Intergalactic Summit

Nonesense! I can name something far more valuable and real than violence that neither you nor I can claim to be particularly unfamiliar with.

Though if that spread through the cluster as readily as violence, we would most likely have fought our last war centuries ago.

The difference between you and me, dear Isis, is that I know the appropriate forums to go into such details. This forum might not be the most suitable.

But you know what I mean, and I doubt you would disagree. Savage violence and uncontrollable rage don't often come from people who've found extracurricular satisfaction.

I'm just saying.

I think I've gone over before what I think of the Vitoxin method of control, though I'd be pleased to decry its use again. My family isn't notable for its use of collars either. You don't tend to get much rebellion when your slaves are doing "soft" jobs like transcribing text or cleaning a chapel before prayers. We like to think our slaves are simply given a lot of time to read Scripture, but I wouldn't argue that one of the reasons our record as a Holder family is so good is that it's not necessarily difficult work. It simply takes a lot of discipline and reverence to do the work.

Outside of that, though, I wouldn't want to regale anyone else here with my more intimate exploits. Perhaps you should drop me a line. I'm in Caldari space now.

Rage, pain, misery. These and other emotions are all to common within our people. I have encounter many young Brutor that hold on to them like a starving man does to food in the desert. Often they hold the very same views that you yourself have expressed. I will answer you and those with you the very same way I answer them.

Rage is a tool. It can give the warrior strength in battle;the strategist clarity to see his opponents actions, and the slave the will to rebel. it can be used to achieve great things and it has. The pent up range and frustration that our people have felt for generations helped create and fuel the Elder fleet in their triumphant campaign against the Amar. Their fleets burned and most importantly the Tribes that were lost have returned.

However it is dangerous to be consumed by rage, pain, hate. Those that have allowed it to fill their spirits and rage blindly often times end up burning not only themselves but those around them as well, and often needlessly. One must learn how live with their rage, and use it, but also have the discipline to control it.

What I advise the young men and women of my tribe is to find the source of their rage, of their pain. It may be that they themselves, while under the collar, had a moment where they gave up, lost hope, and rage against their own weakness. It may be that the have experienced loss so crushing that all they have left is rage. What ever the cause, it is important to know it, and understand it no matter how painful it may be. Once that has been achieved, then can they find use and purpose, and channel their rage into something that they deem important enough.

They may go off and join the Tribal Liberation Force, and fight against the Amar. They might leave republic space and find use out in the Null sec corporations. What ever it is they do, they now have a purpose, and an understanding of that rage.

In the end, I can only guide. I cannot make you see what you do not wish to see, and do what you do not want to do. It is up to you if you wish to take my advice. I hope that it may serve you and those around you.

I may have not spoken clearly, or perhaps I may have misunderstood you'r question.

I never said that one should not take pride in it. I only stated that it should be under control. As a race, we have every right to feel enraged, to want to hit back at those who denied our very humanity. No one can say otherwise. No one has that authority.

All I have said is that it is not the only thing that should define us. We need to rebuild. we need to go back to who we are, only this time, more weary and stronger than before. As I mentioned, rage is but a tool to be used in this rebuilding process. Nothing would rebuff the Amar so firmly and so resoundingly than that of a strong, stable Republic made up of and ruled by the tribes that can hold their 'Reclaiming' at bay, that makes their armada's and their Ideology, so insignificant that they are forced accept that they can not do as they please.

By all means take pride in your rage, be proud of things that you can accomplish with it, but do not let it consumer you

I have been suspicious of your work, Pilot Baracca, but there is wisdom in this post.

That is sort of the problem. A rank is not something to be valued, but a responsibility to be taken seriously. Men and women of high station are not given that station to enjoy, but given that station to set a good example to others. A poor master who does not know the value of work, the glory of God, or the wisdom of obedience can blame only himself when his subordinates know nothing better. You likely turned out quite like your master, all told. He has no one to blame but himself if he'd found that his love of things translated into his own slaves coming to value things. Had he valued piety and wisdom as completely, you may have turned out a completely different person.

Much of what I am comes from my family. Any wisdom I have gained, I can only credit my family, my church, and my Empire. They have taught me well as they could, and given me a title. It is not something I should rest on my laurels and enjoy. It is given as a responsibility. It falls to me to set out to show what a good bishop of the Amarr should be and to treat my subordinates as I think I should be treated. It is quite a responsibility, and many have even greater responsibilities than I.

So do not think of the collar or the loss of the collar. Physical accouterments are sometimes comfortable, but are not necessary and can even inhibit your spiritual growth. There is a greater, more potent wealth. One that is not symbolized by gilded collars, but by wise ways and deeds. The collar is a distraction, at best a reward for something less tangible. At worst, it was a red herring that blinded you things of true value. When we are gone, the collar remains behind and passes on. It is as easily taken as it is given.

Other things have greater value.

