# Spirit # Tenets *Spirit tenets are laws contained within the domain of Spirit to encourage fulfillment on the path of Spirit. You must create your own tenets and renounce tenets that do not aid your path. Tenets create freedom; they do not restrict it.* ##### **Pursue mastery until progress diminishes** Pursue mastery in Body/Mind/Spirit(BMS) domains until progress diminishes and you are no longer making effective progress down a specific path. At this point the wanderer may switch to a different pursuit of mastery in the exhausted domain if available, or switch to another domain entirely. The wanderer should pivot to a different path when ineffective. Exhaustion and frustration must sometimes be worked through, but not always. Once body and mind paths are throughly walked for the day, the wanderer may rest, or continue to pursue mastery in a way that does not further exhaust the wanderer, like via passive learning. Low-intensity pursuits of body and mind mastery include assimilating content about their chosen mastery via books, video, etc. However, depending on how far a wanderer has walked, even low-intensity pursuits can be taxing to Body/Mind/Spirit(BMS)—at this point the wanderer steps off the path to rest. ##### **Touch each domain Every day** You must touch each domain of body, mind, and spirit(BMS) each day, even when off the path and staying at The Inn. Aim to touch each mastery within each domain daily. If you cannot, consider reducing your width of mastery, at least in the short-term. Those at The Inn who refuse to touch each domain may find themselves trapped at The Inn and stuck in Acedia. ##### **Reviewing your code** You must review your code often. At least weekly. Be sure that your study of your code does not become an impediment to the path itself. If you are not placing yourself on the path, or making progress—reevaluate your priorities. The more you study your code, the more it infuses with the three that make the one(3:1). Become one with your code. Every campaign must have a clear “why” that is evaluated at least weekly to make sure you are on the right path. “I like it” is always an acceptable why because it is authentic. ##### **Path Awareness** Being aware when you are on or off the path is crucial for a wanderer to understand if they are pursuing fulfillment. This awareness must be continuously developed throughout life. The wanderer should structure their week to maximize time on the path so their lives may be fulfilling. Fulfillment Through Attainment-The Path of Paths(FTA-TPP). If you have chosen your paths in BMS, you know when you are on or off the path. You cannot find fulfillment when you are off the path. Many live and die without ever finding a path. This lifestyle must be avoided to obtain fulfillment. ##### **Don’t wait to walk** Do not wait for motivation. When you wait, you do not walk the path, you do not find fulfillment. Motivation is the pursuit of pleasure because motivation cannot be mastered. You can never get enough motivational content, like you can never get enough pleasure. When you move down the path, you are motivated because you are pursuing fulfillment while attaining mastery. When you consume motivation, you are false-motivated because you do not move forward down the path. Authentic motivation comes with action—progress down the path. ##### **Walk forward without knowing** Walk forward on paths to mastery without knowing the answers to questions pertaining to your paths. Some spend a lifetime preparing without ever moving forward. Walk until you can no longer, then study the path for rest. Learn on the path. Study without movement is the pursuit of pleasure. Study when you are unable to walk. Walk when you are able to walk. Study of a path must be supplemental to walking a path. ##### **The Path goes forward** Do not linger in the past because it does not exist anymore. The path is forward. You move forward orienting your Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) forward. You cannot go back, so avoid thinking about the past unless it is to aid you in the present or the future. Do not think about the path behind you because you cannot go back. You can make the future into anything you want by walking that direction in the present. ##### **Path before pleasure** You must pursue the path before you rest at The Inn. If you rest before you have pursued your paths to mastery, you will pursue pleasure, which is hell because pleasure cannot be fulfilled. The pursuit of pleasure is addiction, a trap that is difficult to escape. Your energy must be used to pursue Fulfillment Through Attainment - on - The Path of Paths(FTA-TPP). The body and mind must be exhausted before the spirit can engage with pleasure in a rejuvenating manner. Without body/mind exhaustion, pleasure is enervating. When you have exhausted body and mind, pleasure and play become rewarding. Respect the mind domain priority chain tenet. ##### **Knowing what you need | Having something to do** At all times the wanderer must know what they need, even if that need is the need to find a path. Knowing what you need is having something to do. If you don’t know what you need, you may pursue pleasure, or someone else will decide your needs for you, which is them putting you on a a path that will not be fulfilling to you, further encouraging the pursuit of pleasure, which cannot be fulfilled. Knowing what you need and pursuing it allows your Muse to encourage you down the path. If you don’t know what you need, another wanderer and their Muse may commandeer you to fulfill their destiny, which can take away from yours. However, forward movement of any kind is better than the pursuit of pleasure, which does not move the wanderer forward in any capacity. Having nothing to do and not knowing what you need encourages the pursuit of pleasure. If you have chosen your paths to mastery in BMS, you always have something to do. ##### **Risk comfortability** Develop a familiar relationship with risk because all opportunities have a level of risk and every campaign is saturated with opportunity. The wanderer sets goals on and off the path in pursuit of fulfillment. All competition is opportunity. All advancement requires risk. Opportunities appear on the path at unpredictable intervals so the wanderer must embrace and always be prepared for risk to act on their opportunities. Hiding from risk is a sin against the self that damages the internal relationship while creating shame. Shame is sin against the self. Failure creates less shame or no shame compared to refusing to participate. ##### **Self-parenting** Be your own parent during all phases of life. The younger you start parenting yourself, the better. Start as early as possible and proceed through death. Use your mind to tell yourself no to things that harm your pursuit of mastery and fulfillment. Use your mind to encourage you to do what aids your pursuit of mastery and fulfillment. If you act like your parents, grandparents or other dead or alive mentors/models are observing you in some circumstances, you will make better choices in those circumstances. ##### **Immediate Enactment** When you declare a new tenet for yourself, a new path, a new way that will aid you down the path, you must assimilate it immediately. If you do not, you won’t find if the new prescription is valuable to you, so you won’t gain from it, or know that it is ineffective so you may stop thinking about it. Do not waiver in the beginning of a new declaration. ##### **Live for the dead** Remember your dead and live for them. The dead may not be able to achieve their Earthly goals, but you can, for them; regardless