So-- what shall we talk about this evening? i'll admit that i have struggled a bit with that question. i assume that most of you have some interest in Master/slave relationships since you're attending a weekend featuring Master/slave seminars and a regional Master/slave contest. But i could be wrong. So at first, i thought about speaking on a topic of broader interest, something not specifically associated with Mastery and slavery. But Mastery and slavery is my passion and living as a slave is my truth, and in the end, i have decided to speak on what i know and love best. So, if you are here this evening and don't have an interest in M/s relationships, i hope you'll nevertheless find something that speaks to you in what i say. If nothing else, i hope you'll take away a better understanding of those of us who call ourselves Masters and slaves.

i've titled my remarks "Mastery and slavery: Many Know the Path, But Few Follow It." But before i get to the heart of what i would like to share with you tonight, let me tell you what i do not intend to do.

i do not intend to set forth the gospel on who is or is not a "true" Master or a "true" slave. That's a responsibility i don't want to bear.

i do not intend to give you a step by step map for the path i think a Master and slave should walk. i believe there are many possible paths for a Master/slave journey.

And i certainly do not intend to label anyone or put anyone in a box. On the contrary, i believe, very strongly, that the act of choosing the identity that is right for you - whatever that identity may be - is an act of strength and courage and joy. To claim for the first time, without fear or shame, "I am a Master, " or "i am a slave" - and to know what you mean when you say that - is to free yourself to be all that you can be.

And that's really what i'd like to talk with you about tonight - about finding your identity.

i suspect that if any of you have ever heard Master Jim and me speak on Mastery and slavery, or if you heard the keynote address Master Jim gave at the Masters' Retreat in Dallas last summer, much of what i have to say tonight likely will sound familiar. i hope it does, because in many ways, i intend this keynote address to be a companion piece to Master Jim's. i believe that when Master Jim and i join our voices, we speak our truth even more clearly than we can separately. i believe that is one of the gifts given to a Master and a slave.

So, i hope you'll bear with me, if you've heard some of this before.

Let me begin with this - Mastery and slavery has become very popular - maybe even, dare we say, "trendy" - in the leather/BDSM community. If you don't believe me, just run a Google search on the terms and see how many hits you get. Go to any leather event and you're sure to see at least a couple of seminars about Master/slave relationships, if not a whole Master/slave track of seminars. We have groups like MasT - Masters and slaves Together - with chapters springing up all across the U.S. And, of course, we have the International Master/slave Contest and its feeder contests, including the one to be held this weekend. All of these events and groups are filled with people who say they are Masters or slaves.

Make no mistake - these educational efforts and groups are worthwhile and i support them. As many of you know, Master Jim and i are co-owners with Mark Frazier of South Plains Leatherfest and the International Master/slave title. Master Jim and i are frequent speakers at groups and events on Master/slave relationships across the United States and Canada.

But popularity does not equal reality - and not everyone who claims the name of Master or slave has any idea what it means to live the identity. The truth of the matter is, there are far more people in our community calling themselves Master or slave than there are people actually living as one. As a very wise teacher once said, "Many know the path, but few follow it."

For those of us who identify as Master or slave - why do we? What gives us the right - i would say the honor - of claiming the identity of Master or slave?

You'll recall that earlier i said that i wasn't going to give you the gospel on who is a "true" Master and who is a "true" slave. i intend to keep my promise. In the end, each one of us must decide for ourselves whether the identity of Master or slave is right for us.

But what i would like to do this evening is to suggest some qualities and characteristics to look for yourself if you choose to explore whether the path of Master or slave is one you should know and follow. What i am about to suggest are not the only signs that the path of Master or slave might be right for you. They simply are ones i have observed in my journey, and ones which i think are important. i hope they will be of some help to you.

