"He's -- he's right out in the open!" Jude said, adding her disgust to that of the less self-absorbed passersby. "I . . . I don't think he's even aware anybody's watching!"
No. no, he wasn't, was he? His exultant abandon -- Ellen found this the most fascinating aspect of the display. His choice of locale and timing may have been awry, but she saw on his face more passion and ecstasy than she'd noticed on the faces of last week's eight or ten lovers combined.
The Minimists have been a tiny offshoot of the cult for centuries. Only after the Vietnam war has its membership grown and sought recognition as a craft. The Minimists view centers on self-gratification and the minimalization of external influences.
The basis of the Gnostic belief was that since the material world falls so short of the spiritual world, it has to be bad. Therefore, their physical bodies are also bad, in comparison with the spiritual world. There were a number of offshoots -- the ascetics denied themselves everything; the libertines focused on pleasuring themselves, seeing their physical bodies as a reflection of their spiritual bodies, not as something separate. Most of the Gnostics, however, believed that the body was a prison that kept the spirit shackled.
Originally a sleeper development, a lunatic fringe of the Gnostics, the Minimists decided to do something about their imprisonment. They started cutting parts off themselves away to reduce the size of the prison.
Over time, this fringe approach and that of the libertines came together. Although the sleeper group is believed to have died out, it has continued in closely guarded privacy. The Minimists understand that most people cannot accept their way of transcendence. However, after most major wars, their numbers grow.
There is a certain transedence that arrives when one has lost all his limbs and must, for his very survival, depend on others. All his concerns, all his control, is given over to others, as the spiritual concerns and control is given over to God, or whatever divine force the individual believes in.
Usually, after experiencing a few informal gatherings, the amount of emotional bonding between the new member and others in the group more closely approximates that of lovers who have become familiar with each other over the course of decades.
Each member must progress at his own rate. Though it is encouraged, there is no pressure on any of the members to remove any further body parts. The group recognizes that it takes time for the body to heal from the trauma of loss.
Incense: Spirit/Time
Scar Tissue: Life/Mind/Prime
Touch: Forces/Matter
"I housed a few of them after World War II. It's an interesting approach. Not one we'd recommend, but if it helps them along the path."
Akashic Brotherhood: The Akashics talk about Do. Do is the focusing of energy to a central point in the body. We are doing the same thing through decreasing the body area.
"No. The view such people might espouse is plain wrong. You cannot improve your body or your mind by separating and removing parts of yourself."
Celestial Chorus: We really don't want them to know we exist. The reaction to our first incarnation wasn't very nice, and we don't want a repeat performance.
"If such an splinter group should still exist, it would be our duty to remove them. It is not our choice to desecrate the body the One has given us."
Cult of Ecstasy: They've got the right idea. Now, they just need to decrease the pleasure area to intensify their pleasure.
"Not our way. I mean, how can you possibly get off by cutting your hand off? That's just stupid. If it works for them, great, but no way, pal. Not for me."
Dreamspeakers: If these guys actually talk to spirits, great. What better way to emulate the spirits, but by becoming less attached to our flesh?
"There is a long history of shamans blinding themselves so they may see the spirits and the spirit world. Perhaps these people remove parts of themselves so they may interact with the spirits and the spirit world."
Euthanatos: We do what we do out of fear? So we should die? No. We do what we do to get more out of life. Noone should have the right to arbitrarily decide who lives or dies. That's stupid.
"Most of these people are death-minded. They're just too afraid to go there in one fell swoop. They think it's better to go one slice at a time. In the meantime, they're wasting resources, and calcifying in a life that goes nowhere."
Order of Hermes: The Order is kind of autocratic and just a little scary. They've got a thing about what they perceive as 'wholeness,' and we'd be the people to suffer if they discovered us.
"Such a group of individuals probably seek solace in others with like deformities. They would naturally be undisciplined and unfocused. They would go nowhere, and would be no help on the way to Ascension."
Sons of Ether: They're pretty weird guys. But we don't need to add false parts to make us whole. That's never been the problem. We are already whole.
"An interesting idea. Perhaps it warrants some examination. I'll have one of assistants look into it. It might have something to do with the phantom limb syndrome... hmmm... I wonder..."
Verbena: Good people. Good approach, Good ideas. But they seem to lack the werewithal to take their ideas to their natural fruition -- instead they dabble with the drawing of blood, without the separation of their own bodies.
"Changing yourself for betterment is understandable, even laudible. Destroying yourself bit-by-bit is offensive and can in no way better yourself. Why give yourself a handicap?"
Virtual Adepts: Their problems seem to be in the physical realm only. But, they are doing just the same thing. The only difference is that they add a computer where their limbs were.
"Who? That's weird. It's one thing to drill a hole in your head for a neural interface; it's another thing entirely to drill a hole in your head to have a hole in your head."
Iteration X: So, what's the difference between the Virtual Adepts and Iteration-X, again?
"They are already beaten. Less than whole, these people cannot last long. They are a negligible threat."
New World Order: These people are screwed. Half of us came back from Vietnam, and were spat on by their brainwashing.
"We've worked hard to ensure that the public finds it hard to accept lack of wholeness. Soon enough, they'll be killing off amputees and other handicapped people. Their intolerance for anything alien is rising -- and the alien includes themselves."
Progenitors: They may actually have a way there -- but making a prison cell better does not change the fact that it's a prison. Likewise with the body.
"This desire to mutilate themselves may be a genetic condition with specific genetic flags. If we had some of these people, we could run some tests, and see if we could discover ways to combat it."
The Syndicate: Huh? What? These are the guys who are cutting our VA funding.
"Less body means less productivity and higher consumerism due to higher need. While this is possibly a good thing, if their viewpoints were to catch on, there would be a marked downtrend in productivity.?"
Void Engineers: Sorry, again, 'who?' Never even heard of them.
"Sorry, we can't keep track of every self-obsessed group. Besides generally, we don't really care. Excuse me, I've more work to do..."
As death allows the movement of the spirit beyond the prison of the body, so must a partial death allow partial movement. Although the Minimist who uses this rote has lost or removed a body-part, this rote can be used to grasp items in other realms. The pioneer of this rote, Adrian Chamberlain was unsure of eactly where his "phantom limbs" were moving, but the results were undeniable.
The mage must attune himself to the "Phantom limb," then concentrate on exercises and movement of that limb. With greater control comes greater movement.
After he'd taught this rote to others, he'd come to understand that he was affecting items and spirits in the Shadowlands. A phantom arm may (sometimes) move in the Shadowlands, as if it were free of the caul.
With this rote, the Minimist can heighten the sensitivity of his flesh to outside stimuli. The amount at which the mage can heighten the sensitivity is inversely proportional to the amount of flesh to be heightened. For example, a 300-pound mage with a foot missing will not gain the same level of sensitivity as a 90-pound mage with both legs missing. Although this might seem to be used as a means to coerce others into "shedding their flesh," it's never used in that manner.
Sometimes the sensitivity is so heightened, that the mage experiences sensory overload, and falls into a trance (Quiet?) state. Those few who have experienced this level of sensitivity have claimed to have experienced the warm embrace of the One, as they had temporarily escaped their prisons.