Greetings from the Xyphokonic Order and Ordinance. We rejoin here at our Sacred Grounds for the first Commentary of our second year in operation; we’ve compiled a single page summary of the Xyphoist Philosophy as a commemorative staple. As mentioned at the start of this Period of Watching under Lord Vuetenexzyei, we are taking somewhat of a break from the serious and current topics and exploring other thought-provoking topics and discussion. Today, an interesting question was proposed that we’d like to revisit with greater depth, and that is the question of the Ordinance and its endorsement of secular institutions and operations.

As it should be clear, the Order of the Zhourghei, more commonly known as the Xyphokonic Ordinance or simply the Ordinance, is a religious organization. We serve the Xyphokonic Order, a celestial and divine body responsible for, as the Philosophy asserts, the creation of our reality. We worship, receive our morals from, and serve this Order and its Philosophy. So, from an outsider’s perspective, it would seem bizarre that this Ordinance, a religious organization, would openly support secular operations and even run its own secular humanitarian wing known as the Sacred Hill Project. So, the question proposed is why would we do such a thing if we are a religious organization?

Xyphoites know the answer, and anyone following along in these Commentary or who have read the Xyphokron know the answer as well. It all lies within two key parts of our Philosophy. We have highlighted this stance on a few of our Commentary before, but we must refer back to the major tenet of the Spiritual Liberties that are guaranteed under the Nine Xyphozons. To recount, as part of keeping the Cosmic Flow in balance, the Lords decreed that all beings are liberated in their own beliefs, whatever they may be. All beings are free to have their own faiths or no faith, and no one shall be forced to believe in the Order or in any other philosophy from the Xyphoist perspective. The Order shall never force compliance with the Philosophy—never. These Spiritual Liberties are guaranteed in entirety; it is a must-have condition to keeping balance among the Cosmos.

The second part is the enforcement of this tenet through the Immoral Actions of Proselytizing and Preaching and the Immoral Action of Punishment for those not of the Xyphoist Faith for sins. It is, under the Philosophy, immoral to preach or proselytize the Philosophy outside of Sacred Grounds with exception of repelling theigrited forces on defiled grounds or to preach to non-Xyphoites. The faith is kept personal, within our walls, within our family units, and out of the public square. Likewise, no being other than the divine of the Order shall issue Punishment for sinners for immoral actions sans any declaration of Kurathmas—which would only occur if war were declared upon the Order and attacks were levied against us in an attempt to eradicate us, which case that would make Kurathmas a defensive measure and not a punishing one.

These two key tenets would reason that we in this Ordinance have no interest in placing our Philosophy as the forefront of moral ventures. Instead, we have such wings as the Sacred Hill Project, which is a secular operation and charitable organization aimed at mitigating worldly suffering, and shall have no direct reference to the Philosophy or the Order’s teaching. The idea of “let’s help those suffering, those with mental health crises, those lacking access to water and food or homes” isn’t strictly one of Xyphoist origin alone. We argue that all people should support these rudimentary things, and that ideological differences shouldn’t cloud that support.

We also believe that, in theory, secular institutions’ whole purpose is to provide needed services with the intend of being worldly and all-inclusive by their premise alone. Schooling should include all walks of life and allow them access to education about the world in a secular fashion—from kindergarten all the way up to post-secondary institutions such as universities. The same should go for medical facilities and other organizations that serve the immediate public good.

We’ve also seen how other divergent religious organizations tend to get lost in their own pomp and circumstance and make petulant ordeals out of the religiosity of their organizations in lieu of helping for a greater good. Religious schools firing staff or expelling students who may be LGTBQ+ for example despite them being fine teachers or students. Controversies involving using tax-free status as a means to embezzle money from charities and the like and then shielding the accusations behind their religion. The officials in this Ordinance see too many avenues of corruption and dubious acting in even engaging in those kinds of operations, and would prefer to stick to the Sacred Hill Project or making donations to secular institutions to the betterment of the world.

Simply put, it is our belief that religion is personal and close, not outward and in the face of others. We support institutions of secular nature because, in theory, they’re designed to serve the entire general public. Of course, we’ve seen how other divergent beliefs have perverted that premise, have underfunded those intuitions, or have made it virtually impossible for those institutions to function in an attempt to force their own religious beliefs upon the world, and we reject that immoral practice for ourselves and our Philosophy. In an ideal situation, we would all pray with ourselves and walk in the public as equals—unburdened by heavy clouds of influence. That is the vision of the Lords, who don’t demand praise, simply equalization of the Cosmos and the stability of existence for all to enjoy.

—AHG, et al