Dire Dogs.
Through my personal time with the Operation I have done my best to exemplify its tenets, and to be an example of how its declared aims and methods can have a positive effect on an individual’s life. It has taken me from an unhealthy and inconsistent person to someone with both feet firmly on a path of strength, a “path with heart.” Like the Fool of the tarot trumps, I am still just setting out on this road with the greater part of the adventure ahead of me- many lessons yet to be learned, and, as my brother Matthias stated in his recent article, I am, in most ways, “just a beginner.”
Clearly, a great deal of self-discipline is needed on this road, but there is more to it than that, or we would simply be lone individuals around the world, living our lives with no connection to a great concept, or a greater whole.
One of the things that has kept me steadfast in my day to day is the concept of pressure. Anyone who has listened to Justin Garcia’s podcast “The Pressure Project” is probably familiar with this term, and most are familiar with the concept itself, at least from a hypothetical standpoint, but many are still “missing it” in their life. This idea of pressure we often discuss is that one’s peers will constantly apply healthy pressure and positive confrontation, in order to ensure that all links in the chain of the tribe are strong. It must be applied consistently and steadily, as so many individuals are habitual “bingers,” people who will throw themselves headlong into an endeavor like weightlifting for a short period of time before quitting due to some “life happened” excuse- they will then go through a period of personal worthlessness or low productivity, before reaching a point of sufficient “motivation” (a term I have come to despise), and beginning all over again.
These types of people are engaged in a chronic behavior that will repeat itself over and over throughout their lives, creating a template of underachievement and zero discipline (which, as Jim Wendler is fond of saying, beats the hell out of “motivation” any day of the week) which will manifest itself in myriad ways within their personal life. They will be masters of the shallow water, never reaching true depth in either their squat(!) or other endeavors they excitedly pursue for brief, ineffective sprints before becoming easily winded and sitting back down just to “catch their breath.”
Svarog/Hamrammr.
These individuals need pressure. If they exist within a peer group, it is the peer group’s responsibility to bring them up to speed through “tough love,” or, in the end, to purge them from the body if they resist all attempts to reforge them. Operation Werewolf is not an acceptance philosophy. It is exclusive, in that it only accepts those individuals who are demonstrably on the path to greatness. But on the path means consistent effort, not haphazard application and grandiose claims. That way lies only self delusion and sickness. These individuals must be tried in the fiery crucible, tested, and if found wanting, issued an edict of strength- an ultimatum that when next encountered they must be better than they were today. If they are not, they must be cast aside to make way for those who are receptive to confrontation and a philosophy and praxis of might.
At periods in my life, and especially in recent years as I have dedicated myself wholly to the task at hand, I have been approached by those closest to me and told that my current best was not good enough. I had a choice to either accept this judgement of my chosen peers with a certain amount of humility and grit, and prove to them that I was capable of more, or to thrash and moan like a child and reject their statement with an ego-driven vision of myself. I am honored to have friends and brothers like this, and am proud to say I chose the former. Had I not, I would not be writing this now. Those men in our peer group who fear confrontation or are too uncomfortable to demand this strength from their brethren are cowards, and no true friends- they create an environment of tolerance for unhealthiness, and they are agents of a cancer that spreads insidiously throughout an organic structure. In many ways, they are worse than the problem itself, as they can see it, and know what steps need to be taken, but choose not to for the sake of their own comfort.
Within Operation Werewolf, it is my hope for the future that this positive pressure will be seen more often in the coming year. By “donning the hide,” so to speak, an individual is not only making a contract with himself, but with all of you. Anything that marks someone as part of this ongoing Operation is also signifying an openness to be tested, to prove himself- it matters only that he is on that road to betterment, and that he can demonstrate improvement when he is next encountered. There are those who have been loudly proclaiming from the technological minarets of the modern Empire those words “Iron and Blood,” while their physique remains the same or worse, their strength does not increase, their technical proficiency stagnates or is non-existent- these individuals must be challenged and pressured to action, or purged from the greater body. There is no room for dead weight, and each must inspire the other to greater undertakings.
Constant pressure from peers does not have to be those directly within your immediate friendship group, or those you spend time with daily. In this strange and modern world, I have seen it come from competition via Instagram or other social media, where individuals use one another to keep the pressure on and rise to each other’s challenges. This is obviously less desirable than physical, face to face relationships, but for some, any port in a storm must be utilized.
Temporary agreements can spring up between those with great distance between them, competitions decided upon between solo operative or division, meet-ups scheduled in order to demonstrate the hard work that has been put in, and great fires lit and celebrations held to honor these victories.
Those who do not work, those who do not travel, those who do not inspire: their names will be forgotten like ashes in the wind. We have only this one life to rise and conquer- we must not be distracted by those looking only to feed on us like parasites and ticks. They must be pulled off and thrown to the fire.
XCII
P.W.
Dire Dogs/Wolves.