Aggression Archives - Spartan Christianity

The Lion Mentality – Daniel’s Lions

The Lion Mentality is one of aggression and focus.

“And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.”
Daniel 6:24

When children are learning about the story of Daniel in the Old Testament, they always learn two basic lessons.

Daniel prayed three times per day (Daniel 6:10) and did so even though he knew there would be consequences for praying to or worshiping anyone but King Darius (6:7-8).
Daniel was tossed in the den of lions but God closed the mouths of the lions and Daniel lived (6:21-22).

What children don’t learn or perhaps gloss over is a very important lesson that can be taken from the end of the chapter. And it is not merely a lesson, but a principle or an attitude that can be learned even from the animal kingdom through the Biblical lens. The principle comes from the selected verse of the day: the enemies of Daniel who plotted against him were taken and thrown in the lion’s den along with all of their family members. And the lions shattered their bones before they ever reached the bottom of the den – that is the epic ending of Daniel’s foes.

The aggression of the lions is what Men should seek to embody in their own lives.

Masculine Men possess a spirit that assaults all obstacles and crushes all opposing forces “before they can even reach the bottom of the den”. This philosophy is the opposite of procrastination. The Lion mindset is incredibly aggressive and is founded on the fast paced offensive maneuvering that all men should strive to employ in their lives.

King Darius likely had his lions starved or at the least fed them only intermittently, therefore anything that resembled food would be attacked and destroyed in an instant if it entered the den. So then men must also be hungry for personal improvement and success in their own life. Men must aggressively attack their own weaknesses and “shatter their bones”.

Mantra

I have the Lion Mindset and attack all obstacles with ferocity.

Application

These lions represent the spirit of the aggressive mentality.

The Lion Mentality is one that attacks problems before they are even problems, while they are still in the incubation stage and forces solutions onto them.

The mindset also seeks out tasks and completes them in advance, far before any deadlines need to be met.

You must be this way in your own life. When you know something must be done, you instantly attack it with violent aggression and destroy the task.

If you are in school or college, you must view yourself as a lion just waiting for a task to be tossed at you. The second you know about an assignment, you must attack it and work on it until it is finished. If you have a week to finish an assignment, finish it today. If you have a month to finish an assignment, finish it in five days maximum. You will feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in yourself that is only possible through intense, focused work.

The same thing can be done in your work.

If you are accustomed to taking a full day to produce one widget, take on the aggressive mindset and produce two widgets. Then make three and four widgets until you are the most productive person in your department. Then start your own business with your newfound aggression and work ethic and stop renting your time to the highest bidder.

You must also apply the same principles to your relationships with friends and significant others or marriage. If a problem comes up in the relationship, hit it early and quickly. Do not allow problems to fester and grow because of procrastination.

The Lion mentality can destroy Parkinson’s Law – which states, “work expands to fill the time given to complete it”.

Which simply means that if a normal man is given a week to finish a task, it will take the entire week even though it likely could have been completed in a few hours had he concentrated on it. Parkinson’s law outlines procrastination. But by applying the Lion Mindset you can short-circuit that law and be more productive than you have in the past.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Draw Power from Rage

“Refrain from rage, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil”
Psalm 37:8

There is a darkness that rests in the soul of man. It is the rage of man that allows him to go to war, to kill others in the name of justice, or even for something much less than that. His rage allows him to keep absolute focus on killing the enemy and winning the war. This is a tremendous power that is unused in most men.

Within us is the power to do any and all work, build anything, create anything and amass tremendous wealth. This rage is a limitless energy just waiting to be tapped. It exists in all men. Most use it for evil. Most use it to destroy, but this power can be used to build, if you learn to channel it properly. You must learn to draw strength from rage.

The weak man carelessly expresses his rage.

This is the anger the Bible tells us to “put away”. There is no benefit to mindlessly expressing our emotions, especially our rage. That is a massive waste of a tremendous source of energy. Correctly channeling these emotions is what leads to victory.

The difference in rage that is mindlessly expressed and that which is carefully controlled is the same difference between a massive wildfire, and a propane blowtorch. One is uncontrolled and destroys, the other is highly concentrated, controlled, and is used to build. We must use our rage to build something spectacular. We must use this rage to be a man, not a weak beta with a temper.

Mantra

This rage is a tool. Redirect it. Use it.

Application

First recognize the biochemistry within you. This energy is a byproduct of testosterone. Most men’s rage is testosterone combined with poor self-control. Practice is the best tool when it comes to anything like redirection of emotions.

The easiest way to learn how to redirect raging energy is to start by redirecting it towards something physical, usually physical training (which you should be doing anyway). This is especially helpful if you are prone to anger. When something makes you angry, you must notice it immediately, bottle it, and then hold it until you get to the gym. Then unleash that anger in conjunction with the physical expression, you will feel a change in your biochemistry, and you will actually have built something instead of destroying something.

Then move on to other facets in your life and redirect the energy there. Convert raging energy to fearlessness. Whenever you feel fear towards something, conjure your rage and aggression and make it overpower your fear.

