Friday, March 11, 2011

The Master's Creed



(What follows is a reprint of a previous writing of mine that appeared in The Gorean Voice, which I co-created and served as editor for a few years or on my previous blog - The Bear Bitch Project. The webzine is long defunct, and the archives of the site are sadly incomplete, but it pleases me to present my thoughts then, to my audience here. As always, if you have a question or comment, use the e-mail link in my profile down there somewhere.)


Tal.

Everyone probably, at one time or another, has come across that old BDSM Dom love-poem called "The Masters Creed". In it, the doms express gratitude to the subs for the "gift" of their submission and for the time that the subs allow the men to interact with them.

Typical BDSM-inspired emasculated pablum.

Recently, however, I came across a *new* version of it, on no less than the web site of one of the *largest* email lists that has the word "gorean" in it (which, we will see, turns out to mean nothing in and of itself).

The changes, I have to assume, were made to put things in a what those who own the site and the list think is a *GOREAN* context, since they are on a "gorean" site and are there for someone new to this lifestyle to stumble over and read.

Remember this, and that email list, and places like it the next time you wonder where all these people online are getting such twisted and warped impressions of what living Gorean and owning the life of another in that context, is.

Amongst the first paragraph where the "Master" thanks the girl for allowing him to be a... well, a "master", there is this:

As a stern and demanding Master, He can cause His slave to cry real tears. As the consummate lover, He will then kiss the tears away, without stepping out of character.

And then, this, from those who proclaim to speak to many about issues concerning living Gorean in this society:

In times of trouble, a Master will leave the roles behind, to be a supportive friend and partner, never forgetting that this is still a loving relationship between two caring individuals. He is quick to understand the differences between fantasy and reality.

A slave surrenders to a Gorean man? Or rather, who really wears the collar? There is this:

He would never ask His slave to put him before her career, or family, just to satisfy His own pleasure.

Just who *IS* in charge in such Gorean/slave relationships? Just who is it who really calls the shots?

He must always show her that His guidance and tutoring is knowledgeable and deserving of her attention, that this is a man she can learn from...

Ah! I get it! This is all about PLEASING THE "SLAVE"! Sheesh, and to think I had that wrong for all these years.  ;0)

Ah! And how do we, as "gorean" men show appreciation and manifest our innate desire to please such women as those who choose to endow us with the gift of their "submission"? Here's an idea!

He is always open to communication and discussion, always ready to hear her wants and needs. He is patient, taking time to learn her limits, and knowing that as her trust of him grows, so will they.

You better be ready, willing and able to come when she calls - or, or, or... well, or she will leave, and then HOW can you be a Gorean man then without a slave??

That is about as much as I can stomach, folks, sorry.

You are welcome to comment, if you wish. Call me old-fashioned, call me insensitive, call me out of touch with the "new gorean", but somewhere in the books I read, in the philosophy that I have lived by and in the traditions I have respected for over two decades, it seems to me that these people have seriously mangled the vector of pleasure.

They have turned the entire issue of a Free Person owning a gorean slave in this society into a set of rules for the slaves comfort and pleasure, thereby robbing the girl of any chance she may have had to be just that.

Or, maybe it's just me, eh? ;0)

Either way, next time you log onto IRC, or AOL, or Yahoo, or somesuch and see the people who think that they must behave in such a way, because they read it on a "gorean" site that has a popular email listserv attached to it, don't be surprised. Don't ask where they come from. Don't ask why.

You should know.

I wish you well.

Bear-