Intergalactic Summit

Ah. Hm.


Ah! ... that makes it a good bit clearer.

I'm getting an impression that the Amarrian God is ... well, the existence of theology as a field is making more sense.

Ms. Jenneth,

I have only recently been privileged to be allowed to serve as one of Her Majesty's capsuleer pilots, and so would readily admit that my contact with the other peoples of New Eden to be largely limited.

However, I find in your writings a rare capacity for understanding our ways that avoids painting us as wild caricatures of ourselves, and a sensitivity of the soul that New Eden would be a better place for emulating.

I have greatly enjoyed your writings so far and eagerly await the next parts.

Warm regards,
Barsam Akhtar

It's not what you said, though. You defined 'apophatic or negative theology' as "defining God through what God is not, rather than what it is". And the latter is exactly saying what God is not to the degree that the sentences that say what God is not allow you to single God out amongst all other things. And that would suppose that God is definable... which at least apophatic theology denies axiomatically. Even cataphatic theology doesn't head out for a definition of God, but merely for describing God in human terms, aware of the limitations of those.

By the way, "God can not be defined by Evil" seems to be a legit example of a sentence of apophatic theology (And it is - as expected - in direct conflict with the definition of 'negative theology' as "defining God through what God is not", as it denies the definability: 'by evil' could just be exchanged with 'by x' and it'd not change much, save for giving the sentence a greater generality.).

"Evil is not part of God" on the other hand is clearly cataphatic, as it is equivalent to saying: "God has no part that is evil."

Anyhow, I don't at all understand what you mean by 'inverting logic postulates': This is about placing negations and where you place them.

Entry Three

So, as will be obvious to a great many by now, I did not get admitted to PIE.

In hindsight, this was maybe a foregone conclusion: no matter how much, say, a knightly order might approve of a visiting heathen scholar, they're still not going to ask her to sign up-- particularly when she's barred from swinging a sword (demerit one) because she's a heathen (demerit two) who claims no actual loyalties at all (demerit three).

However, I've been invited to fly with them as an observer, and I've already had the opportunity to see their ground forces in action (even if that got maybe a little close for comfort). There's no subtext hinting that I'm unwelcome, just a sense that I wouldn't fit.

It's quite true. I wouldn't.

I've been invited instead into the Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque [SFRIM], possibly despite some misgivings by senior leadership. There's some history, there, but it's hard to tell whether that's affecting things, or what, or how.

Well, there may be one, clear thing. More on that later.

So far, SFRIM's culture seems more familial than martial. If PIE reflects the Imperial armed forces, it seems SFRIM reflects its civil society (at least in more liberal circles)-- though I do wonder how good a reflection either provides. Capsuleers are ... well, we sort of live in a world apart.

I'm looking forward to finding out.

Perhaps releasing all of these entries at a later date to read in their totality might be a better format than this. I only say that as I have just barely managed to come out of my knee-jerk over the last entry and suspect many others might not get so far before posting.

I would hate to see this get buried in the usual IGS soup, as I have been following it with genuine interest.

-K. Amsel

You've understood it better than most, Ms. Jenneth.

All things serve one higher. There is a hierarchy. The word itself is perhaps a more negative one, I usually stick with just "lesser", but it is a core part of our beliefs. At least among those of us with traditional mindsets.

What is the difference between one step from infinity and two steps from infinity? Or is the Amarrian superstitious entity finite, making this desperately primitive superstitious formulation not quite as implausibly silly as it sounds?

The Apologist has presented her observations in a Public forum. If neither the Apologist nor her corporate associates wish her observations Criticized, more Private conversations may be in order. In Public, Criticism is the touchstone of Liberty. All Obsidian Eagle Scouts are sworn to champion Liberty. It is the second line of our chant:

Spread your wings, my Federation! Soar! Soar! Soar!
Cry Liberty, my Federation! More! More! More!

I recently Criticized a Blood Raider's assertion that the lives of his slaves had no meaning. I see no reason to treat one facially offensive superstitious paradigm differently from another. To do so would violate Equality. All Obsidian Eagle Scouts are sworn to uphold Equality.

Obsidian, for Justice!
Obsidian, for Equality!
Obsidian, for the Family of Man!

Let fly eagles - on silver wings!
Let fly eagles - Queen Rouvenor sings!
Soar! Soar! Soar!

Frankly, the chant of a Gallente youth group strikes me as a greater expression of love for the human soul than hateful superstitions which try to balance oppression on pinheads that fail to grasp the rudimentary properties of infinity. You are nothing but bullies, and should be ashamed of calling yourselves spiritual.

Mr Who?!

~chuckles ~

As you wish Ms. Jenneth, I simply felt a need to respond to what I percived as ..

"Bullying"

not meant in any way to imply you were incapable or unwilling to address it yourself .

Until you joined SFRIM, you stood to inherit a place in Upper Hell, the Hell of the Righteous Non-Chosen, a place where God does not cause people to suffer and where man is free to accomplish all that can be accomplished without the divine light to guide him. Even so, you would have gazed up at the blood-splattered golden towers of Paradise, ever denied you, with some regret.

Now that you have joined SFRIM, however, a foul cult of Molok the Deceiver worshipers who desecrate Temples to the Red God, you stand utterly under the wrath of God. God hates you. And at the Judgement, he will only laugh as the sefrim carry you down to Lower Hell, where you will suffer pain and agony for millions and billions and trillions of years and at the end of that, in those rare moments you can string together a few conscious thoughts amidst the pain, you will be horrified by the knowledge that all that time is but a mere point on the infinity of suffering that still awaits you.