Arth, and all who are affected by these burning questions.

I cannot and will not attempt to define anyone's faith for them. I am not clergy, I'm not your master. And although I might debate this on a different thread, I'm not your god. What I will address is the nature of duality, my interpretations on sub-space and religion, and why I , the one who will argue the most vehemently against organized religion will still say supportive things about specific religious people. Such as Arthegarn and Shizo.

First I want to address the duality that many people see in the master slave dynamic. I want to stress that this is not an either/or proposition. Just as Bettie is Xeno's Mistress, she has been someone else's slave if you read back a bit. She is what's often refered to as a "switch" she enjoys both the top and the bottom of the totem pole. There aer people out there who also fill every sector of the spectrum. Self defined straight men who will only ever sleep with women in missionary position, and who claim to enjoy the hell out of the act, but who also feel the need to suborn themselves to a man sometimes, bisexuals who are tops with one and bottoms with the other sex, gay men and women who will sleep with the other sex only when it is part of a power play, and like I said, every span of the spectrum. Life is not binary, there is no either/or, not even in this rather stark definition. I will freely admit that there are some people for whom the whole question of "elternative sexuality" can be answered with a simple "no". for some this is totally true, for others this is because they have never asked themselves the question.

And that leads me to my next topic. In Bettie's words "They reach out and give their trust blindly to an ideal so that no human can hurt them." The they I am talking about are people who blindly follow a leader or a god with no concept of what they are following. A slave has to, at some point think about what they are doing, because their master is giving them commands on a regular basis. An educated and self examined follower of any religion has gone through a process in which they have examined their life, and the life their religion will require of them. They have made an informed decision based on the fact that they believe in (note the "in", it's a very important word) the teachings and guidance their religion can give them. I'm not speaking for everyone who has made an informed decision, but those people who I have met tend to follow a different path than the ones who just do whatever their preacher reads out of the book. The informed individual who has chosen religion to guide their day to day life makes choices based on the same religion. But they make those choices, they did not say "I will be xian" and then give up all impetus in their lives.

I honestly believe the joy you gain from your communion with your god is very much the same as the joy a sub gains in sub-space. You feel cared for and nurtured and like your soul is being fed. But you also draw a line between your personal god and the "god of millions" who has apparently banned everything from sex to breathing at one time or another. (Don't believe me about the breathing part? He enforced that particular law by covering his version of the earth with water folks. *End rant*) I don't think there has to be a seperation between these two joys. If you need, for whatever purpose to feel they are not one and the same, I would say they are a complimentary place in your heart that does not in any way cheapen the love you feel for the other source of sub-space.

I'd like to come back to the nature of duality for a moment. I owe a major part of my opinions on this subject to Callei's love and help while I was feeling my way out of an x-ian built paper bag here. Duality only exists if you insist on it. Good can only exist if there is evil, but beauty, joy, help, caring, these things all exist without comparison. Cliche says you can't know joy without pain, Shade says fuck 'em. I can't say it any clearer than that. If you start to get bored with the same amount of happiness, aim for more. Don't start a fight or a drama jsut to remind yourself what it feels like to feel good. Start a debate in which all sides can take pleasure. Learn something, read something, create something. Drag someone else in to share your joy, hell, drag two people, a vat of lime jello and a french poodle if it floats your boat, but don't sabotage life for yourself or anyone.

Let's see, that barely covers religion, sex, and jello. I think I'm missing a few points still. And I'm going to leave it up to someone else to ask the questions so I or someone else can take a whack at them. So ask your questions, I do actually care.

Shade