of whether or not ‘your’ dead are people you know personally. Pray to your dead and keep them in your spirit. ##### **1% Improvements** Aim to improve by at least 1% in each domain each day. However, understand that some days will be struggles that see no improvement, only to be followed by great improvements. Improvement can be off the path, like putting a mind for mastery into cleaning, personal hygiene, or other tasks on the preparation day primer after leaving The Inn. Waking up just a few minutes earlier can be a 1% improvement. Look for opportunities for small improvements in all things. ##### **Competitive spirit** If you enter into competition, you are required to exercise your total will on the outcome. This is training for exercising your total will on opportunities on the path. Competition involves competing against others. The path is a individual competition that places the wanderer’s strengths(alpha) against their weaknesses(omega)—fear of the objective, fear of failure or success, anxiety, depression, etc. Negative, omega emotions are competitors we carry with us. All wanderers should compete at all stages of life. To participate, to be in the arena, is divine. ##### **Always be calm(ABC)** Calm is clear. Panic has never improved a situation for all of time. ##### **Earned rest is well rest** Live hard to rest well. ##### **Authentic intimate experiences** The wanderer must only engage with authentic intimate experiences that provide fulfillment. The pursuit of pleasure is Hell and cannot be fulfilled. # Masteries(Template) The Andreia Philosophy is a philosophy based on the pursuit of mastery in Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS). These are the three domains that make mankind. The three that make the one - 3:1. A wanderer is the same as their pursuits of mastery: the one that makes up the three. **Fulfillment Through Attainment(FTA) on The Path of Paths(TPP).** Wanderers need at least one path to mastery in each domain of Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS). Three paths to make one fulfilled wanderer. You may have multiple masteries for each domain, as well as major and minor masteries. Some paths have minor masteries that go along with the primary path, and some paths touch all three domains at once. Have as many paths as you can effectively make progress. Multiple in each domain is good so you can pursue mastery for a long time. However, too many paths to mastery can prevent you from moving forward. If you are not moving forward, consider narrowing your paths to mastery, even just temporarily. Your paths to mastery will change as the chapters of your life change, and change is inevitable. Aim to walk each path to mastery in each domain every day. **Body mastery:** • X • X • X **Mind Mastery:** • X • X • X **Spirit Mastery:** • X • X • X ##### **The illusion of mastery** Mastery is an illusion because the path never ends. Death is just the time before you were born, but after. It is rare to reach the summit of a path to mastery in a particular domain because the path is arduous and fraught with hazard to those who heed the call; and most take the unfulfilling-but-easy path of pursuing pleasure, which cannot provide fulfillment. If and when you reach the summit, you see there is more to climb on the mountain you stand on, and you will see other mountains, other paths to mastery to climb. The path does not end. “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.” **Miyamoto Musashi** | [The Book of Five Rings](https://amzn.to/4iMOjK2) Once you understand Fulfillment Through Attainment on The Path of Paths(FTA-TPP), you will understand why Musashi pursued mastery in so many unique paths, and how to live a fulfilling life. ##### **Andreia Philosophy rites of passage** The Andreia Philosophy rites of passage is the embrace and commitment to the pursuit of at least one path to mastery in each domain of mankind. You have completed your rites when you have designated and committed to a path to mastery in Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS). ##### **Advice for finding paths to mastery** Consider looking at what you were drawn to as a child. The child's mind and spirit do not have a developed ego and haven’t been manipulated by the world regarding what they can/should do or not do, so their interests are pure. Journal. Look at your entries and review your best days, excluding days influenced by vice or pleasure. Your best days are your fulfilling days, not days in pursuit of pleasure. Brewing beer is a path; drinking beer is not. Make a list of 10-15 paths in each domain and explore them. Invest at least 10 hours in each path. Pay attention to which paths to mastery you are naturally skilled in, as well as which paths give you the Mushin(無心) mind. What you fear is what matters. If you fear a path, it may be because it is dangerous, but it could also be because of its importance to your spirit. # Inherent Masteries Inherent masteries are universal paths to mastery that all wanderers benefit from pursuing, regardless of the paths to mastery they walk. Inherent masteries can be common human experiences, like being a friend, being a parent, or implementing good hygiene. This is why it is crucial for the wanderer to develop a mentality of mastery for all things. This mentality develops naturally with the loyal pursuit of mastery on the path. Below are some inherent masteries. Add more for yourself. ##### **Inherent Masteries - Body** **Breath control** All wanderers must pursue mastery over their wind. **Posture** All wanderers must pursue mastery over posture and presentation. **Hygiene** In all hygiene rituals, seek to improve. Brush your teeth better. Comb your hair better. Poor hygiene does not aid the wanderer in any capacity. **Body anchoring** Stillness. Only move if there is a benefit. Being calm in all domains requires stillness in the body. Fidgets are distractions of the body domain. Body domain distractions can overflow into the domains of mind and spirit. When your body fidgets, your body may be telling you it needs activity, no different than a dog acting erratic because it hasn’t had enough exercise. ##### **Inherent Masteries - Mind** **Mind control** All wanderers must pursue mastery over their mind domain. This path to mastery starts at birth and continues after death. The Mushin(無心)Mind must be cleaned constantly to maintain its purity. **Meditation** All wanderers must pursue meditative practices. ##### **Inherent Masteries - Spirit** **Relationships** I seek to be a better friend. I seek to be a better child. I seek to be a better parent. I seek to be a better spouse. Seek mastery in all relationships to make relationships fulfilling. **Discipline accumulation** Discipline must be pursued in all areas while on the path because discipline aids all things in the pursuit of fulfillment through mastery. For example, cold showers should be pursued while on the path because cold tolerance is a disciplined pursuit. You are fulfilled after a cold shower, and pleasured after a hot one. switching a shower from hot to cold is a low effort, high discipline activity. The mental/spiritual battle is greater than the physical task of adjusting the temperature. The same goes with eating healthy instead of eating for pleasure. Look for pursuits of discipline on your path. The constructive choice is a disciplined path. # The Path
*The path is The Way of fulfillment. The path is the path to mastery and the path to death, which all wanderers walk down.*
Life is a path to death. You may find fulfillment on your way there by finding paths to mastery and staying faithful to your walk.
