Principles of Slavery As promised, with this fourth essay, I shall begin to detail the principles that I continually use to refine and develop my efforts to serve. I use them because it is my most ardent hope that by doing so, the Master in whose home I am currently permitted to live and serve will have a life that is ever more pleasing to Him. It is in His pleasure that I find my happiness. In the last essay I discussed the fact that, for me, the joy in my life is directly proportional to my skill and eagerness at denying Him no pleasures that are within my capacity to provide. If I were to be given the fabled three wishes by a genie, the first would be to become a genie myself-I would have no need for the remaining two wishes. Although I have said it in earlier essays, for those readers who are just now picking up this material for the first time: The purpose of these essays is to share with others who would be, in fact, must be, slaves the body of information, tools, attitudes, perspectives and experiences with which I have been able to make my own need to slave become a joyous reality. I make no claims that any of the material presented now or earlier will do the same for anyone else, but I most sincerely hope it will. As with any mountain, there are many ways to get to the summit; but once there, the view is the same, no matter what route was chosen. Even so. the slave side of the mountain is one that I spent years and tears trying to scale. All the routes that looked easy were not, and when I chose them, I failed in one way or another. After sustaining injuries both emotional and otherwise, I decided that the routes that looked easy were just an illusion and, therefore. not to be trusted. Sometimes, I chose a Master as a "climbing partner," believing that all I had to do was follow him. The second essay in this series discussed at length what I learned by falling prey to this, the myth of "slave training." That is, the vast majority of Masters know next to nothing about scaling the slave side of the mountain. How could they? They are Masters, and therefore, practically speaking, a different species with almost completely different goals. Again, as with all mountains that have only difficult routes which really do lead to the summit, whichever difficult route is used, many of the same technical skills will be used to successfully complete the climb. I suspect that what really distinguishes the difficult yet successful routes from each other is the sequence and frequency with which the skills must be used. Different slaves will encounter different sets of challenges with slavery depending on who and how they are as people, and what kinds of Masters they encounter. One "climber" might be riddled with shame about his passionate desire to slave. Another might not know how to bend his own strong will to the will of a Master. Another may find dealing with physical and/or emotional pain no problem at all. Still others may lose track of their slave selves and drift back into self-centered motives. At one time or another, I have stumbled with all these obstacles and others as well. I still stumble at times, although less and less frequently because try to be guided by the principles that follow. Like all slaves, I am a "work in progress," always pressing on toward perfection with no hope of achieving it. Masters are a dynamic species and therefore, sometimes they change. ',When that happens. the definition of slave perfection shifts. The tools offered here are the ones that I use to reinforce and renew my slavery so that I can adjust myself more easily and more quickly to the course changes He makes in His life. At length, I have worked on the development of the principles and tools that I use to get myself "up the slave side of the mountain." ',When Masters also happen to do SM. much of their work has to do with learning the technical skills of any that craft based on what turns them on. Their work can be seen with the naked eye, that is, if it is not blindfolded. Doing the work of slavery, on the other hand, is not initially very evident from the outside-it must first be done internally. Only when the work of slavery is first done inside the slave mind can it ever be witnessed externally when a slave is observed serving. For me, and I suspect many others who are finding joy in slavery. the external action must be preceded by the internal work. Here, the "work" means developing a functional understanding of whatever principles slaves use to guide the process of their surrender and a practiced knowledge of the tools implied by those principles. Other slaves may use some of the tools that will be discussed here but call them by different names, or they may use different ones altogether. This and the remaining essays will reveal and discuss the principles and tools I use almost daily. The good news is that some, or even most of the work can be fun if the slave allows it to be so. Some will find the work, or parts of the work, more difficult than others. My task here is to be as clear and complete as I can about the principles and the related tools as I have come to know them thus far. For some readers, I will probably say too much about some parts of the work and for others not enough. I am sorry for that. But it is better to have more information than you need than to need the information you do not have. So, lets get started. First of all, I want to suggest to you some ways for you to think about the ideas that follow. As I said in the last essay: