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The Confidence Protocols Episode: Trial VII – The Throne of Presence

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"True mastery is found in the details. The way you handle the little things defines the way you handle everything."

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the Gentleman's Journey podcast. My name is Anthony, your host, and today we are in episode seven of the Confidence Protocol. This is trial seven and this is the throne of presence. So let's go ahead and let's get into it. So let's go ahead and let's get into it. You expect a trial, some test, some shape, some pressure.

Speaker 1:

You've come to know the signs by now the silence, the symbolism, the shifting terrain. But today, nothing changes. You walk through the trees and feel well, nothing changes. You walk through the trees and feel well, nothing. No resistance, no tension in the air, no scent of fire, no pull inside your chest, just stillness. And that unsettles you more than any screaming wind or mirrored shore could, because you've burned everything You've named yourself, you've traded what couldn't be replaced. You should feel powerful, but what you feel is watched, not spied on, not judged, measured, as if the island is no longer asking who you were, but what you carry now.

Speaker 1:

So you keep walking and slowly the terrain begins to shift subtly, not with intensity but with gravity. The ground flattens, not in weakness, but in gravity. The ground flattens not in weakness but in expectation. The trees stop leaning, they straighten, tall, still dignified, like sentinels, like an audience, and ahead a structure, not a chamber, not a pit. Not a chamber, not a pit, not a shrine, just a throne, cut from obsidian, perfectly centered in a circle of ash white stone, raised two shallow steps above the ground. Nothing surrounds it no walls, no columns, no symbols, no gate. It simply just exists. And that's what makes it feel so heavy, because this throne doesn't summon, doesn't invite, doesn't command, it waits. And the closer you step, the more you feel your instincts start to crawl. You want to speak, say something, make a declaration just to justify your presence, but the throne gives you nothing to react to something. Make a declaration just to justify your presence, but the throne gives you nothing to react to. It doesn't mirror you, it doesn't reject you, it doesn't even acknowledge you. It just exists exactly as it is, unmoving, unafraid. And in that stillness you feel your last addiction surface the addiction to impact, the addiction to expression, the addiction to be received. You realize everything you've done up to this has been earned through intensity. But this throne, it will only recognize calm power. Not presence that needs to be seen, but presence that shapes the atmosphere.

Speaker 1:

Without effort, you walk to the edge of the ring. It hums, but not like music, like pressure. You step onto the white stone and it hits you all at once. You're not being tested, you're being read, every movement, every breath, every ounce of energy. You try to regulate. The throne is measuring who you are when you stop performing completely. You try to speak, but nothing comes out, because here speech is unnecessary. Everything you are is already being spoken through silence. You don't move closer yet because you know now the throne doesn't ask for more action, it asks if you can hold still and still hold everything.

Speaker 1:

You step into the ring and the moment your boot touches the stone, everything changes. Not outwardly, no clouds gather, no earth cracks, but you feel it. You feel the weight, a pressure that doesn't press against your body, it presses through your energy, like standing in front of something sacred that refuses to bend, like your breath is too loud, your thoughts have mass. Now you take another step and it intensifies. This isn't fear, it's exposure. Because in this place the throne doesn't want your fire, it doesn't want your story, it wants your stillness. And already you're breaking, not on the outside but in the micro-movements, the small internal flinches you've trained into presence the slight raise of your chin to appear unfazed, the tightness in your shoulders to hold authority, the slowness in your blink to seem measured, the perfectly timed breath to exude calm. You didn't know how many subtle things you still perform until none of them work.

Speaker 1:

Here. The throne doesn't respond, and that's when it starts the questions, not in your mind, in your system. Do I belong here? Am I still trying to be still? Or am I still? Is this strength or hesitation? Do I need them to see me, to prove I'm present? And underneath all of that, what if I'm not enough? Without effort, you feel your pulse rise because now the ring is silent, but your nervous system is screaming, not loudly, but with those tiny micro tremors that happen when the mask tries to reform.

Speaker 1:

The second mask, the one that survived the fire, the one who made the subtle dominance, muted charisma, ambient control. It's not malicious, it's instinctive. And here's the catch. The throne is reading all of it. It knows the difference between a man who's still because he's rooted and a man who's still because he's scared to make the wrong move. You try to center yourself, drop into breath, let go of tension. But that too is strategy. You're still trying to do something and that's the moment you realize the point.

