As men, I know that we can all relate to the image above. We have crossed bridges, climbed ladders and ascended stairs. Through childhood, adolescence and into maturity - the climb never seemed to end. At the top of each summit we found more entrapments, more chains and more orders. We played along, hoping that one of those climbs would be our last and we'd finally find it. Whatever we thought it might be.

If you had a father figure in your life, these climbs would have been different. He might have told you what to expect at the top of each. For those of us that didn't, we had to find our own way, our own methods. If you were dragged up by your over-bearing mother, she would have carried you up these trials and you will have learnt nothing, you will be uniquely unprepared for the trials of life. For most, you would think that these ascents are the real meaning, they are what define you. Your struggle up one ladder feels like the very scope of your existence, it encompasses everything. This ladder could be school, or work or even your hobby. You dedicate everything you have, only to realise the end of this ladder left you in front of another.

At some point in your life, whether it was by accident or you were guided there, you found the red pill. If we turn our attention back to the image, the red pill is the final set of stairs our lonely figure stands just beyond. He looks now across a vast desert that on first glance appears to be empty, there is nothing to be seen in any direction. There is only a void. If you were to look back at the stairs representing The Red Pill you would notice they are revolving. You can use them as a treadmill, getting laid and living within your own nihilistic reality until the day you die. Then you notice all of the stairs and ladders are revolving and there are millions of people moving up and down and revolving in one spot. You see the inner-mechanisms of the world laid bare before you.

So we have two realities in front of us, the reality of the climb to your current position and the void that stretches on forever in all directions. One option presents itself immediately; step on to the red pill escalator and enjoy yourself for what it's worth. Use your new found knowledge to go forth and slay, but you will be facing the void forever, and eventually the void will fill you.

Your second option is to take a step into the desert, fresh from your red pill awakening and meet the void with a steady gaze and ask your questions of it. Soon, you will see the void is yours to play with and manipulate. From this void, you will be able to manifest your own meaning and potential through the experiences you gain, the books you read and the people you meet. All of the ladders, stairs, slopes and bridges you climbed are the lessons you use to do with the void as you please. Pretty soon, it will no longer be a void and you will instead look upon your ideology. This ideology makes you powerful, it crafts you into the man you want to become, the man who is ready to venture further into the desert. The deeper into the desert you go, the more of yourself you will find. Explore it, test it, try to break it. Visit the very edges of your own sanity. When the others coming knocking to take you back into nihilism and surround you with their own ideology, you will be able to stand strong against temptation in the strength of your own desert.

Your ideology fills the void.