Aswad
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Joined: 4/4/2007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MasterGallad
What is the moivation with the Gorean lifestyle? I mean this is based of a piece of fictional liturature is it not?
You might have considered posting it in the Gorean lifestyles (note the plural) forum.
Since you didn't, I'll answer the question as a Gorean who didn't arrive at it through the books.
Long story short: Just like some people identify with (as SM called it) the story of a superhero that created the world in six days, and some of these try to get to the underlying message, so too do some people identify with the story of a man that gets transported to a world created from cultures from Earth history, and so too do some of these try to get the underlying message that said cultures can teach modern man. And like some Bible-thumpers will quote the Bible left and right, so too will some Gor-thumpers quote the Gor series left and right. To my mind, both groups are missing the point, but I'm not about to deny them a dogmatic approach to life if they want one.
The Gorean lifestyle in the incarnation I adhere to, centers on the Gorean philosophy and its attendant morals.
For those who have some familiarity with the two, it may be useful to envision a combination of Objectivism and naturalistic ethics, as that gives some idea of the basics. Central elements include knowing yourself, being true to yourself, having integrity, being able to look yourself in the mirror every day and say you did better today than you did yesterday and knowing that you aren't bullshitting yourself about it... being able to die today and know you stood for something... things like that.
Just trying to quickly outline some points, so bear with me if I stumble over my keyboard...
Freedom is a core element that is viewed in a light similar to that of the Founding Fathers: it is something you claim for yourself, and do what you must to hold on to. It is not an inalienable right. Like with many other things taken for granted in the West, the notion that one is intrinsically entitled to it is emphatically rejected. The concept is closely tied to sovereignty and territory: your home is your castle. As most hopefully get, freedom is inextricably bound with the notions of personal accountability and responsibility. It extends from the idea of territory into the idea of social responsibility, with communities being held as important from the basic premise that no (wo)man is as strong standing alone as when banding together. A community amplifies individual potential. You strive to uphold a community you've pledged yourself to, and you place it over those you are not part of (to whom you have no responsibility; jungle law prevails).
The importance of freedom to primitive man, and thus as a fundamental aspect of human nature, is illustrated by the existence of a word for it as far back as Sumeria, at the very least. Territory, and the allying of households into tribes, is even more clearly in evidence. These ideas seem to find expression across cultures and time periods, and are held to be a vital part of who the human animal is. Such concepts have been symbolically (and symbolism is usually important to people; I would expect most of us in the BDSM community have encountered this) been represented with the Home Stone, analogous to the Hearth Stone of our human history.
Identifying with your work and taking pride in it is seen with a similar degree of prevalence, and is also reflected. In the books, it was realized as the social institution of Caste, but that isn't used in the lifestyle except as a joke, or as a reference to the idea. This isn't the same idea as in India, but a matter of identity, solidarity and professional pride. As someone said, when you have Leonidas doing your woodwork for you, it's a given that you won't hear the phrase "good enough for government work" at any point. A Gorean takes pride in what (s)he does, and has a work ethic to go with whatever it is they are about.
Gorean thought rejects the notion of intrinsic equality. Value is subjective, and ascribed by humans. To be equal, become equal. It is definitely a meritocratic school of thought, and things like elitism and pride are not frowned upon, although some (like me) may think of unsupported pride as a weakness and an unbecoming trait. One of the few points where I explicitly agree with Trevelyan is that it is bent toward conquest and defiance, rather than resignation and acceptance. Complacency is a bad word, along with things like pity (before anyone gets their pants in a bunch, consider whether you ever want to be on the receiving end of pity).
And so on, and so forth.
The tie-in with BDSM is slavery.
As was the case in ancient cultures, the Gorean lifestyle does embrace slavery, which is mostly service oriented. Granted, most will be using theirs for sex, too; why else would we be here? Also, some (like me) do BDSM. Yay. Fun. It's not part of the lifestyle, but we all have a life, I should hope. Anyway. Skip safewords. Skip negotiation and limits. Skip downtime. And, yes, more women go for this than men. do, which is a statistical fact that many take too far. Finding consensual slaves is more practical than capturing one from a society/tribe one does not have allegiance to (try getting one through Customs, heh), and has the added benefit of being legal. It's also far more rewarding in the long run, absent societal acceptance and enforcement. Yes, most will let someone go if they beg release.
So... those are just some quick thoughts to chew while I grind through the other posts.
Health,
al-Aswad.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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