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I'll get some ythings started with a couple things....

First, if anyone wants one, I am having Cafe Press print out (on-demand) dead tree hard copies of Pallas Armata: http://www.cafepress.com/iarwain

The best online copy of it is here: http://www.plumes.org/manuals/PallasArmata/PA-title.html

Happy reading!

Second, here's the essay I recently wrote on honor:

The Essence of Honor

Breaking it down to the basics

By Brian Chabot, OMA (8JAN2005CE)

Often you hear the concept of honor thrown around like some hurled weapon, and indeed, a weapon it is. Like any weapon though, it is often just as dangerous to the wielder as it is to the recipient. Many talk of honor but few seem to really grasp what it means, what it is. It is not a tool of the "Holier than Thou" people, but rather a tool to make a better person for yourself as well as to make the world better for others.

First, to be honorable, is not to hold yourself any better than any other, but actually to make yourself better than you were before. It is the ideal tool for self-improvement. The first step in this road is integrity. Simply put, let your words and deeds be the same, and let them not belie each other. If you say you are going to do something, then do it. If you did something, admit to it. Speak the truth. Walk the walk. In a magickal sense, this strengthens the power of your words. You are creating a modality that defines your words as what is. In ritual, you will speak the words and the world will listen because you speak the Truth. This is the first and one of the most difficult parts of honor for most people to grasp. It is the basis for everything else in this realm, and is one of the most important.

Corollary to this concept of speaking the truth, is that you must know how to hold your tongue and know when to speak wisely. When your words define the reality within and around you it becomes easy to say the wrong thing and make it happen. Thus speaking ill of someone will cause ill to that person. It is very much a "be careful what you wish for" thing. In my own contemplation, I have often found that when I consider the results of my words and deeds, I will watch my anger with people dissolve into disappointment. This can then be brought into a positive light as you expected better of the other person or yourself. By expressing this, you then nudge the universe into the right direction to make that person better. In a purely mundane sense, think of how you would react. If someone became angry with you, you would push back, rebel, and fight against their anger. If they were disappointed with you, thought you could do better, you wouldn't fight this. Your own ego would help you to become the better person.

The second concept in honor defines why we do or don't do things. It is the concept of responsibility. No matter what your current place in a society, group, or situation, you have a responsibility to both yourself and to those with whom you interact. As Shakespeare's Polonius put it, "This above all else: To thine own self be true. Thus it must follow as the night the day, that you can be untrue to no man." When you take and consider and follow your personal responsibilities, not only do you benefit, but those around you do as well. This works both in a hierarchical way, to those above and below your place, as well as in a communal way to your equals. The royalty has responsibilities ("noblesse oblige") to protect and serve the commoner, and the commoner has responsibilities to support the royalty, each doing what they can to provide a better society. In a socialist/communist sense, as the saying goes, "From each according to his ability and to each according to his need." If all are honorable, any social system can work, whether it be a strict caste system or a perfect egalitarian one.

By taking responsibility both directly for yourself and for the results of your actions, you will tend to think before you do anything, to know what the results might be, and to better be able to control what goes on with and around you. There is great power in this. As with power comes responsibility, also with responsibility comes great power. When you know the responses to what you do, you will do things that cause the responses you want. If you know that pushing the swing will cause it to swing back, you can use this knowledge to make a rather enjoyable oscillation, as any child will tell you. Even in a bureaucracy like the US government, people instinctually know this. You may get better results by taking a Senator to play golf than by running a grass roots campaign by yourself. Knowing the results of your actions lets you know when and where to push the swing and when and where to back off.

The third concept of honor is respect. In the old Norse poem, Havamal, Odin tells us:

The best man is marred by faults,

The worst is not without worth.

This is the key to respect. Everyone has some worth, some good to them. We must continually strive to find these and nurture them. Even the best people have faults. By acknowledging these and moving on, we need not dwell on them. Applying this to ones self is sometimes difficult, especially when we are trying to improve ourselves.

Respect leads to courtesy. It is the only good reason for treating others well, and is a good reason. In respecting others, we treat them as worthwhile and thus, the relationship is made better. Even if we can only find one good thing about someone, even if it is something minuscule, by showing our respect to that person for that reason, we are nurturing that one little good thing, and making the other person better because of it. Respect for yourself also leads to the point of not having to prostrate yourself in front of anyone. Even in the most hierarchical situation, if you respect yourself, you can stand tall and proud while showing respect for the situationally superior person. A bow, a courtesy, a nod, a salute, etc. are signs of respect. They do not by themselves indicate your lower status, but rather indicate that you see something respectable about the other person. You will notice that in history it is only people who have lost all honor who prostrate themselves, who will kneel for their execution, and who offer up their ear to their conqueror. Those with honor, even in their losses, maintain that honor, like Hirohito did following WWII.

Thus, the essence of honor is summed up in integrity, responsibility, and respect. Nurturing these in ones self will form the pyramid of honor which will become a beacon to anyone who has the eyes to see.