often overlaps with, the Paths of -Feeling, -Thought and -Harmony. It is related to -Feeling because many of the feelings that -Feeling Seekers try to avoid are about self and overcoming fear helps one live without the comfort of selfhood. It is related to -Thought in that -Thought is about not believing things and -Self is about not believing things about self. It is related to -Harmony in that -Self is about shedding self-identification with any group, while -Harmony is about resisting the desire to adapt to the beliefs of those around you. Most beginning -Self and +Self Seekers see their philosophies at odds with each other, yet more advanced Seekers in these Paths see more similarities than differences. Those on the Path of +Harmony usually don’t see the point of -Self except when it is explained as “not trying to impose your selfhood on those around you” or “not thinking about the differences between yourself and others.”
Traditions
The major contributors to the Path of -Self are the major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and Eastern philosophies (such as Buddhism and Taoism). Monotheism comes to -Self because of the focus on humbling oneself before God. Any sincere monotheist may find himself or herself on the Path of -Self, but mystic schools (e.g. Sufism, Kabbalah) are especially likely to lead to that Path.
Buddhism and Taoism contribute to -Self with the idea that ego is a falsehood and attachments to it cause hardship. The practice of Chod in Vajrayana Buddhism, where one meditates on death in order to bring about a death of selfhood, sends many Seekers to the Path of -Self.
Other traditions that contribute to -Self are Clowning (from the realization that most people are ‘full of themselves,’ puffed up with ridiculous ideas about themselves), various schools of Mysticism (because of the emphasis of giving up ego in preference for divine presence), Ordinary Life (because of its grounding in humility as opposed to lofty cosmic goals), Politics, and especially socialism (with its focus on the equality of all people and on eliminating the high status enjoyed by elites), Psychology (from its studies of self-concept and how it is inaccurate and often creates self-fulfilling prophecies), Science (from the skepticism of the things people feel and believe without evidence or proof) and Shamanism (where “shamanic death” helps liberate one from preconceived notions about self).
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“Most people are constantly supported by these inflexible ideas about who they are, what their duties are, what their limitations are, what rules govern their lives. We have learned not to rely on such things. Where they have skeletons, we are flexible.
We’re like octopi: we can fit into any space and go places the others can’t.” -“Mr. I’ll Fix Anything”
“Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by themselves.”
Challenges
A few teachers try to make lessons custom-made for a student, that take advantage of something the student believes about themselves. Usually, this means a challenge that forces a person to do something they think they are bad at. Other challenges, which don’t have to be custom made to a particular Seeker, involve observing a person (or even just looking at a person’s belongings) and discovering the faults in their concept of Self. A master might show a student three items from a person’s pockets, or allow the student to ask three questions of a person, then determine something hidden about that person’s identity.
Recognizing
-Self Seekers tend to exhibit a lack of personal style. What they wear, do with their hair and nails, etc. is usually utilitarian.
They usually speak very plainly, avoiding both slang and obtuse vocabulary.
They have no ‘attitude,’ so much so that it’s hard to tell whether they are arrogant or humble or what their opinion is of anything.
Won’t give clear answers to personal questions (e.g. where are you from, what do you do, what religion are you?).
View of Normals
The average person depends on, is controlled by, and is constantly trying to convince others of a fiction of self- identity. From the prejudiced redneck to the arrogant philosophy professor, all are crippled by their sense of identity. The story people tell about themselves is not only untrue, it is so ridiculously simplistic that it is an insult to the complexity and potential inherent in each human.
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Path Plusses
Primary: Add +2 per level of -Self to any AV that involves not having ideas about self and thus not communicating ideas about self to others or that involve being a passive observer. Examples: AVs to avoid having
the PCs emotions, attributes or intentions be read by others, rolls to notice things happening around one.
Aided: Add +1 to any AV roll that can be aided by being able to think, act or perceive unhampered by thoughts about self and the prejudices they can cause. Example:
empathy, fighting against things that others would perceive as human weaknesses.
Combat: Add +1 per level of -Self to combat rolls only when the PC is outmatched (opponent has a higher combat AV, prior to addition of Path plusses) and where thoughts of self would have caused fear or loss of confidence.
Attributes: Add +1 to Hit Points per level of -Self (from the PC’s refusing to be- lieve in his or her own body’s weaknesses).
Path Abilities
Mirror of Self: By presenting people with a blank slate, the PC allows people to project their own ideas about self onto the PC. The target comes to believe about the PC what the target believes about himself or herself: stupid or smart, good or bad, happy or sad, well liked or hated, brave or cowardly, etc.
