opnet [OpNet] Who here still uses money?

[Wargear]

It really is so inspiring to see the level of free thought and personal independence the Teragen cultivate in their followers. The freedom from cults of personality, the lack of clichish pettiness, the illuminating insights of truly liberated minds; truly, the Teragen represent the finest examples of Nova development to be found.

[Haplo]

When I joined the Teragen I devout my life to Divis Mal, and he may command me as he sees fit. I chose this, because Divis Mal means more than anything you ever will. I choose this. And were I not part of the Teragen, my life would be the same as it is today. But if I serve a better purpose letting those people who get in our, The Teragens, way, so be it.

You, on the other hand, sit out. You wax your metals, or what have you. You do not care for The One Race. You would sooner tool for the baselines than stand up for something other than yourself. You do not gain the right to criticize my affiliates.

At least, I believe that is how affiliates is used in a sentence.

[Pandora]

I couldn't have put it better myself.

[Wargear]

Let me see if I understand this, Ms. Lividum. Your choice is to serve a man whose first commandment is "Think for yourself and choose your own path", and in order to to do this, you think you need to submerge your own life and choices completely in the task of following what you personally interpret as his will, without the least hint of critical thought or analysis of your own. Not only that, but in order to honor this dictate of his that each nova should achieve self-determination, you denigrate at every opportunity any nova who chooses a path other than your own blinkered, thoughtless obedience.

I would try to explain the inherent irony of that to you, but I somehow doubt your limited synaptic capacity is up to grasping it without producing serious medical complications.

[Velvet]

Quote:

When I joined the Teragen I devout my life to Divis Mal, and he may command me as he sees fit. I chose this, because Divis Mal means more than anything you ever will. I choose this.

Funny, I was under the impression that Teras was about each individual nova paving his/her own way, not clinging to someone else's coat-tails or wasting time worshipping idols... Including Mal himself. Isn't that what you lot call "stupid baseline tricks"? I had also assumed that Teras wasn't about dividing novas up into "Us" and "Them" factions like some psychotic militia, and that no nova should ever demean another's life choices in an idiotic pissing contest of whose node is worth more than whose.

Now, any of you other Terats on the board, feel free to correct me. I've spoken with a few of you, and these are the impressions I've gotten, but I'm not signing up.

[Haplo]

Velvet. I, along with my comrades, believe that Nova's are free to do what they want, without persecution of the Baselines laws. They are not for us. Therefore, it is within my choice to follow Divis Mal. If a clearer path open in the future, I will take it. But Divis is the way of the future.

I, along with my comrades, also believe that there are those out there who are trying to keep The One Race under the rule of the Baselines, and we aim to do something about this. I do something about this. This is how I make my money. I keep The One Race free of Baseline Persecution the best that I can, and I get paid for what I do. This rule not only applies to baselines, but our fellow members of The One Race at all. Us, would be the people that aim to keep The One Race above baselines. Them, being the baselines and Nova's alike who deem it necessary that we remain under their inferior rules.

I don't think a state of no rules should exist, there rules are just not for us.

As for Wargear, I said it above. I would do as Mal would have me. He has not had me yet, so I am making my own way with my own theories that people along side of me share.

I understand that you feel the need to turn this any way that you seem fit to make yourself feel bigger, or something. This argument is futile because you are two thick skulled and weak minded to stand for something.

[Wargear]

The inherent silliness of being lectured about my thick-skulled, weak-minded status by someone not only vastly my intellectual inferior but also incapable of spelling at a primary school level defies rational response.

[Warren Verona]

Originally Posted By: Wargear

I would try to explain the inherent irony of that to you, but I somehow doubt your limited synaptic capacity is up to grasping it without producing serious medical complications.

Allow me to translate this for all the people among us who are not mega geniuses.

"I would try to explain how stupid you just sounded but it's a complete and utter waste of my time since you are going to believe whatever you want to believe no matter how much we consistently prove you wrong. So, believe away and by all means please do not breed. Ever. You are an idiot."

Here is your sign.


Wargear: Not that your post wasn't beautiful darlin' but some of us be but simple folk roun' dez parts. Still ain't learned us us dem books yet. Soemtimes ya gotta speak plainly.

