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  • Commentary 103: Avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw – Community Actions & Bylaws

    Greetings from the Order and Ordinance. Before we begin, I would like to inform our readers that the Ordinance now has a questions section for all readers who are interested in asking us questions about the Xyphoist Philosophy. Now to today’s post.

    Today, we’re going to continue talking about avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw, but this time we’re focusing on how the Xyphoist Community can work together to do this. We already talked about how to confront the IPF on a personal level and also how to approach it when dealing with others, but now we’re going to tackle how the entire community should conduct itself to avoid Hubris. This will include general community actions as well as laying out some of our private bylaws for how the Ordinance shall function now and into the future as things expand.

    We’ll start with how we, as a community of Xyphoites, should conduct ourselves to both remain in accordance to the Philosophy and to avoid the IPF. Luckily, the two are inseparable, as the Philosophy is the antithesis to Hubris in the first place. When examining how other communities of thought have conducted themselves on a larger scale, we can witness many fatal flaws that led to calamity through Hubris. Taking the rapid and often violent expansions of theigrited philosophies on Earth, for example, what those philosophies gained in power was paid for in the bloodshed, land loss, oppression, and forced conversion of those that were conquered in the process. Now, in the view of those philosophies, they might conclude that those casualties and atrocities were simply “necessary evil” or unavoidable circumstances for some “greater good,” but the effects of that Hubris is explicit: mass suffering of the innocents affected.

    The Philosophy identifies that as a clear case of large-scale IPF, where Hubris overrides empathy and leads whole movements to destroy, conquer, and erase existing civilizations in the name of their philosophy; the very act of doing so is considered evil in Xyphoist Philosophy, and the Order and Ordinance shall not conduct measures of imperialistic conquest. That isn’t to say that we remain defenseless in the face of such aggression, as is the purpose of the Echelons of Actions to begin with, but we shall not initiate any such crusades or conquests as an innate part of our Philosophy. Whether it be about Spiritual Liberties, Free Will, the Immoral Act of Proselytizing, the empathetic origins of Divine Love, and so many other tenets, the Philosophy is antithetical to such acts of initial aggression.

    This means we as a community must discourage any desire to “have it all.”  The Order is not interested in total authoritarian control, nor should any follower desire to gluttonously or maliciously seek global power for the sake of having power. It may frustrate those that believe the Philosophy would best heal this world of corruption to see the intentional handicapping of our follower growth, but it is a part of the Philosophy itself to discourage things like trying to convert others to the Philosophy. Part of being a Xyphoite is accepting that most ancient of Truths: Spiritual Liberty flourishes because Hubris shall always fail upon itself. And so it is crucial that we put aside any desire or ego that pushes us to try and expand through conversion. The Ordinance shall expand naturally as people willingly discover upon our resources and efforts, understand them on their own terms, and take their own interest in joining.

    We’ll move onto how the Xyphoist community shall conduct our Philosophy on a larger scale next. We mentioned before that we shall use a secular wing of the Ordinance called the Sacred Hill Project to conduct all of our humanitarian and advocacy efforts. This organization, while run on the basic tenets of the Philosophy that I shorthanded last Commentary, is entirely secular. This means the Sacred Hill Project is open to all people to join and work for, it shall serve a greater interest in societal healing, and tackles issues that effect large groups of people and not just those who are affiliated with the Order. There is no preaching, there will be no reference to the Order or any religious aspects, and the scope of the secular organization itself shall be narrowed to focus on issues that impact large amounts of people regardless of their status.

    Therefore, it’s important to keep those efforts separate from the more theological aspects found on this site. Xyphoites involved in the Sacred Hill Project or just Xyphoites conducting various charitable actions in general, will do so with a secular cloak. There shall be no bragging that a good deed was done in the  name of the Lords, there shall only be empathy for others. Donations are quiet, anonymous if possible, actions are done through the human heart, not through the ego. We see suffering, we give what we can give, and we smile and walk away once done. That is how the Philosophy teaches this type of charitable actions, as we can see this often through the various tales of Hayle Ihou prior to becoming a Hayle.

