Confidence and its Components

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ClearPine
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Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:09 am

Posted by ClearPine »


An essay by Factioneer Xilin Tsaryov
You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
A familiar enough refrain it's almost hackneyed at this point. But… is it, truly? Is it so meaningless as to just be discarded out of hand, like drawing an Ice Mephit in a game of Bets? Is it futile to believe that one truly can achieve, regardless of any sort of evidence to the contrary, and the lack of evidence affirming such? The answer is simple. Yes, if you believe there's no chance, then you're right. If you believe you can never climb a tree… you're absolutely correct, and you should just stay on the ground. But the instant you take into your mind that maybe, just maybe, I CAN do this, from that moment on, you have a struggle before you. The struggle to hold onto that Hope, to keep that Determination forward, and to have the Discipline to keep going even once something comes into your path. These three concepts melt together into the mighty alloy that is Confidence.

Hope is a powerful thing unto itself. To Hope, to believe in progress, in improvement, is marvelous. It's a direction to look towards. For prime sailors, without a star to guide their way, or for the more advanced worlds a magnetic compass, they just meander aimlessly. To exist without Hope is to just… loll about. Maybe you'll get somewhere. Probably not. But with Hope… you at least know where to go. But you'll have no real method of propulsion to get there. Works fine in the Astral, where you can just decide where you're going and be there, but that won't do much good for you on Athasian sands or Vynnic seas, or through the Phlogiston between spheres. Hope's just a direction.

That is where Determination comes into play. Determination is a scalar value: a speed of motion. Determination can put you in many places, but without direction, it’s just… well, it’s not meandering aimlessly. It’s just sprinting into oblivion, towards nothingness. Which could be all well and good for some, but that doesn’t attain anything. And… if you do attain something, without knowing what you’re looking for, how would you ever know? Determination is all well and good, but it’s as meaningless as stagnation without Hope. These two shape what we’ll call the Vector of Volition.

There is always the classical question of ‘what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.’ And it’s a valid one. What happens when someone aimed with Hope, and shot forth with speed of Determination… what happens when they collide with something that will not yield? Of course, in the question of physics, the answer is they annihilate and release pure energy. But in life, there is a question of what happens after that collision? Since truly, no Determination is infinite. Perhaps one could lose force and peter out. Perhaps one could lose Hope and just… fly off aimlessly. We have the direction of Hope and the speed of Determination - but what about when they meet a point that they can’t mantle, that they can’t punch through? Then, dear reader, then we meet the ‘if, then’ function that is Discipline. If I can’t puncture it, I will climb it and resume my course. If I can’t climb it, I will go around it and resume my course. If I can’t go around, I will go under and resume my course. If none of these options are viable, I will find a place where they are and resume my course. And if none can be found, one will be made. These are all expressions of Discipline, to not give up and surrender the Vector of Volition - of Determination towards Hope. To quote a primer philosopher, “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”

Now, we have the Vector of Volition. We have the Discipline function. We now have the tensor field that is Confidence. Confidence is when you say to yourself, I have a Hope, I have the Determination to pursue it, I have the Discipline to not be dissuaded. I will attain what I aim for. I will reach my goals. Your goals could be small - they could be “I want to bake bread for the first time.” They could be massive - “I want to buy a house.” They could even be foolhardy - using the example of the hero Vainamoinen, “I want to build a boat of iron and sail forward - just to prove I can.” (For reference, Vainamoinen did so. He’s yet to be seen again.) And then, they could even be outright impossible. Something like, “I want to survive being bitten by the orange-speckled recluse.” Yet, with Hope as a guiding force, with the Determination of her spirit, with her Discipline and understanding and refusal to back down… Rilith did survive the bite. And she went on to found the Sign of Contemplation, a sect which became the faction of the Sign of One.

Confidence. is where Hope, Determination, and Discipline all combine, and it is vital for all of us to cleave to, if we Hope to accomplish great things. But without Hope, one will amble wherever. Without Determination, they will not even attempt. Without Discipline, they will flounder at the first sign of struggle. So dust yourself off, pick yourself back up - build that Discipline to keep going. Get going, and believe in yourself that you can - have that Determination to achieve. And keep your eyes to the horizon, to the stars that guide you - bear Hope like a gleaming lantern. I will end this essay with a short poem from a group of people out in wildspace, a group that holds this Confidence. at their core, enshrining all three of its components in this oath that they swear.

In fearful day, in raging night
With strong hearts full, our souls ignite
When all seems lost in the war of light
Look to the stars, for Hope shines bright!
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