Death is not the end. It is the time before you were born, again.
The path does not stop.
The path is your truth and authenticity. It is crucial to live authentic to your paths because death hovers at all times. A wanderer aims to have a good death, knowing that death is inevitable.
A life loyal to the path leads to a good death.
**Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 17** | Do not fear death
Life is Hell without meaning. The path is the path to Heaven, where fulfillment and meaning are found. A wanderer finds fulfillment through dedication to purpose through mastery. Fulfilling your purpose is heavenly.
**Fulfillment Through Attainment - on - The Path of Paths(FTA-TPP)**
The world exists for struggle. Struggle is purpose on your path. Fulfillment will not be found without struggle. Self-imposed struggle on the wanderer’s paths to mastery is ideal. By self-imposing struggle today, you prepare for struggle imposed on you later. No matter how you live, struggle will be imposed upon you.
A wanderer must aim to stay on the path for as long as they can tolerate while making meaningful, even if small, progress towards mastery. The wanderer must meditate to understand the difference between needing rest and wanting rest pertaining to their domains.
When a wanderer is on the path, they desire the path. They accept their position on their path to mastery and avoid thoughts and actions that are off path. If they desire play or pleasure(P&P) off the path that fit their code, they record them as something to look forward to once earned through exhaustion of Body, Mind, Spirit(BMS) through pursuits of mastery in each.
Wanderers do not pursue their vices; they use them for spiritual recovery.
Wanderers should aim to spend 13 hours on the path every day. This ensures that when they step off the path to stay at The Inn, they deserve it. 80% of a wanderer’s time should be spent on the path. This applies to all time frames.
Become comfortable walking forward without knowing the answers. Follow the “Walk forward without knowing” spirit domain tenet.
Wanderers on the path exercise Emotional Management(EM), managing their emotions on the path. Emotions can be a deterrent to attainment, therefore, a deterrent to fulfillment. Off the path, wanderers grant their emotions some freedom while being cautious of making emotional blunders that may set them back.
Pleasure, entertainment, and other pursuits lacking component mastery must be avoided while on the path.
Keep off-path distractions out of reach while you walk.
The pursuit of meaning on the path does not mean that the path will be fun. To have a meaningful life, you need to do things that aren’t very fun; but your life will be meaningful and you will be satisfied.
When tired from your pursuits, you can step off the path for play & pleasure(P&P), only to return to the path when rested.
If you can enjoy the path, enjoy it. But do not seek enjoyment on the path because it won’t always be enjoyable, and this mindset will pull you towards the pursuit of pleasure. However, laughter and enjoyment on the path should be encouraged as these often encourage the pursuit of mastery.
Push yourself to go harder and farther down the path than you believe you can go. You will reach new depths in each domain and find confidence that allows you to wander longer and farther as you strengthen and improve your abilities.
Rest from the path comes after hard travels down the path.
##### **Returning to The Path - The setup day**
After a wanderer has rejuvenated their spirit with play and pleasure(P&P) at The Inn, they must return to the path promptly.
The day after a party at The Inn, regardless of whether that party is solo, or of many, intoxicated or sober, the wanderer can use the day after as a setup day to encourage progress down the path.
Some have their setup day on Sunday and call it “Setup Sunday”.
The weekly setup primer is when you do all the chores and other tasks that do not progress your pursuit of mastery on your chosen paths. However, you can pursue improvements in them for the sake of mastery philosophy.
Add setup tasks for each applicable time interval pertaining to your code and adjust as needed.
Examples include cleaning, grooming, paying bills, planning meals, scheduling the week, or anything else that does not directly contribute to a specific path to mastery in Body, Mind, or Spirit(BMS).
Relegate off-path activities to the setup day as much as possible. This allows the wanderer to spend more time on the path.
When the wanderer has the capacity to pursue mastery in Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS), that is what they must do. Even on weekends, the wanderer must aggressively pursue mastery before they step off the path.
The spirit decays when the individual indulges in pleasure while having the capacity to pursue mastery.
The wanderer must get back to the path promptly so they do not enter the domain of Acedia.
##### **Acedia**
Acēdía(Greek): The refusal to engage in your higher purpose. The refusal to feed the spirit through walking your paths to mastery.
Acedia is a lifestyle attitude that nothing matters. This strips the wanderer of their desire for fulfillment, while erasing the moral compass of the wanderer, because the desire for fulfillment is the desire for good.
Acedia is a liar. Acedia says you need to stay at The Inn and continue the pursuit of pleasure to find fulfillment, which is impossible because pleasure cannot be fulfilled.
**Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 5** | Be detached from desire your whole life long
Humanity desires pleasure but longs for fulfillment.
Doing nothing is the worst path of all. Doing nothing is the pursuit of pleasure. Doing nothing is Acedia. Acedia is spiritual rot.
Meditation is doing something.
The Inn off the path can become a domain of Acedia. The wanderer mustn’t allow themselves to overstay their welcome. To find fulfillment, you must leave The Inn.
The depressed wanderer is trapped in Acedia.
You can escape Acedia by walking the path.
**Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 21** | Never stray from the Way
# Shadow Paths & Vices(Template) #### **Shadow Paths** A Shadow Path is a path you walk that does not or cannot provide fulfillment. Shadow paths are destructive, damaging Body, Mind, or Spirit(BMS) of the wanderer. A shadow path is often the pursuit of pleasure, which cannot be fulfilled because paths of pleasure lack paths to mastery, so they cannot provide fulfillment or mastery. A shadow path can also be a path to mastery that does not resonate with the wanderer’s spirit, but may resonate for another wanderer. The wanderer may be aware or unaware of their shadow paths. Being on the wrong path is better than being on the path of pleasure. Shadow paths can be unconscious and/or uncontrolled paths that does not provide fulfillment. The shadow path can be addiction, regardless of whether the wanderer is aware of their addiction. Shadow paths leads to an undesirable future while keeping the present unfulfilling for the wanderer. Shadow paths can only lead to a lack of fulfillment. Hell. Think about who you will become in 5, 10, or 20 years by following your shadow paths. By thinking about where the path of no path or wrong path takes you, you can see and feel the potential for wasted life, which in itself is motivating to change course. Thinking through these things helps the wanderer stay loyal to their paths. You must spend time with yourself to think through things. Shadow paths can come in the form of nostalgia, an attempt to relive the path of the past, which is impossible because the path moves forward. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 6** | Do not regret what you have done You must be aware of your shadow paths so you are aware when the shadow pulls you—so you may go another direction. Shadow paths can come and go, but some wanderers begin walking a shadow path in their youth that takes them all the way to death. A lifetime without fulfillment is a wasted life. This is Hell on Earth. List your shadow paths with brutal honesty. Meditate on what you do and how you think. To hide from a shadow path is to give it more power. The light sanitizes what grows in the darkness. **Shadow Paths:** • X • X • X #### **Vices** Vices are your Play & Pleasure(P&P) that the wanderer relegates to The Inn off the path. A vice is any path of action that does not have contain mastery. Vice is often a form of consumption, as creation always requires a path to mastery. All pleasures are vices. Wanderers must control and quarantine pleasure to off the path because pleasure cannot be mastered so it cannot provide fulfillment. Vices can include drugs, alcohol, money, the indulgence of food, but wanderers can turn anything into a vice. Video games, social media, television, or the celebritization of others can be vices. A vice can become a shadow path if pursued, but if it can be left at The Inn, it is respite from the difficulties of the path for the wanderer. Indulge in your vices at The inn when you have earned them through dutifully walking your paths to mastery. **God(s) create. Live closer to God(s) by pursuing mastery.** **Vices:** • X • X • X If a vice is taken to the path and affects path progression, you must break the vice. ##### **Vice Breaking** The wanderer should strongly consider taking vice breaks to ensure they do not begin to pursue their vices. Do not use vices while on the path or you may begin to pursue them instead. The vice-path is always easier than the path of mastery, but only one fulfills. **Vice break examples:** • Last week of the month off • Multiple days off per week • A month or two off each year If the wanderer cannot pursue fulfillment with a particular vice used off the path, the wanderer must eliminate the vice. # Pleasure: The Inn off the path *“The man who can abstain himself from pleasure, he will lead the greatest armies”* - **Genghis Khan** Wanderers need rest after exhausting their domains of Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) through the pursuit of fulfillment via attainment on the path to mastery. After a wanderer has thoroughly wandered, they rest at The Inn. Wanderers arrive at The Inn beaten and bruised across body, mind, and spirit. Staying at The Inn without sufficient wandering is the pursuit of pleasure, which cannot provide fulfillment. A wanderer may stay at The Inn for an hour or two on weekdays, all of Friday night, and Saturday day, but not Saturday night. The allotted time a wanderer gives themselves at The Inn, whether that is a weekday, weekend, or vacation, is predicated on domain exhaustion and progress down the path. **Wanders must spend 70-90% of their time on the path.** The wanderer should pursue mastery for a minimum of six days a week, from early morning until domain exhaustion into the late evening. More time on the path is better because more path progression provides more fulfillment. However, wanderers, and their bodies, minds, and spirits need rest from the exhausting nature of the pursuit of mastery. This is when the wanderer rests at The Inn. The pursuit of mastery in body and mind has natural endpoints because pursuing mastery requires the expenditure of energy. The pursuit of pleasure, which is consumption, does not require energy expenditure, so it does not have natural endpoints. The pursuit of pleasure is Hell because pleasure does not contain mastery. The path of pleasure is not a path that makes progress, but quicksand that keeps the wanderer in the same place, without progression, without fulfillment, slowly drowning the wanderer. The lost wanderer pursues pleasure. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 2** | Do not seek pleasure for its own sake The pursuit of pleasure is zero-sum self-destruction. The wanderer who travels the path of pleasure is a sense slave; enslaved to their senses. The lie of the vice is that the pursuit of pleasure creates progress. The pursuit of pleasure cannot create progress because there is no mastery in the domain of pleasure. Without mastery, there is no progress. Without progress, there is no fulfillment. A wanderer who exhausts Body/Mind/Spirit(BMS) must rest and recover at The Inn. But they mustn’t overstay their welcome. They must return to the path promptly. ##### **Stepping Off The Path to Stay at The Inn** The wanderer should consider scheduling time to stop at The Inn. For example, on Saturday a wanderer may spend the morning and the day on their path, then at 5pm stay at The Inn, indulging in P&P(play & pleasure) that does not break their code or damage their ability to return to the path. The Inn is a good place to spend time with friends and family in pursuit of relationship building. Having fun with allies strengthens relationships and is the pursuit of relational fulfillment, not the pursuit of pleasure. When the wanderer stays at The Inn is up to them. They can set hours, or go by feel where some days they rest at The Inn at 10pm, and other times they check in at 11am because they earned it. The wanderer can schedule what they want to do at The Inn while on the path. For example, a wanderer may set a reward to go out for a nice meal(drinks included), predicated on a specific victory on the path. Or, a wanderer may schedule watching a show or movie for rest once they get to The Inn after two more days of wandering down the path. