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.

I fight for my faith, brotherhood,, empire and for vengeance

Amarr Victor

Hope to see you on the battlefield. Fighting for the loosing army.

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.

Do you think that fighting will lead you to perfection?

If so, why do you believe that?

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?

Then the Dragonaurs did you a favour, though you may not see it as such.

They made you more than a man, for man is nothing but a cog in God's design, what they made you is axis upon which all future events will hinge.

What they gave you is power and the will to put that power to use or to seal it away. They gave you the choice, and choice is something that few have in New Eden.

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.

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.

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?

When you put it that way you make it sound so noble.

Thank you, I feel like I have a much better grip on the concept. At least, a better one than most. I can only assume how lost an individual who doesn't have any standard cultural link to the Achura might be. I believe now I understand your spirituality, at least partially.

Still not sure if I support it though. If we are all indeed different faces of this universe, then we should welcome this gift of succeeding from a greater being, at least for as long as we have in this world. If the hardships in life have taught me anything, it is that this life is a forge to test and temper a soul before it can be claimed by the spirits. Perhaps this might serve a greater context: Just because I accept the inevitability of my fate in my existence as an immortal does not mean I am in any hurry to embrace it. Rather than taking the path of least resistance, you adapt to blaze a new way for others to follow.

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 initiate. You can get the same chemical reaction from a syringe.)

To be honest, I am curious of 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.

(( So you aren't achur?))

((Point of technicality, Galm is half Intaki half Civire, but the Achura share a similar cultural bond with both. Try to keep up Amarr player. X3 ))

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.)

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.

It would then please you to no end to know that may come willingly.

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.

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.

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?

If by willingly you mean not choosing to be shot on the spot... And I'm talking about slaves not your religion...

I fight to set all my kin free and to end all slavery for good.

For the Republic, brothers and sisters! For the Republic!

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?

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.