AsdrubaelWho said:
I understand everything you have stated here, Oni, but I wonder why it is impossible for a man's own strength, both of mind and physical, is not enough to support him through a hopeless situation, to urge him toward achieving the impossible. A man with strength has the desire to survive, to carry on and move forward. Why does he require an outside stimulus to overcome obstacles? I agree that some need or just want the extra support they receive from their beliefs and that it how they function best but I don't agree that man requires it. Be it the strength of hatred, which is ultimately destructive or strength of moral character, which is ultimately the devotion to positive life, both your own and everyone elses, present and future.
Hence a character should be able to have this strength.
I suppose this isn't really a topic for this thread, but happy to discuss it.smile
Grish said:
This can and should be discussed here! Belief and lack of belief, are both sides of the same gem, and work in this game.
Thanks, Grish! I like this topic.
I thought I had stated it pretty clearly in my original post that a mans will alone isn't enough.
Let me paraphrase it.
A man is a man. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, what is different from a man who lives for over two weeks on a frozen mountaintop in a blizzard, surviving by the skin of his teeth and requiring medical attention the moment the attention can be given And....
A 9-5 office worker who just got fired, and is in his home resting the same day. He's depressed, his girlfriend just left him for good and there's a bottle of alcohol in the fridge, and a gun by his bed. Bad, bad thoughts are in his head.
They both had bad things happen to them, right? Granted, one was life threatening, the other is only temporary. People get new jobs, but then again, people live through bad situations as well.
Let's throw religion into this.
The same man on the mountaintop is there for a clerical retreat, a kind of hermitage. He's snowed in, unable to get to his reserve supplies of food or off the mountain in general. He prays to his god(ess) and finds comfort and solace in the fact that this is meant to be, a test. What religious man or woman would not find some way to justify their position, which they have no control over, as a sort of test from their deity? This sense of purpose that it gives you (I'm here for a
reason, this is happening for a
reason...Thus, purpose) is a huge stress reliever, and thus, a great benefit.
This is only a single benefit of having that inner faith.
The second scenario, much more hospitable and not nearly as immediate as the first. He's also religious. He drinks the alcohol, cries, screams well into the night, and finds himself on his knees by his bed, the drawer open and the gun in plain view. But as he reaches for the gun, a bible(Quran, Torah, etc) is seen directly underneath it. His faith flairs, and calm settles in; he has a purpose. This is something that had to happen, and there is a loving figure standing above him, looking down at him and sharing his pain.
He puts the gun away, sleeps, and a month later he's got a better job doing more things.
Now, granted, these are highly subjective scenarios. But this is what faith, a belief in something greater than yourself gives you. It's a little feeling called Hope.
In threat of making a terribly long post, here's the same scenario, and how I'd see it, without religion.
The man on the mountain is Agnostic. He directly tries to disprove God, and is thus on the mountaintop waiting for another hermit to come so he can argue with him. Snowstorm comes, he's trapped and there's no sunlight, he's stuck. He has no faith in things other than himself, no belief in divinity or providence, and no way to contact his only belief; people. The material. What does he do? He struggles for three days, expending energy, fighting the only way he knows how. With his hands and feet.
He may survive, he may not, but that lack of solidarity in yourself is a desperate, dangerous thing. It harms far more than it helps.
And I really think I don't need to type out the second scenario.
This is how I see 'Faith' in a God(ess), Humanity (As an ideal, not a physical manifestation), or Yourself as a huge boon to anything and everything you do. Lack of belief in something almost certainly will equate to a lack of performance in some area of your life. Who says it won't be a critical one?
.
. I hope this has nothing to do with the current topic of discussion. A diverse party is a well rounded party. Can't have all warriors and fighters.