Intergalactic Summit

Again, like any other faith, Wayism has some overarching themes or tenants that, while varying from place to place, maintain a core of intent and purpose. In my estimation these notions are a respect for dead, an acceptance and reverence for aspects of the natural world, and perhaps most importantly, individual strength. Naturally there are other important aspects of Wayist belief, but similar to Matari belief they are quite numerous and difficult to address in their entirety.

Wayism is the largest faith within the State, and even those Caldari who do not personally practice or ascribe to it in any dedicated fashion nevertheless end up adopting some Wayist traditions that are simply ingrained into Caldari culture at this point. An example of this is the respect and ritual surrounding death among the Caldari. Now, do not mistake this respect as some sort of worship of death itself, rather the Wayist accepts death as a natural part of life. It is not to be overly feared and in some cases something a Wayist wouldn't go to great lengths to avoid. This isn't to say Wayists are any more reckless than another man or woman, they quite simply, like many other things from a Caldari perspective, do not worry as much about dying. They live their lives, do their jobs, raise their children, treat their illnesses, in much the same way as anyone else would but the prevailing notion is that when the time is right, death is nigh unavoidable. There are even circumstances in which Wayism, and by extension Caldari tradition recommends or even demands ritual suicide. The most notable example of this is the Tea Maker Ceremony, a normally fatal ritual that is generally reserved for dire circumstances of personal disagreement of grand scope. The ceremony itself is both something of a test of wills, as well as one of the only direct ways a Wayist calls upon The Maker for assistance. Beyond the traditions and mentality, Wayism makes some demands upon the treatment of the deceased. Mainly that the dead be cremated to make it clear to the deceased spirit that they should accept their new existence. Wayism, in some locations, also stresses that speaking ill of the departed can bring misfortune upon you, or that overly dwelling on a lost loved one, obsessing rather than honoring, can actually insult and hamper the spirit of the departed.

Beyond the spirits of honorable ancestors, the more powerful spirits among Wayism are spirits of nature. The most well known and widespread of these are spirits of wind in some form, hence the name The Way of the Winds. Central to Wayism is the belief that The Maker imbued the Winds with the power and wisdom to bring order to a chaotic cosmos. The winds and other nature spirits are the spiritual shapers of the world. Chief among the winds are some well known spirits, such as the Cold Wind, which is generally accepted as the first Wind given power by the Maker, and the progenitor of the other winds. Cold Wind, as the name would imply, is the manifestation or representation of the ever present cold harshness of Caldari Prime, and seen as both the physical and spiritual reason why the Caldari revere strength and those that are capable of persevering under difficult conditions. Those that triumph against adversity, or do not rise to meet their full potential are said to be respectively loved and hated by Cold Wind. The other winds, have their own domains, both physically and spiritually, and help to shape the lives and worlds of the Caldari in their own ways. But not all of the important nature spirits are representative of wind. Of note is the Heart of the Forest, a provider and nurturing spirit generally seen as feminine compared to the masculine winds. She is prominent in that she is both provider of needs such as food and shelter (game hunting and the use of wood are sometimes seen as important social symbols) but also in that she is more forthcoming with her wisdom than the winds themselves, aside from Cold Wind. There are of course other nature spirits, those of waters, earth, fire and among the space-born Wayists even some spirits representing natural cosmological processes.

Of the primary ideas or tenants of Wayism, the most profound and widespread is the idea of personal strength. This is not simply limited to physical strength of course, but of all strengths be they of body, mind, or soul. There are rather obvious implications of this in nearly all levels of Caldari society, indeed the very notion of the State as a meritocracy could be said to be rather Wayist. This respect and strive for strength and self reliance is something that has driven the State to excel in all things the State does, and while it can be argued that in some fields“the Amarr do this better” or “Gallentean examples of this are superior to Caldari ones” the actual efficiency and/or craftsmanship of a Caldari product or service is undoubtedly intensely competitive in any sort of ranking of comparison. This drive for self sufficiency and self reliance though can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a boon. The idea of charity among the Caldari is generally frowned upon and there are definite limits to how much assistance someone will receive if they do not seem to be contributing and doing their own part. For the most part this is not a large problem on a social or a spiritual level, as the drive to succeed and improve is so prevalent among the Caldari means proportionately few seem to let themselves ever need charity. This may seem something of a cold and uncaring aspect of Wayism and Caldari society as a whole, however it is not uncommon for a Wayist to go out of their way to provide assistance to those in need in exchange for work of some sort, even if that work is something that doesn't truly need another set of hands. It is something of an odd dichotomy though, as the drive for efficiency makes such arrangements rather temporary.

Thank you very much again for your insightful posting. I very much enjoy reading about your perspective of the various beliefs of the Cluster, as they are numerous and diverse. Your perspective of the Caldari beliefs has obvious impact for me, and I'll admit that I was smiling all the way through your treatise.

I'm currently on a lot of painkillers, so I'm not sure if I can come up with any good questions for you. The big question I'd have to ask is: How did you go about collecting this information? You yourself admit that it wasn't easy, so how did you do it?

Overall an excellent presentation of Wayism.
My private view about the Way of the Winds in particular is that is not a worship of an idea, but rather of an experience.

Oh, and thanks for giving food for thought.

I started first by trying to engage fellow capsuleers in the discussion, but for the most part Caldari capsuleers seem to have much better things to do than discuss their beliefs with me. I did consider offering financial compensation for their time and knowledge, but part of me feels that would be somewhat rude. In the end, with so few capsuleer contacts coming forward for genuine and in-depth conversation, I had to go learn from 'baseline' populations. This mostly entailed visiting a few shrines on Caldari owned and operated stations. Even then the stewards of those shrines, while cordial were hesitant to spend too much time trying to explain The Way to me. Beyond Wayist stewards themselves, the bulk of the information came from station dock workers enjoying their free time between shifts, and from within my own crew pools as I do employ a fair number of Caldari. People can say what they like of the Caldari in general, but I think it's a common fact that humans, when you buy them a round of drinks, are more willing to talk to you.

All that said, I am still interested in the beliefs of Wayist Capsuleers, as from what I can tell the idea of cloning for an effective eternity is somewhat...not in line with traditional beliefs regarding the acceptance of death.

I'm also still in the process of collecting information about other belief systems as well, so anyone reading who has information is more than welcome to contact me and we can arrange for a real-time chat.

Probably the best way to get at the heart of a culture. Capsuleers are a poor representative sample. I'd be happy to talk to you about my knowledge on it if you're interested, though perhaps I'm a particularly poor choice.

You may consider offering donations of money for services. There's a saying that you'll occasionally hear on some Caldari stations: "The unit of measure for concern is the ISK." You aren't actually concerned about something you're unwilling to invest your time and money in. Maybe offer work? That's a very traditional Caldari way to gain wisdom. Go ask them if they need their floors cleaned, bring a hand brush and bucket. They'll talk as you clean. This sort of exchange is the foundation of the Caldari ethos, in my opinion.