¬Ý¬Ý¬Ý¬Ý¬ÝAbbey then bore twins, a daughter and son. ¬ÝDuring their birth, she came near to death; devastated and terrified by this, her firstborn son threw himself off the Tree of Life. ¬ÝSoaked in the blood of the Earth mother’Äôs firstborn son, the Tree of Life flourished and strengthened. ¬ÝAs the Survivors continued to populate the Earth, greed drove them to take too much from the strong Tree, and its supply of sustaining fruit began to dwindle. ¬Ý ¬ÝOne man approached its canopy in search of the very last fruit. ¬ÝDuring his climb, he plummeted to his death, and with his blood, the Tree began to flourish once again. ¬ÝUltimately, according to Survivor myth, the Tree of Life thrives with the sacrifice of male life, which, along with the intimate visit, helps to comprise the key elements of Survivor ritual. ¬ÝTo appease the Earth mother and her bountiful harvest, Survivors renew their covenant with her in the skybox through the union of male and female worldly parts. ¬ÝAfter the male has transferred his seed through this union, he engages in self-sacrifice. Plummeting out of the skybox, his body is impaled in the spiky depths of the water; mixed with the water, his blood filters back into the sustaining life force of the Tree. ¬Ý

¬Ý¬Ý¬Ý¬ÝIn order for the intimate and sacrificial rituals to occur, Survivors must disrobe and enter a state of pure nudity. Survivor doctrine holds both nudity and reproduction in high esteem, as we are naked at the time of our birth, a sacred time in which our mothers give us life just as our Earth mother gave our sustaining Tree life. ¬ÝAnother condition for Survivor rituals involves ganja, another element of Survivor doctrine. ¬ÝIn order to reach the skybox, Survivors must achieve an altered state through the use of ganja, which both prevents impurities from entering the life stream and enhances the intimate experience. ¬ÝGanja, too, is entwined in the Survivor creation myth; when some her children suffered from greed, the Earth mother rewarded the meek by endowing them with the ganja plant that brings ecstasy and enhances earthly, human pleasures.

¬Ý¬Ý¬Ý¬ÝThe Earth mother’Äôs rewarding of the meek and embracing of earthly pleasures provides basis for two key components of Survivor ethics: Survivors are to respect the Tree of Life, and Survivors are to love the Tree of Life as they love their own flesh and its desires. ¬ÝThe Earth mother blessed the Earth with the Tree and with humanity, so we must take great pains to care for both of these things. Survivor ethics also states that Survivors shall not kill one another; by killing a descendant of the Earth mother, we kill the Earth mother herself. ¬ÝAs Survivor myth calls for the sacrifice of men in order to enhance the gifts of life that women produce, Survivor ethics place women above men. ¬ÝThey thus have a matriarchal social structure that embraces and celebrates womanhood and the female reproductive cycle. ¬Ý

¬Ý¬Ý¬Ý¬ÝUltimately, to be a Survivor is to strive towards achieving and experiencing oneness with the natural. ¬ÝThis connection to nature can be experienced individually but is enhanced through rituals that allow Survivors to strengthen the bond they hold not only with each other but with their dear Earth mother. ¬ÝThe ultimate Survivor experience is to release all that divides and become one united Earth entity. ¬Ý

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