[Haplo]

This conversation is infuriating, and I will participate no more.

[Velvet]

Originally Posted By: Haplopelma Lividum

But Divis is the way of the future.

Yeah. People said that about the Edsel, too.

Just a suggestion, but if you haven't found one already, you might want to consider asking a few of the more established Terats around here about getting a mentor for your beliefs. Right now, you're coming off like a televangelist who can't quote the Bible on Sunday.

"Mal said we have freedom of choice, so I choose not to be free" is kind of... well... stupid.

[Wargear]

Revenant: Why would I need to do that, since you seem perfectly capable of rendering my meaning clear to those simple folk who might not grasp it?

Lividium: I cannot describe to you the intense feeling of pain that your departure causes me. Mostly because a feeling of that size couldn't be detected with an electron microscope.

[Leliel]

Though I have not heard this from the source directly, I have it on good word that Divis Mal did say the following:

"I do not want worshippers"

Any Terats out there will likely recall when this was said, and the rest of the conversation that went with it.

Velvet: No need to correct you dear lady. You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the basic tenets of Teras. I cannot speak for Lividum, nor would I care to. I think she has quite a bit to learn though.

Lividum: Blind obedience is not the way to Transcendance, Mal himself has said this. Now, I'm not one to say you cannot proceed along the path you have chosen, but I would say you should examine your inner feelings and consider why you are following (apparently) blindly. I myself believe Divis Mal has a great deal of wisdom to impart to us all.

The key word is impart, not command. Wisdom is something that can never be forced upon another, but can only be learned from within. If your path leads you to enlightenment then I salute you. I fear however that you may be partially in error.

Wargear: Lividum is hardly an example of every Terat. Not all of us by far subscribe to blind obedience or cults of personality. Unfortunately, I cannot say that none of us do....

[Haplo]

Thank you, Leliel, for not being a total bitch about it. And I thank your words of wisdom towards Mal. I won't say any further than that.

[Muse]

Originally Posted By: J. 'Polymath' Rivera

Well, maybe you don't use money for those things, but I'm sure that money could improve them.

Also, while maybe that kind business might not need money because you provide the art, and the place where you exhibit it is for free, wouldn't money for publicity make it better?

The bottom line, at least to me, is that while not everything needs money on this life, a large majority of it does.

and if I may, as an addendum, a Nova can be considered a person with a set of specialized skills, they have a right to win more than other people simply because their specialty is hard to find or very useful to someone. Same reason college graduates seek PhD's and specialization in fields, it should always pay more.

I walked away from 1.85 Billion dollars worth of stock,bank accounts. I walked away from it because it was ruining my work.It was destroying my art. I walked away because well, I walked away.

[Hugin]

The claim that money is illusion strikes me almost nearly as worthwhile as discussions regarding whether or not we have free-will or if our universe is just one atom in the big toe of some vast giant.

Is there any belief that someone is going to read this, slap their forehead and go forth as a determined barterer?

[Gryle]

Hugin: None at all. Oftentimes, simply knowing a fact does not change a damned thing, other than in our heads.

That goes for Novas as much as for Humans. There are more examples of this particular condition than even a mega-genius could count. (Alright, so that was hyperbole, but it makes my point adequately.)

On the other matter, I've been reading some of Procyon's writings on the nature of Teras. Interesting, maybe even fascinating stuff. I am not sure that I am convinced altogether though. Mind you, having read his thoughts, it seems sometimes that Teras catches any free-thinking Nova under a rather broad umbrella at times.

Oh, and Machina: You have no idea of the nature of my acquaintance with Procyon. It is sufficient to say that I am not a cultist (not that he has Nova cultists anyway), nor am I a Terat. Nor, as you have intimated so wittily in one of your other fecal deposits on this board, is our acquaintance based on a sexual relationship. Yet again you demonstrate your lamentably blinkered view of the world in a myopic and tunnel-sighted attack on someone who you have decided is a good target for your turd-flinging.

Please try not to address me again until you've developed that extra DNA sequence that would at least put you on a human level.