence specific choices that you make
and affect areas that you decide to be part of.
This lucid realization might elicit mixed feelings within you,
but at the same time it can empower your sense of self-awareness.
Pain is an omnipresent force.
You can’t avoid it, but you can definitely manage it.
This management is not a matter of luck.
It is a matter of introspection
and making use of one of the most powerful tools you will ever encounter.
This tool is called monk mode.
The word monk derives from the Greek word monakhos, which means alone.
A monk is a person who voluntarily decides to isolate himself
from mainstream society and embrace an ascetic mode of being.
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence
from worldly pleasures and the pursuit of spiritual goals.
It is the abrasion of an impulse-driven state
and the immersion in a reality characterized
by self-control and balance.
Monks have been practicing asceticism mainly for religious purposes.
Their aversion towards contemporary societal values
led them to asceticism as the only way to escape human nature
and achieve theosis, or union with God.
For God is the manifestation of spirituality and enlightenment.
In our modern epoch,
monk mode has been introduced
as a way to describe our attempt to hedge ourselves
from ongoing external stimuli.
Our proclivity to exposing ourselves to a plethora of situations,
opinions, and activities leads to mental disorientation
and lack of control over our emotional state.
We are still primal creatures
with a well-defined set of needs and characteristics.
When those are not met,
we revert to unorthodox behaviors.
That’s why monk mode becomes imperative nowadays.
Monk mode is a mental state
that allows the individual to assume control over his mental well-being
and eventually augment his value
in an attempt to revamp his life conditions.
The monk mode framework requires inquisitive analysis
and the best way to execute this analysis
is to divide the framework into four areas.
Lack of self-delusion is the first
and probably the most defining characteristic of a person
who has successfully internalized monk mode.
Self-delusion is defined as the inability of the individual
to objectively evaluate his or her strengths and weaknesses
and pursue ambitious and tangible goals.
It can occur due to many reasons, but the most relevant one
is the absence of introspection and self-honesty.
The idea you have about yourself is affected by biases,
limiting beliefs, and brainwashing.
You are a malleable entity that can be molded
according to how prone you are to external influence.
People will throw at you different life interpretations
and you will unavoidably espouse some and reject some.
Becoming fixated on outdated patterns
and modes of thinking
will inevitably impede your attempt to reach monk mode.
That isbecause a person in monk mode
is capable of readapting his or her views
and beliefs according to well-evaluated knowledge.
Self-delusion has two sides.
The one side refers to the delusion of superiority
and the other side refers to the delusion of inferiority.
Every one of us has strengths and weaknesses.
Sadly, most of us are unaware of them
because we never tried to identify them.
Study yourself and learn how to follow your skills.
If you lack skills in a certain area,
have the tenacity to pursue them for as long as they can serve you.
This process is what will eventually efface self-delusion
and give rise to self-mastery.
Wikipedia, in this article, suggests an exhaustive list of cognitive biases
we all suffer from to some extent.
Biases can also be considered mental noise
since they contribute to the oftentimes cacophonous mumbling of society.
A person in monk mode is capable of performing regular self-checks
with regards to his or her ability to observe and evaluate.
Observer state is the detachment from ego
and the adoption of a bias-free mindset.
Think of it as a form of “awake” lucid dreaming.
You become aware of your “dream”
and you are able to assume partial control over it.
I like to refer to that state as a delicate mixture of pure emotional
and social awareness.
Another important point to consider when assuming observer mode is that
there is no such thing as one acceptable universal moral truth.
There are just perceptions
and different interpretations of reality and morality.
Jonathan Haidt, explains that argument in “The Righteous Mind":
“If you think that moral reasoning is something we do to figure out the truth,
you’ll be constantly frustrated by how foolish, biased,
and illogical people become when they disagree with you.”
Robert Greene reinforces that point in "Mastery":
“People around you, constantly under the pull of their emotions,
change their ideas by the day or by the hour,
depending on their mood.
You must never assume that what people say or do
in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires.”
This is what it is, ok?
I said, empty your mind,
be formless,
shapeless,
like water.
Now, you put water into a cup,
it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now, water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water my friend.
Formlessness is nothing more than adaptation.
It is the natural state of man
since the Darwinian evolutionary theory suggests that
evolution favors the survival of the fittest –
species adaptable to change.
In a world headed towards more diversity and multiculturalism,
formlessness becomes imperative.
With monk mode, a person neither seeks to follow the ways of the ancients
nor establishes any fixed standard for all times
but examines the things of his age
and then prepares to deal with them in a strategic way.
Life is strategy after all.
Monk mode, although it requires a certain amount of isolation
in order to allow space for introspection to flourish,
thrives with exposure.
When you spend the majority of your time isolated
within the barriers of your comfort zone,
you become self-conscious and frail.
Interaction with the “real world” is inevitable
and isolation just makes this interaction more rigid.
As Aristotle famously put it:
“Man is by nature a social animal;
an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally
is either beneath our notice or more than human.
Society is something that precedes the individual.
Anyone who either cannot lead the common life
or is so self-sufficient as not to need to,
and therefore does not partake of society,
is either a beast or a god.”
Instead of aspiring to an idealistic view of the world,
monk mode aims towards absolute acceptance of human nature.
Relationships are hard,
but it is this hardship that allows us to improve our ability to co-exist.
Become better at evaluating who you are and who is a good match for you.
Harness your social intelligence,
partake in social activities
and use observer mode to evaluate people’s responses and intentions.
Monk mode is, without doubt, one of the most challenging pursuits.
Many want to reach it
but few are ready to espouse the mandatory pain and practice required.
Stepping out of your comfort zone, suppressing your ego,
becoming an observer
and adapting your behavior might feel agonizing at first.
The thing is that remaining stagnant
and perpetuating harmful habits and practices
is equally agonizing and shows lack of self-ownership.
Learn to own the idea of yourself
and use monk mode as a tool to manifest that idea into reality.
Hi everyone,
I wanted to do this video for a while now.
Not only because I consider monk mode a very interesting mental state,
but also because I wanted to explain that monk mode isn’t synonymous
with isolation as some people think.
Yes, isolation is critical when it comes to re-engaging with our self,
but monk mode is more about adopting characteristics of a monk
that will allow you to become more antifragile
while navigating yourself through life.
If you enjoyed it this video please like,
subscribe, and comment below something cool
so that it can gain more traction
and I can keep creating thought-provoking video essays.
Stay awesome.
See you soon.
Adrian out.