How you look at a thing often determines what you can see. I will soon present some thoughts about the first of nine principles and the tools that are associated with them. One of these principles must be first, and another will have to come last because I can only present them here in a linear format-that is, in words. As you will see-except for the first two principles. identity and obedience I don’t want you to use or think of these principles in any particular order, or to assign any more importance to one than to another. Better to imagine them as tools in a toolbox-pull them out and apply them to obstacles as you encounter them. Or, if you need a different metaphor, think of the principles as mermen who live and frolic in the Sea of Surrender which I mentioned in the last essay. As you encounter difficulties, take yourself to the shore of your mind and invite one of the mermen to surface and sing his song to you about the principle that will help you the most, right then. But please try to remember this: They sing softly, so you must listen with a quiet mind and an open heart, lest their song be wasted on you, and your difficulty of the moment persist. If you don't know how to quiet your mind, you can start by learning to use a formal meditation technique to do so. Such techniques have helped me more than I have the pace here to tell you about. From my point of view, He has been generous enough to have given me some symbols that help keep me centered: A chain is locked around my neck at all times-a smaller gauge one for work days (49 links); and a larger, heavier one for other times (19 links). The locks are different, too. I cherish the chains and presence, temperature and privacy permitting. I wear a pager out in the abnormal world. It is His electronic leash. It means that I am only as far away from His voice and His will as the nearest phone. The hair on my body below the neck offends Him, so I remove it whenever it becomes visible, and He removes it from where I can't reach. The principle of identity Ideally, a slave is a person who always knows who and what he is-a slave first, and anyone or anything else ,second. When I am managing a complicated occupation, I am a slave and doing so at the order of the Master. At His order, I would quit in a heartbeat. When I write, I do so at His order and with His permission. These words only find their way out of my slave soul and on to paper when He has no better use for me. He is sleeping now and would rather have me here writing, than cleaning His boots (done earlier tonight), or His toilet (done last night), or his asshole (done also not long ago). Whenever the slave identity begins to feel distant from me for whatever reason as when I'm tired, or He doesn't want anything from me just then, or we're watching television at any such time, identity drift can occur. By that, I mean that sometimes, for various reasons, we slaves can drift away from our slave identity. Sometimes, He notices my identity drifting when we are together and then He has a choice: He c either do something that re-centers me in my Slave identity or He can ignore it and wait for me to notice and correct the drift myself. He makes His choice according to His whim, of course-as He would. He is the Master and is often driven by His whims. He notices how long it takes me to notice the drift and how long it takes me to regain focus. Except for an occasional medical procedure or international border crossing, there has never been a moment since I committed to His pleasure and service that one or the other of His chain collars has not been around my neck for me to touch. When He swaps them, one goes on before the other comes off. The links of the chains are like a rosary or like prayer wheels in a Buddhist temple for me. I touch them when I drift-the touch can bring me back to my slave self-to my identity. He does not yet know that I know how many links there are in His collars-at least, He has never asked if I know. He probably doesn't know or care how many links there are. I care. My slavery means things to me it doesn't mean to Him. We are different species. He will discover that I know about the links when He reads this, maybe tomorrow, maybe some other day, whenever He chooses. I think He will smile when He reads this. I make myself remind myself that I am His. Each stroke, whether it be with razor or whip, has the same meaning They just feel different. Perhaps one day, He will order me to be completely hairless, I don't know. But if doing so pleases Him, then I will be pleased. My body and everything to do with it is at His disposal and neither of us would have it otherwise. We know who we are. When my slave identity is focused and centered, I know who and what I am. This is not pornography. This is my identity. It is sometimes so sexy that it shakes me to the bone. That is just one kind of bonus. But we are not always together. He works and wants me to work for now. Sometimes I catch myself drifting when we are apart. And if the drift is more serious than touching His collar around my neck will correct, then I must use stronger, more articulate tools to become re-centered. In all traditions that I know about which have personal transformation as their goal, there exist verbal rituals that are designed to refocus the individual on his goal of transformation. Many of the various martial arts disciplines employ ritualized vocalizations to help focus both the student and the adept. Australian Aborigines sing special songs