Community:Church of the Dark Star/Sermons/20160813 Chaos Competition

"Competition", from the perspective of the Chaos Belief, presented by Amber Raine

* Amber Raine hears the toll of the bells off in the distance and smiles as she places her spoon and her black book upon the podium *

Today..... is an interesting topic to say the least. Quite fitting for the week that some of us have had.

Danellosi Mellonamin, Bienvenue tout la monde, Greetings and Well met friends and family. Welcome to another glorious Saturday here in the beginnings of PaxLair. How are we all today? I must say I missed you all last week. It is a great day to be back here and want to say thank you for joining us again.

So how about that Dawn of New Britannia challange issued by Portalarium? Amazing work already submitted by greats as Womby, Ember and Thexedor Markhamm. I know of a few others that have looked at it and shrunk back thinking they could never compete, would not be able to match the level of that already submitted. Shame really... I also know of others who worked on something and thought, these are better, lets see if i can improve mine even more. That is a more acceptable decision but still... why? Or the land rushes... have you seen the way people have been rushing this way and that over the past couple weeks? Trying to get just the right house? Forgetting friend, neighbour, or who might get hurt?

Or.... the other news some of you may have heard. Radios across New Britannia.. Why is there competition? Why can people not just get along and work on being the best them they can be instead of seeing who and what someone else has and trying to take or be like them? Better then them?

With that said -- I had a message I was asked to pass on. "We here at Avatars Radio do not care what anyone heard. Unless you heard it from us, about us, do not hold truth to telephone rumours. Avatars Radio is not going anywhere except up!" Well, okay then... not sure what that was about but found it on my desk this morning so felt right to share it. It does seem fitting for todays subject.

Today we want to talk to you about competition. It is so very easy to go through life, any of our lives, competing with everyone around us. When we see someone who is more talented, more beautiful, someone who has more gifts. Instead of accepting what we have and following our own pathes through life, being comfortable in our own. So often we feel inferior and we think "i have to catch up to them".

We're always trying to measure up to someone else, or tear someone down to where we feel we are and then a little more so they are below us. We lose 20 pounds but a co-worker loses 25. Instead of celebrating their success and continuing on our own happy for them as well as for ourselves, We think, "I've got to do better. They are going to pass me up"

Or, we wear a new outfit and we are extremely happy with how it looks, feels, the fact we got that very outfit we have been watching at the tailor shop for months... Until someone we know comes in, can be friend, can be simple acquiantance known across the lands and they are wearing the exact same outfit, only with better material. And we begin to sulk and think "they look better then us." And now we are discouraged thinking I wish I look like them.

Or a neighbour pulls up in a brand new cart and buggy, on the outside we're happy for them "It's beautiful, congratulations!" On the inside however is a raging pit of depression. We start feeling insecure. "I have to work harder, I have to keep up with them. They are making me look bad."

Do you know what is really going on here? Think about all of those scenarios. Do you see anything at all wrong with any of them?

* Amber Raine looks around at everyone *

Honestly, is anything wrong with it? Your looking at someone else, feeling like you need to do better, so you push yourself, you get yourself to that next goal.. You finally get there.. you see someone else already there or slightly ahead and you push yourself even more.. Sounds like a positive to me right? Always improving yourself?

Well. I reckon it could be seen that way. But what is really happening? You've lost your own vision, your own way, your now following someone elses. Trying to be who they are, get ahead of them because they can't possibly be able to be more then you are.

The problem with this unhealthy competition is it is a never-ending cycle. There will always be somebody up ahead of us. I can tell you one thing though and you all know this to be true. I will be surprised if at least half of you do not agree with me right now.

It is a very freeing thing when you realize, can say, and truly mean it when you say it "I am not competing with you. I don't have to have as big a house as my neighbour to feel good about myself." "I don't have to look like she looks or wear what she wears to feel secure. I don't have to keep up with my co-worker, or I am going to feel less then adequate." How amazingly freeing it is to finally understand that you are not in competition with your friend. Your not in competition with your neighbour. Your not in competition with your co-worker. The only person you really need to be competing with and worried about is....

* Amber Raine looks out at everyone and smiles * "you know what I am going to say"

The only person you should be worried about competing with and making better is... yourself.

* Amber Raine smiles *

Promise yourself that you are going to be the best you that you can possibly be. Now, the best you may not be as successful as your neighbour but that's okay. The best you may not be as thin as your sister but that's okay. The best you may not be as talented as dynamic, as outgoing as your co-worker. But that's okay.

What is important. The one thing that we, I am sure, can all agree on. Is you need to be comfortable with who you are made to be. So easily you could be distracted and lose your focus, by comparing what someone else has or what they do or what they drive or where they are going on vacation. So easily we can forget who we were meant to be, where were we wanting ourselves to go? Get so lost trying to measure up and surpass someone else that we begin to look like them, sound like them, melt in with them. And everyone said "one of them, one of them" ~laughs~

I joke now, but you know I'm right. Look at society as a norm. Everyone trying to compete with everyone else. So many follow a pattern of "We take this step to get to that step to reach the the next. If we just push harder we can be next in line for the promotion." Lines form, society stagnates as everyone becomes so monotone in progression that... it gets boring.

