Man at the Precipice of Desire.

Determination is a symptom of desire. You've been determined before.

So, if you think you haven't desired anything before, you have. It doesn't matter what it was nor does it matter if someone else would have been more or less determined than you were. Remember that feeling. Those moments where you did not budge in achieving your goal. You know how it is to reach resolute absolution. This is the type of desire we are talking about today. The type of desire that provides its own meaning in the absence of a grander one.

You have been determined. You have desired. You have even been desired. But when was the last time you were determined (and capable) while being unable to imagine what your world will look like when you actualize that desire? So often, when things feel tough and confusing it is because we cannot envision the state of our world when that goal is realized. We struggle to desire what we cannot imagine.

When we do finally realize... We're massively let down because we never stopped and realized that nothing would really change by chasing the facetious carrot that had been leading us to this point in time and space.

Yet, more dire than chasing the carrot, is not knowing that it exists at all. Everyone, with rare exception, reaches a point in their life where they decide "I have reached where I am supposed to be." The carrot has ceased to exist. The chase is over. The desire has been fulfilled.

This is the precipice of desire.

Laying Roots

There comes a time when we "set down roots". Things slow down. We plasticize. We materialize a routine that provides order and obligation. Ascension, avoidance, or even blind allegiance from the defined path is architected to result in near perpetual ruin.

You've seen it several times in your life. I need not explain further on this.

At this point in a life, roots swing down into Earth and cement the world views that go on to influence everything in their life. The people one is surrounding themselves with. The political stance they hold at any given time.

For many, having set roots came more in the form of a surprise than a pure-hearted intention. Without even realizing, one spends a decade, builds a social circle, puts the kids in school and then only realizes that moving isn't easy anymore.

The Wind-Breaking Forest

A younger and less experienced founder or entrepreneur will often give the advice that you should focus on and work with neets. Find the 10x developer who does nothing but spend time in front of his computer. Invite the person in that does not have friends outside of the company Slack channel and their AI girlfriend.

But, seasoned veterans will tell you that those without obligations are the largest liabilities to you and your future. Outside of business and especially in business. A web of dependencies is a knowable and predictable trusts. Not always savory, but familiar.

As a collective, it is a remarkable feat. The true manifestation of a modern village only made possible by the tribe that depends upon one another. To the detriment of the tribe though, is the allowance of an infected member. Slow to hire, quick to fire is more than just an extremely cliche saying you hear in the overly corpo office providing your paychecks. One must terminate; swiftly and without give.

In the professional workspace you find these malignant undesirables more commonly surface as Black Holes. Individuals who are operating outside the band-of-average.

We want to keep the band tight. The tighter the band the more cohesive and effective. High levels of deviation are appealing to the dim. Like the dancing rays 30% of the world sees when staring at a street light, the remarkably unremarkable are dazzled by the dancing of the diamonds.

Go on, be chaotic they think and egg. Employing weapons of subliminal sociopathy slowly positioning their target as a source of entertainment and uncertainty in a world that has become far too normal and dreary. Left to feel like each day the only option left is to keep treading water.

Do not stop under any circumstances. If you stop the world you have built will come crumbling down in the matter of weeks.

Those are the thoughts of a man that has not found comfort in the lack of abnormal dazzle in the suffocating routine they've chosen for themselves. Emotional regulation is not a luxury and those with obligations will provide you that reliably. There is no other choice beyond that or destruction.

Still, Black Holes are far more terrifying and heart-breaking than any man left with regrets of forgotten dreams. Black Holes (from a purely anecdotal reference) seem to have an increased inclination to have an implosion that is not singular in impact. The absolute collapse as the final straw breaks causes a shared implosion that ripples at an imperceptible frequency. The consequences of being within range? Time will only tell. I will not be within the blast radius to find out.

Levered to the Tits

Mortgages. Kids. A business. A dog. An aging parent. A crumbling house. A HOA. The kind of obligations that force a person to stay sane, show up, and execute because the alternative is death-by-chaos.

These are not distractions. These are anchors. These are the great joys of life. The true tools to use when avoiding a grave full of regrets and if-onlys.

We love to pretend that freedom means flexibility. But flexibility without constraint leads to drift. To emptiness. To projects started and abandoned. To disappearances. Ghosts in your org chart. Slack messages that never return. Trello boards that become tombstones.

Someone leveraged can't drift. They don't get to disappear. Because disappearing costs them everything. And everything is... truly everything. “Burn the boats” is cute until the person has nothing on the shore worth staying alive for.

The person with a baby and a mortgage will deliver. The person with weekend plans and a mortgage will deliver. The person with elderly parents and a mortgage and a back pain and a standing appointment with their trainer—will deliver.

Because they have to. They are the immovable objects.

Systems of Faith

Setting of like an adventurer, Man embarks on a journey that has the same destination as where He started. For those without a defined set of obligations, the search for meaning begins.

Is it under international travel? Perhaps it's in a new professional career. I've always wanted to own a motorcycle. What has been will be again… there is nothing new under the sun. They wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. Not even realizing what their own prophets of self have provided.

If you've missed the hint; systems of faith become a source of reason and direction in the absence of internal meaning. They step in when the ego breaks. When the algorithm of self-optimization fails. When "just be yourself" stops being enough.

Because man does not live on vibe alone. He needs liturgy. He needs rhythm. A Sabbath. A temple. A rule of life. Even the most godless founder builds something. And if you do not choose your altar, you will still kneel. Money. Metrics. Reputation. Dopamine. Desire. One way or another; you will tithe with grace.

The Prayer of Divine Intervention

At some variable point in the journey, every yet-to-rest adventurer stops and realizes they've become a Nomad. A vagabond that has bounced to and fro their entire life without ever having found a place to call home. A shadow in their own story.

They've pivoted every 3 months when the New Thing arrives. Taking the only form they are familiar with, the fanatic desperately seeks structure and organization in a scene not yet welcoming.

Over time the seeking becomes a quite plea of greener grass over time. First only loud enough for those closest to hear and eventually growing into a deafening source of noise at it operates like a Trompette de Cavalerie.

Systems of Faith provide the structure and comfort where desperately needed. Another brick goes in the wall as the system provides structure in a mortar-less defense. One must look up to the stars and operate as a God fearing man to provide a semblance of meaning. A prayer to be touched by God. A cry to be allowed a life beyond the reasons within their own means.

Now they sit—half proud, half ashamed—realizing they’ve built nothing that could hold them when the bottom drops out. "Hear me Lord and answer me for I am poor and needy" (Psalm 86:1)

The Pinnacle of Choice

There is no "Hot girls in your area!!!" ad that follows you everywhere for life meaning. No fanfare, no spotlight. Just a sinking feeling—like the quiet realization that the noise you’ve been chasing has finally gone silent.

It’s not some glamorous breakthrough. It’s not fireworks or glory. It’s the weight of knowing that the life you have—the mess, the obligations, the routines you never asked for—are the only ones you get.

At that moment, you’re forced to decide. Do you keep pushing against the grain, chasing the next shiny distraction? Or do you accept that the obligations, the daily grind, the people relying on you—they’re not just chains. They’re what keep the world from falling apart. They're the meaning.