    Finally, I will briefly go over some internal bylaws of the Ordinance itself that also combat Hubris. While we have not fully finalized these bylaws, nor will I go through every single one in this post, there are a few previews I can give that relate to avoiding Hubris and the IPF. Right away, the fact that this Ordinance is run by a council of nine that avoid taking “prophet status” and erase our egos by foregoing our legal names for Ordinance tags instead, our intention with this was to prevent the Philosophy or Ordinance from being attributed to some great and powerful single “founder” or group that receives pompous fanfare every time they make any form of declaration. And while we’re not necessarily calling out other philosophies that have such charismatic if not a bit overblown leadership positions, it does stand to say that a lot of resources and time are devoted to the selection, anointment, and ceremony of those kinds of leaders over the greater good a group could be doing with that money and time instead.

    We Arch-Hayle Grandurates are the executive council or the Ordinance, that is true, but we are simply nine individuals who spend time in closed doors finding each other and comparing our own notes, deciding that if no one else was going to start this prophetic Ordinance then it might as well be us since we appeared ready enough for it. We ask for no praise, we demand there be no fanfare or ceremony of our presence, we simply found this information compelling, believe in it with every cell in our body, and believe the time is now to put this Philosophy out into the modern world to help combat Deceptuary’s efforts.

    Other bylaws also include any usage of funds the Ordinance shall receive in the future once our finances are stabilized and donations can be taken in. We primarily hope to create various funds that will give continuous donations to various causes, namely environmental causes, funding for various types of secular institutions that impact struggling communities, natural disaster relief, and the like. All of which is laid out in the Sacred Hill Project’s page on future projects we hope to conduct.

    A smaller portion of those donations or an entirely separate fund shall go to finance the Ordinance administration itself, allowing us to establish a physical presence and maintain the books, so to speak. This will also include a definite cap on any compensation that we, the AHGs, shall make as executives of this Ordinance. Under the assumption that this Ordinance shall one day expand to such lengths that we are handling millions in funds for our various projects, the hard cap for executive compensation will always be at no more than the lower to middle class earning of the lowest income location of the country we are headquartered in—which roughly means we would never pay ourselves in compensation that would exceed about $65,000-$70,000 annually regardless of how much in an endowment that Ordinance accrues; this is comparable to the average salary of a standard Cardinal in the US. Idealistically, we would like at least 70%-75% of all funds taken in by the Ordinance to be devoted to the Sacred Hill Project, and aim to maintain a strict budget on the Ordinance itself to keep operating costs modest. Naturally, all donations to the Sacred Hill Project itself will be used exclusively for the Sacred Hill Project; this allows for those who aren’t Xyphoites to donate to a secular institution directly as opposed to donating to a religious one such as the Ordinance itself.

    Religious practice is free, you don’t need excessive funds or a big fancy building to pray, and while the Prophecy does say we shall eventually build other smaller Houses of Worship and nine temples for the Xyphozons, that is considered the absolute LAST objective of the Ordinance once worldly suffering has been mitigated. It’s more of a passion project than a hardline objective, and something done with devotion rather than with priority. We can see all those measures mentioned above as ways to cut down on Hubris and overzealous behavior on a community level as the Ordinance and its followers move in this Cosmic Struggle. Our goals with this series are to avoid the Innate Personality Flaw altogether, and these measures are carefully thought out to make sure we keep to that goal.

    Finally, we’ll do the weekly reset. Remember that community itself is a strength, but with combined strength comes combined integrity. We keep each other in check and don’t let our brethren get too bigheaded. When we stand together, we march together. If one of us stumbles, we all stumble. So keep your family upright, and they shall keep you upright. If you do trip, remember that you are human and we have 2 feet, not 20. Let yourself get up, accept help from the support around you, brush off, keep marching. That is strength in community, and community is family. With all that said, we’ll end it here for now. Have a good rest of your Sacred Day.

