Although this thread is headed "Slavery as a Calling," let me first try to address a related question that's already been asked...

Jewel asked a great question in an earlier thread about people whose D/s and M/s is sexually motivated v. those whose D/s and M/s is not sexually motivated. She asked if i thought those two motivations are worlds apart or whether i thought they could combine in the same person. Master Jim and i talked about this question for quite a while today, and i'm going to try to summarize what we said.

First, Jewel... i think you're right -- "kink" is not a word that really describes how Master Jim and i view Mastery and slavery. i know there are a lot of people in the community who really like that word, and who find it descriptive of who they are and what they do. It doesn't work for Master Jim or for me. (Which just goes to show that it's a good thing there are lots of words out there available to describe who you are.)

If you're talking about people for whom M/s or D/s is something they enjoy doing in the bedroom or in the dungeon, on an occasional basis, but for whom it is not an "identity," then yes -- i do think that is worlds apart from the way Master Jim and i live. (And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we don't believe that it is better or worse than what we do, only different.)

If you're talking about people who want to live their lives in a D/s or M/s relationship -- who identify as Dominant or submissive or Master or slave, even out of the bedroom or dungeon -- but who also want the person they do it with to be of their preferred gender and sexual orientation, and for whom sex is very much a part of that life -- then Master Jim and i think we have more commonalities than differences. Whatever the motivation is for wanting to live in a D/s or M/s relationship, there will be similar issues of how to maintain and grow the relationship, how to deal with issues of punishment, what happens if the Master or slave dies, how should the relationship be structured, what about incorporating protocol or ritual and ceremony into the relationship, etc. While there may be different approaches that work best in one relationship or another, that's always the case, whether the D/s or M/s is sexually motivated or not.

When Master Jim and i speak on M/s relationships at events, we're always happy to talk about the things that make us different from many who are in M/s and D/s relationships. But it's funny how most of the time, we end us talking about the experiences and issues that are common to those who are living in D/s and M/s relationships.

i'll do a second post in this thread to *finally* try to explain my view about slavery as a calling.

Let me try to explain what i mean by slavery being a "calling" to me.

As i moved further and further into a Master/slave relationship with Master Jim, i found my concept of slavery becoming more all-encompassing. It really began to describe who i am all the time, wherever i am,, not just what i do. i began looking around me for information on how to live this way -- how to live a life that focuses on obedience and service. Well, as you might guess, it came to me that for thousands of years, people who have devoted their lives to religious service in all kinds of religions have lived lives defined by those same principles. They seemed to struggle with the same issues i struggle with -- of following a path that is a little off the beaten track, of trying to be obedient, of learning discipline, of learning about different kinds of love.

One of the writers who made a tremendous impression on me is Kathleen Norris. Norris is a poet who was raised in a Protestant Christian denomination, but who has chosen to spend a great deal of time with Catholic Benedictine monks and nuns. Norris has written about her experience in many places, including a book called, "The Cloister Walk." In that book, she says:

“[I was] reminded that the pain that comes from one’s identity, that grows out of the response to a call, can’t be escaped or pushed aside. It must be gone through.... To answer a call as a prophet, or a poet, is to reject the authority of credentials, of human valuation of any kind, accepting only the authority of the call itself.”

That passage was like a light blazing out of the darkness for me.

That's what slavery is like for me -- it's my identity, one that i cannot push aside or ignore, without doing tremendous violence to who i am, but one which does not come easily, either. It is an identity that the society i live in will, in all likelihood, never support or place high value on. And that doesn't matter. It is the call i hear, and i must answer.

So that's what i mean when i say slavery is a calling to me. Thank you all for letting me share that.