the Krovian Message
message 1 - Introduction to the Way of Ot’Krovii
written by Grey Lakshaias
A heartfelt welcome to all readers:
Welcome to The Krovian Message! A new Message will be added to this site every week on Sunday at 00:00 (12 am) - UTC time.
My name is Grey Lakshaias, and I am Ot’Krovii’s founder as well as the sole writer of The Krovian Message at the moment.
When I say “welcome”, I extend this welcome to the entire world.
All belief systems.
All ages.
No matter your origin.
Followers.
Critics.
Those who cannot or will not make a clear decision on their religious beliefs, instead remaining skeptical of anything and everything. I see you. You are not wrong for your ambivalence. I was like you too, before I started following Ot’Krovii.
I extend my welcome to those who have done great deeds of charity.
Those who have hurt scores of people.
Those who have been struck by the law for doing no harm.
Those who have done the striking.
Everyone - welcome.
Though I will say one thing now - I do intend to cover some pretty heavy topics in my Messages, so please read at your own discretion. I discuss some difficult things here not because I wish to inflict harm to those who are especially responsive to heavy commentary on tough subjects, but because I wish to bring awareness to those subjects and share my personal thoughts on them, as well as what the Krovian Tenets would guide one to do about these subjects.
Thank you, and enjoy the Message.
We are One Blood. - English
Yati’eh Ot’Krovii. - tau-krovii
A little bit of info about me - Grey.
Some readers may not care about who I am, just what my ideas are and how they shaped the Krovian way, but for those readers who are curious about me, I ask you to be understanding of the fact that I will not reveal much about myself since I would like the primary focus of my Message to be the way of life I have committed myself to, not myself.
I cannot say the same for anyone else who might one day be writing these Messages in my stead, but that is just my way of doing things for now.
I will say this much about myself, though: I am a woman from the United States, so before I say anything more I would like to say that I fully recognize that, while my nation is by no means flawless, I do have many advantages that many women in the world do not have simply because I was born here in the States.
I pray that we as a nation and as a world continue to recognize the importance of freedom regardless of gender, and that those who have not recognized it yet will do so soon.
I would also like to add that I am well aware of the stereotype that some have about USA-Americans being in a state of ignorance of the rest of the world, and I pray that my effort to remain conscious of the whole world - rather than just my nation - will be reflected in my Messages.
One Blood. Ot’Krovii.
The words “one blood’’ are at the very top of the Ot’Krovii home page, and in Krovian - the language I am developing to serve as a cultural icon of myself and anyone who wishes to learn it - it is written as Ot’Krovii.
As the founder of Ot’Krovii, I firmly maintain that all of mankind is kin - of one blood.
Ot’Krovii is the celebration of our blood.
Our kinship.
The blood that was spilled for our salvation.
Our love.
The blood that was spilled so that abused peoples might be released from their tormentors.
The blood of Jesus Christ, who died defending His Truth and in doing so, made that Truth the Truth of many.
The blood of Mona Mahmudnizhad, Nusrat Yalda’a, ‘Izzat Janami Ishraqi, Roya Ishraqi, Tahirih Siyavushi, Zarrin Muqimi, Shirin Dalvand, Akhtar Sabit, Simin Saberi and Mahshid Nirumand - a group of courageous women who died because they were followers of Baháʼí - a faith that greatly influences Ot’Krovii. These women are only a few of many who were killed for their faith in the idea that there is value in all beliefs. The deaths of the few victims mentioned here occurred in 1983, which makes it all the more soul-crushing to know that Baháʼí people are still being ostracized forty years later.
Ot’Krovii is many things, but if I had to sum it up plainly, I would say that it is an intercultural and interfaith amalgamation of ideas.
What inspired Ot’Krovii?
A core tenet of the Baháʼí faith is that there is intrinsic value in all religions, and that is something that I am also including in the Krovian Tenets which shall be released onto the website soon. However, I am not originally of the Muslim faith, but the Christian faith.
Ot’Krovii could be considered a breakaway branch of Christianity, but it recognizes not only the value to be found in the Christian Holy Bible, but also the contradictions within it, the way its words were in fact written by men (who are imperfect in many things, including interpretation), and especially the way its words have been weaponized against those who do not conform.
I recognize value - both positive and negative - in all things, be they religion, people, ideas, et cetera.
I also find it ridiculous that some believe that just because some things were one way millenia ago, it means they should always remain that way. Every time I observe Christians openly judging someone for not adhering to what they believe is the right way to live, I want to ask them:
Do you not remember the story of Noah’s Ark? Do you not remember God’s words that led to His extermination of almost all His creation: “For I am sorry that I have made them”?
Do you not remember how God then placed a rainbow in the sky as his promise to never again use a flood to wipe out all creation (except for Noah, his family, and the creatures onboard the Ark) the way he did then?
If God Himself can express regret for having created man in the first place yet later make a promise to those who survived to never exterminate all creation again, why then are there people who judge others for not living up to standards that were created thousands of years ago? Call me a heretic (which is true - I could be considered a heretic simply because I challenge convention) but to me it just does not seem right that humans do this to each other.
