Symbols

I was reading this girl's most recent post. she wrote:

"i've been struggling a bit with this issue (slavery)--maybe more so since my neck remains uncollared - though my heart is certainly engaged. So i asked Someone wiser than i and the responce was rather interesting and encouraging."

she goes on to quote from the responses, which were sensible and correct, in My view. This is an excerpt from one:

"A slave desires to be owned completely at some point, but until that time occurs, a slave learns all she can about being one. The more she thinks like one, the more she becomes one."

I do agree that one's state of mind certainly defines the label "slave" more than any outward sign. But it's important not to lose sight of the value of them, either.

I see two processes at work in a submissive's development, a development that leads, or doesn't, to slavery. One is that learning process, which is part training, part reading, part practice, part listening, and part introspection. One learns from various Others, often mostly from One Other; one supplements that with one's own thinking/writing/reading, etc. And one learns of course by doing.

The other process is a process of feeling. A slave feels differently. s/he may or may not be conscious all the time that feelings are developing, changing. one usually only sees the changes upon reflection, when the magnitude of the change is more obvious, with time having passed. The process of changing feelings, when it's right, it's usually so subtle so as not to be noticed on a daily basis.

The learning process and the feeling process of course feed each other, and are intertwined. I've separated them for the purpose of a coherent discussion. Changing feelings make learning easier; learning stimulates the change in feelings (or doesn't, which is another possible and correct outcome, for some).

Where symbols come in is in the feeling process. An outward symbol, like a collar, a brand, a visible tattoo. Or an inward symbol -- a tattoo in a not typically exposed part of the body, going without panties, whatever it may be. Outward and inward symbols work a little differently, but both impact the feeling process. Because symbols are always there, even when not thought about consciously, noticed, commented-upon, their impact is like a gentle hum of submission. They are working on one's feelings, subtly, constantly, in the background.

Where the outward symbol has more power is in those moments when it becomes apparent that another person, especially one with no prior knowledge of one's situation, makes it obvious that s/he is aware of the outward symbol. Then the hum of submission becomes a sharp jolt; feelings are disarranged for a long moment. They slowly settle back to where they were, it seems, but there is the nagging thought that really, one's feelings are not quite the same, in an undefined, impossible-to-articulate way. Everything is the same but something has changed.

Of course, since the symbols are given by the Other, it's out of one's control. So there's no point in worrying about the lack of a symbol. The learning process goes on without the symbol(s); when the symbol comes the feeling process kicks into high gear and then both accelerate and push the submissive along the continuum towards slavery, if that is where he or she should be headed.