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 13** | Do not pursue the taste of good food A wanderer doesn’t need to stay at The Inn to rest if they do not need it—they can always sleep outside as long as they are fresh to travel the path. Consider having a calendar entry for The Inn or a checklist you can add to throughout your wanderings of what you want to do once you reach The Inn. This serves a purpose. The wanderer gets to look forward to their stay at The Inn once they have wandered far enough. This improves self-control by delaying gratification. The day after staying at The Inn is a good day for your weekly setup primer. Schedule as many chores and other off-path duties here so you can spend most of your time on the path. Do your best to ignore and refrain from OFF-path tasks while on the path. Wait for your weekly setup day to concentrate all of your low-priority, low-importance chores and other tasks. If the wanderer struggles with a vice, like alcohol, they should not indulge in it off the path. Some may call their stay at The Inn Sinful Saturday, using Saturday evening to rest at The Inn. The sin at The Inn must not be so grave that it damages the wanderer’s ability to walk the path effectively the next day, or any time following. Too much pleasure damages the spirit. Like how the domain of body can become obese or sickly, so can the spirit. Overindulgence in pleasure and vice damages the body, as well as the mind and spirit, the unseen domains of mankind. The wanderer may pursue mastery all day on Saturday—given they have the bodily, mental, and spiritual energy to do so—then spend 6pm - 3am or so at The Inn off the path having a good time. Good times strengthen the spirit domain when they are earned. Some people may use vices to attempt to prevent shame when participating in activities a sober mind would look down upon. This is the impossible task of trying to blind the spirit to its own behavior. The spirit may balk at the idea of eating gallons of ice cream, where the stoned spirit may prevent the shame, but only for a little while. Pain from a lack of progress down the path to mastery cannot be outrun. It will follow you beyond the pale. Pleasure is short-term and unfulfilling. The pursuit of mastery is long-term and fulfilling. Pleasure can only satisfy you in the moment. When you pursue pleasure, you demand that pleasure fulfill you, which it cannot do. Procrastination is the pursuit of pleasure; the non-walking of your path. ##### **Pleasure disguised as progress** Be cautious of pleasure disguised as progress. This most often comes in the form of consumption with the idea of increased path progression—preparing without ever doing. Reading books, listening to podcasts, or looking for motivation or preparedness for the path without walking the path is the pursuit of pleasure. Overstaying at The Inn is the pursuit of pleasure. A wanderer should study a path when they are not able to walk it, because of exhaustion or the lack of ability, like when you are stuck flying on a plane. Do not spend a lifetime preparing for the path without taking steps down it. Walk the path, then prepare for the path at The Inn when depleted from the path. ##### **Play & Pleasure(P&P) as a reward for path progression** The pursuit of fulfillment on the path makes you good at something. When you step off the path and rest at The Inn to indulge in play & pleasure, you do not move forward, and you do not find fulfillment. Good for rest, but bad for fulfillment. The Inn is only satisfying when rest is earned through path progression. This is the difference between celebrating at the bar or living at the bar as a regular. Treat pleasure as respite and reward for the spirit when you cannot pursue mastery effectively in the domains of body and mind. Fulfillment is the objective of life. Fulfillment is guaranteed through the loyal pursuit of mastery on the path. Fulfillment is impossible when pursuing pleasure because pleasure cannot be fulfilled. Responsible indulgence in vices like drinking can have a benefit for relationship mastery. A single cigarette can be useful at the end of the day, but a pack a day may not. It is up to the wanderer to manage their relationship with pleasure. No matter what you do, you are going to die so— **Prepare for your death every day.** Pleasure will only make you happy for so long because pleasure cannot be fulfilled. It is crucial for the wanderer to leave The Inn for the path when body and mind domains have the energy to pursue mastery on the path. Those who never leave the Inn, who pursue pleasure for fulfillment, damn themselves to an unfulfilling existence. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 21** | Never stray from the way Live a fulfilling life while enjoying the journey. Find fulfillment and enjoyment on the path. step off the path to enjoy life when you do not have the capacity to pursue fulfillment. ##### **Money is a false path** The pursuit of mastery will make money, while the pursuit of money makes nothing. Money is pleasure; it cannot be fulfilled, nor mastered. You can master a skill that is valuable enough to produce money, but you cannot master money, so you mustn't pursue it. Be wary of those who pursue money, which cannot be fulfilled. Be wary of anyone who pursues what cannot be fulfilled; their hubris has no limit. The pursuit of money is no different than the pursuit of other vices, like drugs or the taste of good food. Those who pursue pleasure, who pursue money, would burn the universe and erase the stars if it meant acquiring ‘one more’ of what cannot be fulfilled. ##### **A child’s relationship with pleasure** Children pursue pleasure because they do not have the capacity to pursue mastery. If children mature, they pursue mastery. Some live their entire lives as children. Their lack of fulfillment hides in their mind like a hostile in the shadows. The hostile does not go away until they pursue fulfillment. When adults pursue pleasure, they display their underdeveloped, childlike nature. Adults should avoid having preferences while on the path because preference is the path to desire and desire is the path to pleasure, which takes the wanderer off the path and away from fulfillment. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 11** | In all things, have no preference Accept what your path provides and use it to your advantage. # Relationships *Your connection to other entities. Relationships are an inherent mastery.* ##### **Relationships with other people** Relationships with others are an inherent mastery. Aim to strengthen your relationships with others to reap the unlimited advantages of strong relationships. All relationships should create more value than they cost. This applies to relationships with people as well as things. Evaluate Relationships with higher cost than higher value. Evaluate relationships based on their cost/value effect upon your paths & pursuits. **Be cautious of those who exhibit dishonor:** • If their words are honorable, but their actions are not, they are dishonorable. • If their words are dishonorable, but their actions are not, they are honorable. Respect is the foundation of relationships. Respect creates allies while disrespect creates enemies. There are no downsides to garnering respectful relationships. Be cautious of disrespecting others. Creating enemies brings unlimited and exponential downsides. Aim to acquire long-lasting relationships with others. Don’t confuse the reputation with the object. This applies to all relationships. Reputations can be over or under exaggerated rumors. Be discerning with whom or what you share your contact information with. You should not give your contact info to individuals who seem like they could distract you from the path. Men need a brotherhood and women need a sisterhood. You can have friends of the opposite sex, but you need a group of the same sex. The male/female experiences are vastly different, and relating across the sex divide is difficult compared to within. A group where you can truly depend on others is inherent to the human experience; a group where you are responsible for others and they are responsible for you. You will find groups to join as you pursue mastery on your many paths. Examine the groups you are considering joining to ensure proper Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) alignment. Do not join a group until you have analyzed where it's been, where it is, and where it is going. When you have a group, you must encourage them, and they must encourage you. If a group does not add value to your life, does not help you walk the path, the group is not for you. Avoid groups that pursue pleasure. Misery is a form of self-pleasuring that reinforces an unfulfilled life. No one should be able to read or predict you who isn’t in your inner circle of trusted allies. Wanderers must train the skill of "controlled expression" so that enemies do not use your non-verbal language against you. ##### **Making Friends** Make friends while you are on your chosen paths to mastery. By making friends on your paths, you walk the same way together and having similar values, which strengthens relationships while aiding fulfillment for all wanderers. **If you see a potential friend, the easiest way to connect with them is through action: doing something together.