The Pillars of Wisdom
A Wild Ride Not For the Faint of Heart
I struck up a conversation with
after seeing multiple reviews of his anthology, The Pillars of Wisdom (P.O.W.). I was curious how he brought his book into print. A gentleman, he responded and explained to me the general pain in the ass that is type-setting and cover art formatting.The cover of his book is arresting. Purple and gold: the colors of royalty, it's decorated with astrological runes, Sumerian nobility, and the Lamassu. The interior artwork switches between R. Crum and Gustave Dore, with a smattering of oriental religious iconography. The author burnt some calories on this thing and it shows. If nothing else, adorn your shelf with this beautiful book.
For those of you who don’t know, GLO is sort of a post-modern sorcerer. He rose to notoriety as a founding member of the Online Man-o-sphere Community “The Red Pill.” In this collection, he spends a fair amount of time distancing himself from this community. The gist is that they are alpha-male larpers and haven’t extricated themselves from the cult of consumerism (see also: Andrew Tate). Or they have failed and simply retreated into Al Bundy’s “No Ma'am” Club. For those content to retreat within their domicile, the author keenly notes in the book: “The Man Cave is a Burial Chamber.”
A quick digression into etymology and the origin of “weird.” Weird is derived from the Old English Wyrd, meaning “fate” or “chance.” It's also the root word of wizard, or someone who does weird things. Originally, this meant someone with foresight and mastery of the natural sciences. But we, as species, have always eschewed the weird of late. Weird is uncomfortable, but so is growth, and so then is wisdom.
So, GLO is a weird guy. A wyrdsmith if you will. From what I remember of the deep magic and the historical Merlin, the wizard was not just an advisor, but a dangerous force of nature. Mercurial, in congress with the things that slither between here and yon. Like fire, magic is not not to be trifled with or fully trusted. Contrast this with the avuncular Gandalf and you’ll see what I mean. It crossed my mind that, depending on how close we are to the end of the world, GLO could simply be another of Merlin’s many disguises, since Merlin ages backwards. This remains pure speculation on my part.
So, what is the magic wisdom and who is it for? An endangered species: the agentic young man of the West. As of this writing, in 2025, the average young man in America has the brain of a cocaine addict. He is benumbed by Tik Tok, psychoactive drugs, porn, and food additives. GLO uses a polemic, eristic style to lance his masturbation-addled audience into action. He admits as much: the language in this book is pornographic by design. Was Freud onto something? Is GLO brandishing the lance of Don Quixote or St. George? Time will tell. For me, this was a memorable read.
For those in the most dire need, I’m going to run an experiment and solicit some Zoomer feedback, so stand by. I am faced with some unease that P.O.W. might affect young readers like some of my fellow collegiate philosophy majors: who had phases as Marx or Rand Monsters. Maybe P.O.W. is preferable. Both Marxism and Objectivism are failed political projects, so I guess they don’t have much utility. P.O.W. is a diagnostic manual and troubleshooting guide for troubled-shooting guys.
Politics / Economics
It’s nice to see that there’s an impulse by GLO and others to return to the classic forbidden books. Since Substack is my book club for bros, I heartily recommend
’s The Populist Delusion for additional background on elite theory, which factors heavily into The P.O.W. He also has a great rundown of the Fed and Keynesian Economics which I echo in Pandemonia: A Novel Plague Plague Novel!“The Minister of the Treasury spoke next. He was dressed in a sharp collared shirt with slacks. He wore a slick down vest with a logo of his favorite bank emblazoned on the back. He spooned some more magic powder into his nostril and snorted. “We can’t afford open warfare with Pangolin. Your Majesty, this Plague could bankrupt the realm. We are in a precarious financial state as it is. I would suggest a public health jobs program, but our coffers are thin. 15% of the realm already works for the government, and half of those people don’t do jack squat. I suggest that we employ a more… Modern Monetary Policy to finance this crisis.”
