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Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.07.31 23:20:00 -
[1] - Quote
I fight because it is my role, my right place. It is the reason I exist in this form: to be a weapon.
It is the path on which I hope to find my soul's perfection. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.02 01:03:00 -
[2] - Quote
True Adamance wrote: I do not need ISK when I have the Faith, and the knowledge that I am one of God's chosen.
While ISK may pale in the light of God's grace, templar, and while I understand very well why you feel the need to express this sentiment to our very "mercenary" mercenary colleague, you have to admit that an Imperial scrambler rifle doesn't go amiss in helping to spread God's will.
If you'll forgive the observation, stained glass and heat-resistant lenses seem like two crafts whose artisans rarely go hungry in the Empire. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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158
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Posted - 2013.08.02 02:24:00 -
[3] - Quote
True Adamance wrote:Such things are provided to me. As a Templar I do not earn ISK merely accrue a certain number of requisitions from the 24th Crusade.
Hm. I see.
... I guess it helps be austere if somebody's got a large budget and you're a part of it.
Forgive me if I misunderstand, templar; you don't ... quite seem the "vow of poverty" type. Am I wrong? |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.02 05:52:00 -
[4] - Quote
21yrOld Knight wrote:Hope to see you on the battlefield. Fighting for the loosing army.
Forgive me for pointing this out, but it seems you need to correct your language input. Your closing quip is being translated into Achuran as, "Fighting for the 'releasing' army," which I think must not be a correct translation. I'm sorry-- I wouldn't even mention it, except this is not the first time it's happened.
You seem to sort of like talking about winning and losing a lot, so ... I'm guessing you meant to say something about that? |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.03 02:35:00 -
[5] - Quote
Shattered Mirage wrote:Do you think that fighting will lead you to perfection?
If so, why do you believe that?
A less mystical way of putting it might be to say that I seek wisdom on the soldier's path.
All Achur monks seek to perfect our souls through insight into the universe. The teachings as to what this means and how it is accomplished vary from sect to sect. As a Shuijing, or 'Crystal,' practitioner, I seek to pierce the illusion of 'self'-- to move and act in tune with the Totality of which we are all inseparably part, to lose myself in it.
As a student of Shuijing, I know that I, as an individual, separate, distinct being, do not exist. I am an illusion, a trick my mind plays on itself-- a necessary and important trick for a human to live as a human does, but one that leads to much suffering. I know this for a great truth, but it is one that is difficult for most people, including most practitioners, to accept.
In order to better accept and absorb this truth, I choose a life of few distractions and follow the soldier's path. I seek to be, as entirely as is within my power, the soldier, the weapon, we were created to be.
Combat is a tool for achieving focus, for surrendering one's will to the moment. As much as I am able, I let go of my own wants and thoughts, and simply am. In those moments when I succeed, I forget to think, but only act, precisely and without will.
It is in those moments when "I" am not, when I act and move with no more intention than the wind, that I touch perfection. Perhaps one day I will forget to remember that I am apart and alone, and I will perceive the Totality at last. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.03 03:03:00 -
[6] - Quote
Arc-08 wrote:I fight to defend my federation and it's beliefs
I fight to upkeep democracy and all that is right with the universe
I fight to protect my brothers with the same beliefs as me,
The belief that the magnificent Gallente Federation will prevail through all the darkness, and destruction, and will prove victorious against the Caldari scum that work so hard to stop us.
We welcome you to join our great nation, full of democracy and sanity. Only then will you not Suffer the wrath of our soldiers!
Who do you fight for?
Templar Adamance, with great respect, do you see why some of us get to thinking that you and the Gallente have some unsettling qualities in common?
Gods and spirits (and rail rifles, and torpedo volleys, and a hundred years of justifiably paranoid military planning), shield us from conquerors. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.03 17:36:00 -
[7] - Quote
Galm Fae wrote:Forgive me Ryeon-haani, but I detect a slight tinge of irony in all of this. You yourself have made references in other posts to the horrors of Sansha's Nation and their debasement to humanity by turning individuals into drones, but you yourself claim that enlightenment is to reach this hivemind like status of the Totality. Or perhaps I am detecting hypocrisy.
