9 Steps To Build A Life Of Meaning
Rick Walker's book stands apart from the pack for all the right reasons
Our cultural landscape has undergone a profound change in a short time, a vibe shift, largely driven by young men fed up with being labeled toxic just for being male. The catalyst for many was sparked by Jordan Peterson, who transcended the culture wars to point young men towards a life of meaning.
Nearly a decade later, the Millennials he first inspired are approaching middle age, and Peterson’s popularity has begun to wane. As Gen Z enters adulthood, the need for masculine gurus remains, but the quality of role models has greatly diminished. The market that developed in the wake of Peterson’s success has churned out an overwhelming amount of content, some good, and a lot bad.
Amidst the crowd of opportunists and imitators, Rick Walker, and his book, 9 Steps To Build A Meaningful Life, stand apart from the pack. The format might not tip you off; its title is reminiscent of Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, (but 25% more efficient!) It’s a new book advocating for the reading of old books. Its steps are designed to encourage personal growth and responsibility.
But Walker is not a copycat. A self-made man, his enthusiasm for art and literature prove that a PhD. is not required to access ancient wisdom. His experience in business and politics provide insights with real world value. But crucially, Walker’s book has something that even Dr. Peterson’s work lacks– a grasp of virtue that the manosphere struggles to understand; the centrality of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
I was a bit suspicious when I first encountered Rick Walker. I’ve made it a habit to give people the benefit of the doubt, but Rick seemed like an odd duck among my crowd of friends. For one thing, Rick comes across as a firm-handshake, look-you-straight-in-the-eye, strong-first-impression kind of guy. A perfectly respectable persona– but rarely seen in a digital refugee camp for spiritually deconstructed misfits.
Rick had been the guest on Pastor Paul VanderKlay’s Friday livestream, a slot he secured by dropping the right name; not Dr. Ben Carson, or Rep. Dan Crenshaw – but Grim Griz, the enigmatic gatekeeper of the Broken Clocktower discord server, an online community that filters outsiders through secret language and near-unwatchable YouTube videos.
After sharing his story with Paul, Rick stayed on to endure a gauntlet of questions and tests by regulars of “This Little Corner of the Internet”, as the flotilla of creators and commenters have come to be known. Amongst those Nietzsche labeled “the bungled and the botched”, it’s not your business portfolio that wins you trust, but your wounds. After reading 9 Steps To Build A Meaningful Life, I can say that Rick Walker does indeed fit within this merry band of misfits, and he’s got the scars to prove it.
Rick’s book begins with a familiar story of self-made success; a scrappy tale about buying old watches at yard sales, and reselling to jewelers. Because the folks selling wanted money right now, they were willing to part with their valuables at a low price, low enough to make a decent profit when sold to a discerning buyer– a straightforward example of arbitrage.
“Arbitrage occurs when there is a value inefficiency between two owners or two places. We bought low from an unprofessional in an inefficient market, then sold the watches to collectors who knew their true value was not in sitting in forgotten junk boxes up on shelves.”
This pattern continues throughout the book. Rick leverages his hard-won success to draw the reader in. He highlights achievements that many young men would love to experience; exclusive parties, material success, and the respect and admiration of other competent leaders. But as our investment in Rick’s story grows, he consciously points us away from the trappings of material success, towards higher things:
“This book is about the arbitrage of masterful ideas: taking undervalued and overlooked wisdom and using it to build all that is most valuable in life.”
His first step, Choose One Worthy Enemy, is a practice designed to orient us towards solving problems beyond acquiring wealth. In searching for a worthy foe, one quickly moves beyond the pettiness of business competitors, towards instantiations of evil that truly deserve to be hated, the pervasive lies that crush the spirits of innocents. This is a much needed pushback against our culture's toxic disdain for masculine aggression, where failure to be “nice” is the greatest sin. Rick points out that proper hatred is not evil, but just; as “proper hate is the fulfillment of love when properly directed.”
By framing the right enemy as that which is worthy of proper hatred, we are led directly to the next step - “Aim high. Aiming low is the only sin.” Rick leverages a literal failure in a congressional election into a valuable opportunity to gain wisdom. A strategic choice to attack his biggest rival, (a less than worthy enemy), sullied his own character, destroying his own chance of winning, paving the way to victory for a dark horse candidate who never lost sight of the true goal.
Stories such as these are not uncommon, but Walker brings something to the conversation that pushes us beyond mere grit and perseverance. Masculine gurus preach an embrace of discipline, a determination that pushes through the pain, striving for perfection. But no amount of discipline or effort will bring you to the finish line when you are running on a treadmill.
Such efforts produce the hardened body of an athlete, but even the most athletic bodies eventually wither and decay. The accumulation of wealth cannot prevent the loss of days. The pursuit of status can protect us from being forgotten. Walker’s prescient vision, realized at the peak of success, points us towards the real root of meaning.
This is not just a push towards deeper things– Peterson points out that marriage is deeper and more meaningful than simply having a lot of sex, and that knowing your children is greater than simply siring heirs. These statements are true in the same manner that Michelin cuisine is better than fast food, and the Mona Lisa is more beautiful than a movie poster. In a world of chaos, relative values are easy to define.
But Walker knows the answer to the questions that haunts Jordan Peterson. When people ask the frustrated Peterson, “Do you believe in God?” his response, “What do you mean by God?” reveals a truth not yet discovered, because it is not a question of what, but of who.
Walker has come to a point in his journey where Peterson has not quite arrived. It’s what happens when we receive a mortal wound, a wound that can never heal, a wound that will cost us our life. Those who reach this end, the end of themselves, are powerless to do anything but cry out for help.
And this is where the expert in arbitrage found himself at a profound disadvantage to The Master– Jesus Christ, the one who holds our very life in His hand. Yet remarkably, Christ takes the only thing we have to offer, our wounds, and bears them for us. In exchange, he gives us back our life.
This is the revelation that comes through in Walker’s book. It’s the recognition that our lives are not our own, that we were bought at a price; healed, delivered, redeemed:
“And bending your knee toward the right master, as I discovered, is the only pathway to both revelation and evolution. If it happened to me it can happen to you. Remember that a forgiven man is more perfect than a perfect man who was never forgiven.”
This truth, once grasped, has profound implications for how we live. As Tim Keller observed in one of my favorite clips, “There’s no limit to what He can ask of me.” But if there is no limit to what He can ask, there is also no limit to what He can accomplish through our lives. Rick Walker’s story bears the evidence, making 9 Steps To Build A Meaningful Life a book well worth your time and attention.