** - The student asks a fellow student to study together - The fighter asks the other fighter to practice together or watch fights together - The volleyball captain organizes a sleepover for the team - The businessman asks another businessman to discuss a particular topic at a coffee shop By having paths to mastery, you should always have something to do. Take another on to your path, even if you walk the same path. Show them how you walk. Let them do the same for you. Share your minds to grow together. A good friendship is one that contributes growth both ways. Do not need the friendship of another. When you need someone, they have power over you. Consider the friendship of another and determine if they are a suitable friend who will improve your life. Attempting three times to make a connection with a potential friend is good. If, on the third time, you cannot connect, you may be better off finding other potential friends who are easier to sync with. People who live by the same or similar philosophical codes, whether stated or not, are predictable to each other. They act in keeping with each other’s expectations and standards. They can cooperate, even if that cooperation is competition. A shared belief system, a shared set of values, reduces friction which allows individuals to go forward together. You can go far together. ##### **Discarding friends** **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 8** | Never let yourself be saddened by a separation As you walk your paths, you will discard friends organically as well as manually. This is normal. Relationships change as you change, and some relationships change with you, while others are left behind. Discard ‘friends’ who keep you from your path. The path is where fulfillment is—‘friends’ who prevent you from obtaining your fulfillment must be discarded. Treasure your time with people while it lasts. ##### **Staying on Your Path** *“If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.”* **Takuan Soho** | [The Unfettered Mind](https://www.amazon.com/?&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) Do not care about what other people think of you when they are not on your path. What other people think is their responsibility, not yours. Thinking or obsessing over others' lives means you are not giving 100% to your path. Do not take away from your fulfillment. Do not compare against others. Avoid paying attention to the lives of those not on your path, as it is a distraction from the path. If you’re afraid of criticism—which is an overt way of focusing on others’ paths more than your own—you won’t walk your path. Those who judge do not do. Do not compare yourself against those who are off or on your path. Compare yourself against yourself in the past. Look at changes in your three domains. Social media is a technology that distracts the wanderer from their path to focus on another’s path. Social media can be useful for building relationships on the path, if used for building and not consuming. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 7** | Never be jealous Doing what everyone else is doing makes you a copy; copies are always less valuable than originals. Fit in with your path, not with the crowd. You are on the family path with your family because you are family, but your family, including your parents, may not be on the same path to mastery as you. They may not understand your path. Understanding this distinction is crucial. Your family may try to espouse wisdom related to your masteries that has little use. They may also espouse wisdom unrelated to your masteries that is valuable. Having a Mushin mind will help categorize useful versus useless information. You can be respectful to family, or anyone, even if you disregard their advice for you. Care about what others on your path have to say, like a mentor/adviser, an enemy, or a peer. This does not mean you internalize what they say in all circumstances, nor does this grant the other party the right to create an emotional response in you. Those without a Mushin mind tend to overshare; your rivals may give you what you need to defeat them. Don't attach yourself to others' problems. Let them walk their path, give counsel, don’t try to pick up their feet for them, because you can't. ##### **Celebritization** Obsession with others, the “celebritization” and worship of another, is a shadow path. When you celebritize someone close to you, you become baggage on their path. This also takes you off your path, so you stop pursuing mastery, while slowing down their pursuit of mastery. Good relationships require not slowing or stopping the pursuit of fulfillment for your life or theirs. You can celebritize a friend, child, enemy, celebrity, sports team, romantic partner, or anyone(or anything) else, where you focus on their life instead of your path. This does not mean you should not care about your friends, children, family, or romantic partner; this means you can care about specific individuals while continuing to pursue mastery on your path so you may live a fulfilling life. Celebritizing someone you don’t know does not add baggage to their path, but takes you off your path. This includes the unhealthy obsession with an individual, with a sports team, or with a political team—any team obsession takes the wanderer off their path, creating an unfulfilling life. You can easily observe this as the individual who celebritizes a team or other individual has their emotions controlled by what they celebritize. Celebritizing does not mean loving, It means obsessing. This can be love or hatred. Hatred is overcaring rooted in anger. When you celebritize, you give control over your body, mind, and spirit to what you celebritize; a pact of servitude that serves no one. Parents must continue to pursue mastery and fulfillment when they have children—they must not live through their children nor stop living and pursuing mastery once they have children. Living through your children is the pursuit of pleasure through power. You can find fulfillment in a relationship because you can improve a relationship. All relationships have a path to mastery. You will not find fulfillment in another—you will only find fulfillment on the path, which includes the path of a relationship of any kind, but not the celebritization of another. ##### **Relationships with things** The more things you own, the more relationships with things you have, thus the more you have to manage. Be deliberate in possessing things that progress, not hinder, your progress down the path. Seek to cut what distracts from the path. Seek to obtain what aids progress on