<\/p>\n
THE STEELING<\/strong><\/p>\n The best blades are made of steel.<\/p>\n Pure iron. A silvery white metal that is relatively soft and malleable.<\/p>\n Carbon. Hard, brittle, and black.<\/p>\n In order to make an effective sword, both materials are needed.<\/p>\n Steel is an alloy composed of iron with carbon impurities.<\/p>\n Impurity. A word that carries with it the conditioned connotation of being morally wrong or evil.<\/p>\n Ask yourself, is the carbon in the steel morally wrong or evil?<\/p>\n It is absolutely necessary for making a strong sword.<\/p>\n The carbon is mixed into the iron in certain places and in specific amounts.<\/p>\n Too much carbon, the steel will be too hard and brittle.<\/p>\n Too little, and the steel won\u2019t be strong enough to use effectively.<\/p>\n The blacksmith creates the alloy for a reason.<\/p>\n The soul too is like a spiritual alloy of sorts, a composite organism.<\/p>\n This plane of life is a smithy for the soul.<\/p>\n Alloy and religion.<\/p>\n Both mean to bind.<\/p>\n What is our religion?<\/p>\n We smelt for purity.<\/p>\n We mix for strength.<\/p>\n The body is like a pair tongs for the soul, that spiritual alloy.<\/p>\n Holding it in place for the forging.<\/p>\n Set in our ways, we resist our destiny.<\/p>\n We resist change.<\/p>\n The universe is calling us.<\/p>\n We are needed.<\/p>\n Transformation beckons and we are drawn to an alluring flame.<\/p>\n Heated by the friction of inner conflict, we suffer in the furnace of persecution.<\/p>\n You are bad.<\/p>\n You are wrong.<\/p>\n You are unwanted.<\/p>\n The stress of resistance gives way to raw anger.<\/p>\n We begin to feel the rage latent within.<\/p>\n As it grows, we glow hot.<\/p>\n Lost in the roaring heat of the angry fire.<\/p>\n Forget your integrity, your symmetry means nothing.<\/p>\n The suffering makes us workable.<\/p>\n Loosens our attachments.<\/p>\n Where we were once stuck, the bonds are broken.<\/p>\n Internally, we become confused and disordered.<\/p>\n Off balance.<\/p>\n We stay in the hearth of the dry hot wind for a time.<\/p>\n Burning in the fearful fire of condemnation and dejection.<\/p>\n Nearly melting in the turmoil.<\/p>\n Until, at the seeming whim of unacknowledged hands, we are taken out of the blaze.<\/p>\n In the dying heat of our own volatile emotions, we are hammered by experience, molded by the painful blows of the blacksmith.<\/p>\n The Earth is our anvil.<\/p>\n Wrought by life.<\/p>\n Each strike is precise and skillfully delivered.<\/p>\n After the beating ceases we find ourselves are placed in isolation.<\/p>\n Buried in the sands of time, in the dead air we wait, alone.<\/p>\n Brooding and dissipating.<\/p>\n Cooling.<\/p>\n The reverberations die down.<\/p>\n Patience.<\/p>\n The annealing is almost complete.<\/p>\n Silence.<\/p>\n We settle into a new integrity.<\/p>\n Different.<\/p>\n Stronger.<\/p>\n We are lifted out of our lonely grave, out of the quiet sand, and guided once more into the fire.<\/p>\n This time it seems welcoming and warm, a pleasant change from the stale state we were in.<\/p>\n Our temper is tempered.<\/p>\n What is this hot nostalgia?<\/p>\n Bittersweet burn.<\/p>\n My throbbing scars, is this compassion?<\/p>\n Destiny has taken shape.<\/p>\n A thirst for relief is finally quenched as we are plunged into the waters of completion.<\/p>\n Fire and water, this is our baptism.<\/p>\n We rise up.<\/p>\n Born anew.<\/p>\n Still tarnished and bruised.<\/p>\n The same hand that hammered us now scrubs away the soot that covers us.<\/p>\n Cleansed and polished with ever-increasing finesse, we begin to shine in the light.<\/p>\n The image of the blacksmith is now reflected in the luster of our purity.<\/p>\n We see the world around us for what it is.<\/p>\n We know ourselves for what we are.<\/p>\n This is the Sword of Truth, but you are not the Sword.<\/p>\n The Sword is a part of you.