A Philosophy of Sithism

A Philosophy of Sithism is a work written by Sarah Tintagyl of the New Sith Order. It was presented to the peoples of the Cyberverse on April 29, 2009.

A Philosphy of Sithism
The duty of philosophy is to give an accurate definition of the workings of a central ideology with its practices and beliefs. What a philosopher must then do is organize the ideology in a concise way so that our citizenry understand why they have joined the Sith and what can be achieved by contributing to the Order. A philosopher must also ensure that foreigners can understand who we are and what we represent without confusion and without the general prejudice that forms with the strength of our Order. To answer this, one question troubles my thoughts. What exactly is a Sith and Sithdom? A Sith is a creature that strives and metaphorically represents three principles: Passion, Strength, and Power. Immediately one can understand that we are no longer dealing with the travesties of the normal political or philosophical ideology, indeed we are dealing with something much greater, much more powerful. Those three words exist as the centerpiece of what consists of a Sith’s existence, however after reaching those goals, what becomes of us? What lies beyond that? The answer is virtue. Aristotle, Saint Augustine, and John Locke talked about an existence, a goal that lay at the root of all human existence, eventually leading to our flourishing as a species. This flourishing, Eudemonia, consisted of many things: faith, property, the right to live, and all things that lend to a person's freedom. This represents the same way that Passion, Strength, and Power define the Sith and how these principles give us freedom. The Sith strive to achieve these goals and by reaching them can flourish, and we can achieve our own Eudemonia - and it is this that which will separate us Sith from the others in this hostile world. In essence, there lies in front of us two realms of thought, one of virtue and one of waste, and only through the Principles of the Sith can one actually exist in the realm of virtue.

The greatest of human accomplishments were not completed without the desire of their creators, for men strive to outdo one another for fame, fortune, and wealth on an almost constant basis and it has caused wars, struggle, and conflict. However, desire has also produced the greatest wonders in cultural, scientific, and technological advancements of the world and all this is based on the competitions between ourselves. Passion lays at the center of this competition and the Sith have the drive to outperform their enemies and they have the drive to outperform their friends, which can then be harvested to develop a strong Order. We are all motivated and we all desire to have more than our enemies and friends, instead of shying away, and we take it upon as our duty to embrace this competition because competition is not evil. In fact, we owe it to ourselves and to our comrades to constantly inspire and challenge those around us so that we may - as a collective - achieve greater things. It is not passion alone that governs us but the passion of self and communal improvement through competition that sets us apart.

World accomplishments have been created by a variety of people from all walks of life. Man has built the world we live in through ability and our strength, which brings us to the second principle of the Sith: strength. Strength, like passion, involves the drive to begin improving ourselves, but where passion is the desire, strength is the will. We each have our individual passion, it is what we excel at, but to truly understand strength we must be willing to improve much more than our small desires. Strength is a quest, a quest to gain power. In building our strength we learn what we can accomplish and what we cannot. But for what cannot be accomplished we must pick ourselves up after the failures and try again, because though a Sith may encounter failure, a Sith must never encounter defeat, for only through victory can we have the strength to move on and herefore those that cannot complete their quests and fulfill their desires will eventually fall. This is why it is extremely important to always be seeking to build our strength through challenging ourselves and competing with who is around us.

I mentioned before that strength was a journey, a quest, and the end result of this journey is power. Power is the last step to reach virtue. Where this journey begins as a desire and a struggle to fulfill it, which leaves power as the final victory. Power is fame, fortune, wealth, and audience and what defines us as Sith. Without power we are failures because this is our only goal. Yet, there is such a thing as unbridled power, which is something that leads to the corruption of the mind, eventually leading to failure itself. With power comes virtue, which is the sense of Sithian Eudemonia and what calls us to the Sith path to begin with. When one sets out to achieve power there is a sense of honor, honor to ourselves and honor to our fellow Sith. Therefore after completing your quest and achieving your power, only through your virtue can a fellow Sith see what kind of Sith you truly are. Virtue only exists when power is combined with intelligence.

Eudemonia is much more however than just passion, strength, power, and virtue - those are what defines us - but how do we define ourselves? Firstly, the Sith are not evil. This is a common misconception by both outsiders and ourselves. People look at Sithdom and regard our power as evil. It is perceived that we came to power through abysmal means. We must understand is that evil does not really exist, in the same way that good does not really exist. “The Good," our Eudemonia, exists, it exists and it is what we must strive and push to achieve as Sith. So, dissolving the spectrum of good and evil from your mind is the first step. There is no good and evil, only virtue. In addition to our Eudemonia we are also an alliance and as such we are bonded together communally for the Order. Like our individual Sith principles there are principles that can be found common in all alliances and these principles lend the same power to us. Merit, Brotherhood, Commitment, Respect, and Discipline are all paramount to every alliance, but these principles combined with our own doctrine of beliefs make for a truly powerful Order. When you become a Sith your duty becomes to further our Order. In doing so furthering your own. We possess the ability to change history not for good or evil, but for ourselves and that is the greatest desire of the Sith.