“What the Hell is that?” said Rex impatiently.
The Finance Minister licked his numb teeth: “Hear me out. We centralize all of our largest banks under a single cartel. It will be the most fearsome financial institution ever, which I’ve dubbed the Dread Reserve. With their combined capital, they have an asset base to purchase nearly unlimited Treasury Bills from the Quagmeircan Sovereign, deficit finance us through this catastrophe, and increase the money supply for the people.”
“How do they make more gold?” asked The Chancellor.
Finance bro chuffed like a nag. “That’s the beauty of the plan! I’m talking about paper money. We just print it out of thin air!”
“So, basically: IOUs that we control?” said Rex ponderously.
“Exactly!” shouted the Finance Minister.
“Look,” said Rex ominously, “I know we live in an absurd magic fantasy realm, but that’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life. And I talk to a different woman every night. That magic powder from Bad Hombrea is making you crazy!”
“Yikes,” said Corona inside Sickle’s skull, “I’m a malevolent Demon, and even that Ponzi scheme seems a bit beyond the pale.”
The Finance Minister lit a cigarette and sulked.
Again, the USD has value because America says it does and our government will kill you if you don’t agree. But the emperor has no clothes and the formerly invincible veneer is cracking. The book is pretty cozy with a Marxist diagnosis of the failures of capitalism, which I’m OK with, as it’s not putting forth an explicitly Marxist solution. It’s scope is limited to personal action: what can you - some guy - influence? More importantly, what is beyond your influence?
Sexual Warfare / Dating Advice
The economic conditions of America are brittle, and so is our health, both mental and physical. These two things are related. The demands of Capital have driven young Americans to become the most chemically and behaviorally experimented upon group of people in history. My heart goes out to the thralls of the modern dating app, SSRI victims, and hormonally imbalanced birth control pill users. It’s tough out there. I recently went to a concert and saw many of these folks in the wild. Formerly the proud people of America, they were slovenly, overweight, and sporting ridiculous tattoos. Cooked.
GLO’s solution is to give up on White American women, move to Mexico, job stack, and ride out the destruction of Sodom on a beach somewhere: “Export Your Unvaccinated Penis.” It very much echoes Spandrell’s suggested route, but Latin babes instead of Asian ones.
For those willing to stay home and tough it out, he offers advice on courting here: “Stuffing your White Meat into Asian Girls”, using “The Desperation of Ukrainian War Refugees to Your Sexual Advantage”, and making love to “Disciples of the AntiChrist.”
There are laugh-out-loud funny passages in this section, so I won’t spoil them. But a part of me wonders if some of this could be extrapolated into a tight standup set.
Black Magic and Bromides
There are sections on the black magic of Linkedin, job stacking, and yes, there are modern health potions contained within this tome. Practical esoterics, not just theoretical yadda about metaphysics and ethics.
There’s also a fair amount of occult stuff floating through this book. The black sun of Saturn features heavily and there’s a whole appendix of runes for the most curious of acolytes. Much of the personal philosophy offered is a more dour analog of today’s online rightwing zeitgeist: “You can just do things” and is more akin to Aleister Crowley’s “Do What Thou Will.”
Final Thoughts
GLO is not a complete demon of self-interest. This project was, after all, written from a spirit of fraternity: “The only way to meaningfully move forward in life is to bring others with you.” I hope that GLO can extend this spirit towards his immediate family now and in the future. I’m also hoping that like Doctor Seuss suggested, we “can face down our problems wherever they are.” Exiting Western Liberal Democracy seems like a good idea, until Calcutta, Cairo, and the Favela metastasize globally.
If you’re looking for an edgy manual outlining the discontent of the modern West and some possible solutions, this book is one of a kind. Do I endorse it wholesale? No. Do I clutch my pearls and disavow it entirely? No. Am I glad I read it? Mostly yes. Now choose your adventure: I can guarantee you won’t find a perspective quite like this anywhere else.
I have this book. All that you say is correct.