Speaker 1:

This throne will not respond to what you regulate. It will only respond to what you radiate. You stop trying. Something softens, not your spine, not your stance, your intention. You let the air in, not with control, but with permission. You allow your stance to become sincere.

Speaker 1:

In that moment, in that moment, the pressure changes, not because it weakens, but because it's finally met. The ring no longer weighs on you, it witnesses you, not because you did anything, but because you finally stopped trying to be witnessed. And this is what most men miss. Presence isn't an energy you summon. It's an energy that is revealed once everything is gone. And now you understand. The throne isn't here to make you worthy. It's here to see if your energy knows that it already is.

Speaker 1:

So you remain still open, unclenched, not ready for approval, not ready to prove control, but because this is who you are now, and in that stillness, with nothing left to say shift or show, the throne breathes back back. There is no cue, no sound, no light, no shift in the sky. The air doesn't change. You do, something inside of you opens, not with force, with release. You stop standing like someone who earned the right to be here. You start standing like someone who earned the right to be here. You start standing like someone who was always meant to be. And in that moment that shift happens, the moment you silence no longer seeks reward.

Speaker 1:

The throne moves, not dramatically, not with noise, but with certainty. You don't need it, you don't see a change. You feel it Like the air around it drops 10 degrees, like something beneath your feet clicks into place and suddenly the circle accepts you. The pressure you felt, it's gone, not because you passed a test, but because you stopped testing yourself. The throne doesn't glow, it doesn't bend, it doesn't react, it just welcomes like it was already yours and it was always yours. And maybe that's the real breakthrough Not that the throne responded, but that you finally became still enough to realize it was never resisting you, it was just waiting for the you that didn't need to be seen.

Speaker 1:

You stepped toward it, one step and another, not cautiously but revelantly. The ring no longer vibrates, it listens, because now you're no longer walking with tension in your shoulders. You're no longer walking with tension in your shoulders, you're walking with weight in your presence. Each step is slow, not for performance but for precision. You aren't just stepping towards a seat, you're stepping into part of yourself that most men never reach the part that doesn't speak but is felt everywhere.

Speaker 1:

You reach the base of a throne and this time you don't kneel, you don't perform humility, you don't wait for permission, you place your hand on the armrest. It's cold, grounded, real, and it pulses once, barely noticeable, but your entire body feels it. It's like a confirmation, a seal, a silent yes, a silent yes. And then a sound, not from the sky, not from the throne, from within you, a syllable, but not one you say aloud. It merges like it was always there, just hidden beneath the noise.

Speaker 1:

Meyer, short grounded, final and unlike the others, short grounded, final and unlike the others. This one doesn't echo, it doesn't vibrate. It anchors you feel, it drop into your gut, your bones, your chest. You're not being named anymore, you're being seeded, because Meyer is not a title, it is a present signature, it's the energy that says this man no longer leads with performance, but with pressure. You close your eyes and you know no longer leads with performance, but with pressure. You close your eyes and you know, without anyone needing to say it, this throne was never going to choose you. It was waiting to see if you had become the kind of man who no longer needed to be chosen.

Speaker 1:

And now you're not crowned, you're not congratulated. You are allowed to sit, and that is the highest honor of all. So now there is no cue, no flare of light, no wind to announce what's changed. You won't even have noticed it, except for the way your breathing has shifted it's deeper, it's slower, it's unapologetic and for the first time since stepping into the ring, you realize you stopped trying. You're no longer holding your body like a message, you're no longer calculating the angle of your jaw, you're no longer performing quietness with intention. You are simply here, and in that moment the air responds, not with sound, not with vision, but with acknowledgement. It feels like everything around you just exhaled the pressure that once scanned every corner of your body. It eases, not because you passed a test, but because you finally became too real to test.

Speaker 1:

The throne doesn't shimmer, it doesn't invite. It doesn't congratulate. It adjusts. It doesn't congratulate, it adjusts Like the entire island just shifted to accommodate your energy instead of challenging it. You don't move right away Because you understand something now. The throne never asks for submission. It asks if your presence is stillness, without fear, and yours is. So you step forward. Each movement is clean, unhurried, grounded, not like you're taking permission, like the ring is yours.