    —ruX

  • Commentary 102: Avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw – Outward Interactions

    Greetings from the Order and Ordinance. Today, we’re continuing talking about how to avoid falling to corruption with a focus on avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw altogether. Last time, we talked about how fear and Hubris lead people to their downfalls. Today, we’ll go over some ways we can avoid succumbing to the Innate Personality Flaw when dealing with others. Let’s start.

    When looking at the Philosophy as a whole, we can pull a few key spiritual and social behaviors that are crucial for avoiding this flaw. By looking at things like the doctrine on Spiritual Liberties that the Lords guarantee, on how we AHGs see our positions and roles, whether there is blasphemy or other offenses in the Philosophy, and so forth, we can see all of those tenets point to a single point: humility. There is no greater way to avoid the Innate Personality Flaw than to be modest, humble, and humane when dealing with others who haven’t set harm to yourself.

    So often, we can see from other divergent philosophies, and especially of Theigrited philosophies, an incredible sense of self-righteousness and “holier than thou” mentality. Even looking at the cases of religious conquests and crusades often associated with those groups, the very idea of forced conversion through violent conquest is itself a corrupted and evil action that feeds off of the root Hubris and arrogance. The Philosophy directly discourages that, as the Lords themselves embody the virtue of humility through their various acts.

    So how do we keep ourselves humble? Ironically, we can use the root of the Innate Personality Flaw itself and turn it on its head. People who succumb the IPF do so out of fear of human insignificance, but we can turn that around and remind ourselves that we are still humans. We are not gods, we are not all-knowing or powerful, and while we have our own self worth and significances, we are one of many elements of the greater beyond. Reminding ourselves that this road is shared with other drivers can help keep ourselves from swerving all over the road and causing mayhem in our wake.

    The same can be said when interacting with others and especially others of faiths that may directly contrast to ours. The Lords guarantee Spiritual Liberty, which means all other faiths and philosophies have that same divine right to exist. The Lords do not fear that divergency as they also do not fear Deceptuary’s petulant desire to ruin that free flow. We must follow in that example, and treat all with at least a basic level of understanding and respect when not first attacked.

    That does not mean we must tolerate evil, however. Regardless of any philosophical stance or faith, evil is evil. Willfully causing harm to others is not a negotiable act, it is intentionally injuring or hurting someone else, and the reason for it becomes moot once such actions are taken. One does not have to tolerate abuse or forgive their abuser, for that abuse is likely intentional and would continue if outside forces don’t put a stop to it.

    One doesn’t need to even follow the more religious portions of our Philosophy to really come to any of these conclusions. Honestly, if I were tasked with translating the whole of the Xyphoist Philosophy down to a secular and quick understanding, it would be this: Don’t harm others, don’t ruin the environment, let people be who they are, love yourself, pursue your inspirations. Of course, that’s a drastic over-simplified summary, but for those reading here who aren’t exactly interested in diving into the deep details, doing those things will help avoid the trap of Hubris and Fear.

    At the center of positive interactions and avoiding the avenues where corruption infiltrates is humility and respect for Free Will, and the Philosophy intertwines that doctrine all throughout it. It’s okay to be unsure of the significance of our existence, but it’s not okay to let that fester into fear and then let Hubris tarnish everything that follows that. We are here, we exist, and we have the freedom to give our own existences their own worth. But we MUST understand that worth does not including stripping worth from others without due cause.

    With that said, let’s do the weekly reset. Let us come together and reaffirm our worth and take this Sacred Day to rejuvenate ourselves and our communities. It is a fine day to both rest but also to congregate and find our unique joys together. We should synergize our energies and move with a uniform wave towards a better existence, and let us not fall to any nefarious forces that seek to disrupt our realities. Let us rise and continue on the next day in our pursuit for equilibrium, both in the greater beyond but also within ourselves. If you hold turmoil in you now, know that it is a storm that passes, but you shall be knowledgeable of the storm’s wreckage and allow yourself time to rest, process, and then finally, you must get up and rebuild. We shall conclude, have a good rest of your Sacred Day.

