The Sith Code: the basis of Sith Philosophy

[Aeturnum]

Darth Tendim wrote:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power I gain victory.
Through victory my chains are broken.
The Force will set me free!
This is the Sith code. In my opinion you will never truly understand the Sith philosophy unless you understand the code. At first glance the code may seem like just a barbaric statement by a muscle-head moron who doesn’t understand the Sith to the fullest, but take another look; keep your mind open. What do you see? What do you feel? Do the words make sense? And the big question: why? Ask yourself these questions while you are looking at the code think about what each word means.
After you have done this try to interpret each line. If you meditate now would be a good time for contemplation practice. I contemplated the code and this is what I came up with.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion: can there ever truly be peace? Think of the example of war between countries, war is definitely not peace. Once the war is over then both countries will have to work to maintain the so called peace. The passion part I don’t quite I agree with because I do not think that passion is the opposite of peace.
Through passion I gain strength: passion means that you will do anything to get what you want. If you give in to your passion then you will no doubt get what you want, if nothing stops you (such as death or imprisonment).
Through strength I gain power: so you are now strong. What now? As you gain strength you have the choice to gain power over others. What you do with that power is up to you. Power over others is not necessarily evil; it is what you do with said power that makes you good or evil.
Through power I gain victory: the more power you have the greater your chances of victory are. Such as in a business, the more employees you have the less work everyone has to do and thus everyone is less stressed and more productive. Your business is more likely to succeed.
Through victory my chains are broken: I’ll use the business metaphor again. If your business is successful you gain more money and the things that were once impossible are now possible.
The Force will set me free: if all of your chains are broken then are you not free?
This is just my interpretation of the code, you may already have an interpretation of the code; if that is so then stick with it. Everyone’s interpretation is a little different so I encourage you to find your own. remember, the code is like a compass, it will guide you in the right direction, but it will not do everything for you. If you have any questions regarding the code please feel free to contact myself or another member of the council.

[Darth Relek]

I agree with your breakdown of the first line. Life is a constant struggle, whether that be struggling to finish a uni assignment or struggling to become fitter for a sporting competition, and therefore we are always fighting, fighting to move forward, to become better.

Through Passion I Gain Strength - Passion for me represents the emotions. By using, and as you previously stated controlling and listening and using our emotions (i now see the wisdom in your words as surrendering control is never a good thing, the loss of control affects our thoughts and actions and mostly always leads to negative effects, you were right.)
continued.. we can achieve and focus on things that would normally be without this motivation and focus from our passion, ergo our emotions, we would not only not be able to fight to move forward or have the will to better ourselves, but we would also be, in a sense empty. without passion, emotions life is nothing , we would be a body without direction.
With this strength we become better than others, and we achieve things that without these emotions, we couldn't achieve, example (though a bad one) a world champion boxer, he uses and controls his emotions, his passions, and he has to believe he is the best, unbeatable, take Ali for example who thought he was the king and made out to be and made himself believe that he was the king, he used his passion and emotion and anger and all of them, and he became the best. He became an image of strength, physically and more.

Through Strength I Gain Power - Through strength we become power, take Ali again example, his poer may not be the power we all seek but i believe it can be used as an example. Through his passions and emotions and the strength he gained he also as a result gained power. He became famous, everyone knew and knows him, he became a legend, the Name Mohammed Ali struck fear in the hearts of boxers, he gained enormous amounts of money by using this passion and strength, by boxing and winning. With this power and fame and everything, he has written a book ( i think) become a respected figure all over the world, and when he refused to go to war for a religious matter he gained even more power because he listened to his emotions and power and gained strength through this and as a result gaiend power in the religious field. and most of all respect.

Through Power I Gain Victory - Through this power he gained victory not only in battle (against his opponents) but also in life, he lived a very well known and famous life (although stricken with a disease) he still had victory in many fields, the fields of wealth, power, fame, respect and many more. Victory not only relates to that of the battlefield however to showing your might, that you are the better, you have won whether this be through a financial, spiritual or physical war.

