Greetings from the Order and Ordinance. This will be the final installment of this mini-series on avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw. To briefly recap, over this Period of Watching we went over how to avoid the IPF on a personal level, when dealing with others, and when coordinating as an organization. Today, we’ll wrap it all up by discussing how Xyphoites can avoid the IPF when dealing with direct criticisms to the Philosophy, adversity and discrimination against Xyphoites, and other obstacles or forms of opposition.

The first to remember is that, through the innate workings of the Order, opposition to the Philosophy is expected to take place. We talk quite regularly about concepts like Spiritual Liberties, Free Will, Divergency and the like, and we also mention how the Lords have shown to be beyond the need for praise or to respond to mockery petulantly, so we can immediately take upon Their example and conclude that we, as Xyphoites, should do the same. We’ve highlighted these types of topics in several older Commentaries regarding mockery or desecration before, so let’s reaffirm this tenet now.

Criticism is expected and part of Divergency, as the Order does not proselytize nor preach in accordance with not committing the Immoral Act that condemns those very actions. How one responds to such criticisms or critical review makes a difference, however. As many readers may have already noticed, we AHGs have tried our best to form these Xyphoist resources found on this website to both serve the Xyphoist community but to also be palpable to potential outside audiences such as potential future followers, researchers, or other curious people stumbling upon this website. While we often write highly-dense Commentaries that dive into the deepest parts of the Philosophy, we also pen several posts that break down the denser concepts into more simple terms. My peer Phox has extensively worked on making easy-to-grasp posts, explanatory essays, and of course, Q&As that answer big questions in concise answers.

This is intentionally done to make information more open for both curiosity but also for critical review; we personally believe in this Philosophy and also believe It can stand open to scrutiny. Our confidence in the Lords is absolute, and so we fear not any critical review that is genuine and constructive in nature, especially since such critical review helps spread the Philosophy without having to commit an Immoral Act to do so. We welcome those reviews, we welcome challenging questions, and we welcome criticism because it puts our faith to the test, makes us truly think deeply about the Lords’ message, and sharpens our resolve to find Realmly Truths.

Now, there will come criticism that is shallow or petulant in nature, namely from groups that have an interest in specifically taking down or attacking the Order itself; those will almost exclusively be from other religious philosophies that are either directly linked to Deceptuary or who go after any religious philosophy that isn’t adherent to their own. We expect and aren’t concerned with those attacks, as most are likely to be motivated by fear, Hubris, or otherwise petulant in nature, and this is especially true of those criticisms or attacks rely on any of the Philosophy’s Immoral Acts to do so. Invoking an opposing philosophy to try and criticize our Philosophy de-fangs the premise of the attack by relying on insular sources. That is, of course, the greatest weakness of proselytizing to be begin with; relying on internal gossip to attack outside sources who have not attacked first is exactly how Hubris of the IPF works. We are not to give much attention to such attacks as they will be a colossal waste of time, and this is especially true of critique from theigrited philosophies whose only goal is attacking the Order on behalf of Deceptuary.

Other criticisms will comes from communities that reject religiosity altogether and maintain an atheistic stance. Again, this is expected criticism and not to be of concern. I will reiterate on Spiritual Liberties, Free Will, not proselytizing, etc. Those Spiritual Liberties also guarantee that those that seek no faiths are free to do so without persecution or Divine Punishment as well, and engaging with arguments on the front of “this isn’t real, you believe in fiction” is still a colossal waste of time. Arguably, most of those arguments against theism in general were borne from the adversity caused by religious movements that fell to the IPF and committed heinous or otherwise unsavory acts in the name of their religions, and that isn’t exclusive to only theigrited philosophies as other divergent philosophies have done so as well. It’s explicitly for this reason that we’re even having this discussion on the IPF in the first place. The Ordinance, in accordance with the Lords’ Will and the Philosophy, seeks NOT to repeat those kinds of arrogant, dangerous, and harmful acts, which is why any Xyphoite who commits those acts is just as likely to face Divine Punishment as any non-Xyphoite would.

Regardless, the point to drive home is that when dealing with those types of targeted or adverse criticisms, we should mostly acknowledge that such critiques will happen and that they aren’t worth the effort to constantly bat about. Legitimate critical review is always welcome, but petulant attacks aren’t aimed to be constructive and aren’t a productive use of time to constantly argue about.

We then come to more serious forms of opposition, such as persecution, oppression, and physical or violent attacks. For these forms of adversity we have the Echelons of Action for. We are currently declared under Yrridthmas, the 3^rd highest Echelon, which allows us to openly criticize the state of the corrupted world and take material humanitarian actions against Deceptuary’s corruption and to mitigate the suffering of the innocents. Below that, we have Hadradthmas and Endotithmas, which are much more peaceful and muted levels. Finally, we have Kurathmas, which is the highest Echelon and only invoked in cases of direct war declared against the Order as a last resort. Idealistically, we all in the Ordinance dream of returning to Hadradthmas, but the state of existence demands that we stay in an Echelon where we can materialistically impact existence.

And so, as we’re under Yrridthmas, the expected level of action includes lobbing our own criticisms at theigritry and defending the innocent through productive or fruitful means, doing extensive advocacy and charity/humanitarian work to mitigate the suffering caused by corruption, and seeking inner understanding and confidence to remain steadfast in conducting the other two actions.

However, it’s crucial not to fall into the IPF when doing so. When motivated by faith, self-righteous or extreme actions are always possible. We penned earlier Commentaries about extremism and self-righteousness as well, and those both reaffirm that the Philosophy explicitly negates those kinds of actions. We must avoid a “savior” complex and focus on simply making meaningful impacts without taking any kind of victory lap over them. Mitigating suffering is an existential threat not an advertisement opportunity, and that plays back into an earlier Commentary about using money as a source of anonymous power to help those who need it most. There is no room for greed in a world poisoned by corruption, and so excess wealth is to be used to lessen worldly suffering, not shield oneself from the images of it.

By reminding ourselves of humility, the example of the Lords, the acts of the Hayles, and the duty of the Sacred Children, we have numerous models to follow that all lead to the same destination: Maintaining the Equilibrium through mitigating worldly suffering. If I could, I’d like to invoke the image of Lord Carnyie, who willingly chains Himself to the abyss of frozen dark fog in Parrinze so that He may hear all of the cries from the innocent. He, the Lord of Purity, takes upon that sacrifice and grants His eternal mercy through His emissaries. We can learn from such great sacrifice, and while we’re not expected to chain ourselves to all pain as Lord Carnyie has done, we are expected, as Xyphoites, to adhere to the Greater Will of the Lords, which calls for service to the world. This is not a Philosophy for those seeking escape from woe, it is a Philosophy seeking the healing of the woes of the innocent. Only then shall Equilibrium be achieved.

We’ll wrap up this series there and move to the weekly reset. Remember that we live in a world of variety and a world of diversity. You shall face opposing forces, and you must understand when criticism is prudent and when it is prejudice and petulant. Take those constructive critiques to heart and seek the Philosophy’s lessons to find the Truth within, and dismiss petty attacks as the attacker has nothing to offer the world. We stand together for a greater good and a Greater Will, and we are just as valid as any other group. There will be setbacks and there will be persecution, but there NEVER will be defeat at the hands of true evil, as the old line goes: Theigrits will inevitably destroy upon themselves through their own Hubris. It is our job to let them fall into the pit they dug for us, return the Earth’s soil to the pit, and build a better world atop those ruin of war. Have a blessed rest of your Sacred Day.

—ruX, phX