the path. Prioritize belongings that increase your depth of mastery. Deprioritize the width of belongings. The longer you own an object, the deeper your relationship with it. Aim to acquire belongings you may form long relationships with. A thing is only broken when it cannot achieve its purpose. Damage is personality. Do not let your relationships with things become a distraction from the path. Things are tools, and tools are for progressing mastery, not hindering it. - Ex. Your phone should not tell you when to look at it; you should tell your phone when you need it to achieve specific objectives. So a wanderer may keep their phone on silent, not vibrate, so they decide when to use their phone as opposed to their phone deciding when it is to be used. ##### **Romantic Relationships** Like all relationships, your romantic relationship should encourage progress down the path. A romantic partner should be a companion that encourages your progress down the path, even if that means staying out of the way while you walk. Staying out of the way is crucial for romantic relationships and relationships of all kinds. A worthy partner encourages you to continue walking during the darkest times, and celebrates the best times with you, then encourages you to get back to the path so you do not lose control of your ego or cease your pursuits. You will meet a worthy partner on one of your many paths. This implies they are on the same or a similar path, implying basic compatibility. Do not pursue another individual. This takes you away from your fulfillment while bringing you to desperation, which is unattractive to the wanderer's spirit and to potential romantic partners. Do not let yourself fall in love too quick. Being in love is a vulnerability that can serve or serve against the wanderer. Falling in love is faster than climbing out of love. This applies to falling in romantic love, brotherly love, or love of an object. Do not obsess or become distracted over another individual in the short-term or the long-term. Do not celebritize a romantic interest. Obsess over your paths. Condition your mind to become obsessed with your paths. When you think about something off the path, direct your mind back to the path. **Romantic partner green flags:** - X - X - X **Romantic partner red flags:** - X - X - X You should not use corporate matchmakers, like dating apps. This is an inauthentic romantic experience that should be avoided at all costs. Corporate matchmakers are incentivized by money, not by authentic romantic experiences between two individuals, unlike two individuals with chemistry. Corporate matchmakers want to make money, not marriages. If you find a partner, you no longer pay for dating applications. This is why corporate-owned dating utilities do not work. Incentive misalignment. Do not wedge corporate interests between romantic adventures. Corporate power is fed by monetary contributions; do not contribute to corporations that erode civilization. ##### **Rivals & Enemies** Use rivals to rouse the spirit to encourage progress down the path. View your rivals in a positive light; although this can be difficult, like when the rival is an enemy; not all rivals are enemies. Rivals can be friends. Do not hate an enemy. Hate is a distraction from mastery. Instead, respect, & destroy your enemies in competition. Apathy is the greatest offense against an enemy. To be unaffected by one who wishes to affect you. “I don’t think about you at all” **Don Draper** If you allow others to offend you, you allow them to blind you. Do not allow others to control your emotions. Offense is an emotion that damages the offended, not the offender. You have the option to punish an individual who has attempted to, or has offended you, without subjugating your spirit to their attempt to offend you. You can ignore them, too. However, some problems grow in the darkness and are better met head-on than ignored. To allow someone to offend you is to allow them to take control over you. If another has insulted you, you may feel a spiritual need to get respect back from them. Revenge is often intensive and laborious, and can take the wanderer off the path. It may be better not to take and internalize offense against you. May the wanderer let their inner strength shield them from offense. Do not give anyone, or anything, the power to ruin your day. If your day is ruined by the words or actions of another, you may not progress down the path. Do not let an enemy keep you from fulfillment. A master of the path walks regardless of how they feel. Do not let a rival or enemy bully you. This demonstrates that you are bully-able to others and can encourage more bullying. Carefully consider letting attacks against you go unanswered. You may need to block and return fire in a method to neutralize the threat while preserving your ability to pursue mastery. However, defense is its own reward, whereas offense contains unlimited potential for failure and reward. Some attacks against you are better to let go of, while others are better held onto. The wanderer must make this distinction while keeping the pursuit of fulfillment at the forefront of their strategy. # The Internal Relationship *The internal relationship is your esteem with yourself—your self-esteem. All wanderers must nurture & grow the relationship with themselves—like all other relationships—throughout life as an inherent path to mastery.* You must seek the approval of your spirit in all chapters of life. It is not required to seek the approval of others. However, it can be advantageous to earn the approval of peers or mentors who are on the same path as you. This can include parents, but not always. Aim to become your favorite person to spend time with. Being alone allows you to get to know yourself; this includes being without stimulus. If you cannot spend time alone, you may not like yourself; remedy this by building self-esteem. Treat yourself like how you would treat a best friend. Do not attack yourself; instead, analyze what you do not like that you do or think and execute plans to effect change. Self-parenting is crucial during all phases of life. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 6** | Do not regret what you have done Regret and self-hatred have never been useful. Counsel would never tell you to hate yourself or regret what you have done. Hatred is an omega emotion; the path goes forward, your focus is forward. Being authentic is self-respect. ##### **Alpha & Omega | Creation & Destruction** Alpha is creation, Omega is destruction. The two halves that make the whole. This applies to all things. One side is pride, the other side is shame. You can take pride too far, like all things, but being proud of what you are doing and where you are going is a creative(alpha) expression as opposed to shame of what you are doing and where you are going, which is a negative(omega) expression. However, being ashamed of shameful activities is correct alignment. Pride feeds the spirit. Shame eats the spirit. The spirit can become obese and it can become emaciated. There is always a better and worse direction. Sometimes you know, and other times you don’t. You find the way by moving forward. Alpha expands the self. Omega destroys the self. Sometimes you need self-destruction to leave what slows you behind, but creation is always required to go forward. The wanderer uses the concept of alpha and omega to understand and categorize their Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) expressions. Create, then destroy when needed. # Leadership *Creating one from many.