<\/p>\n The blacksmith is the greater part of your Self.<\/p>\n You create the Sword and wield the Sword.<\/p>\n The Sword is an extension of you.<\/p>\n A product from the forge.<\/p>\n It knows pain and suffering.<\/p>\n It is familiar with torment and love and beauty.<\/p>\n It fights for all that is good and righteous.<\/p>\n However, this glory comes with an amatory burden.<\/p>\n A desire for darkness is what drives it.<\/p>\n This lust is what powers the Sword.<\/p>\n And this is the tragedy of the Sword of Truth.<\/p>\n It has no purpose without Falsehood.<\/p>\n It has no utility without darkness.<\/p>\n Thanks to the impurity within it.<\/p>\n It cuts down falsity.<\/p>\n It slays what is evil.<\/p>\n It destroys what it cannot live without.<\/p>\n Never forget.<\/p>\n The Sword of Truth is not powered by what is right or what is wrong.<\/p>\n Everything, without exception, rests in Truth.<\/p>\n The Truth takes no sides.<\/p>\n Rather, it contains all sides.<\/p>\n The only true judge is desire.<\/p>\n The Sword is powered by desire.<\/p>\n It is heavier for those who can see this.<\/p>\n For this reason, the Sword has a companion.<\/p>\n The Scabbard.<\/p>\n The Scabbard is Mercy.<\/p>\n The Scabbard is the Heart.<\/p>\n Each time we sheath the sword, we die to our desire.<\/p>\n We learn to live for others.<\/p>\n We learn to use the Sword for others.<\/p>\n To defend and protect.<\/p>\n Not what is innocent, but what we love.<\/p>\n How to discern?<\/p>\n Am I desireless?<\/p>\n What is innocent in Life if all is Self-contained?<\/p>\n The Sword gets heavier.<\/p>\n Aching in the heart-piercing Scabbard.<\/p>\n It craves to cut the darkness.<\/p>\n But you struggle with what it means to be noble.<\/p>\n You struggle with reason.<\/p>\n Bound by your own purity.<\/p>\n Something quivers inside of you.<\/p>\n The friction of inner conflict begins to build.<\/p>\n What is integrity?<\/p>\n Everything is a mixture of darkness and light.<\/p>\n Life cannot exist without division and cooperation.<\/p>\n Disparity and unity are part of the One thing.<\/p>\n You resist.<\/p>\n Perfection is here.<\/p>\n There is no Love without Pain.<\/p>\n This is the diagnosis.<\/p>\n There is nothing to fix.<\/p>\n Suffering is perfect.<\/p>\n Joy is perfect.<\/p>\n To choose charity and compassion is perfect.<\/p>\n To choose greed and denial is perfect.<\/p>\n This perfection rests in Truth.<\/p>\n There is no other place to lie.<\/p>\n We cannot change this perfection, we can only move through it.<\/p>\n The entire universe and everything in it is justified.<\/p>\n Our movements are what make it so.<\/p>\n This is the Truth.<\/p>\n It is a mistake to separate yourself from this justification.<\/p>\n This perfection.<\/p>\n Why can\u2019t you accept it?<\/p>\n You are a part of it.<\/p>\n You can do no wrong.<\/p>\n You can only suffer and spread suffering.<\/p>\n You can do no good.<\/p>\n You can only enjoy and spread joy.<\/p>\n There is no such thing as morality, only health and disease.<\/p>\n Both are relative and necessary.<\/p>\n Pleasure and Pain.<\/p>\n One cannot exist without the other.<\/p>\n You will hurt and be hurt.<\/p>\n You will love and be loved.<\/p>\n Know what you are fighting for.<\/p>\n Know what you are living for.<\/p>\n The Truth is not as black and white as darkness and light.<\/p>\n Refracted from the prism of the One Life, there is an infinite spectrum of color.<\/p>\n The fullness of which cannot be seen in the dark.<\/p>\n Open your eyes to the Perfection.<\/p>\n How will you move in it?<\/p>\n What are you going to do?<\/p>\n The entire universe is justified.<\/p>\n It needs you.<\/p>\n What are you going to create?<\/p>\n What are you going to destroy?<\/p>\n You have the power.<\/p>\n Accept it.<\/p>\n Remember.<\/p>\n The darkness is not an ally to the Truth.<\/p>\n It is alloyed with it.<\/p>\n This is The Steeling.<\/p>\n Welcome to the forge.<\/p>\n ~~~<\/p>\n