Nature of darkness

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

Imagine a vast, black sea. On the sea are little ivory-coloured boats, bobbing on the waves. The white boats have no motors, no paddles. The white robed monks who live inside those boats simply sit and enjoy the suns rays and trust that the sea will take care of them. You can call them Buddhists, or Christians, or Jedi, or any other path that preaches trust in the universe.

That you don't need to strive, that everything is okay.

In the sea, in the darkness, live the Sith. They dive deeper and deeper into the darkness in pursuit of their desires. The water pressure is crushing them, but they don’t mind. They know pain is temporary and glory is eternal.They don't surface for air or food - they don't need to. The black water fills their lungs, their eyes adjust to the darkness, they adapt to their surroundings. They change their surroundings.

Most drown in their search, some get killed by the others lurking in the water, but for a small, select few - they achieve everything they could ever desire.

What it means to be Sith

A Sith is an engine of desire, fuelled by passion.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy; as you nurture your darker emotions you will inevitably uncover your true desires. The desires you have been holding yourself back from.

As you get angry at yourself, as you nurture that hate, you will discover something unusual. Something most people never discover. You will discover your true self, and if you have any self-respect, you’ll be disgusted by it.

You'll realise that you are not as great as you imagined, that you are not a path to success, that actually, your true self is weak and small. It’s only when you realise this, that you will start to feel something. Anger at first, and then hate. Hatred for your failures, for how you could let yourself fall so far. And it’s from here that you will build up the internal strength to make changes. Difficult changes.

This is when the work begins.

To be Sith is to be in a constant state of creative flux. First by breaking yourself down to the point of destruction, next remaking yourself in a new image, closer to your idea of perfection.

And as you strive to build up your true self with action, you will encounter hardship, and conflict, and strife. You will build scar tissue.

And through the strife you experience in those environments, you will find strength, and power, and finally, victory. Before you start the cycle again.

That is what it means to be Sith.