First, people who know and follow the path of Mastery and slavery are committed.

i believe that Masters and slaves are people who are willing to commit themselves to living in a way that is radically different from what our society teaches is right and appropriate. As people who choose to live in consensual Master/slave relationships, we defy some of the beliefs our society holds most dear: the belief that independence is the key to happiness and that the desire to control another person is the heart of abuse. It takes tremendous commitment to follow a path that at best is likely to be misunderstood by those around you.

If you choose the path of Mastery and slavery, you will need commitment to withstand both the pressures from outside, and the doubts from within. Because hear me now - if you choose to walk the path of Mastery and slavery, there will be nights when you look at yourself in the mirror and say, "What the hell am I doing?" There will be nights when you wonder if you can take another step on this path. It will take commitment to keep you going, even when the path is dark.

And so, i would counsel you to be wary of those who preach that walking the path of Mastery and slavery is nothing but light, laughter and hot sex. While living as a Master or a slave can be the most exciting, joyful and fulfilling thing you have ever done, it will never be easy. It will take commitment.

Not only are those who both know and follow the path of Mastery and slave committed, they are also conscious - by that i mean they are willing to be honest about who they are and willing to examine their hearts to uncover what kind of life they need to live to be fulfilled.

As a part of the leather/SM community, we move through a world filled with fantasy. For many of us, our entry into the community is driven by the need to fulfill long held fantasies - to feel the whip, to worship the boot, to be the giver of pain and pleasure. But if you choose to follow the path of Mastery and slavery for the long haul, as a way of living, the fantasy as the focus of your life must be set aside.

Of course, that doesn't mean fantasy has no place in the life of someone who claims the identity of Master or slave. i'm not about to give up my jailhouse dyke gangbang fantasy! (i've had it once, and it was fantastic!) But it does mean that we must learn that what we read about Mastery and slavery in our favorite porn is not reality. We must understand that embracing the identity of slave will not magically solve all of our problems. And sadly, we must accept that becoming a Master will not increase our dick size.

Except, of course, for Master Jim and Master Steve, both of whom certainly gained at least 3 inches in 10 days without even trying.

Finally, i would suggest to you this evening that people who know and follow the path of Mastery or slavery are called. They believe they were called to follow a different path than the ones our society prescribes for us.

i have heard that call. For me, the calling to slavery has become inseparable from my spirituality. And to be perfectly honest with you-i hesitate to say that here tonight.

Why? Because i am afraid that you will misunderstand me, that i do not have the words to share my calling with you. Perhaps the best i can do is share with you what my calling is not.

For me, the calling to slavery is not a mystical and magical experience. i have seen no visions, no spokesperson from the Divine has descended to let me know that i am called. i have not suddenly been reborn a perfect human or something beyond human.

To Master Jim's regret, i have not grown a dick.

i do, however, believe that God, the Divine, the Universe - whatever you may choose to call it - calls some of us to Mastery and slavery. Each of us, i believe, experiences the Divine differently. And while the Divine does speak to us, for many of us, it is in a voice so soft, so quiet, we must strain to hear it.

So i would suggest to you tonight that you should not necessarily look for confirmation of who you are to come in a blaze of light or a vision or a thundering voice. If you are waiting for that kind of divine revelation to signal you should walk the path of Mastery or slavery, you may wait a long, long time to find your identity.

Many of you know that from time to time in my walk as a slave, i seek out the wisdom of the men and women who have experienced religious service in a variety of faiths. i believe they have much to teach those of us who believe we have a calling to Mastery and slavery. Perhaps the best way i can explain to you how i experienced my call to slavery is to quote one of these women, Kathleen Norris, who said: "[T]he pain that comes from one's identity, that grows out of the response to a call, can't be escaped or pushed aside. It must be gone through.... To answer a call... is to reject the authority… of human valuation of any kind, accepting only the authority of the call itself."

i accept the authority of my calling to slavery. i don't know why i was called, but i was. i accept that most of society would tell me that my choice is sick or wrong. i know in my heart that it is not. i hear my call to slavery, and thanks to Master Jim's ownership of me, i obey and serve Him. In doing that, i answer the call.

