My Thoughts on Trust in the Master/slave Relationship

While I believe that true trust is something acquired over time with experience and exposure, there also needs to be a beginning point or level of trust between the two before the relationship can begin properly. The Master must trust the slave enough and the slave must trust the Master enough for the training efforts to be effective and meaningful. If that trust doesn’t exist between the two at the beginning of the relationship, then effective training becomes an effort to accomplish due to trust issues that develop with each skill being taught. How that initial trust is gained becomes another issue. It seems to be different with everyone. There are some who don’t seem to have trust issues while others hover under them like a shield. I believe that each new relationship should be initially taken at face value with regards to trust. While past history of relationships can be an educational tool, I don’t believe that it should be used as a template for all new relationships. It’s been my experience that trying to do so ultimately leads to unresolved suspicion and in many cases failure of the relationship to seriously begin. In my opinion, the new person in the new relationship should not have to carry the burden of the history of other failed relationships, or is he/she responsible for that history. I believe that each new relationship should stand on its own merits and be judged accordingly with regard to trust issues, for if not, then the new relationship will ultimately be filled with mistrust and suspicion at most every turn. Much time, energy and perhaps even money might be spent trying to justify ones merits, and as a result, the relationship may never become realistic or meaningful and may, in fact fail as a result. While it’s nice to believe that past history equates to “lessons learned”, and in many cases justifiably so, using those lessons and applying them to a current relationship is not justifiable, as no two people are the same. You can’t compare oranges with oranges that way either.  I believe that both Master and slave should, at the beginning of a desired relationship, “wipe the slate clean” and start anew, learning and enjoying each other and letting trust build over time with experience.