Ah ... how to respond?
Many among the Achura do indeed believe in a sort of universal consciousness. Inventors and other creative sorts are often said to be tapping into it, drawing ideas and concepts from it. So you're not wholly wrong.
I suppose the most complete way to explain it is that, first of all, the unity of Sansha's Nation is not the true unity. The Nation is just a sort of meta-conference of minds. To make matters worse, they are minds that have been intentionally crippled.
The Nation is an existential predator that takes what it catches and adds its prey to itself. It is a consequence of appalling arrogance. Understand: the only truth Sansha's Nation embraces is the truth according to Sansha Kuvakei. Rival or inconsistent ideas are systematically edited out-- sequestered, quarantined. Understand: if Kuvakei and his lieutenants forget to direct slave populations to attend to their own needs, those populations starve to death.
Not only does unity with Nation fall short of unity with the Totality, it probably makes perception of the Totality impossible. Kuvakei himself is a being deeply wrapped in his own illusions (notably his own fitness to directly edit and revise humanity; he's a pretty classic, if unusually gifted, megalomaniac); it is unlikely that he would permit his creation to escape them.
The Nation is an atrocity, a distortion. It is a mad fool's collection of captured souls.
Quote:Please understand, I do not mean to offend you or your culture. Nor am I attempting to advocate True Power. I simply see a great sadness in someone with such a great mind to not see the same value in their own individuality as others do. It is your choice to lose yourself to your way, but the day may come where one will think the world of you. To me, there is a beautiful sadness in the fact that you seem to matter little to yourself.
If you feel individuality is an illusion, the question needs to be raised: Is it really so bad for us to just pretend it is real?
No-- it really isn't. It's necessary, even.
The idea of Achura Shuijing is to achieve a state of deep insight into the universe and the self. It is a search for wisdom, and to find peace with the world and our places in it. The idea is not to destroy the illusion that is the self, but to see past it, to understand our places in the scheme of things-- and, in time, to guide others to the same insight.
In contrast to the unity Sansha's Nation imposes, the change we work toward is one of perception. As a separate being, I am an illusion. As a portion of the Totality, I am quite real-- a bit of the universe that walks and talks.
What I seek is merely the ability to perceive, and accept, that reality. As your own reaction demonstrates, it is no easy business. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.04 16:17:00 -
[8] - Quote
Galm Fae wrote:Unless we enter a state of totalitarian communism, developing a society where we are all free to indulge in a malleable trance of ignorance is (thankfully) a far off dream. After all, when you have finally reached Totality what will you have become besides a slave to the universe? Maybe it is my Civire speaking, but I think we can be stronger than that. When the world bites you, you bite back.
I understand full well that you wish to perceive this Totality. However you can not deny your past claim that the reason you fight is to attempt to forfeit your grip on you own self and surrender that part of you to a state of serenity. (Which should be noted, that isn't perfection you are feeling. It is a hyper-alert combat high that your body has been hard wired to initiate. You can get the same chemical reaction from a syringe.)
Oh, I'm quite aware of what a combat high is, Fae-haan. An altered state of consciousness can be achieved in several ways: meditation, combat, hypnosis, drugs (and that's leaving out some of the odd things we can do with technology these days). Shuijing practitioners normally only use the first two (and lay practitioners usually only use the first).
That there is nothing especially mystical about it does not imply that it is not useful.
When I was a child, I trained (as many girls from my region do) with "crescents," a ... sort of fanciful name for what is basically just a pair of long knives. All Shuijing monks train with a variety of ancient weapons, but all of us, at least at first, have one in which we specialize; the crescent was mine.
The idea is to achieve a connection to this weapon, this tool, so close that it functionally becomes a part of the arm, and the arm an extension of the will. It is a technique for eroding barriers, such as the idea that there is a bright line between hand and blade. The crescent and the student are "separate things," until the student takes them up and they become "one."
This training is not an end in itself. The normal way of human thinking is a maze of illusions, Fae-haan. We use techniques such as intense weapon training and altered states of consciousness to erode the artificial "reality" of that maze.
