Submission 7
As some of you know I recently dropped an article on substack that is 15,000 words and a lot of people have already said so many beautiful things so early on in the life of the article this fills me with great pride.
I woke up to a comment on it today from my friend
@soulquil and I just had to share it with everyone because it is profound.
"This was a phenomenal read.
It resonated on many levels. I’ve had my own experiences that forced me to question the kind of life I want to live and whether my current trajectory is truly taking me there, or if I’ve simply been lying to myself, filling my head with grand ideals while making no real effort to actualize them.
That’s a mistake I’ve made countless times. I would craft lofty visions of a perfect life and then get lost in them instead of taking inspired action to bring them into being. It became a form of spiritual cowardice and impotence. Eventually, I had to acknowledge this truth so I could understand it clearly and begin to dismantle the habit. Only then could those visions move from my mind into my muscles, my voice, and my daily routines. Brick by brick, I began to build what I once only imagined.
This journey led me to realize that truth preference is an apex trait. We often externalize truth and define it through facts or objective reality. Yet, the deepest form of truth is internal and only known to yourself. It lies in being honest with yourself and admitting that there are malignant elements beneath the surface that quietly hold you back. Opening the hood of your psyche and confronting traits like sloth, greed, envy, or jealousy is difficult. Most people avoid it because it hurts to recognize that such forces exist within. Ignoring them, however, does not make them disappear. They continue to operate in the background, shaping your actions and decisions until the very darkness you avoid begins to seep into your life.
I had to face this within myself. Since then, I have made it a practice to inquire inwardly with rigor, mapping out my psyche with precision. I aim to leave no stone unturned, to destroy what must be destroyed, and to integrate what must be integrated. Mastery of the external begins with mastery of the internal. This work is ongoing. Each time I look within, something new reveals itself. Whenever something in my outer world evokes a negative feeling, I ask myself why. I cannot afford ignorance. Even a small, unexamined emotion can take root and grow into something harder to uproot later.
Gaining mastery over your inner domain is the hardest battle you will ever fight. Yet once you engage with it fully, every external challenge becomes lighter. The beauty of being truthful with yourself is that your shadows lose their grip. They no longer tear you apart from the dark because you can finally see them for what they are. When you see clearly, you know exactly what must be faced.
This realization came after years of reading self-help books and following routines that provided structure but never answered the deeper questions. Why wake up at five? Why eat clean? Why follow a strict routine? I built those external systems while my internal world was in disarray, and every habit felt like lifting a mountain. Only when I began turning inward, facing and working through each shadow, did those same practices stop feeling like punishment. They became natural, aligned with who I was becoming.
Internal mastery, as your account shows and as I’ve seen in my own life, is the true foundation of becoming. It is also reflected in the lives of others I’ve encountered along the way. There’s much more I could say, but this is what stirred me the most.
Thank you once more for this submission."
An incredible display of soul and class and wisdom, whoever is reading this you can find my article in my pinned tweet