Intro:

I’ve been reading the Red Pill for a while now and I think that I have managed to see another way of viewing and implementing amused mastery that doesn’t even pertain to women.

What is Amused Mastery:

The Rational Male described amused mastery as a way for a man to show a woman that he sees through her actions and that he is amused and entertained by what she’s doing. The man doesn’t take her very seriously and this amused mastery aids in dominance for the man and it makes him appear confident.

Amused Mastery in Other Areas of Life:

My first real experience of amused mastery was in grade school where I was always considered the class clown. I always had some sort of scheme, prank, trick or punchline that would be funny to the rest of my classmates. But, more importantly the jokes were funny to me. All the jokes I did that had success were funny to me and they always landed well. Any time I wanted to do something funny to seek validation, people would sniff out that insecurity and it wouldn’t be funny; it would just look desperate. I looked to my own sense of humor for entertainment and that made it much more funny because it was genuine.

My jokes and humor were an attack on the authority of the school because some of their rules were ridiculous. I remember that all the girls and timid guys would follow the rules blindly and I would engage in class discussions frequently with strong opinions and I would use jokes at the same time. I also never took any attacks on my arguments personally. I would question school rules and cultural and societal norms and all the girls would tell me to stop but, I’d catch them stealing glances. A man that is amused by the absurdity of life is attractive because people think he’s got everything figured out.

The Core Idea

What does my mischievousness in grade school have to do with amused mastery? That may be the question that is in the minds of many of my readers right now. Well, first understand that life is absurd and don’t take things personally when someone disagrees with you. The way to think of it is Law number 48 in the 48 laws of power, assume formlessness. When you see the absurdity in things you take a more distant approach in your interactions. Not an impersonal distance but, the type of distance that a comedian takes when he analyzes and jokes about some sort of social norm or some event. This formlessness will also translate in not getting offended easily. People that have insecurity or they attach themselves to some idea or thing that is out of their control will leave them susceptible to being offended easily. The reason being, is that idea or thing is not in your control so you can’t do much about it and when someone attacks that idea or thing it isn’t worth your time or energy to get offended. Instead take that distant approach and take the same amused approach that you would take with a woman. When you assume a form, you create this rigid personality that isn’t very malleable so it will crack when people attack the ideas you stand for. When you don’t take others very seriously then you bob and weave their assaults like a boxer.

This may all sound very nonconcrete so to illustrate this idea I will use a couple examples. I enjoy reading and I will joke about reading being for nerds with friends even though they know I enjoy reading because I don’t associate my love of reading as me being a nerd. I know how to joke about the stereotypes associated with readers.

Here is another example, let’s say you were a republican and someone is attacking some other republican who said something stupid and they’re trying to use it as an argument against you. Don’t take their attack personally, understand that that republican is not you and doesn’t represent your specific views and learn to joke about it. Maybe you’re a republican who believes in gay marriage and is for abortion but you’re fiscally conservative. Just because you identify as a republican doesn’t mean you agree with everything they say. Maybe that republican wants to cut out welfare, you can say “Jesus! That’s it? What about subjugating women? He has to get back to that.” You can say that with a grin for added effect.

Takeaway

Life is absurd so don’t take it seriously

Amused mastery applies to social interactions outside women

Assume formlessness, don’t attach yourself to something you can’t control