The Gorean Philosophy (For the Free)

For a long time now, many of us have held this as a ‘secret’, something which was available to others but only if they did the work of reading the Gor novels, reading related works, THINKING FOR THEMSELVES, and arriving at correct conclusion. For that, they had to be interested, dedicated to the journey of discovery, avid readers who could appreciate an archaic style of writing, fairly intelligent, and able to consider the issues both honestly and objectively.

Time has proven that very few will achieve more than a rudimentary understanding without the help of others who have gone before them, sharing understandings and insights through discussions and demonstrating them through actions. Since one of the definitions of insanity is to keep doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result, I’ve decided lay out the basic foundation of what the Gorean philosophy actually is, in the hopes that those who read this, will test it out for themselves, perhaps read the Gor novels with an eye to seeing these things play out, and then build something of value on this foundation.

To begin with, since these are words you are reading, it’s important to understand that the words themselves are very important. They attempt to convey a specific meaning and avoid confusion, to leave as little as possible up to interpretation except where that interpretation is necessary and deliberate. If you’re familiar with all these words and their exact meanings, I ask your patience as I go over them one more time.

• Foundation – An underlying basis or principle for something (Google Dictionary). It may also be thought of like the foundation of a building in that it bears the entire weight of the structure above it, every part of that structure’s weight goes down to the foundation and not outside of it.
• Principle – A fundamental truth, doctrine or tenet, a guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct. (Dictionary.com)
• Values – A set of principles, standards, or qualities considered to be worthwhile, desirable, or important. (Dictionary.com) Another word for a “positive value” is a “virtue”.
• Morality – The distinguishment of right action from wrong, good or bad, based on a specific set of values. (Dictionary.com)
• Ethics – The body of morals, principles, and values distinctive of a particular culture, group, or individual. (Dictionary.com)
• Ethos – the fundamental or distinctive character, disposition, or spirit which informs the beliefs, customs, and practices of a culture, group, or individual. (Dictionary.com)
• Philosophy – a coherent set of values, principles, and morals which are independent of language, culture, or epoch, and used to understand and determine being, knowledge, or conduct. (Dictionary.com)
• Gorean – There is only one definition of ‘Gorean’ which is, all at once, intelligent, sane, and serious; a ‘Gorean’ is someone who strives to live their life according to the Gorean Philosophy. Anything else is either a game or fantasy, insane, or just stupid. (LionHeart of Gor)

If there is the slightest question about these meanings, look them up for yourself. You will discover that each of these terms has a number of meanings, and it varies by dictionary and edition over time. This inquiry will in turn demonstrate that the definitions I’ve posted above are both valid, and in some cases, a synthesis of multiple definitions which are all appropriate to this essay.

The Gorean Philosophy is not really complex, it’s not rocket science, if all you want to do is to gain a basic, functional understanding of. If you wish to understand more, and more deeply, there’s a wealth of knowledge out there which goes back to the days of Plato, for you to delve into. Yes, reading the source books, the Gor novels themselves, is more than a good idea; it’s crucial to ensure you know the truth of what the Gorean Philosophy is, for yourself. Yes, it was formulated by a Professor of Philosophy, Dr. John F. Lange, former Holder of the Chair at Princeton and CUNY, with particular expertise in the philosophy of Ethical Naturalism. Much of the style of the Gor novels is about what you’d expect from a man with that background, however, it can be distilled, summarized if you will.

The context within which the Gorean Philosophy resides is that of the Natural Order (sometimes referred to as ‘Naturalism’. The Natural Order is the empirically-derived source of understanding of now the natural world and all within it, naturally exist and interrelate. This provides evidence and proof of the moral correctness of Natural Law. In contrast, ‘positive law’ derives it’s authority from government, and ‘divine law’ derives it’s authority from the Divine.

Or to put it another way, the Natural Order addresses the natural state of being for men, women, and how they naturally relate to one another, and how humans naturally relate to the natural world (that’s a lot of uses of the word ‘nature’, but they’re all needed). It establishes itself as the authoritative source through observation of humanity throughout the ages, across thousands of years and thousands of societies, across continents and cultures, looking for similarities between successful, vibrant, growing human societies to determine the basis of what is right (positive) and what is wrong (negative) for most human beings. There are always outliers from the mean, extremes of the Bell curve, for which these these things may not apply, but the norm is not determined by the extremes.

