From Paper to Life

The books are, overall, very thorough. They have their longwinded moments that glaze a person's eyes over and cause them to skip to What Happens Next. Tarl Cabot slays Kurii with gleeful abandon after breakfast, magically captures, tames, and fully Masters a girl in another long-winded passage, and is still on time for lunch at the local paga Tavern. The girl he has just enslaved morphs easily into a gorgeous woman that'd put Pam Anderson to shame, embracing all facets of her new condition and status with as much lack of effort. Upon Tarl's disposal of her, she finds her love Master in the first auction she's sold at, and everyone lives Happily Ever After.

Bleh. There's a *reason* the Gor books are found in 'science fiction' as opposed to, say, 'animal husbandry', or 'self-improvement' when someone looks for them in a used bookstore. They're fiction.

A number of times shayla's seen people trip over themselves in attempting to emulate everything in the books in their life. While a great deal in the books can be brought seamlessly into use, there is a great amount that simply does not work.

Master mentioned in a previous post shayla's commanded position when he enters the room; kneeling, head to the floor, hands on either side of the head. Very appropriate, shayla believes. Does he call it obeisance, as it's called in the books? Or from on-line circles, karta? Not to shayla's knowledge. To her, and when Master speaks of it, she is kneeling with her head to the floor. Another example is when the two of us are running errands with each other, or any time we are out in public. Shayla inevitably winds up about 3 paces behind his left shoulder when walking, sitting behind and at a level below him (if practical) if we're sitting somewhere. On some levels this is unconscious. Shayla's always wound up behind him and to his left. Though, there was one occasion when she was at his right, he paused, turned to her, 'shouldn't you be to the left?' Clearly, she is heeling him (the fact that Master's left-handed has no bearing on his preference of where she is. The truck keys or a pen have less range when wielded than a sword. She's not gotten in the way yet). Something consiously applied? Perhaps not to shayla, but it seems Master's more aware of it on a conscious level than her. She'd not attempt to temporize for him. To shayla, she is simply placing herself where it feels appropriate given our relationship. Much the same happens at meals. Whether at home or out, shayla waits until he is settled and eating before she begins her own meal. All of these, directly from the books. Is it something we talk about? No. He doesn't command shayla to heel, nor does he tell her to wait to eat. It simply seems appropriate to her that she does things this way. Master's acceptance of such behavior is all the evidence she needs the he considers it to be so as well. So, there is a good deal of practical application to what is in the books.

There's always a flip side to the coin. Shayla's certain that Master's wanted on more than one occasion to gag shayla, tie her hands behind her back, & leash her while we're in the grocery store. Wouldn't work at all (though she's sure the thought's crossed his mind more than once). Shayla has come across a site where people speak a 'Kassar' language in their day to day activities with each other, though no samples of such a language are in the books at all. Another language developed and used occasionally on-line. People agonizing over whether or not there is such a thing as Gorean free women. Heated debates over how a slave should be dressed when she leaves her Master's house. Putting one's slave up for auction and advertising such in the local paper *certainly* would result in a negative reaction, of a most unpleasant type.

The essence of this is that all the customs and behaviors in the books do not have to be emulated in real life to be Gorean. In the home, it's possible to an extent. Though one would expect allowances & modifications when necessary. Shayla's entire work-place would be up in arms if she wore her collar, lock & all, when she came in for her time. But as time goes by and shayla learns more and more of this life she has begun, one thing becomes clearer to her. The books shouldn't be considered a how-to manual. There have been one or two people that shayla's had the pleasure of knowing that have never touched a book, nor heard of Gor, yet they have been some of the most Gorean people she's come across. Being Gorean isn't what you wear when you're out with your Master; claiming a caste; speaking a developed language; drinking blackwyne as opposed to coffee (and she's known a number of people that do just that). It's what you are, the beliefs you have and the honor, ethics, and way of being.

shayla