I saw this article and I thought it was an interesting article.
Who is more noble in the grand scheme of life, he who is incapable of
violence, or he who is capable, but abstains? If you are too weak to do
harm, is your abstention from it attributable to the goodness within
you?
How many times have you heard the phrase “The meek shall inherit the
Earth”? More often than not, the phrase is misunderstood by those who
use it. In its modern usage, it’s designed as some sort of chastisement
against men of action, masculinity, and those who dare. Stemming from
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, many have since taken the meaning of the
word ‘meek’ to indicate the weak, or otherwise frail, and that the Earth
is due to them as some sort of compensation for their trials and
tribulations of our current age. Now, the phrase is a celebration of
weakness, cowardice, and submission.
In reality, the word meek does not reflect the true intent or definition that it once did. From the original Greek translation, praus
was not a word referring to the weak, but instead referred to one who
expressed control or power without undue harshness. In the original
Greek, the broken horse was referred to as the original praus.
This mass of bone and muscle was controlled by light pressure from the
knee, or a twist of a bridle, and was not weak, it was control. Meekness is, at its true root, control over power.
The history of our intellectual-class and the modern usage of the
phrase, time and time again, reveals how useful the lie of meekness has
been to those who still espouse it. Jordan Peterson, despite his
controversial views on other topics, was right in pointing this out. In
Jordan Peterson’s explanation, meek referred to a man with a sword and the training to use it when needed. Chögyam Trungpa expounded upon meekness further in his book Shambhala, describing that meekness is one of the essential faces of the warrior, “The warrior of meek: kind and mercy to others.”
In all cases, control is the root of meekness, not
weakness. A strong man who is capable of violence and knows the power of
his own hands, but sheathes his weapons when they are not needed, is in
control of himself. Nietzsche himself commented that most cowards are
moral, not because they are moral at their root, but because they use it
as a disguise to hide their weakness. Therefore, their benevolence is
less a product of their moral integrity, but their inability to harm in
the first place. The blessed meek in the Sermon on the Mount were not
flabby soyboys crying about chads taking their women or a poltroon
justifying that he’ll “be the bigger man” when he should be defending
his woman against slander. Meekness is control, not wimpish inaction.
Weak people are rightly lower in naturally ordered hierarchies,
especially when they have no other redeemable qualities to raise their
status. Claiming that “The meek shall inherit the Earth” is merely the
peacocks tail for these frail creatures who cannot compare to the hawks
or eagles above them. This is not to say that strength is the only
value, or that the mighty should rule, but you must have some sort of
strength or value. Strength is not limited to the physical. We often see
that idiots are the first to flap their gums about topics in which they
believe they’ve learned. Meanwhile, real experts are controlled and
measured when they reveal the depths of their understanding. Control is a
value on parity with strength and intelligence.
Cultivate strength and control in everything you do. And, become
someone who deserves their inheritance due to the blessed meek.