The First Principle of the Gorean Philosophy, then, is that living your life in consonance with the Natural Order is going to give you the greatest opportunity for inner and outer harmony with yourself, and therefore, a greater opportunity for real happiness, untainted by the dissatisfaction that comes with acting against your own instinctual self. This specifically promotes masculinity and male dominance for men, femininity and female submission for women, and understanding that humanity is part of nature and the natural process, responsible to do no more harm to the world around us than is necessary for human needs.

The Gor novels speak of a number of specific positive values which are always going to be considered ‘good’ in terms of Gorean morality. This means, of course, that actions which go against these virtues are, by definition, negative and not recommended.

Gorean Virtue	Examples
Conquest	To fight for what you believe in
Defiance	Refusal to submit to oppression
Courage	Refusal to submit to fear
Hardness	Fortitude, acceptance that some things are difficult, even painful, and working through them regardless
Strength	Indomitable will
Freedom	Refusal to submit to the imposed control of others or things, having a choice, personal sovereignty
Duty	Fulfilling the commitments you have undertaken, standing by your word even when it’s to your detriment, maintaining your loyalties
Integrity	Maintaining your principles in the face of adversity, acceptance of responsibility for your choices and actions
Truth	Refusal to accept lies, or to lie; standing for the truth based on reality vs pretense or falsity
Pride	The honesty of being proud of who you are and what you do
Self-Reliance	Doing for yourself, earning your way, not being on charity

Do these virtues sound familiar? They should. Not so many decades ago, in our own culture, these are character traits which were greatly admired and sought after. If you’ve been reading the Gor novels, you’ve seen these things spoken of, and enacted, again and again. I could dig out the quotes to support each and every one of these, but this isn’t a cheat-sheet on what’s in the Gor novels. This is a distillation, a summary, of the Gorean Philosophy, nothing more.

None of those principles or values are subject to debate, they are all part of Gorean morality because they are all explicitly stated to be and illustrated to be, within the Gor novels. What is debatable is how they might apply, or what forms they may take, or how important each one is, and how one might recover from a lapse.

While honour has been mentioned as a Gorean virtue, I prefer to treat it as an independent issue because it’s much more complex than rattling off a few examples. There is personal honour which is internal and known with certainty ONLY to the one who may claim to possess it. There is a social or cultural honour which is understood by everyone in a community so that when they see it, they know it for what it is. And there is the act of honouring, versus an act of honour. This is a topic which deserves it’s own essay.

In summary, the fundamental principle of the Gorean Philosophy is to live your life according to the Natural Order, as it pertains to understanding ourselves, the natural relationship between men and women, and the relationship between humanity and the natural world itself. Most other principles will be found to derive from this, or from an appreciation of the of the things which the Gorean philosophy values highly.

How well we express and embody Gorean values in our actions is what earns us respect. Self-respect, and respect amongst our peers; other Goreans. No one is perfect, no one is an ‘avatar’ of any value or virtue. These things are the virtues that the Gorean Philosophy places a high value on, so they are things we strive for, as best we can. As Goreans.

Some believe that by ‘giving out the answer’, I’m depriving a seeker of the value they might gain from discovering it for themselves. Been there, done that, worn out the t-shirt. By trying to reserve something so simple and clear to a chosen few oligarchs, we hobble the development of the Gorean community. The real challenge isn’t in figuring out what the Gorean philosophy is. The real challenge is figuring out how to best live it in your own life.

The final point has to do with what a philosophy is. By definition, a philosophy is independent of culture. It is up to us to do the hard work of discovering how to best implement a philosophy into our lives, into our worlds. It isn’t easy, and those of us who have done it, have paid the price many times over as we struggled to figure it out. In the end, however, being who you truly are is much easier than maintaining a lie. As an old saying goes: Gor isn’t hard, for Goreans.

What did you think of this?