Paraism

Paraism is a non-theistic religion common in the triple kingdom and adopted in parts of Seprum. Paraism does not have a pantheon and instead focuses on the nature and cycle of suffering in all human societies. Scholars of Paraism and suffering are called erpa.

## Parable of the Lightning

Three siblings ventured into the forest during a storm. Lightning struck a nearby tree, causing it to catch fire and fall, killing the brother. The sound of the lightning hitting the tree caused the sibling to temporarily lose the ability to hear and injured their mind permanently. Shrapnel embedded itself in the sister's leg. In this way, a random, natural event caused suffering in humans.

When the sister and sibling returned to a village, carrying the dead body of their brother, the suffering spread. The family and friends of the brother mourned his loss. Their grief hurt them. In some cases, it caused them to be less kind to others, or made them forget their place in the world and abandon their duty. The brother's father blamed the sister and sibling for not keeping the brother safe, which caused a rift in the family and village. The sibling no longer had control over their mind and they lashed out, often without realizing it, harming those around them with their words and action. The sister could no longer stand for a long time, which meant she could not make enough bread for her family, one of her favorite activities. This caused her and her children to suffer and removed joy from the world. In this way, the suffering in the three siblings spread to other humans, who in turn spread it further.

### Moral

According to the parable, the initial cause of suffering is always random and will always exist. However, suffering spreads from human to human, in often understandable ways. In many cases, it is impossible to point to someone who was wrong in the chain. The father in the parable may have been correct: why were the siblings traveling in the forest during a storm? Could the sister and sibling have done something more to keep the brother safe? It is hard to fault the sibling: their injury means they are not aware of the harm they are causing? Nor could we blame those who, after being berated for an hour by the sibling, decided to no longer care for them. We would not expect them to care for someone who abuses them. Would we expect the sister to continue making bread each morning, even as it pains her?

## Suffering as a River

While the initial cause of suffering is random, the trail it leaves in human communities is often all too comprehensible. Paraism does not seek to lay the blame for suffering at anyone's feet—it merely tries to halt the trail in its track.

Suffering is like a river formed from melting ice high in the mountains. It is beyond human ability to remove all the ice or to prevent it from melting. However, humans can attempt to alleviate the negative effects from the river and encourage positive ones. This can be done in three ways: diverting the river, creating a sink for the water, and increasing the resiliency of any towns or people in the path of the river. In real terms, these three tenets are called severing the chain, accepting suffering, and resiliency building.

### Severing the Chain

It is the duty of all Parai to severe the chain of suffering wherever they can. This means remaining vigilant for suffering people in the community who need assistance. In some cases, helping might be as simple as forgiveness. In other cases, the community needs to rally and sort out a complex difference that may have no easy solution. In Dhi especially, healers are trained to offer psychological support, which can take years but often helps the sufferer a great deal. As suffering diminishes, sufferers are less likely to bring harm to others. Open doors of communication are vital in all cases. No one should have to suffer alone.

### Accepting Suffering

Paraism forbids revenge for oneself and for others. In some cases, suffering may feel unjustified and no amount of communication may be able to alleviate it. Take the case of the mother whose child was killed by an invading Diao army. The soldier who killed her child took great pleasure in prolonging their death and reveling in the mother's suffering. It is not obvious how this suffering was necessary or why the soldier does not deserve punishment for it. However, revenge will only cause greater pain to the mother and set off another chain of suffering as the soldier's friends, family, and comrades seek to take revenge on her. Just as she does not see reason behind the soldier's actions, they will likely not see reason behind her.

Because suffering must end somewhere, it might as well end where it is now.

#### Suffering Sink

Some sects of Paraism venerate the idea of the perfect suffering sink, someone who can absorb suffering without any ill effects. In myths, some Parai monks use meditation, exposures, and mental exercises to endure all manner of pain, including being burnt, branded, and skinned alive by their followers. While not all Parai believe these myths to be true, the perfect person, under Parai teachings, is one who can withstand any and all suffering without changing their behavior. Other sects argue that this goal is impossible and incentivizes unhealthy behavior as people who are not perfect seek to emulate the supposedly perfect human.

### Resiliency Building

Resiliency is a part of both severing the chain and accepting suffering. More resilient people and communities are less likely to fall prey to a chain of suffering. This means tending both one's own fire—ensuring you are are as strong as possible should suffering befall you—and helping others. It also means building strong bonds within a community. In some cases, resiliency includes physical resiliency that can prevent or alleviate the results from a natural disaster, thereby slowing the spread of suffering.

## Benefits of Suffering

To suffer is human. Only those who die in infancy can avoid it, and perhaps not even then. Because suffering cannot ever be eliminated, it must not be wholly bad and avoiding all suffering is as detrimental as seeking it out. Parai give the example of the child who was scared of snakes. His fear grew so large, he was unable to leaves his house without panicking. Inside his house, however, he suffered no ill effects. His community came together to slowly expose him to snakes, first their skeletons, then their skin, then snakes at a distance, until he realized his fear was at least somewhat irrational and could once again leave his house. Though it hurt him, facing his fear eventually bolstered his confidence and made him realize he could conquer other hardship in life as well. This suffering was not wrong, nor was it wrong of his friends to help him suffer.

Other forms of suffering can indicate the importance of a relationship. For instance, mourning someone who dies suggests that person played an important role in the lives of those who remain, and makes it likely their memory shall survive. It can also bring together a community. Mourning a great tragedy, like a massacre, can unite people in opposition to an invading army.

## Parable of the General

Emperor Xia invaded Dhi in 956 PS. One of his generals, General Tan, was renowned for the cruelty he showed Dhi prisoners. When Emperor Xia was assassinated, Tan refused to leave Dhi territory until every criminal was killed, and he defined criminal very broadly. A Dhi woman in the area had been recruited as a cook for Tan's men and knew she could poison Tan's afternoon tea and flee before anyone realized what she'd done. If Tan was dead, perhaps his soldiers would leave too, saving many lives. But, surely this violated the principle of accepting suffering and would only prolong the suffering of others. She sought the advice of an erpa.

The erpa asked why she thought the soldiers would leave at Tan's death. The woman explained that she had overheard them complaining that though the invasion of Dhi was over and the emperor dead, they were still expected to defend the base and prisoner camp. They feared Tan, she guessed, and that was why they remained. With him dead, they would leave.

### Doctrine of Purpose

The erpa created a vitally important and now widely accepted doctrine: the doctrine of purpose. According to the doctrine of purpose, causing suffering in others is acceptable if:

1. The suffering is not the purpose, or goal, of the action.
2. The action is taken with the intent to relieve suffering in others.
3. Actions that do not cause suffering or as much suffering are considered but may not be effective.
4. The result of the action is likely to relieve more suffering than the action itself causes.

He explained to the cook that while the murder would cause suffering, the woman was not taking revenge, nor was the suffering the point of the action. If Tan could be killed without causing any suffering at all, that would be preferred, but that was impossible. Other courses of action would lead to more deaths as Tan rounded up Dhi from the countryside and put them to death. The weight of one death paled against hundreds of thousands of Dhi. For this reason, the woman chose to poison Tan and, as expected, his soldiers returned to Diao without his leadership.

### Torture

Erpas are split on the subject of torture. Some argue that the purpose of torture is to cause such acute suffering, the victim reveals information they would rather keep secret, which, by definition, violates the first principle. Others argue the purpose is not to cause suffering but instead to reveal the truth—if the truth could be found by another method, it would. In general, Parai shun torture and those who commit it.