Speaker 1:

Now you approach the seat. The closer you get, the more it resembles something ancient. Not an age, but an attitude. The throne was never made to elevate a man. It was made to reveal whether he'd become undeniable without effort. And when you reach it, you don't hesitate. You place your hand on the armrest.

Speaker 1:

It's cold, still solid. In a way, nothing has ever been. It doesn't pulse for you, it doesn't warm, it doesn't move, but your chest does you feel? A drop, like something that has been floating in your breath has finally landed in your body. It's not power, it's ownership, the kind that doesn't need a mirror, the kind that doesn't need a nod, the kind that doesn't need to be named. And yet a name rises anyways, not from the sky, from in you.

Speaker 1:

Mire Doesn't crash, doesn't echo, it settles, like the truth you were too proud to claim before, like something that's always been there waiting to become permanent mire. You don't know what it means. Your body does your stomach? It settles, your jaw softens, your knees hold steady and you understand that this is not a title, this is a present signature. This is what the room will feel when you enter. This is what the silence will feel when you enter. This is what the silence will carry when you speak. This is what people will experience before they hear your name, meyer. You don't say it out loud, because saying would lessen it, it's not for them, it's a seal, and as it settles into your bones you begin to feel what it means, really means to be here.

Speaker 1:

This throne was never going to choose you. It was going to wait and see if your energy already had the authority to set, and now it does. You lower yourself, not slowly, not dramatically, just naturally, like this was the most honest motion your body has made in months. You don't straighten your back, you don't spread your arms, you don't cast your gaze across the horizon, you simply sit, and the throne doesn't react Because it doesn't need to.

Speaker 1:

What's happening now isn't energetic submission, it's recognition between equals. The throne knows what you've become, and so does the island. In the silence, it no longer watches, it witnesses. You stay there for a long time, not to absorb, not to center yourself, just to let the world feel you without interference, and for a moment you feel how powerful that really is. Not to impress, but to remain, meyer. That's the gift of this trial, not a lesson, not a breakthrough, a renaissance that now lives inside your posture, a signature that says he no longer commands the room through sound. He holds it with stillness. So now you rise from the throne, not to leave, not to mark the moment, just because it's time. There's no surge of strength, no divine signal, no wind parting to the crown, your exit. There's only breath, and that's enough, because what you just experienced wasn't a transformation. It was a confirmation, not of who you could become, but who you already were.

Speaker 1:

Once you stopped trying, you take your first step off the throne platform. The white stone beneath your boots feel warmer now, not from heat but from memory, like the island itself is holding the imprint of your stillness. You don't rush, you don't calculate your pacing, you don't wonder how you're being perceived, you don't measure whether the moment has landed. You walk like someone who's no longer trying to leave an impression, but already has. That's the weight you carry now, not a burden, a gravitational field, because presence isn't loud, it doesn't interrupt, it doesn't ask to be recognized, it just shifts the room without asking for permission. And now you carry that, not because you fought for it, but because you were still enough to receive it.

Speaker 1:

You reach the edge of the ring. There's no closing gate it. But because you were still enough to receive it, you reach the edge of the ring. There's no closing gate, no final warning, no thunderous goodbye, just quiet. And you realize something the silence is no longer between you and the island, it's between you and your own interference. And that interference is gone, and with it the need to earn space.

Speaker 1:

You remember the old urges the urge to explain yourself, to soften your certainty, to charm through tension, to balance how much truth you let out. It's gone, not forcibly, but because the version of you who use those tools doesn't need them anymore. And the people who expect them, they feel the difference. They won't know what's changed, but they'll feel it. And some will back away, some will try to re-engage the old version, some will test your edge. Let them, because what you're carrying now doesn't need defending, it only needs to remain unmoved.

Speaker 1:

You reach the trees again. They don't lean back like they did when you first arrived, they just hold, like they've recalibrated to the new pressure of your presence. You inhale. The breath is deep, calm and full. For the first time in your life, you don't feel like you have anything to do with it? Not to speak, not to teach, not to release. Just breathe, because now you know, the room doesn't need your intensity, it needs your gravity. The room doesn't need your eloquence, it needs your unshakable silence. The room doesn't need your performance, it needs your stillness to hold without collapsing.

