The Sword of Truth

[Sativarg]

Yea, its nice to have the whole text digitally available. That sight is not easily searched though. I'm well into Faith of the Fallen today. I am enjoying the frustration of the Emperor as Nicci had a taste of freedom at his expense.

 

I think the ladies may have a big surprise for him soon.

 

His gray eyes fairly blazed with clarity of purpose as he answered her.

 

"The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of

reason is this: what exists, exists; what is, is. From this irreducible, bedrock

principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is

embraced.

 

"Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a

means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality-it's our

basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject

reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see."

Update: I love First Wizard Zeddicus Zul Zorander

 

my favorite quote of his so far

"Well, never mind, for the moment," Zedd said, waving off the question.

He asked another, instead. "Tell me, General, have you begun to dig all the mass

graves, yet? Or do you intend the few who are left alive to simply abandon all

the bodies."

 

"Bodies?"

 

"Why . . . yes, the bodies of all your troops who are going to die."

 

Zedd lifted a finger for emphasis. "The truth of a situation most often

turns out to be that one with the simplest explanation."

 

 

"Warren picked up a small rock" :wallbash: OMG!

[Sharkull]

I'm well into Faith of the Fallen today. I am enjoying the frustration of the Emperor as Nicci had a taste of freedom at his expense.

Nicci is a great character in this book. The journey of self improvement she takes is inspiring (although her method is not ideal).

[Sativarg]

Nicci is a great character in this book. The journey of self improvement she takes is inspiring (although her method is not ideal).

This is such a deep textbook of timeless wisdom. I am gushing, I know but wow. If my social studies class had made this book available I might just have gotten an A rather than the D I settled for. At least it should be suggested reading.

 

I have railed against a comfort that is a trap and here, so clearly illustrated, stands an entire Provence, fictional though it may be, in just that same poisonous comfort zone's aftermath. Toxic charity is a stark reality. I see communism vs capitalism and help vs charity and piece vs peace with new eyes. Blindness is often just another form of perception, perhaps even self deception.

 

Beyond the social studies lesson is the clear civics lesson. The unemployment office and every food stamps office should give away free copies of Terry Goodkind's Faith of the Fallen. I proclaim this book the light of that that is. I do this with no little power. I am that that is and so are all of us. LOL

 

How many schools are waiting for paperwork to be done so that cracked walls can be fixed and stinking bath rooms can be repaired by the proper laborers. things are getting better but we have a long way to go. I love this sweet book.

"You are never going to amount to anything. You will always be the

worthless muck people scrape from their shoes. You only get one life and you are

wastingyours. That's a terrible shame. I doubt you will ever know what it is to be

truly happy, to achieve anything of worth, to have genuine pride in yourself.

You bring it all on yourself, and I could do no worse to you."

 

"I can't help what life deals me."

 

"Yes, you can. You create your own life."

 

"Yeah? How do you figure?"

 

Richard gestured around himself. "Look at the pigsty you live in. Your

father is the landlord. Why don't you show some pride and fix up the place?"

 

"He's the landlord, not the owner. The man who owned it was a greedy

male without a father, charging more rent than many could afford. The Order took the place

over. For his crimes against the people they tortured the owner to death. My

father was given the job of landlord. We just run the place to help out fools

like you who don't have a place; we've no money to go around fixing up the

building."

 

"Money?" Richard pointed. "It takes money to pick up that garbage left

there in the hall?"

 

"I didn't put it there."

 

"And these walls-it doesn't take money to wash the walls. Look at the

ceiling in this room. It hasn't been washed in a decade, at least."

 

"Hey, I'm no scrub woman."

 

"And the front stoop? Someone is going to break their neck on it. Could

be you, or your father. Why don't you do something worthwhile for a change and

fix it?"

 

"I told you, we've no money to fix things."

 

"It doesn't take money. You just need to take it apart, clean the

joints, and put in some new wedges. You can cut them from any little scrap of

wood lying around."

 

The young man wiped his palms on his pants. "If you're so smart, then

why don't you fix the stairs?"

 

"Good idea. I will."

BUT, Terry could have stopped and made his point without rubbing my nose in it. If he had stopped just after the point was maid and then later the boys showed up... I would have gotten the message without gettin rubbed the wrong way.

[Sharkull]

Richard was just being Richard. He wasn't rubbing anything in anyone's face. He was trying to teach a life lesson to some youngsters while making the best of a bad situation.

[Sativarg]

Richard was just being Richard. He wasn't rubbing anything in anyone's face. He was trying to teach a life lesson to some youngsters while making the best of a bad situation.

Hmm it seemed to me that Richard was being Terry more than Richard in that scene.