Let me tell you a little history here. Most of you, if not all of you, have heard this before. There was a time when this was a worry to a man, many centuries ago. He was worried that everyone would become alike. Following the same routine, trying to be like one another even if in an attempt to surpass them. He truly believed, as do many of us today, believed that this would result in the integration of the shards of immortality. He feared that integration would mean that all people living on each shard would be basically blinked out of existence.

Let me read you a passage here from the Parma:

* opens the black book before her and reads from it ((sources: UOGuide.com/Chaos and Ultima Online Intro)) *

During the earliest span of the age of darkness. Found in only the most aged of manuscripts lived a world born of mystic arts and ancient sorcery: Sosaria. Despite Sosaria's enchanted origin its people shunned magic for its very use corrupted the souls of the unwary. But one man dared to awake the slumbering powers of alchemy. Twisting the awesome powers of the gem of immortality to his will and binding all of Sosaria to his corruption: Mondain the wizard. His power was absolute as the whole of the planet was gripped in his cruel embrace. Only the appearance of a stranger saved Sosaria from impending destruction. From whence he came no one knows but his strength and courage were without peer. In this stranger lay Sosaria's only hope. Only a traveler from the stars could release this world from Mondain's vile stranglehold. He would prove himself a saviour, shattering the gem of immortality and defeating Mondain. But a deeper and more sinister evil was released with the destruction of the gem, for Sosaria was not free of the stone's power. The planet was still bound to the jewel even as it lay shattered on the floor of Mondain's castle. For within each shattered remnant of the jewel dwelt a perfect likeness of Sosaria. Thus is the world in which you are born, live and die. Britannia that was once Sosaria now exists as a thousand worlds each with its own peoples, history and destiny.

* skips ahead a few pages and begins to read again *

Blackthorn supposedly invented Chaos after overhearing a conversation wherein it was revealed that Lord British, the King of Britannia, wished to get everyone to follow the Virtues, this would result in integration of the shards. Lord Blackthorn feared that integration would mean that the people living on each shard would be basically blinked out of existence. Therefore, he created Chaos to help insure that Virtue would literally never conquer all. As long as one person followed Chaos instead, the shards would never be integrated.

* lifts her eyes from the Parma and addresses everyone again *

We, can see from this and have learned, as has everyone who chooses their own paths whether it be straight forward or over where no path has been forged realize. If at least one person is not trying to be like everyone else. This will not ever happen.

* closes her book *

A tale from ancient times but fits today... We, as those who choose our own paths. Whether it be straight forward or over where no path has been forged realize. If at least one person is not trying to be like everyone else. This will not ever happen.

Chaos is our allowance to be different. To not be the same as everyone else. To see someone else and go "Yes okay, they are doing their thing and doing it well. I am truly happy for them. But they are not me. And I am okay with that."

I realize I may not be the best person in the world for teaching this weekly and I am okay with that. But I am going to be the best High Priestess of Chaos I can be. I may not be as good a DJ or business owner as somebody else but that's okay I'm not competing with them and I am going to be the best DJ and business owner I can be. I may not be the ideal girl friend. ~grins~ Don't you dare say amen to that! ~laughs~ But I am going to be the best significant other that I can be.

So what is the point here? Point really, you don't need to be just like everyone else. Be happy for them. They found somewhere else that makes them happier where they think they can be more successful? Good, you let them go and then realize, they are not you. You don't need to be upset. Wish them well, help them out if you can, and you continue doing what it is that you do. The world has enough people following each other, trying to compete for that number 1 spot. But if we think about it. If you try your best to be the best you that you can be... You've already made first place. Because no one can be you. And you have already won your race. You are competing with yourself. Just worry about you and the rest will just fall where it is supposed to. Understand that there is nothing wrong with coming in 100th out of 100 people. If you are the best 100 that you can be, there is nothing wrong with that.

Quit thinking that you need to measure up to somebody else in order to feel good about yourself. You don't have to feel inferior because you're not as successful as your Brother You don't have to be intimidated because you have a co-worker that's extremely talented. You are in a class all by yourself and can go in any direction you wish to go in. There is no other you and there never will be.

So don't compare yourself. Celebrate yourself. You have everything you need to ful-fill your destiny. I want you to be more comfortable in your own skin and stop looking at everyone elses around you and comparing. Some of you are always competing with a neighbour, a co-worker, a friend. Trying to one-up them. Out dress them, out perform them. Now... let it go. They are not in your race, they are not in your class, they are not blocking your path. Thinking that way, is merely a distraction that our Lord opened our eyes to centuries ago. Be the best you that you can be.

Remember, you don't have to impress anybody. You don't have to prove who you are. You know who you are. Equipped and empowered to make your own pathes when someone does try to distract you. So keep your shoulders back, your head held high, be secure in who you are. And tell any distractions that they can't stop you. You are going to be the best you that you can be, and you are not going anywhere but up! If you will stay free from a spirit of competition and just run your race. You'll not only enjoy your life more but you will see your gifts and talents come out to the full because when you celebrate others. Someone, somewhere, will celebrate you!

Thank you.

May the Shadows of Night keep and protect you always

* Amber Raine performs the Darkstarr salute. *