A Method Of Discovering & Strengthening Oneself
The people that find their way to the Force Academy and make the choice to embrace their resonance with darkness fulfill the role of a student. Regardless of solitary experience or lack thereof, the power - whether in mind, body, or spirit - an individual might command or submit to, newcomers here are students. Whatever they are looking for here, it is effective to first turn one's gaze inward, and then to tear down the walls, opening up to others here, using them as a part of the process.
Erecting walls, fortifying oneself against things that might be dangerous, repulsive, terrifying, or uncomfortable... forging means of safety and comfort inhibits the individual from realizing dreams, fulfilling desires. For them, the instruments are inhibitions and impediments, instruments of safety. The student most often uses them to seek safe harbor and peace, despite the consequences, the stunted growth. At this stage, hiding behind shields and masks is nothing short of self-sabotage. The advised tactic? Drop them.
Instruments Of Safety
A Shield, often manifested in the form of projection, is built upon the anvil of delusion and denial. Symbolically it is external, but refrain from indulging in that lie. It has value, but only for being something of the individual's own creation, that is what makes it worth study and exploration. Beyond that, it is a hindrance. I say study what you project to see what it can show of what’s within; afterwards, the student need not retain it. It bears the brunt of forces that could break you, avoiding real conflict, deflecting away hostility before it can become an opportunity for growth, creating hostility or conflict as a distraction from your soft spots... It is the first line of defense, and it must be dropped.
A set of Armour, representative of supposedly "thick-skin" and the kind of interaction that denotes it, prevents you from the full experience your wounds could otherwise give. Instead of a gash, there’s nothing but a bruise; instead of being impaled, nothing but a bruise. If pain is a teacher, what greater lessons would a stab through the heart teach when compared to nicks and scratches? I dare say far more than the armour would allow. This… this is the second line of defense, and it must be dropped.
Masks come in pairs. The obvious one, the mask shown to other people, is what may first come to mind. It protects you and me from knowing what might otherwise be laid bare to other people, protects from their exploitation. It's used for deception, lies, deflection, misdirection. The outer mask is the third line of defense, and it must be dropped. But as subtle as the third instrument is, there is another far more insidious in nature. The inner mask, the one that hides the student from him or herself. It keeps you safe from the burden of self-knowledge, obscuring your true nature and wants, making it difficult to connect meaningfully with anything. It is the fourth line of defense, perhaps the most detrimental, and it must be dropped.
If you choose to insulate yourself from things that hurt, even when they probably cannot kill anyway, you will never find what makes you stronger. Verily, a great deal of a dark student's journey consists of destroying these constructs, smashing, dismantling, and ripping them apart. Particularly in the formative years of his or her life. It’s more comfortable to leave them in place, to learn to accept the encumberment and all the limitations that come from these instruments, but no one said this way of life is blissful or easy.
Strength Through Vulnerability
If you want to get anything out of the Force Academy or the people here as a student, you’ve got to allow yourself to get attached to it, to them, instead of hiding behind the excuse that it’s just names on a screen. It’s perfectly true of course, but taking it to an extreme closes you off from the benefit of letting those people matter, lessens how much you can use them for your own growth, and becomes an excuse to stay comfortable with your life, however dissatisfied you might be, however mediocre you are, and regardless of how close to the mark criticisms or snide remarks might be when thrown your way.
I would encourage any would-be student to sacrifice the comfort of that convenient excuse in favor of the opportunity to invest yourself a little, to admit that certain people – and what they have to say – matter to you. Forge some connections, take some emotional risks… if you deliberately invest yourself instead of hiding behind a veneer of apathy, you might just get a return on that investment. The reason used to brush things off, that "it’s only the internet", is the very reason you should open yourself up and stop pretending you don’t care whenever that becomes a convenient cop out: at the end of the day, it’s only the internet, and names on a screen.
While in some contexts it’s stupid to lay down your armor, lower your guard, or leave yourself open to attack, the context here - especially if the motive is to get a baseline, focused, and usable understanding of oneself, and if one is to explore, build, and expand on their own foundations - it is advised that the student worry about that after he or she has become familiar with the lessons that can be learned from embracing and understanding one’s own vulnerabilities and weak points, not before. Maintaining an 'advantage' and protecting yourself with forms of armor can be worried about later, in situations and places where bearing your throat can actually result in serious physical injury or death.
A Transitory Luxury
Enjoy the benefits of transparency while you can, because eventually you'll grow beyond it. There will come a time when it’s easier to spill your guts to everybody, to rely on others for the source of insight, conflict, confidence, even easier than it once would have been to indulge in self-deceptions. But the price of that luxury will be higher and higher, it will hinder your efforts and ambitions. It will drag you down. If you’re worth a damn, that will be when you decide to take on the responsibility of doing for yourself what you learned to do with others, continuing your personal evolution. But until then, do yourself and the more experienced practitioners here a favor: don't pretend you're anything but a student.
- "Understand, I come here to grow as a person, and I have found that, by making myself vulnerable, by exposing my core in an environment where the actual risks are controlled, I become stronger so that I can face the challenges in environments where I have no control over the outcome. It seems to me that my peers, Victorus and Draconis to name a few, share the same goal and methodology." ~ Darth Draeth
If you’re looking for ways to explore yourself, and expand, grow, and evolve, you’re going to have to suck up the fact that you need to open up, and embrace vulnerability as a path of strength. You’re going to have to set aside your instruments of safety if you really want to become a stronger individual – when or if you pick them up again, they will not need to be used as instruments of safety; instead, they will be instruments of your Will, your Desire, your True Nature, plain and simple. Don’t be a pussy, bare your throat, because ultimately, it’s not going to kill you.