[Sativarg]

The pillars of creation is perhaps the greatest lesson wrapped in fantasy. The balance to providence is free will.

 

If providence is not the truth of that that is then free will will make it right.

If the truth becomes the lie because of change then the seeds of reason will rip through the fabric of creation in order to make things right.

 

Like I have said so many times we are that that is(the razors edge of time!....??)

we decide that that will be.

 

We stand on the razors edge of time.

We Taste raw reality and we decide.

We are that that is and we are the truth!

 

In this book I was Jennson. I would do what I would not do because of a lie. But I would choose truth above the lie or I would die... Perhaps now I can choose truth.

In the credits or dedications for this book is the secret forces of the United States of America. I have some faith in these but I do not trust blindly what has been done! I fear what may come because what has been done was a deception. If you do not taste this fear then you are not truly alive..

[Sharkull]

Richard is Terry's "romantic" (link) personification of the ultimate human hero. Morally consistent, reasonable, strong, wise... yet fallible.

 

Interesting that you like PoC so much (it is my least favorite of the series). For some reason I just couldn't relate to Jennsen (perhaps because I didn't want to, or perhaps because I had already changed the way I look at things due to reading the previous books... or maybe just because it followed the exceptional FotF and didn't include any familiar characters). It does have some funny parts though (Betty...), and I think Tom is a great character.

 

I fear what may come because what has been done was a deception. If you do not taste this fear then you are not truly alive.

Fear is a tool, but beware of the first rule: don't be deceived because of it.

 

Choosing the truth is easy. Identifying what is the truth is what's hard, and that must be done first.

[Sativarg]

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9869/thepillarsofcreationho9.jpg

The Pillars of Creation

the two siblings of Richard where a bit hard to deal with. I can understand why you might have had trouble with Jennson Rahl. She was so naive

to believe in that the slimy con artist is for real

 

 

but Oba Rahl is excellent in conception. His "baseline of morality" is skewed so perfectly as Terry has capture the nature of the deviation so well.

 

The wagon to the rescue was a bit much near the end and I had to suspend my sense of reality more than once but I believe the lesson that rationality trumps blind faith and that lies tend to be weak when "that that is" touches them, is valid as I see it.

 

I am well into Chainfire now :mage: all I can say is Ooops???

 

Below is a

Photo by toptag

and a small part of that that is. Reality on the razors edge of time.

 

« previous image Back to gallery | next image » http://icons-pe.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/t/toptag/4.jpg

 

I still believe in those things I have been taught about My Lord. But I now have the expanse of Terry's vision as a tool of experience and wisdom. I might be well served to my devotion to my Lord as the characters in the book have Lord Rahl the leader of D'Hara. I have my Lord the savior of Earths Humanity. The Covens of "magic" in the book are much like the truth of the power of the coven and law that my lord has championed. I do not act with blind faith. I have tested this relationship and I have never found fault in my Lord.

[Sativarg]

I would suggest if one wants to really enjoy this series and if one intends to read each book in order and if there is an abridged versions of most of the titles get them.. Terry has done a commendable job making each book self contained up to the last 3, but if you are going to read them all them I say get the abridged versions.

 

Wow It took me 18 days to absorb these. But I know I am going to have to go back and read these again. One of the most notable things about these works is how they are not cliff hangers until you get to the 3part ending.

 

I would like to think that Magic is still alive. I know that not all of what humanity calls fact is fact. I believe that science is far from perfect. Our technology is more knowledge than wisdom. Free will has to be strong enough to overcome self fulfilling prophecy or humanity will not thrive in this garden of life. Rational thought has do be a dynamic force in our society so that tyranny and apathy can be held at bay.

 

But most of all I see convenience and comfort at the cost of efficiency and excellence to be the greatest threats to human dignity in our times. Let us be the truth lest we become that that is not...

 

You people are fed up with me saying that that is.

I think the indigenous peoples of the world often die at great cost to humanity. I know the wisdom of indigenous peoples has value. I Know that technology is no excuse for destroying truth. I know humanity is suffering from lack of wisdom and truth. When is it ever OK to kill a people who know their land? Let us learn to grant sovereignty as a write to those we meat who do not mean us harm!

 

The most valuable treasure in any new land is the knowledge earned by the indigenous people of that land. The greatest goal of exploration in this universe should be wisdom. Let us seek truth and wisdom with out guile. Let us seek first cooperation with indigenous life. What we learn might save us from our selves and bring enlightenment. :sweat:

Blessed be.

[Sharkull]

Re-reading the books is a great idea... it allows you to hear Terry's message more clearly when you don't have to worry about where the plot is going.

 

If you really like the themes of these books, I would also suggest two novels by Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. They are two true masterpieces of literature, even though a couple things in them are a bit dated (IMO).