Masters and slaves - people who are committed, conscious and called.

And so, with that in mind, let me return to something i said earlier this evening - that more people in our community are calling themselves Masters and slaves than are living as Masters and slaves. In other words, many know the path but few follow it.

Why should we care?

Maybe it's just the lawyer in me that makes me want our community to say what it means and mean what it says. But it's really more than that. i celebrate the diversity of identities in our community: Top, bottom, switch, Dominant, submissive, Daddy, boy, girl, pup, Master, Mistress, slave - and i'm sure i've left some out. Each is a unique and honorable identity that adds its own color and texture to our leather/SM community. Why would we want to dilute that diversity by saying there really are no differences? i believe we should celebrate each and every one of these identities and the differences between them. i believe that is important.

Many cultures throughout history have viewed the act of being named or of claiming a name for oneself as a sign the person has entered adulthood, and as an act of great power. We seem to have lost that idea in our modern Western world.

But in the leather/SM community, we have a unique opportunity to reclaim that tradition. An opportunity to undertake the tremendously difficult and incredible rewarding task of seeking out who we are. We can name ourselves - not because our parents or our churches or our society say this is who we should be, but because this is who we believe we are.

Tonight, i've spoken to you about just two of the many identities in our community, those of Master and slave. i've shared with you some of the characteristics that i believe are necessary in those who would claim these identities. But the most basic message i hope you take away with you this evening is this - seek out and claim your identity in this community, whatever it may be, with pride. Know your path and follow it.

And so, as i come to the end of my time with you this evening, let me return to the identities that call to me - Mastery and slavery.

Earlier i said that there are more people in our community who call themselves Master and slave than there are people living those identities. Let me be even clearer -- i do not believe the path of Mastery and slavery is right for everyone. Not everyone should follow this path.

That statement alone may make me an outcast in much of our community. Far too often, our community seems to say go to a few seminars, attend a few M/s events, call yourself Master or slave and poof - you are a Master or slave.

That's simply not true.

To discover whether the path of Mastery or slavery is the one you should follow, you will have to look inside yourself. This weekend, and others like it, will give you information to help you "know" the path. Whether you have what it takes to both know and the path and to follow it, though, will only be found inside of you.

To discover the answer, you will have to be willing to look into the darkest and the brightest corners of your soul. You will have to be willing to discover the best - and the worst - about yourself.

But what if you do that - what if you look deep into your mind and your heart and discover that Mastery and slavery is not the path you should follow?

Allow me to congratulate you.

Mastery and slavery is not the only path. It is not the best path. It is one of many paths. The most important thing is to be true to who you are and to find the path that is right for you.

For me, the path of slavery is the path i both know and follow. And tonight, in closing, i want to reaffirm that before my community.

Six and a half years ago, Master Jim took me as His slave. The path set before me then was at best, shadowy - i didn't know if i could follow it. But i knew i had to try.

Today, i have some experience walking the path of slavery. Even so, there are still days when i can barely see the path. But whether the path is dark or bathed in light, rocky or smooth, in my heart of hearts, i know it is the right path for me.

On that day over six years ago when Master Jim took me as His slave, i spoke some words to Him that i believe perfectly sum up how i know and must follow the path of slavery. Six and half years ago, i spoke those words in private to Master Jim. There was no elaborate ceremony, no gathering of the leather tribe. Just the two of us, stepping out onto a path that wasn't clear, but one that called to us. Tonight, i'd like to close my time with you by speaking those words again, this time in public, before my community.

Some of you may recognize the words as coming from the book of Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible.

To my community, and most of all, to my Owner, Master Jim, tonight i affirm my calling to slavery: Sir, as I pledged to You that day six and a half years ago,

"Where You go, i will go - and where You stay, i will stay. Your people will be my people and Your God, my God. And where You die, i will die - and there i will be buried."

This is the path i know and the path i follow. May each of you be blessed as you know and follow yours.

Thank you.