Actually, I would say that the idea of humility isn't necessarily traditional. Scripturally, I am meant to wear a very bare minimum of jewelry and ornamentation, but traditionally I would wear somewhat more. I've broken with tradition in that respect as I tend to think walking into Matari space and trying to preach a message of God's love and peace might somewhat be hindered if I am coated in enough traditional jewelry to buy their places of business. I can't say I ever wore them to more than my ordination even in Amarr space.

What you say is true, the collar does not make you who you are, but should also not need to make you proud. As I said, the collar was taken and suddenly it was gone, but the things it represented, your life and experiences, were not. Your confidence need not be founded in anything physical, mostly because physical things are irrelevant.

There is a Scriptural story that speaks to this. There was a time of drought on Orsis, and the people of the community thought that they should build a lavish temple to God from what resources remained. Before they began, though, God's command is carried to them that they should build a simple house of wood on a hill where they can see it. Every night, they were all to prepare him an extra plate of food, no more portion than they would eat for themselves. The villagers did this, and were surprised to discover that the extra servings were gone by the morning. So they continued like this, for a year, believing God lived in the house.

Presently, God ceased to eat their food. The people, worried, went to the wooden house and looked inside. Inside was a great horde of gold, weighing precisely what they had set aside for the Lord. And the wise village elder said, "This is not the house of the Lord, for the universe is but His table. Yet we invited Him into our houses and gave Him our hospitality. He repays our hospitality with great boons and blessings, for we have given him greater than any temple built by the hands of men."

It was an essential understanding that a temple is a symbol, but not one of great universal importance. The temple was a physical object to which the early Amarrians believed they could simply purchase the blessings of the Lord. The idea of the wooden house immediately spake ill of the vanity of the people, for the Lord does not need great palaces when he is so much greater than the universe itself. Instead, what matters and has worth to the Lord, what he repaid his followers for, was their hospitality and generosity. That it was better for them to invite him warmly into their lives than to build him a palace of his own.

Truly the wisdom of the Lord could teach us all that physical things are much less relevant to those things which survive with us beyond death. If the collar had any worth, it's value would not have been gone with the collar. If it represented something permanent and righteous, it would not be something that could be taken away from you. Truly, those are the greatest of the Lord's blessings.

He is Amarr, and a bishop. You were a servant, and born of a people that turned from God. He is more qualified than you to have a voice, and his wisdom should be respected.

I do appreciate your concern, Samira, and thank you for your defense. However, speaking with foreigners who inquire about my right to preach is a very large part of what I do. If I was going to take it as a stab against my faith or my position, I'd have long ago stopped. As it stands, it is important to realize where people are on God's path. No one is ever beyond sight of the way, it is simply a difficult road to travel, especially so for people who were not raised in the better educated end of our society. It is important to be patient with our students, as they may be starting a long way off. To wit...

Isis, I do think you've misunderstood my intentions. I hold all people to God's standard, regardless of belief, but perhaps my own people most of all. That we all do not perfectly adhere to the faith is not a blandishment upon it per se, but shows how much we as humans have to learn. It is incredibly difficult to keep to those standards of discipline, and too often it seems so much easier to focus on temporal things. Easy, but I don't think rewarding.

All physical items are just that. Physical items. Atoms pressed in supernova explosions that have rained upon our planets and moons or in our asteroids an nebulae. As much as we want and like these things, for they make our lives easier and more pleasant, we have to understand them for what they are. They are products of more valuable rewards: knowledge and industry. These more nebulous concepts are perhaps harder to grasp, as knowledge has little material worth for the owner unless he can make it into a profitable venture. However, your collar would not have existed were it not for a goldsmith's knowledge, an engineer's work, or even the scientific processes that led to us knowing how to make these things. The collar is just that, a product meant to symbolize something greater. The love should not be in the reward, but in the work meant to gain the reward.

Perhaps I should not hold all people to the same standard of behavior and I should believe, as you have intimated, that certain people are beyond education. Just as certainly, people in my own society have sometimes said likewise, that your people are nothing but a lost cause that cannot appreciate the value of the Word.

I don't believe that.

I've seen people make great strides, become great disciples within my order. Their tutelage really is what keeps me going out here, because my tangible results are not gold collars and high station. It is seeing people using the Word, even outside our space, to really improve their lives. Their discipline translates into great industry and it proves that our faith has value even outside our little community. The Word is useful and important even in the deepest reaches of space, from capsuleer to capsule cleaner. I suppose that has been my reward, and it cannot be taken away from me now.

Nobody is beyond learning if they so wish it. My first job is to encourage them to wish it. We have, for so long, been an insular community that the faith isn't seen as a faith so much as a cultural point. If I do one thing in my extended life, it will be to tell people that the faith has intrinsic value all of its own and that it isn't beyond anyone's reach. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes discipline that people simply are not born with. It takes years of long, hard, arduous work.

But its rewards make a gilded slave collar of the most excellent manufacture a pale trinket in comparison. It makes the love of a slavemaster as nothing to the love of God. While those things are easier to obtain, they are things I could toss away in an instant in the pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom will be mine long after our precious things have rejoined the stars.