One day, where you are from, what form of being you are, none of this will matter, all that will matter is if you seek peace, or domination and violence. When that day comes, The Lazlo Society will will truely begin to become a society, with all that such entails.

Already scholar, mage, warrior, and sceptic alike pool their talents to protect those in need, to force the darkness back, deep into the shadows. Ever watchfull for it's return. Already nationality blurs, with East and West, North and South, all working in their own way to open what eyes they can, helping to bring the light of truth and understanding deeper into the shadows, pushing the darkness back, wherever it may hide.

Always I shall bear with me the scars of my failures, the pain of loss, the destruction of innocents, the unforgettable stench of violent death. But here, here I am remind of those two most important qualities of life. Hope, hope for the future, hope that one day we will all be able to truely understand what it is to be human. Just as important is faith. Faith that no matter matter how severe the loss, the darkness will not be unopposed. Faith that when one falls to the darkness another will come to take his place. Faith that there will be a time and place where there will be peace amongst all who desire it.

Shang Li,

On one hand, you come off as one of them peaceful, Tibetin monk types, at peace with themselves and all those around. All Zen and what not.

And while much of this post of yours is about shining happy people and positive futures, the start of the last paragraph seems to hint at a darker past.

So I am curious.

Do you regret the darkness?

Or are you at peace with it?

Because the two seem irreconcilable in my mind. To me, to regret is to be not at peace. So to be at peace, there must be no regrets.

Like the young master, my past is darker than my future. I have regrets, but have made my peace with them and do not dwell on them. Have you heard the story of the two monks and the pretty lady? You may find it enlightening.

No, Mr. Long,

I have not heard that tale before now.

And I see the connection you are trying to make with it. Guilt, like the beautiful young woman, can be set down when the task is done or carried with one for as long as one wishes to carry it.

So I take it that you are telling me that you have set down your guilt and carried on?

But what of the young monk? Why is it so hard for him to lay down the burden? And how is he to do it, now that the young woman is in their past?

I have.

The young monk is new to the teachings; he obeys their letter but is blind to their spirit. I expect him to grow in enlightenment as he matures, but the story doesn't say.

Hmmm,

Well, I suppose the story isn't for the young monk's enlightenment. It's for those who hear it.

Still, I would think that putting down an attractive young woman would be an easy burden to set aside.

Then again, mrloucifer might disagree.

He might indeed.

Those of us who have chosen to stand in the dark and look to the light are like the philosophers from the Allegory of the Cave. We were once at peace with our knowledge of the world and our place in it, but something happened that took us away from that peace. Now, we have two options: go back to trying to live a life that ignores all we have seen and learned or stand up and face that knowledge and try to help others learn as well.

WE have chosen the latter option. We cannot ever have that peace again. We must understand that our darknesses have been executed in the pursuit of maintaining the peace for those who have not yet seen the truth. Ours will be lives of struggle; they will be lives of pain; they will be lives of loss.

Our struggle is to be at peace with our darkness without succumbing to it. During my sojourn into "Hell," I lost many good soldiers in our war -- I even killed several of my own knights in the war to save the Earth. I will forever miss those men, they were good friends; I will forever struggle to forgive myself for resorting to killing them to stop them; but I will never question that I stopped a great evil from becoming even stronger or even reaching the Earth. It is in this that I find peace.

The rest of humanity can have peace -- I have chosen my pain, I am at peace with my choices.

Shang Li, I am glad to see you are still here. Your new chance at enlightenment seems to be going as a life should go. Struggle is life. "The unexamined life is not worth living." Enjoy it.

That was not the reason you had not heard from me, Ms. Solstice.

I enjoy what of it I can, Chen Lung - and many of us prefer to be a light that shows the way to the exit of the cave's darkness than accept that others are doomed to darkness.

Nemisis, the young woman merely represents those things you desire - set them down and be free, my friend.

I bow to your understang yet again, Sifu Long.

and to the question that drew me back to this thought.

Nemesis, I have over the years done many dark deeds. I have no regrets of the darknes through which I have passed, for it has shaped the person I am today. I am at peace with the fact that darkness exists in all men's souls, even my own. The darkness that comes from within men's souls, I am at peace with - each man must eventually face and overcome his own personal demons or they will devour him as once I was devoured. As for the darkness that corrupts men from outside his own spirit, with them there can be no peace.....

Shang Li wrote:Nemesis, I have over the years done many dark deeds. I have no regrets of the darknes through which I have passed, for it has shaped the person I am today. I am at peace with the fact that darkness exists in all men's souls, even my own. The darkness that comes from within men's souls, I am at peace with - each man must eventually face and overcome his own personal demons or they will devour him as once I was devoured. As for the darkness that corrupts men from outside his own spirit, with them there can be no peace.....

If you were devoured by darkness, how did you find peace?

How did you come to a point where you no longer had any regrets?

Perhaps it is already too late for me. I can't even begin to imagine peace or not having regret.

I overcame my demons, Nemesis, I wish it were possible to tell you how, but each man's demons are as unique as he is and must each be bested in their own manner.

When I realised that the darkness sithin me had shaped me into what I have become just as much as the light I stive to hold, and moreso than the darkness against which I strive daily.

Success and Failure are not how a man should be judged, but rather what he does with their fruits.

Shang Li wrote:Success and Failure are not how a man should be judged, but rather what he does with their fruits.

So I can throw the sour fruits of my failures at my enemies?

Is there a way to actually make that work? Because it would amuse the heck outta me.

I believe the modern phrase is "when life gives you lemons, you make lemonaide"

Shang Li wrote:I believe the modern phrase is "when life gives you lemons, you make lemonaide"

Really? Because what my ole da used to say was, "When someone hands you lemons, huck them in the eye of the guy who gave 'em to you. And while he's blind, take his stuff."

Different philosophies, I suppose.

Hannah wrote:Me personally I prefer lemonade. I hope when this craziness is all over we can have some lemonade together.

Might just as well. At this point my identity is so shot, even the resident blind woman knows what I look like.

(No offense intended, Wie).

Eilonwy Solstice wrote:None taken, Nemesis. And as for your identity, you won’t hear it from me. I’ll leave it in your hands to relate it or not.

Just remember what I told you about healing.

I remember Wie. And thanks for leaving it to me to decide. I'm ready I think, to take the next major step.

You'll see what I mean very soon.

I wouldn't complain about getting something for free in the first place.

Then again, I'm really a kicked back kinda guy.

When broken down and then rebuilt on a genetic level, lemons can be made into a potent anti-metal acid bomb.

Coming from anyone on this site, that's saying something.