Altered states end. I'm not looking for a permanent combat high, Fae-haan, only for the insight that such an altered state offers. There is a world of difference between knowing that something is true, and understanding or perceiving it. That is the bridge I seek to cross.
Quote:To be honest, I am curious if your goal of becoming a weapon for the use of another would be as easily accepted by Minmatar slave soldiers forced to become such tools for the Amarr. I get that your goals are supposedly more pure because they are not subject to malevolent master of any sort to speak of, but the concept is still the same. Were others fight tooth and nail for freedom, you actively seek out the bondage of your Totality.
You can wrap that in a bow seven times and that fact still won't look pretty.
"Slavery" is only a word, Fae-haan. It is a created relationship between humans-- or, at least, sapient beings. It is a fiction granted its own force by sapient will and social assent, much like "property."
The Totality is not something that claims slaves or forces hands. You are part of it, as I am-- inescapably, inevitably. If it has a will, then you are as much a tool of that will as I am. We all have our parts to play, and, paradoxically, if you refuse to play your part, you are playing your part by refusing.
The Matari examplify a certain particular type of arrogance ... by being its victims. The Amarr seek to destroy the Matari culture, to annihilate that way of life. Eventually, if they get the chance, they will seek to do the same to all of us, violently or peacefully. While I do not precisely blame the Amarr for this (they are mostly just doing what they think is right), it is one of the two greatest sources of conflict in New Eden today-- the other being the imperialist or, at least, hegemonic tendencies of the Gallente.
If I had been a victim of such arrogance, would I be able to speak so easily of letting go of my will to serve another's? Maybe not.
I have been fortunate to be born Achura, fortunate indeed to be born into a culture that loves wisdom, and the search for wisdom, in all its forms. We Achura have likewise been fortunate to never have had to experience the gentle tyranny of the Federation or the sterner tyranny of the Empire. We met the Caldari, first, and have been sheltered thereby.
That good fortune is something worth protecting.
I follow the soldier's path because it is a path of simple clarity, but also because it is a good path, one that will let me protect what I value.
Something that may not have been entirely clear, Fae-haan: Shuijing is a spiritual skeptic's path. I believe in no immortal soul, in no spirit world (though if they turn out to exist, I will be pleasantly surprised). My "soul," a term I use for lack of a better word, is the comprehensive sum of my existence, for good or ill: every thing I have done, helpful or harmful. But the Totality was there before me, and it will be there after I am gone. Even the Achura will vanish in time, but, in the meantime, our way seems to me to be a good way.
What is the value in living for myself, when there is nothing there that will last? And when there are things that are so much more significant? |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.05 17:27:00 -
[9] - Quote
Galm Fae wrote:Out of curiosity, you mentioned earlier that a great misjustice to any of those who follow your way to resist your part in this world, as it goes against the flow of the universe. But if we are constantly following our path even when we refuse to play our part, than how can one possibly resist this flow? Or is that the entire point? Is there just no such thing as right and wrong as we are always following our true purpose?
Ah-- paradoxes are fun, aren't they?
A partial answer to, or at least reframing of, the riddle is that, while the Totality is morally silent, our existences within it create moral context. That is, the universe doesn't seem to care, but your cousin might. Our sense of "wrong" is that which disrupts and brings trouble and suffering into the lives of others. If we were sub-sapient beings, such as foxes or songbirds, living as part of the Totality would be less of an issue. But we are sapient, and this complicates our lives greatly. Sapient beings develop ideas out of tune with reality, and sometimes try to put them into force. This is often troublesome.
It is important to be able to put aside one's ideas about what the world should be, and focus on determining what is actually the proper thing to do-- not for the Totality (it doesn't care) but for the people around us.
As a start, even among lay practitioners of the path, we try to act as is expected of us; harmony within the community is important. This doesn't mean that we would never, for example, seek to avenge a wrong or just remain passive while some vicious ruler tramples our lives. There is a time when the flow of events demands action; inaction will sometimes result in greater disruption, not lesser. However, we prefer to err on the side of caution rather than act aggressively to impose our own visions on the world.
The observation that free will is an illusion is not an excuse for wrong action; it is merely a description of the state of things, and perhaps a reason not to take one's self too seriously. Trying not to cause disruption isn't about concern for the Totality; it's about concern for ourselves and those around us.
