Hail, Sapience.

I delivered the following sermon before the Theran gate, on the 11th of
Lupar, 368 AF. This represents the apotheosis of all the preaching I
have done, both inside and outside of Mhaldor. As always, I trust this
will aid your religious education.

(For my previous sermons, see the following Public posts: 11575, 11687,
11931, 12214, 12379.)

The sermon:

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Hail, Sapients. Welcome to those among you who worship the Divine of
this realm. Hear my words, that I may encourage you to purge your
weaknesses and seek true strength in the service of your Gods.

We all seek to serve the Divine, the immanent Powers in this realm that
guide lives and control destinies. Whether we serve War, Valour, Sin,
Compassion, Evil, Nature, Darkness, Love, Chaos, or any of the myriad
faiths of Sapience, we seek to forward our Gods' will among the mortals
of the realm. From the time we are novices, we bend our minds to the
Divine teachings. We live Their words, that our Gods' will be done
throughout Sapience as it is in the Garden.

How may we, the mortals of the realm, better serve our Gods? We must, as
a wise tome says, "reach above the natural man ... cast off the strings
of mortalhood, and rise above." We must identify that which binds us,
and break through our chains, that we may transcend ourselves, serving
our Gods with our united bodies, minds, and spirits. We are all yoked in
the accursed mortal fetters of the realm, and seek our apotheosis in the
destruction of our chains, in service to our Gods.

The road to spiritual perfection is littered with traps, Sentients.
Although we keep our Gods' commandments foremost in our minds, we must
focus our minds on the obstacles in our varied paths to enlightenment.
From the slivers of remaining weakness within, to the pestilential
corruption of the heretics without, the barriers to our whole-hearted
service to our Gods grasp at us like rancid swamp filth. These
impediments will drag us into abyss of weakness, destroying our resolve
and ravaging our bodies, minds, and spirits.

How may we free our bodies? We must recognize that which entraps our
mortal flesh, and deny its power over us. Hunger, thirst, and exhaustion
sap our ability to forge ahead. Dependencies on liquor or recreational
alchemical compounds act as leaden anchors upon our bodies. While acute,
these obstacles are by no means insurmountable. While our bellies may
contort with starvation, while our parched throats ache and our blood
runs thick, while the cloying tendrils of our own weariness scrape at
our muscles, we are slaves to the incessant demands of our own bodies.
While we are overwhelmed by insatiable appetite for the pleasures of
this realm, we are slaves to the horror of addiction, the cycle of
satiation and ravening greed that may overcome even the mighty among us.

Once we have realized the threats to our bodies, we may set about
purging these weaknesses. The key to surpassing the pinions of the
physical realm is our own Divinely granted willpower. When the demands
of our bodies rise up to consume our attention, we may focus our minds
and grind them back down into the recesses of our beings. Whether
feeling hunger, thirst, or exhaustion, if our wills are strong, we can
forge on regardless, ignoring any depth of agony in our devoted service
to the Divine. When the urge to seek escape in drugs or liquor strikes,
and the agony of withdrawal rises, we may crush the sensation within us,
fight back the urge to drown ourselves in foul alchemy, and focus anew
on the Divine that we serve. Through our own self-discipline, and the
pain of self-denial, we spur our own advancement in the service of our
Gods.

Having bent our bodies to our will, we may seek to shatter the chains
that wind their way around our minds. Though insidious, these mental
shackles are no less crippling than those which wind around our bodies.
We must identify these ideas and thoughts that keep us enslaved, and
burst though them, that we may focus our whole intellect upon the
Divine. We must combat our own ignorance, our imperfect knowledge of
Sapience and Their realms. We must combat our own hesitation, our
thoughts of the consequences of our actions.

Knowledge, Sapients, is the first key to freedom from the mental slavery
that keeps us at our mortal nadir. Let this realm's learning be as your
meat. Seek out knowledge wherever you may find it, whether in the Church
of Achaea, or the blackest pits below Mhaldor. Open your mind to the
multitude of possibilities and potentialities in Sapience. Let none
deter you from the wisdom that is rightfully yours. If you are ever
told, "that knowledge was not meant for one such as you," then the
speaker wishes you weak, bound by ignorance. Break past the barriers of
forbidden knowledge, hidden wisdom. Know this realm, that you may bend
it to the will of your Gods.

Fixity of intent, Sapients, is the second key to freedom from our mental
chains. Who among us have not at some time in our lives realized, "I'll
be enemied if I do that," or "he'll send a Champion to murder me"? This
is not freedom - surely, you are enslaved to the will of others. Move
beyond these weak thoughts, to the purity of worship, swiftly followed
by intent, fulfilled rapidly in action. When your mind is no longer busy
with the thoughts of consequence, but is in fact devoted entirely to
bringing about the results that you envision, you have transcended your
own thoughts, and moved closer to your own personal zenith. Serve your
Gods first and foremost, without the thought of reward or punishment,
and you will have smashed the last mental barriers holding you back.

With our bodies and minds disciplined, serving us as we serve the
Divine, we may unravel the most persistent restraints around our beings,
those that shackle our spirits. While we may assume that we serve our
Gods wholeheartedly, if our spirits are yet enchained to the mortal
realm, They want for our true service. The barriers to true spiritual
apotheosis are heaped upon us from without, and emerge from deep within
us. From inside our souls, empathy gnaws at us, whispering silky
compassionate sighs into our beings. From our societies at large, the
corruption of Sapient morality pollutes us.

Empathy, the disgusting urge to identify with and experience another's
feelings, is a spiritual flaw that lurks within even the best of us. It
can stay the torturing hand, or cause fatal hesitation on the
battlefield. Empathy is rooted in the notion that another's emotions and
sensations are in some way important factors in any decision. Reach
beyond the bounds of petty mortal compassion, smash the bonds of
sympathy, and pay no heed to the pain and pleasure of others. When we
can break through our intrinsic concern for others, we have stripped our
spirits of a source of distraction from the teachings of our Gods.

Morality, the societal precept that there are right and wrong ways to
behave, is a suppurating abscess within our drive to advancement. No
matter how far we progress, morality, values and decency are eventually
there to hold us back. If we are to attain true service to our Gods, we
must focus on the only criterion that matters: will our actions further
our Gods' plans in this realm? With this clarity of spirit we can find
within ourselves the power to do anything, hurt anybody, cleave the very
world in service to the Gods. Once our minds are no longer bound by
thoughts of reward or punishment, and our spirits are no longer manacled
by concepts of right and wrong, we can truly attain the wholehearted
devotion to the Divine that we aspire to.
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In service,
Preacher Wulfen


Penned by my hand on the 12th of Lupar, in the year 368 AF.