The Rite of Entry

The Rule 6 · The Daily Rule of the Order

The four Gospels say who he was. This book says how we live.

6.1A Seeker is not washed, takes no oath, changes no name, and gives no money.

6.2A Seeker is put to one questioning.

6.3It is held in the forum, with the assembly present. The children are present too, and may ask.

6.4The questioning has three parts.

6.5The first is reciting. The assembly names a passage from the four books; the Seeker does not choose it.

6.6The second is opposing. Name three places where the four books contradict one another, and give the reasoning of both sides in each.

6.7On those three, do not say which side is right. To say it is to fail.

6.8The third is refuting. The assembly takes something the Seeker firmly believes and attacks it.

6.9If the Seeker changes their mind on the spot, they pass.

6.10If they hold their view and can say clearly why it did not move, they also pass.

6.11If they grow angry, or sneer, or strike the person instead of the argument, they fail. (cf. The Rule 3.4)

6.12Whoever fails is not rebuked and is not laughed at.

6.13Failing means only that there is more reading to do. They may come again, without limit.

6.14Whoever passes is declared so by the youngest person present, who says: "You are a Co-Soarer."

6.15No office is conferred, no hands are laid on, no name is written in heaven.

6.16The name is written only in the register, among the rest, in no order of rank.

6.17A Co-Soarer does not stand above a Seeker. They have merely finished reading.

6.18Whoever carries the name as a weight over others has already lost it. (cf. The Covenant 4.5)