My View On Slavery

Words carry great meaning because of the images they present in our minds.  Humans think in pictures and the greatest writers were those who could instill the best images via their words.  Therefore, when we seek to try to understand something, it is best to understand the terminology we use and what it means.  Today, I am going to present some of my ideas on slavery and what certain aspects mean.

Much of my thoughts on this subject, like many things in life, have changed over the years.  My overall summation of slavery is best described in the Nordic sense of the word.  Historical imagery is powerful albeit not always correct.  While agreeing that we operate in a consensual way of life, there are aspects of slavery which can exceed that.

To start, we look at some definitions that seem to confuse many.

Free Woman (or Man):

 This is any non-slave.  Period.  This includes all dominants, submissives, and anyone else who does NOT identify themselves as a slave.  A free person is born free and always will be free.  This person is not destined for ownership unless he or she does determine at a later time to be truly a slave.

Slave:

A slave is someone who seeks total and complete ownership.  This is an individual who desires to live under a total power exchange situation.  All power is handed over to the owner.  To me, this is an extreme relationship set up and there is no middle ground.  Any power that a slave has only exists because it is granted to her by the Master.  Naturally, for this to work, the power she is ceding needs to be to someone worthy of it and able to handle it.  But, then again, that is a different matter altogether.

Another aspect is that a slave only makes the decision to submit once.  In other words, her one major choice is whether to be a slave or not.  Once this is done, she is now "property" of the lifestyle.  She is no longer a free woman.  Her days of taking a free breath are over.  She is a slave the rest of her life and a commitment she is to live up to.

That being said, there are two states of slavery we must detail.

A slave can either be owned or unowned.  Too many make the mistake of believing that if a slave does not have a master, then she is not a slave.  That is not true.  This is akin to stating that one is not a woman if she does not have a husband.  Once a person decides she is a slave and remains fully committed to that, she is worthy of that title.  Of course, the commitment must be to the full power exchange I mentioned.  In my mind, anything short of that, like sexual slavery, is not true slavery.  Under this name, it is a full power exchange in one area while power remains in other areas.  Certainly, this is an acceptable relationship structure yet it is not slavery.

Therefore, a slave is unowned if she lacks a master.  Once she becomes property of another, she ceases to be unowned and can claim to be owned.

Old Tradition

There is one concept that I want to interject that was used in the past yet has fallen by the wayside.  Earlier, I mentioned that a slave makes one major decision: to be a slave.  Obviously, when you read what is written today, this is not the belief.  Many believe the slave decides who she is to submit to.  I can agree with this simply because there are so many pretenders so the likelihood of dealing with a true master are minimized when looking at the numbers.  However, this was not always the case.

There was a time when a slave was not released.  The reasoning was simple.  To start, a slave is a slave hence not capable of freedom.  Another aspect to this was the unfairness of releasing a slave and putting her on her own.  Anyone who lived 24/7 knows the pain that one endures when released.  Not only does she have to deal with the ending of a long term relationship but she also needs to learn how to live again.  What I mean by this is that she instantly has decisions thrust upon her.  For many, this is as painful as dealing with the loss of her relationship.

In the past, on the dominant side, there were mentors.  People did not call themselves dominant simply because they read a few webpages.  Instead, one was trained by another at the finer art of ownership.  This relationship was one that lasted years with both parties growing and helping each other.  It also set up a chain of ownership which was crucial for the slave(s) involved.  Therefore, if a relationship was ending, especially for the reason of death, provisions were made for the slave to have a new home (and owner).  Usually, she was turned over to either the previous owner's mentor or perhaps one that he mentored.  In other words, a slave was not set free on her own.

So what is the practicality of this idea today?  I would say not very good.  Sadly, many slaves are released without provision simply because this concept was completely lost.  As mentioned, we start with the simple fact that most dominants are full of crap (as are many of the submissives).  They are not true practitioners of domination but, rather, game players or, worse, abusers.  Either way, there is a great amount of uncertainty as to what one is dealing with.  In addition, few engage in being mentored into this way of life.  There are no chains of ownership available since everyone is on their own.  

Which brings me to my final point.  I have seen too many simply let go without a single provision for her future.  To me, anyone who does this is NOT a master.  A true master would never operate this way.  If a slave is let go from a TPE relationship, the master will accept responsibility for her until she gets established on her own.  In most instances, this means money.  Is it not interesting that many are perfectly willing to take the proceeds from a slave's work yet unwilling to give some back when the relationship ends.  This is unacceptable.  A master needs to be setting aside provisions in case something happens.  If the end does occur, for whatever reason, the onus is on him to make sure she has some funds to get herself a place and pay her bills until she can get established.  His responsibility does not end simply because the relationship ended.

While finding another owner might not be practical in this era, at least he can be a stand up guy and ensure one aspect of her needs are taken care of.  Too many seem to be tossed out without a thought and, to me, that is not mastery.  Frankly, it is another form of abuse.  Masters need to operate on another level as compared to the rest of the human race.  When you have the power of one's life in your hands, it is crucial you are responsible with that power.  Therefore, thinking the entire thing through is vital.  Ownership is not all sunshine and roses.  Remember that.

DN

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