    —ruX, erX

  • Commentary 101: Avoiding the Innate Personality Flaw – Personal Tactics

    Greetings from the Order and Ordinance. Auvriile has returned, and I’ve planned a 4-part series talking about Hubris and corruption and how to avoid falling to them both.  Two periods ago, Vox went over what the Innate Personality Flaw is and then talked about how it eventually leads to corruption and evil. I’ll briefly recap: Mortals of low spiritual resonance are more likely to succumb things like fear, arrogance, desperation etc. Those personality faults are likely to lead someone to fall to Deceptuary’s corruption which naturally leads Immoral Actions. This Period’s series will be about how to avoid those faults in the first place. We’ll start on the personal level.

    Deceptuary himself fell first through his own fear and was blinded by his own faults through his Hubris, so we can look at his initial fall as a metric to avoid doing the same. We, as human mortals, hold significantly lower spiritual resonance than virtually any other being of existence. It’s easy to feel insignificant in a vast Cosmic beyond under those circumstances. But it’s important to remember that, just as a god fell into the pits from his own fear, that we also can fall into our own darkness by fearing having to share the stage with others. We are here in this vast celestial beyond; we exist. We hold our own part in this grand existence of the Lords, and they even gifted us with a Life of Spiritual Liberty to do as we please. The fear of insignificance comes from over-inflating the Self and fearing a crowded stage. There’s no need for that.

    One can avoid that by seeking out greater meaning for one’s own life. On the Xyphoist perspective, serving the duties of the Order is a great place to start. We live in a world flooded with corruption, and our jobs as Xyphoites are to mitigate the world’s suffering. Knowing that our efforts are contributing to the Order’s goals of stopping Deceptuary’s desperate new war is a purpose worth serving, even if we are all just 1 smaller part of it.

    Outside of what the Philosophy teaches, the Gift of Life and the liberties we have as a result, are key to finding personal self worth and purpose. As Phox spent the last Period speaking about, you can find inspiration through knowledge. You can use that inspiration to pursue life goals, create art, or better yourself on a multitude of levels. Even in dark times, through that very Gift, a Golden Light of Creation can inspire you to create new paths for yourself and bestow yourself with the worth you both earn and deserve.

    Hubris was the other half of the equation, and that circumstance follows right in with the fear of insignificance. We sometimes use arrogance as a shield to hide from fear, which is why both of those attributes to hand in hand. Arrogance makes one feel powerful in the face of inferiority. But it’s just a façade and cannot protect from the Truth in the end, no matter how blind it may make someone. Deceptuary, despite knowing the Truths from Lord Pharuuii and from the Prophecy, continues to blind himself from said Truth to shield himself from his own fear. The same can be said of humans who succumb to corruption through the Innate Personality Flaw.

    Avoiding Hubris comes through bestowing proper dignity and self-esteem to the Self and not letting the Self become inflated. There’s no greater bump to trip on than ego, and Immoral Acts like Worldly Self-Obsession are tied directly to ego and fear of insignificance. We can avoid falling to arrogance by practicing humility in nearly all aspects of life. From the Xyphoist perspective, gratefulness and understanding of moderation are key parts of Xyphoist Practice. We shall keep ourselves from becoming too full of ourselves as the Theigriet has of himself. Another key part of humility is actually the pursuit of Knowledge and Truth and not fearing the challenging answers the world may give us.

    It’s important to have Self Love and good self-esteem, but being haughty or selfish or uncaring are direct paths to the Innate Personality Flaw and corruption. These are some a few ways we can, on a personal level, fight off this condition that inflicts us heavily.

    I’ll conclude for now and pick up in the next Commentary. For now, let’s do a weekly reset to center ourselves and prepare for all the challenges that face us. Remember to rest when needed, but never to rest indefinitely. Healing is part of battle, and when Time affords you to heal, do so. But remember to get back up, find your center, focus on your goals, and never lose track of your own worth and the greater worth of the Greater Will. Have a good and focused rest of your Sacred Day.

    —ruX, voX, erX, phX