Through Victory My Chains Are Broken - I need to study this line more but i will try to dissect is as best i can though i am still a youngling and learning the code. In victory you have proven to the world, and most importantly to yourself that you can do it, you have the passion, the strength and the power to achieve and you have achieved. No longer are you bound by what other people telling you what to do or looking down upon you, your are free in the sense that you do not have to follow the rules of before because no in a sense you are above them, or on the same level. And now you can focus on other emotions and passions, and start again in something new, in a sense you are free from the bondage of your previous battle, or your previous struggle for strength and power, and now you can start a new one, to fight on and do it again, becoming always better, more stronger.

The Force Will Set Me Free - If the force really is what i believe to be, energy itself, the force of life, present in every being, being created from every being and every being being created from the force. Then when you doe the force sets you free, you go off into the world to come again into other beings, to dissipate amongst the universe free in all places.

[Darth Relek]

just thought i would copy my own little breakdown that i wrote on Real Sith Lords

[Darth Karnak]

Jan 4, 2010 11:29:26 GMT -6 Aeturnum said:

Darth Tendim wrote:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power I gain victory.
Through victory my chains are broken.
The Force will set me free!

To me being a sith is about freedom. Not Just freedom from others but manly freedom from self.

And the tenets are more of a internal map.

Peace is a lie.- When you view this from an internal point perspective. You realize that there can never be peace within you. There will always be some emotion or thought that assails you. Urges that you give into or urges that you fight. The reason being is external stimuli. And without external stimulus the mind will create its own. The jedi aim for peace but don't realize that the very act of aiming for peace is a conflict in it's self.

There is only passion- Passion is emotion and thought. It's that simple. Most people think that passion has to be some grand urge that drives you. The truth is passion in any form is just emotion's and thought patterns. From taking revenge on an enemy. To orchestrating the downfall of the republic. Or even the pursuit of true love. There all just emotion and thoughts to varying degrees.

Through passion I gain strength.- Your emotions affect every thing you do in life. Every action you make and every thought you have has an emotion connected to it. Even if you don't realize it. By watching and learning to understanding your emotions and thoughts. There cause and effects they have on you. This gives you the strength of the two greatest weapon’s. Knowledge and wisdom

Through strength I gain power. - Using the strength of Knowledge and wisdom. You Gain the power to wage war upon yourself. Not only to destroy the parts of your self that hold you back . But more importantly to create new parts of yourself in accordance with your will.

Through power I gain victory.- The power you gain over yourself will eventually lead you to victory over yourself.

Through victory my chains are broken.– First off the chains are chains you yourself have forge. Chains of belief. Chains of behavior. Chains of emotions. Chains of thoughts. They hold you down. And pull you back from reaching your true potential and freedom. Victory over yourself means breaking these chains.

The Force will set me free!– I’m still meditating on this one

[reaver]

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power I gain victory.
Through victory my chains are broken.
The Force will set me free!

Here's my bit on the Code:

Peace is a lie, there is only Passion- True, the very concept of peace, is a lie. If there was peace on the world that we know, then everyone would agree with everything, thus being slaves to perception. The reality of life is that we all suffer through conflict. Conflict is what strengthens us, unites us. Stagnation and Peace is what weakens us. We learn from our struggles, much like the Mandalorians, whose Code relied on battle as a sort of test. A test that if won, they were undisputable, if they lost however, then they learned from those mistakes to fight again. Passion, is the manner in which we face our conflicts. Passion can be an emotional or physical aspect of life. The usual emotional responses are anger, hatred, love. Whereas the physical can be disease that must be overcome, a weakness of strength, in which we grow stronger through conditioning our bodies as such. Passion fuels our lives to become better, perfect, so that we would not have to encounter a task that we couldnt handle.
Through Passion I gain Strength: As I stated earlier, our Passion fuels our perfection in all aspects of life. Without a constant external or internal battlefield, we might as well just waste away in the pages of history.
Through Strength I Gain Power: Power is the ultimate goal of life. To know that at anytime you could destroy your enemies in a relatively quick manner would also fuel your sense of perfection. Being strong enough to handle any and all tasks that are set before you is the truest test of any human alive.
Through Power I gain Victory: Victory, or Perfection in my mind is achieved when your will and physical being is at its apex.
Through Victory My Chains are Broken: You have reached Perfection and all anyone can do is be left in awe of your power.
The Force will set me free: When you leave this life and this world your legacy will live on in the mere presence you imprinted upon humanity.