Mad When They Fail

In 2020, a guest named Hannah stayed at the California center in the Monastic Academy network for a few weeks. She failed in the training in numerous ways. She didn’t follow the schedule, and she broke many other agreements such as not to take drugs or have sexual relations with other trainees.

After leaving the center, she entered a relationship with a fellow trainee she had seduced. Several months later she cheated on him, so he broke up with her and we let him return to the training. At that point, more than a year after she left, Hannah began publicly attacking us online with a slew of false claims. After several years of this, I became responsible for helping us craft a response.

In one discussion with our Head Teacher, Soryu Forall, he said that our response should ensure that those who won’t flourish at the Monastic Academy (MAPLE) won’t come. Early on, I was resistant to this attitude, but then I became increasingly energized by it. He continued, “One of our past members left and spent months writing an elaborate post in order to keep people away from MAPLE. The people who were kept away are those who believe what they read on the internet. This has been good for us, so we’re grateful to her.”

Forall then brought up Nike’s new slogan: Winning Isn't For Everyone. He said, “This is the kind of tone that may be helpful. We should thank the people who have kept away those who aren’t up for this challenge. We want people to come who can do this, otherwise they’ll be mad when they fail.”