If God Himself has done things that imply that he feels sorry, as in remorseful…
If God Himself understands that people and ideas and ways of life change with time…
Why can’t humans?
The amount of times I have asked myself this question is a big reason why I ultimately walked away from conventional Christianity and began to embrace the idea that maybe, just maybe, there is truth in all beliefs.
The Baháʼí faith is not the only faith that I seriously considered dedicating myself to after I distanced myself from mainstream Christianity - I also considered myself a Taoist for a few years, and Taoist ideas are still very much prevalent in my personal moral code.
Don’t get me wrong, I have found great comfort and camaraderie in the various Christian churches I have attended, but I firmly believe that delving deeper into Taoism saved my life.
I find that Christian churches generally preach that darkness is something to distance yourself from, to dispel, to get rid of, but I find that to be incredibly unrealistic. I understand that most people who preach about “turning the other cheek” and the idea that “God makes everything happen for a reason” have good intentions, but in preaching ideas like those, they are also directly contradicting the popular Christian idea of loving one’s neighbor as yourself.
Think about it: what good will it do to simply allow an abuser to continue their wrongdoings? Why not hold them accountable, take corrective action, and dole out punishment as needed? Are you not putting more people at risk by allowing a person who is an active threat to society to remain an active threat to society?
That is just one example in which I can firmly say that “turning the other cheek” is wrong.
Don’t even get me started with that “God makes everything happen for a reason” stuff. If the story of Genesis is to be believed, then it is true that God gave humans free will from the very beginning. The Creator of the Universe surely had to have had the power to assume control over the bodies of the first humans so that there was zero chance they would ever do anything that went against Him, but that is not what He did. That would be the equivalent of a parent who locked their child in a mech suit and controlled that mech suit for the child’s entire life.
If God has given us full dominion over ourselves and this world, I see no point in blaming Him for the tragedies that occur between man. Natural occurrences such as severe weather and earthquakes is another thing entirely, but we as humans have no control over when those happen - we only have control over our responses to them.
I digress. I could sit here for weeks and debate the sense (or lack thereof) of certain mainstream religious beliefs, but I would like to return the focus of this Message to Taoism for the time being -
The idea of finding a healthy harmony between Light and Dark is something that I found in delving deeper into Taoist ideas and other similar Eastern philosophies, and it saved me.
For years, I felt wrong and dirty because there was darkness within me. I had terrible thoughts about misdoings in my past, things I could be doing better in the moment, and what potential crimes against humanity I could commit in my future. I let the darkness control me instead of learning to harness it, and I think that is partly because I simply never learned to harness it. Until I became an adult and my brain started making the shift from adolescent to post-adolescent, I never even knew that darkness could be harnessed to do good.
I partly blame the mainstream Christian church for teaching its attendees that darkness is something to be fought rather than used, but I also blame myself for just not thinking of it sooner.
I see it now, though. I feel it now. And because of it, I feel more at peace than I ever have in my life.
I hope and pray that someone who reads this Message - or any words of mine - will find a similar peace.
To those who find any part of this to be something evil or wrong:
Ponder this.
Is the refusal or failure to conform not the birthplace of all revelations, including those of religious nature? What about your own religious beliefs, whatever they may nbe?
Lutheranism started as a rebellion against the Catholic church.
Ostracized and abused people have regained their power through their own efforts to shake off their tormentors, with varying degrees of help from those who refused to just stand by and watch. Without the efforts of those people, there would be no change in civil rights of any kind.
Jesus himself was nailed to the cross for remaining steadfast in His Truth, and years later His Truth has become the Truth of many.
There are many special things about Jesus, but one that especially stands out to me is the truth that He knew every single person he came into contact with, including the naysayers, the demons, even Judas Iscariot, traitor of Jesus and prime example of the fact that even a tiny action or inaction can make or break an entire life if its significance is great enough.
Jesus’ familiarization with every person he met gave him immense power. With his power he probably could have saved himself if it were the will of Himself and His Father.
That is not how Jesus used that power, though. He used his power to heal others.
Reader, you are a member of the most dangerous species on this planet.
What will you do with such immense power?
Thank you, readers!
To anyone who has read any part of this Message, thank you so much for your time and attention. I wish blessings and good fortune to all who read this Message.
If you have a prayer request that you would like me to mention in a future Message, you can email me at grey@otkrovii.com. Do note that I have the right to not mention your request in my message if its content is malicious in any way or otherwise inappropriate, but I will pray for you either way.
I will be setting up an anonymous prayer request form soon, and I hope to also get a discussion board set up soon, but I have been having some trouble with it.
To any IT workers reading this Message - my respect for you has only deepened due to the fact that I am currently the only one maintaining this website.
Readers, you can also email me if you would like me to discuss a certain topic in a future Message, or even if you disagree with something I have written! Open mindedness is a core Tenet of Ot’Krovii, so it is my goal to hear out any criticism I have about the contents of my Messages and respond in a civil manner to fully express my belief in freedom of expression.
In my next Message, I will most likely share the full Krovian Tenets. I am currently rewriting them due to some minor grammatical and redundancy issues, but I am so excited to share them with you.
Until next week -
Grey Lakshaias