Wage war on mediocrity in your studies or the workplace. Use rage to outwork every other person at your job. Channel it to power through fatigue and tiredness during your studies. Use it as a tool to build the life you want.

Conduct yourselves like Men.

The Anger of Man

Testosterone makes men aggressive. If you grew up in the church, you have likely seen a large collection of men with low testosterone.

Anger is destructive when not channeled into productive pursuits.

“Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”
Ephesians 5:26

Testosterone makes men aggressive. If you grew up in the Church, you have likely seen a large collection of men with low testosterone. Perhaps most men in the Church have no testosterone at all and are producing enough estrogen and prolactin that it is shocking they aren’t lactating out of their drooping male breasts. You know those same men have sex once or twice a year. The Church is filled with men with soft hands and even softer genitalia.

These men have less testosterone than the writers for Buzzfeed.

Meanwhile you sit uncomfortably in a pew trying to hide an erection while wondering if you are normal to want sex as much as you do. You wonder if it is natural to be as angry as you are. Because you could punch through a wall for no reason other than you are experiencing great anger from unknown sources; but for now you paint on a smile.

No one told you being a man would involve this much hormone driven anger.

This is because the weak men of the Church have spent their entire lives having to repress their aggression until it vanished, and it did, along with any semblance of masculinity that they once possessed. They repressed their anger and their manhood decayed.

The Church is filled with people like Lot, who when men beat on his doors asking for the men he took in, Lot offered his daughters to them to rape through the night. That is an example of a beta male.

The beta would forgive the man who raping his wife while he is still raping her, because betas use “forgiveness” to justify their own personal cowardice.

A Man would rip the genitals off a rapist and shove them down his throat. Barbaric? Yes. A proper desire of a man? Absolutely.

Violence, killing, judgement, anger, aggression, warfare; all these attributes are in the nature of man, and the Church pretends like they do not exist. Remember how Simon and Levi responded to the raping of Dinah? By hand they killed Shechem, his father and all the men of the city after they had just been circumcised and then plundered the city (Gen 34:20-31). Brutal. Justifiable. Appropriate.

Man is an angry beast, and that anger must be controlled and channeled into constructive endeavors and into protecting his family. The anger of man is gargantuan. The anger of man is a raging furnace, and it is completely natural to feel it course through the body, and it is the mark of a man to be able to direct its intensity towards something productive.

It is called Testosterone gentleman, to deny its effects on male aggression is to deny biochemical fact and natural law.

Mantra

It is natural to be angry. With this anger I have the power to build, not destroy, but I will destroy if I must.

Application

Notice your anger today. When you feel the chemical effects of the androgen course through your body, immediately take note and turn your attention to another matter. In this way you will redirect the destructive powers of anger and aim them at a constructive endeavor. Anger can be constructive or destructive depending on how you use it.

The best place to start redirecting anger is with your physical training. It is easy to express violence in a constructive way during sports or intense training.

If you are not training to strengthen your body, you are missing out on one of the most basic principles of masculinity: strength.

Relish when some event or individual makes you angry and say to yourself, “I will bottle up this emotion for later”. (Avoid keeping negative emotion bottled too long though, it has a short shelf-life and will damage you if it remains pent up).

When you arrive at your place of training, call to mind the incident and the accompanying emotion and then unleash all your masculine fury on the insufficiency of your physical body. Through intense emotion you force yourself to improve in strength, power and endurance. By doing this you have used negative emotion for constructive endeavors.

Do not suppress your emotion, instead redirect it. This is like harnessing the power of great winds with a windmill or great rivers with a water mill and generating energy through those natural sources. Your anger is also a natural source that can be turned towards more productive outlets.

Declare war on your own weakness and mediocrity and strike your inadequacy with a mighty slaughter.

Conduct Yourselves like Men.

Productive Uses of Masculine Aggression

When raw, unbridled emotions are channeled into a controlled action, that action becomes unstoppable. Testosterone builds nations. Testosterone physically manifests itself by aggression. Aggression is anger under focused control.

“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger”.
Ephesians 4:26

Aggression is an internal energy source that, if used properly, should be invisible to others. You aren’t getting in people’s faces and screaming, instead you are driven in your work and in navigating social circumstances. Train the body with aggression. You resist temptation with aggression aimed at the vile schemes of your demon. You build your relationships with aggression pointed at your own mediocrity. Controlled Aggression is the edge that puts you slightly ahead of the competition.

Aggression is different from anger in that it has something to aim at, while anger can be random and used blindly. A forest fire is uncontrolled and destroys everything in its path until stopped, while a blowtorch is a tool for building items of value. Both forest fires and blow torches use fire, the difference is that the blowtorch is highly controlled and its energy is concentrated into a single point.

Blowtorch. Aggression. — Blow Torch. Controlled. Mostly Good

Forest fire. Aggression — Forest fire. Uncontrolled. Mostly Bad

Anger and aggression are both tools that are highly interrelated, but for focused work you need an emotion that is not overbearing or difficult to control, and aggression is that emotion.