Roll Mirror of Self AV vs. the targets INL (if the target wins he or she realizes that these assumptions are unfounded).
Profile Self-Identity Weaknesses: The PC has become sensitive to the things people believe about themselves that do harm to those people by making them believe that they are weak, keeping them from seeking self-improvement, or making them concentrate on one set of abilities when they could be doing other things. Self-Identity can be recognized by interviewing a person or even just observing how a person walks, what they wear or what they own. Once weaknesses are sensed the PC can attempt to make a person aware of their false beliefs so they can try to overcome them, or can attempt to take advantage of those weaknesses.
Easy (1): Sense the weaknesses of
someone the PC has known for a few hours.
Moderate (3): Sense the weaknesses
of someone the PC has talked to for 5 minutes.
Hard (5): Sense the weaknesses
of someone by observing them for 5 minutes or rifling through their belongings.
Legendary (7): Sense the
weaknesses of someone upon first seeing them.
Unnoticable: When the PC is passively observing his or her surroundings, not trying to change them, the PC broadcasts little or no ‘selfhood’ and is thus very hard to notice. This skill works equally well on humans or animals.
Roll twice the PC’s -Self Path level vs. the target’s AWR to avoid being noticed.
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“...you’re not how much money you’ve got in the bank. You’re not your job. You’re not your family …. You’re not your name.... You’re not your problems....
You’re not your age.... You are not your hopes.”
-Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
“Only the shallow know themselves.”
Principles
Those on the Path of +Self agree with those on the Path of -Self that people’s ideas about themselves often limit those people, becoming self-fulfilling prophe- cies. Most human weakness is thus just illusion. The worst of all these harmful self-concepts is ‘low self-worth’: the be- lief that one is worth less than other hu- mans and is thus less deserving of peace, freedom and happiness. Low self-worth is much more prevalent than most people believe. Most who have it cover it up with a shallow, situational self-worth and pre- tend self-confidence. This shallow self- worth mostly requires someone that a per- son can feel themselves superior to. The strong man needs weaker men he knows he can beat up, the smart woman needs stupid people she can feel superior to, etc. This fragile, weak self-confidence creates a world of bullies, all trying to feel better about themselves by making someone else feel bad about themselves.
Those on the Path of +Self believe that the remedy to the weaknesses of self-identity is to develop true self-confidence and self- worth. To one on the Path of +Self, if you can believe that you are strong, smart, attractive and brave then you really will be. And if you are truly confident in these beliefs, you won’t need to denigrate others in your own mind to feel good about yourself.
Those on the Path of +Self are very interested in the placebo effect: when people think they are being aided or compromised by some factor external to themselves (e.g. a fake “drug”) and do better or worse than those who haven’t been led into this false belief. For instance, African-American kids taking an intelligence test do significantly better when they are told the test has been ‘culturally corrected’ to help them do better, even when this is not the case. Or people who have been falsely led to believe that the have been exposed to
an allergen show every outward sign of an allergy attack. These myriad experiments show that belief is very powerful. They also show that the human mind has an incredible power to control nearly every aspect of human biology. Beliefs can affect strength, immune system response, healing rates, resistance to toxins, oxygen need, etc. In other words, the difference between a ‘normal person’ and a ‘superhuman’ is only a matter of belief.
Seekers on the Path of +Self know that people automatically, subconsciously ra- diate their self-concept to everyone around them via body language and how they choose to present themselves to the world. People automatically and subconsciously receive these signals from others and tend to believe them. These signals are often given more credence than real life evi- dence. A person who believes he is strong and acts strong will be seen as strong, even if he is not actually very muscular.
To +Self Seekers, any self-identity one can adopt is useful so long as that self-identity pushes the limits of human capability. For some, this means adopting a highly-im- proved version of their original pre-Seeker identity: a stronger, smarter, braver, more attractive, more worthy version of them- selves. For others, this means adopting an identity or identities from outside them- selves. These +Self Seekers try to believe that they are (or have all the qualities of) a historical figure, a deity, a fictional char- acter, an animal, a force of nature, etc. A Seeker may “channel wolfhood,” taking on the self-identity of a powerful wolf. Another may be “possessed by” a number of Afro-Caribbean deities. All of these strategies are just a means of overcoming the limitations of mundane identities. Of all the Paths, the Path of +Self requires the least theory. Seekers don’t have to know why believing in themselves works, they just have to do it.