* Leadership means leading oneself and others. At all chapters of life, you are required to lead yourself. To command yourself, as well as parent yourself. Leading yourself and parenting yourself are related, but not the same. An ineffective leader cannot lead themselves, or others, while attempting to lead others. An individual who cannot lead themselves cannot lead others. Elders are often selected as leaders because we assume they have acquired wisdom and experience over their lifetimes. This can be true, but not always. Be wary of the elder who assumes leadership solely because of age, but cannot lead themselves or others effectively. An elder who assumes a leadership position but cannot manage their emotions, nor carries the best interests of their followers, is an ineffective leader. There will be times when you lead and times when you follow. Some look down on being a follower; this is because modern leaders have not led effectively, damaging the overarching reputation of leaders. Do not fall into this mental model--do not follow ineffective leaders either. ##### **Self-command** Mammals learn through observation. It is easier to change yourself than it is to force change upon someone else. This is why you must be the change to influence change in others. If you want to change someone else, make sure you have exhibited this change first so you can be an observed example. It is difficult for a child to feel motivated to read when their parents are watching TV instead of reading. We are all former children. This is important to remember. You cannot change anyone; you can only show them the way. The best way is with action by setting a good example, as opposed to using words to demand another change to fit what you want from them. Command yourself by leading yourself forward to fulfillment. Leadership requires leading, which means to go forward. The path goes forward, where fulfillment is found. # Sexuality Sex is natural but the pursuit of pleasure is not. Do not pursue sex because the pursuit of sex is the pursuit of pleasure. Instead, wanderers can accept authentic sexual experiences based in spirit, not the pursuit of pleasure, which cannot be fulfilled. Do not base your identity on the sex you are attracted to. This identity construct will compete with your masteries and reduce your pursuit of fulfillment, because innate traits do not contain mastery. What matters is authentic intimate experiences. This has been true across all of time. Avoid identifying with traits that cannot be improved upon, or what does not contain a path to mastery. Basing your identity on something that cannot be improved upon, like an innate trait, means your identity and your self-esteem will not grow stronger through that channel, because there is no path. This is not stating to discard heritage, tradition, or traits that are important to you. This is to state to orient your Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS)primarily to paths to mastery because fulfillment is found through attainment. Fulfillment through attainment(FTA) on the path of paths(TPP) nourishes each domain of mankind unlike anything else(FTA-TPP). ##### **Pleasurizing Others** Pleasurizing is when you assign another individual as a target for your pleasure. This turns them into a Siren, which will take you off the path. Only step off the path when you have exhausted Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS). You cannot find fulfillment in pleasure in any capacity. Worshipping another individual will move you farther away from fulfillment. **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 10** | Do not let yourself be guided by the feelings of lust or love Pleasurizing others includes viewing content of others and desiring them for pleasure, regardless of whether the content is explicit or not. This is different than having content of an individual whom you love. Love is based in the spirit and is not the pursuit of pleasure, but the pursuit of authentic connection. Love has a path to mastery as a loving relationship can grow. ##### **Artificial corporate intimacy markets** Corporate-sponsored intimacy is the pursuit of pleasure and should be avoided. Dating & Intimacy exists between two individuals, not between an individual, a corporation, and another individual. Corporate-sponsored dating services understand that users are profitable when they pursue pleasure, not when they obtain fulfillment. A relationship is fulfilling, but a relationship means you are no longer contributing income to the corporate-sponsored dating scheme. Dating intermediaries want to keep you away from relationships so you continue to pay for their services. Artificial corporate intimacy markets are no different than corporations transforming food into products that are engineered not to fulfill you, but to condition you to want more, so you spend more money on their products. Be aware of incentives. Corporations exist to increase value to shareholders first. # Mentors & Models(Template) *List individuals who inspire you, and individuals who you wish to model aspects of your code/behavior after. These individuals can be personally known or not, alive or dead, real or from stories.* **Inspirational individuals** • X • X • X **Behavior Models** • X • X • X # Quotes(Template) *A place to store quotes and passages related to your pursuits of mastery. Collect quotes and passages that, when read, encourage your pursuit of mastery. We listed a few default quotes. Delete what does not resonate.* *Quotes and passages can be sorted by domain or by path.* ##### **Body Quotes** "No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable." **Socrates** **Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 20** | You may abandon your own body, but you must preserve your honor "The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides a champion from someone who is not a champion." **Arnold Schwarzenegger** | [Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder](https://amzn.to/4aPAPuX) ##### **Mind Quotes** "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." **Leonardo Di Vinci** "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." **Albert Einstein** "Leisure without study is death - a tomb for the living person." **Seneca** ##### **Spirit Quotes** “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” **Albert Camus** “If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.” **Takuan Soho** | [The Unfettered Mind](https://amzn.to/4aBSCGf) "If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures.” **Musonius Rufus** # The Dokkōdō *The great samurai and legend of many paths, Miyamoto Musashi, wrote the Dokkōdō, or “The Path of Aloneness” a few days before his death in reigando cave. The The Dokkōdō contains 21 precepts for life. Musashi’s wisdom still applies to this day.* 1\. Accept everything just the way it is 2\. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake 3\. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling 4\. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world 5\. Be detached from desire your whole life long 6\. Do not regret what you have done 7\. Never be jealous 8\. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation 9\. Resentment and complaint are appropriate for neither oneself nor others 10\. Do not let yourself be guided by the feelings of lust or love 11\. In all things, have no preference 12\. Be indifferent to where you live 13\. Do not pursue the taste of good food 14\. Do not hold onto possessions you no longer need 15\. Do not act following customary beliefs 16\. Do not collect weapons or practice beyond what is useful 17\. Do not fear death 18\. Do not seek to possess goods or fiefs in your old age 19\. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help 20\. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor 21\. Never stray from the Way You can read our meditations on [Musashi’s 21 precepts here.](https://andreian.com/musashi-21-rules/)