The weak men of the Church have spoken against aggression for years now.

They have all the intestinal fortitude of a castrated rabbit, and they expect you to be the same.

The results of the lack of proficiently channeled aggression is found sitting in the pews of the Church. Lack of aggression makes males fundamentally effeminate and therefore unable to attract high quality mates or contribute to society.

Aggression is not unbound or arbitrarily aimed. It is a focused and controlled energy that can help you earn the life you want.

The pain of physical training can be overridden with aggression.
The monotony of your job can be removed through aggression.
Use this masculine tool, this Gift of God, to your advantage, and bend the world to your will.

Mantra

I am aggressive. I destroy tasks and objectives with ease.

Application

Feeling the boredom in your cubicle? Think about all the time you are wasting there. Focus on what you would rather do, what you want to spend your life doing. Think about that and then get aggressive enough to outperform everyone else, make the money you want and get out of the office for good.

Concentrate your aggression and use it to earn what you want in life. Do not be afraid of aggression, it is a powerful tool that can be used to build anything you want. Ignore everything the men in your Church have to say about aggression. They wouldn’t know aggression if it swung an ax at them.

KEY: Men in the Church fear aggression because aggression is a byproduct of testosterone which is produced in the testicles which are the main items that men in the Church do not have. They are ashamed, afraid and embarrassed about their emasculation so they have to demonize every expression of aggression that they see. They will complain about aggression until they need the help of police or the protection of the military who routinely use aggression to crush evil.

One of the best applications of aggression is to use it to overcome fear or discomfort. Again, the best way to start learning how to use the “hot emotions” is to use them on something physical like your physical training before moving on to something that needs better control, such as applying aggression to intellectual work or building businesses.

By this time you should already be training the physical body on most, but preferably all days of the week. Applied aggression will allow you to push the envelope in your training.

If you are performing squats with a certain weight and aiming for 15 repetitions, the first 8 may be easy before the physical pain begins to come into your mind and body. When the pain arrives, this is where you want to call upon aggression. All those dark thoughts you have as a man and violent tendencies can be directed into your training.

Get Angry, or rather express the anger that already lives inside of you. Force yourself to concentrate on expressing your anger in a controlled way, without allowing your body mechanics to break down.

Do not call on aggression for the first few repetitions, you will need that energy later.

Avoid getting overly “Hyped”, or you will lose control of yourself during the exercise and fail to perform it properly. The first repetitions should be totally in your control and you should have perfect form in completing them so that when you get to the final, aggressive reps, you are already performing perfect reps.

Using aggression can apply to team sports as well, just remember the guiding principle:

Do not call upon aggression until you experience pain and difficulty.

Do not mindlessly apply aggression 100% of the time, that is not productive because you lose the ability to be rational and you will run out of aggression. Applying your aggression to some physical endeavor is extremely therapeutic.

Once you have mastered applying aggression to physical outlets, you can move on to endeavors that are more difficult. It is harder to use aggression for study or business, but it can be done.

For study you have a few options:

Use aggression towards classmates or competitors in the same way that you use aggression towards opposing players on sports teams. You are not trying to express violence towards them, but instead you are cultivating a desire to outperform them.
Become angry with your mediocrity. Become as aware as possible of the depth of your ignorance. The thought of how little you know about anything and everything in the world should begin to stir up some disappointment in who you are and how immature your way of thinking is. Do not let the disappointment last, instead convert it to aggression. Become angry at your ignorance and destroy it by acquiring more knowledge.
Increase endurance in study by properly using aggression. In the same basic way that you apply aggression in your physical training, you must also apply it in study. After a certain amount of time spent learning, you naturally begin to tire. You decide that it is time for a break or that you can learn no more for the day, but the mind is much more resilient than that.

Instead of retiring for the day, take the break you were intending to take instead. During your break you must fuel your mind with aggression and aggressive thoughts. Take a walk and think about being victorious and about gaining knowledge. Remember that only the weak make excuses. Become disgusted with your desire for rest because it is a desire of weakness. Become disgusted with those around you who have fallen victim to the excuses they make in their minds and have failed on themselves as a result. Your cultivated aggression should stir up “hot emotions” and thoughts that override your desire for rest. You catch a second wind and can start working again.

For Business:

Become fueled by a desire to destroy your competitors. Business is war, and you must be willing to engage in warlike behavior in order to win. This does not differ all the way from the large business owner to the small “mail-room worker”. All working individuals need an aggressive drive that pushes them to be more.

Men are constantly competing over resources and women, you can put yourself ahead of the pack if you learn to concentrate aggression into your work. This will allow you to work harder and longer than anyone else. When you are working and you begin to fatigue, you must think of the enemy: he is working, training and preparing. And if you do not work, train and prepare more than he does then he will kill you.

You must think these warlike thoughts. Override your fatigue with aggression.

Obviously there can be several additional examples of applying aggression in study or business, but these should suffice to get your mind working in the right direction. From these basic four tactics, you can build your own tactics and ways to productively use your God-given aggression.

Conduct yourselves like men.