Quote:Quote:If I had been a victim of such arrogance, would I be able to speak so easily of letting go of my will to serve another's? Maybe not.
I follow the soldier's path because it is a path of simple clarity, but also because it is a good path, one that will let me protect what I value. And once again we might gaze into a universe fueled by double standards. I wouldn't consider that a bad thing, I just like to stop and appreciate when a connection is made in a conversation.
Is this a double standard? Hm. I think I'd rather say that it is subjective.
If a man murdered your grandmother, and you sought to avenge her, would I help you? If we were close friends or if you hired me, likely so; otherwise, probably not. I might commiserate with you about it and wish you luck, but, in the end, she wasn't my grandmother. Your quest for vengeance is therefore not ultimately my business.
The Matari have their war, and their reasons for fighting it, but their reasons are not mine. I feel no need to adjust my own goals and cultural perspective to accommodate the possibility that someone operating in an entirely different cultural and historical context might find them distasteful. Nor would I expect the Matari to side with the Caldari against the Gallente (though they may be starting to pick up on the reasons for that conflict).
You are yourself; I am myself; they are themselves. And that is all right.
Quote:Hinmonaa vaktikunen uakan. I can understand the honor in service to others. But don't prostitute yourself to the needs of the many while forgoing your own. All too often in life, the "greater good" comes to represent the "greatest evil."
That would be because the words "greater good" are often employed by arrogant people to justify their actions. Sansha Kuvakei is, once again, a lovely example.
The actual needs of those I hope to protect are something I willingly serve. The greater mass of humanity as a whole is largely outside the area of my concern; that is for the Gallente and the Amarr to (aggressively, intrusively, problematically) worry over. I concern myself with the safety of the State, and of the Achura. My own needs are few, though the balance on my account says that I need not worry over-much about going hungry. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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167
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Posted - 2013.08.05 21:20:00 -
[10] - Quote
Galm Fae wrote:It is a double standard in the sense that you are not dealing in the absolute. In a curious fashion you choose to disregard the opinions of the Minmatar and selectively choose the path of the soldier despite their suffering.
The goal of my path is not to end all suffering, Fae-haan. Different peoples have different ideas about how best to live their lives. To try to tell them the "best way," and thereby perhaps minimize suffering overall, is a game for the Amarr and Gallente.
If you adopt the whole of humanity as your business, soon you will be sticking your fingers into the business of the whole of humanity. That is not the path of the Caldari, or of the Achura.
To lead a productive and useful existence, and to leave the things I care for stronger for it: that is my idea of a good life.
Quote:In an overly simplified analysis, you are acting selfishly. Again, more and more paradoxes seem to crop up the further we discuss this... Though I am begining to feel that we have gotten wildly off the original topic. Sorry about that.
We are not so far from the original topic as all that. "Why do you live and believe as you do?" is not so different a question from, "Why do you fight?" when the question is directed at soldiers.
I suppose the Gallente or Amarr might say that we do live selfishly: wrapped in our own concerns, relatively uninterested in the suffering of other peoples. If I believe my way is the best way to live, why would I not wish to spread it? If I do not, why would I not find a better way?
If that is so, I would rather be self-concerned than arrogant and meddlesome. It is easy to be well-meaning, but often difficult to transform intention into a desired positive outcome. A sure way to break a complicated device is to try to fix it without understanding it properly. |
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Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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172
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Posted - 2013.08.07 20:02:00 -
[11] - Quote
Void Echo wrote:Shattered Mirage wrote:Heh, I would love to kill you at some point; the battle will be glorious. bring it on, I love the sound of explosions everywhere 
The two of you do seem made for each other. |
Yun Hee Ryeon
Dead Six Initiative
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Posted - 2013.08.25 15:51:00 -
[12] - Quote
Galm Fae wrote:DeadlyAztec11 wrote:I fight to keep my liberty. Because at the end if the day, your the last person you can turn to. Is that why your government leaders are determined by who wins a popularity contest thrown by the ignorant masses? Democracy isn't the same as liberty.
True, though we could probably argue all day about exactly what liberty is. |
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