Speaker 1:

And here's what most men will never understand Presence isn't something you earn, it's something you uncover. Once the need to be recognized is finally gone, They'll keep chasing it, trying to level up their presence, trying to add tone, polish posture and power. But those who sat in the throne know the truth. But those who sat in the throne know the truth Presence is what remains when nothing in you is performing. And now that you can carry Meyer, the seventh syllable carved into your name, you understand why the throne waited so long to respond Because it didn't care how prepared you were. It cared whether your energy was clean.

Speaker 1:

Meyer isn't a sound you use, it's a vibration that fills the room before you speak. It's the signature of a man who doesn't shape himself for reception. It's the stillness that tells the world this man will not collapse under scrutiny because he's not here to be seen, he's here to be felt. You keep walking. No fireworks, no cliffhanger, no applause, just the pressure of what you now carry and knowing whatever comes next. You won't need to explain.

Speaker 1:

You want to know why most men never make it past this trial? Because they don't even recognize it as a trial. There's no fire here. There's no rejection, no, let's make a deal. No enemy to overpower, it's just silence. And most men assume that if nothing is coming against them, they must be doing fine. They think that calm is confirmation, that absence of resistance means progress, that their stillness is proof of mastery. But it's not Because this throne doesn't test your performance. It tests your pressure and the truth. Most men have none. They walk strong, they talk strong, they walk wide. They enter a room like a storm, but the second you strip away their tone, their explanation, their performance, there's nothing left to hold the room, their performance. There's nothing left to hold the room Because they spent their entire lives trying to project presence, not realizing that true presence isn't something you show, it's something you become.

Speaker 1:

This trial wasn't about sitting in a chair. It was about whether your energy could carry weight without performance. And that's what most men miss. They still think presence is something you do to get attention. It's not. It's what remains when you no longer care if you're seen at all. They think it's about mastering expression, but it's about removing need, the need for confirmation, the need for reception, need to matter out loud, because the throne doesn't care how centered your words are. It wants to know whether your silence can anchor the space. And if you haven't removed the second mass, the subtle ambient performance of self, you will collapse in this trial, not dramatically, silently. You can begin to fidget posture, fill the air with intention, and the throne will do nothing because it doesn't reward effort, only authentic, energetic calm.

Speaker 1:

Let's go deeper. You remember the symbol that rise from this trial Meyer Short, solid, unmovable, not poetic, not glorious, just whole. Meyer is the mark of a man who no longer lives for our reaction. He doesn't interrupt, he doesn't wait for applause, he shifts the room simply by being. You don't have to like him, you don't even have to agree with him, but you will feel him because he doesn't shift to be received. And that's what you're missing. If this trial felt uneventful to you, if you walked away warning what changed, it's because you're still looking for loud breakthroughs. You still want your transformation to make noise, but real presence. It's silent, it doesn't give an announcement, it has gravity. That's the shift.

Speaker 1:

And if you're holding on to your personality as a tool for control, if you still enter spaces with hope being liked, accepted or understood, you haven't passed this trial. Because the throne doesn't need you to be charming, it doesn't need you to be confident, it needs you to be undeniable without sound. And that doesn't come from bravado, it comes from clarity, from knowing that even if you said nothing ever again, your energy would still communicate everything. And if that scares you, it should, because most of what you've built until now the social presence, the tone, the adaptability, it's just all versions of the second mask, just more elegant, more subtle, but still built to be accepted. This child burned that off without fire, without pain, just through absence, the absence of validation, the absence of mirroring, the absence of response. Because the man who remains when no one claps, that's the man who always stays real. And now you carry him, not as an achievement, as an aura. You don't have to speak about it, you don't have to teach it, you don't have to prove it, because now the silence around you will say it louder than you ever could. This was the throne's only question Could and can you hold a space without filling it. If you answer yes, then welcome. You've earned mire, and now no one needs to know what it means, because they'll feel it when they step into the silence you now command.