to connect them to their ancestors and clan totems. The Pledge of Allegiance and the Happy Birthday song have the same purposes, but accomplish different kinds of transformations. The  assassins of feudal Japan yelled, "Namu Amida Butsu!" just before taking their own lives if they failed to make a kill, This invocation re-centered them and gave them courage to make the final cut; if my memory and information are correct, none was ever taken alive. US. Marines learn numerous verbal rituals designed to focus the minds of young "boots" on the collective identity of The Corps. Russian Orthodox choirs, Alcoholics Anonymous, monks in most monasteries, the boy scouts, many Japanese industrial workers, The West Hollywood Cheerleaders, and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence all employ the power of verbal ritual to facilitate personal transformation, All these people use such rituals because they work, I use them, too, And so can you, to refocus your slave identity when it drifts, And, until we have communities that are composed of Masters and their slaves, the rituals to correct drifting must be used in solitude. Until then. Protecting, preserving and refining my slave identity is so important to me that I will use any tool, any method available to me to keep myself focused at all times. To get back to my slave center, if necessary, I would board the space shuttle, ride there on the back of an alligator, or in a chariot drawn by a team of termites. But, faster is better. So I use this: THE FIRST DIALOGUE: "What are you?" "I am a seeker, a kind of pilgrim." "And what is it that you seek?" "I seek fulfillment, the goal to which all other goals must eventually lead." "And which of the paths to fulfillment have you selected?" "It is the path that selects the pilgrim." "Well then, which?" "The path of joyous surrender, ecstatic suffering and selfless service has chosen me, and at length, I have yielded to its call." "How did you come to know this path had chosen you?" "In surrender, suffering, and service I can feel light streaming into my life, into my soul; away from these, I feel only despair and longing for it," "If this is so, what delayed your yielding to their call?" "First, so few are called to this path and those only singly and privately. So, I was afraid there were no others like me. Second, we are ridiculed and otherwise abused by those who do not understand us. I feared such ridicule. Third, although we can usually make our preparations for the journey without a Counterpart, none of us can make the journey itself without One. And I feared greatly that I might not find the right One." "Counterpart?" "Yes, a joyous Master, an ecstatic Sadist must be chosen for the journey, for it is the paradox of these paths that one of us may not travel without the other." "So you're both on the same path together?" "No, these two paths are parallel and sometimes, quite close together-often touching." "Interesting. Is there more?" "There is always more. THE FIRST DIALOGUE ENDS HERE. AND THE SHORT FORM: "What are you?" "l am a pilgrim, Sir." The recitation of this and other verbal rites, these mantras, these prayers, if you like, are among my most powerful tools. To use them, I must first quiet the mind and then speak the ritual either silently or aloud, but clearly into my heart. I must make emotional contact with the meaning and the spirit of the words and concentrate on the repetitions until I do. If this does not re-center me, I choose another and proceed as above. If it still won't take me home to my slave self, then that means I haven't followed the above recipe carefully. These ritual will work if work them. Be advised, the' will not work until you have decided until you know, that slavery is your best possible destiny. Such tools are, of course, useless if they go unused. If you crave slavery as I do, you must keep yourself centered or your quest for the sublime bliss & surrender. Don't expect Masters to do for you unless you happen to find One whose appetite for keeping you centered and focused exactly matches your own drift rate. If you wait for that One, you could wait forever, and, as I have said in an earlier essay, "WASTED TIME Is WASTED PASSION." One time at a dungeon event, I went off to sleep to the distant sounds of man who was screaming his wild, out-of control screams under the assault of bullwhip. Sometimes, I recall those sounds, and they too have become powerful sonic ritual. Or I may recall the sight of his back the next morning, and that vision will re-center me. Such re-centering tools can be verbal, sonic visual, or a movement (like the touching of His collar), or even a remembered smell like the one inside His boots. I can close my eyes-any time, any place-inhale deeply, recall the way His boots smell when I stick my face inside one of them and sail right home to my slave center. Use what works. But whatever you use must be repeated at least a second time like a chant, to get the job done. The prime directive of the Benht Gesserit Sisterhood in Frank Herbert'.' Dune (1965) was, "We exist only to serve." Try that one if you like. Or, best of all, invite one of the merry men who live and frolic in the Sea of Surrender to surface and guide you as you create you own song of submission. When you sing it, say it, see it, do it, smell it, taste it or touch it, it will help you to re-focus. If it does not, find a different song. The right one is there, waiting to be discovered inside yourself, if you will but listen.