The 12 Trusts, Extended Version

The 12 Trusts are not just words forming a chivalrous code of behavior. They are deeper than that. They are contemplations that serious Companions need to fully understand.
     With that in mind, the following extended version of the 12 Trusts are meant to provide a catalyst for this process.
     You are required to become familiar with each Trust, and decide if you really believe in them. You are then encouraged to write your own Code of Chivalry.
     Each candidate for Knighthood must develop his own Code, which will subsequently be evaluated by Council Knights. While it is acceptable to adopt the 12 Trusts for your personal code, you should only do so if you find that it meets your every requirement better than anything else. You can also use it as a template which you can then change..
     The important thing is that you embrace your own Code of Chivalry that is approved by the Knights who mentor you. They will study it as part of your evaluation, and may question you on what each point means.

The Extended Version:

Upon my honor,

1) I will develop my life for the greater good.

It all begins with us. It begins with the potential we have from birth, and what we do with it. As children, we are completely shaped by those around us. But then, one day, we are confronted by a threshold that leads to liberation. Do we cross it? Dare we shake up our stale beliefs, question everything we see, and establish our own relationship with truth?
     Some cross. Others do not
     Those who gain freedom must choose for whom that freedom speaks. For self alone, where there is no permanence? Or for that portion of the universe that includes us all?
     It is said that the king and the land is one. That is true not only for the king, but for every man. Here we find our value. Here we find reason to advance our competencies.

2) I will place character above riches, and concern for others above personal wealth.

Before wealth and privilege, before property and station, before status and aspirations, come two priorities forever set. Character lays the foundation of honor. Concern for others builds the edifice of your soul.

3) I will never boast, but cherish humility instead.

Boasting closes one's heart and mind. It is the mark of a child. Humility, in contrast, opens the mind and heart, and the eyes as well

4) I will speak the truth at all times, and forever keep my word.

The man who is true speaks words that are true. With truth he affirms all things and sets the world right. His words are like a sword, sharp, solid and to the point—an extension of his insight, deserving of respect.
     Falseness is like smoke, dirty, without substance, filling first the lungs and then the hall with rancor.

5) I will defend those who cannot defend themselves.

He is no man who does not rise to protect the helpless. For in defending others we find the purest love that swells the hero's chest, and makes his families proud. For this, they will say, he was born, and others like him. He has proved his mettle and paid the debt for his mother's travail.

6) I will honor and respect women, and avoid sexism in all its guises.

To honor women is to honor life, and to partnership therewith. Man and woman. They cannot live without the other, and peace is is found in the comfort of each other's arms. She is sacred to us all, in all her appearances, child, damsel, mother, lady or wizened recluse. She is sacrifice and glory, tenderness and strength. Her touch brings life, her breath spawns courage. Give her preference and safeguard her wishes until the end of your days.

7) I will uphold justice by being fair to all.

Justice comes not by whip or sword, by magistrate or law. Such implements reign only when justice falters.
     If you would find justice, seek it in what is fair and true. Discover it in kindness and obligation.
     Live rightly and justice abounds. Return the whip to husbandry. Let the magistrate have time to plow new fields.
     The law condemns while justice seeks to protect us all.

8) I will be faithful in love and loyal in friendship.

What is the truest measure of a man, but he be faithful in love, and true to his friends? All else is seen as folly or bluster, weighed on scales for commerce, not life, or worn as decoration to catch the eye.
     True heat comes only from fire, which sustains even as it consumes, bringing light and warmth and comfort. So too loyalties of the heart. Without them, we are empty.

9) I will abhor scandals and gossip—neither partake nor delight in them.

Delighting in the mistakes of others condemns us all. Our imperfections are doubled by the deceit of pointing to that while hiding this within.
     No one trusts a gossip but their own. No one values their opinion.

10) I will be generous to the poor and those who need help.

True love and service flows from generosity toward others. You will feel this among your Companions in their concern for one another. Generosity is not limited to throwing a coin in a poor person's cup. There is generosity of spirit as well, found in good will and a sympathetic ear, and sound advice.

11) I will forgive when asked, that my own mistakes will be forgiven.

Love requires forgiveness, but this trust speaks of more than that. We must forgive because we are human, and a lack of forgiveness forms a barrier to our growth and service to humanity. We all need to be forgiven at some point in our lives. Why deny it to others?

12) I will live my life with courtesy and honor from this day forward.

Courtesy is the most noticeable and public of chivalry's virtue. It is our duty to live up to its requirements in our daily lives, to everyone we meet.

By adhering to the 12 Trusts, I swear to partake in the living Quest in everything I do.

We must remember that there is more than the individual aspects of each and every trust. There is the Quest itself, and the honor to live our lives truly in relationship to both.