Speaker 1:

So now let's get down to your ritual. This ritual doesn't ask you to speak or show or even decide. It just asks you to stop adjusting, because what you've carried up until now, even with the fire, even after the garden, even after the silence, was still reactive, you'd walk into rooms with just a little tension, just a little softening, just a little unspoken of need. You're trying not to be misunderstood, you know to try, or, I guess, not be too much, or to to read wrong, really, and the moment you adjusted, even subtly, you shrank. You told the world I will become acceptable and I'll become what's acceptable. Told the world I will become acceptable and I'll become what's acceptable, even if I could become more. That ends now, not with a bang, not with an announcement, with a decision made and then visible. So here's your ritual Walk into the next room, like you were sent, not invited.

Speaker 1:

It can be your office, your gym, your home, your dinner table, a zoom call, a store, anywhere. Walk in, but this time. No subtle shift. Don't smile to make others you know more comfortable, unless it's real. Don't hunch your presence to match the room. Don't shrink your silence. Don't speak just to fill the gap, don't try to track how you're being received, just be there, unreduced, unexplained, like the throne still lives in your spine. Because it does, and when the urge arises, because it will, you know, just soften your eyes to add the light comment, to lower your energy, to adjust your rhythm to match someone else's tone. Don't Not because you're resisting, but because there's nothing left to protect. This is not dominance, this is not rebellion, this is not anti-social energy, this is energetic command through internal consistency.

Speaker 1:

And here's the rule if you adjust, restart the ritual. Try again next room, next space, next breath, until it sticks. If you adjust, restart the ritual, try again Next room, Next space, next breath, until it sticks, until your presence holds, not just in isolation but in the world. That once taught you to shrink, you'll know you've passed this ritual when you walk into a space and don't second guess your energy. You leave without wondering how they felt about you. You speak less but say more. You stay seated in the silence and they feel it. You notice the difference in how people respond, but no longer change because of it, because this is the final evolution.

Speaker 1:

The fire stripped the old image, the throne seated the new one. This ritual proves you won't trade it for comfort. So there's no applause, no mirror, no badge, just the soundless weight of a man who doesn't need to adjust to be powerful. Oh guys, you know, what's really interesting about the throne trial is this is you know, if you look, if you look like at masculinity, like you know, out there you have like the Red Pill world where you gotta be dominant, be alpha and all these different things, right, when you strip all that away from somebody, a lot of people live in persona, but they don't really live in their own realness. And that's what this trial was stripping away, everything that no longer serves you. You know, like the mass trial from before, it's stripping everything away Because, in order to really build true confidence, what this is remember, this is the confidence protocols, these are trials.

Speaker 1:

True confidence, what this is remember, this is the confidence protocols, these are trials True confidence is that is being completely, 100%, unapologetic, being yourself. That's what this is, and you got to go through these rituals and these trials to really strip yourself to get to that point, because only then can you really live a true, authentic life and, realistically, that's the only life to live is a truly authentic life, and that's what this throne was about is you being your authentic self. So, just think about that. Think about that. Are you being your true, authentic self? If not, listen to this again. Everything you need is in there.

Speaker 1:

So, guys, I know we're running a little long today, but there's a lot we had to get through here with this ritual, especially with this trial, so I quickly just want to thank you, thank every one of you who is listening, and I want to thank every one of you that is first time listening. Thank you so much for that, and I know I've been saying this a lot, but I want to thank every one of you for sharing this with your friends, sharing this with your family. I'm being listened to in places I didn't even know existed, to be 100% honest with you. So, again, thank you. If you're a new listener, thank you so much for listening today, and also, too, I want to thank the couple people that I've been talking to back and forth through my email and through the chat function here and, if you want to be able to have a conversation with me. Let me show you.

Speaker 1:

There's a couple of different ways. Actually, there's three different ways. First way is going to be through the chat function here which says let's talk. You click on that and you and I can have a conversation about this episode, this series, or the five other series and the 200 plus episodes that is on Gents Journey. Second one is going to be through my email. My email is anthony at gentsjourneycom. And, last but not least, you can reach me in my DMs. On my Instagram, my Instagram is mygentsjourney, so please feel free to reach out to me there. On my Instagram, my Instagram is MyGentsJourney, so please feel free to reach out to me there. So, guys, thank you so very much for listening today and remember this you create your reality. Take care Bye.