miikaawaadizi
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quote:
ORIGINAL: darksparkle
The integrity of a master is very important to M/s relationship. I agree trust can make or break, add to or take away from the very foundation the relationship is built upon.
integrity, honour, sense of self, sense of community, self reliance, sense of duty ... those are some of the qualities that are inherent in the definition of a "Gorean" Man, one that lives according to the philosophies that were collated and used to form a bunch of second rate stories ... the problem is that people see the stories, ignore what drove the stories, and you get people like lovingmaster.
Gorean slaves are more likely to be able to have that trust because of the way the community works - peer recognition, reputation, behaviour. Gorean slaves rarely go running around to play parties and letting some stranger they only just met whale away on their behinds with weapons of ass destruction, for example :) because of that, we appear to be less ... particular? but that's not entirely true - all the preliminary investigation to start developing that trust is already covered in the fact the Master is part of the community to begin with.
but within the philosophies is a deep abiding awareness of choices, responsibilities, and consequences. for the Free, it's accepting the ability, the "right", to make choices, and accept the responsibilities that arise from those choices, and bear the consequences that come about, that is one of "those" important realizations about themselves. just because we wear their steel however never absolves us of the same realization, or somehow makes us immune from the responsibilities and consequence of the last choice we make before begging a collar - whose collar to beg.
neither are we somehow magically immune from the consequences of what we do whilst in that collar ... drop a glass, get scolded - consequence. forget to pick your Master up at the airport, feel the whip - consequence. go out and rob a bank, get locked up - consequence, whether or not he told you to do it. the Nuremburg Defence didn't work for genocide, it isn't going to work for a slave either :P
the only choice that you have once you beg a collar that is "yours" is the one above - you can choose to fail to be a slave, to not live up to what you chose to be, by taking back something you surrendered - choice.
yes, even Gorean slaves "filter" those they beg the collar of, at the start. this is, after all, voluntary servitude. they then trust their Master will not let them be under the discipline of someone who doesn't uphold those standards - they trust him, they aren't supposed to start making that judgement themselves. they surrendered the right to do so when they begged the collar - a consequence.
they always have the safeguard, but to employ it ... they have to choose what is more important to them. it's not an easy choice to make ... but it's there, if the situation warrants it. is failing to be a slave at that moment better for the girl than obeying?
that trust, and that safeguard, are one of the reasons why we can let go so far and abandon ourselves to the lifestyle we chose to lead so utterly - it's a mutually supportive response to those that we beg the collars of. so when questions like these come up, and we answer, we forget to explain the whole process as to why that trust is there, because to us it's just natural. it comes with the definitions :)
part of the problem with this thread was the announcement at the beginning that "Gorean" was involved. there are a good number of OTWists out there who are rabidly anti-"Gor", even though the majority of them haven't bothered to find out what they're so rabidly opposed to. the books are just stories. to understand the philosophies as a lifestyle, you need to look at the non-fiction books that Norman wrote, where he lays out some of the historically ever-present principles that created it. you'd be surprised, perhaps, how many parts of those philosophies you've seen practiced everywhere :)
no, the Free aren't particularly diplomatic ... but they live their lives with integrity and honour, because that is part of what it means to be Gorean. this makes it both easier for us, and harder for us, in a lot of ways. there are many paths to finding what makes each one of us happy, some of us have chosen one that has the label "Gorean". that makes it no better, or no worse, more valid, less valid, for each of us, than anyone else's.
but all of us, regardless of label, are responsible for what we do. in that, all of us step outside of society itself, which says you can blame anyone, everyone, but never have to accept responsibility for your own actions. if the question had been asked in the general society, how many would have said "it's all on the Master for giving the order, the slave is blameless, poor girl, yadda yadda narfl blergle blah"? a common answer in this thread has been that people trust the one whose steel they wear will not give them an order like those presented ... in that respect, the girls are recognizing who is responsible, who will bear the consequences. they're avoiding it ever becoming an issue to begin with ... much safer :)
~miika
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RE: Slave's Obedience - 
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