pdf file - Notes from An Alien

"Is there a chance that you're getting religious in your old age?"
"Ha! Even Anglana can't convince me to embrace the need for organized religion. She says she won't stop
trying but can understand my reasoning. She claims I'm still acting on Akla's wishes."
"Morna, what do you think about the reality of Akla still being an active force in people's lives?"
"I can postulate that people who form a committed mental and emotional relationship with Akla's
teachings can imagine they are being actively guided by his spirit. But, my speculations can't incorporate spirit,
in the religious sense, as a reality."
"Is my love for my mother a spiritual reality?"
"I would say not."
"Is your attention to your son's development and evolution more than a rational endeavor?"
"I would say not."
"Well, at least you can understand humor."
"How does that relate?"
"I've noticed that all the Aklans I've interacted with have an acute sense of humor."
Morna was silent as she interpolated Mura's comment into her science/religion analyses.
Anglana had communicated to the Worlds' Council that Mura was to be her planet's contribution to the
membership of the Council and that Mura, alone, could choose her replacement.
The discussions on the Worlds' News Meshes and in the chambers of the Local, Regional, and Territorial
Councils became a nearly riotous situation. The actions of various Independents, expressed through their troops
of Dissatisfieds, were riotous. After a year of discussion in the Words' Council, no decision of acceptance had
been reached. There were two years left before the regular elections for Worlds' Council and the memberships of
all other Councils were bound to see radical changes. The political storm was ferocious. The death toll from the
actions of Dissatisfieds reached 10,043. Half of those were Aklans.
The Worlds' Protective Force was being bled to death by defections.
Corruption had reached a dangerous peak.
Delva and Mura had come to a momentous conclusion—they would appear on the Worlds' News Meshes,
rather than waste time appealing to the Councils, to teach the Worlds a lesson. The broadcast was scheduled for
the week before the lesser Councils' elections.
Mura, Delva, and Anglana were communing.
They were engaged in creating the structure of a debate between Delva and Mura. It was agreed that the
debate format would help the common person—those not involved in direct political action but necessary to the
healthy functioning of the political system— grasp the essentials of what they wanted to teach the Worlds.
They had also decided that the main issue to be debated was not Mura's acceptance as a member of the
Worlds' Council but the broader issue of stable government and the eradication of sympathies for the
Independents.
Delva would take the position that groups acting outside the structure of properly organized government
were the reason for unrest and, if not checked by rationality and the awareness of the Oneness of All Angians,
would lead the Worlds' back to general warfare.
Mura would take the position that all groups of individuals needed the sanction of the Worlds'
government for unfettered action on their principles—action short of violence.
They were aware that their positions were not the traditional strict opposites used in most debates. They
would ignore the purists and bank on the common sense of the general population.
Delva had become the icon of rational Worlds' government. Mura would capitalize on her past reputation
for supporting the Independents.
Anglana's contribution to their planning was to help them orchestrate their performance in such a way
that they would be able to reach a dramatic agreement after an hour of seemingly fractious argumentation.
The overarching rationale was to take their audience on a journey—from the concept of unbridled
freedom of action, through the pitfalls of governmental oppression, to the lush fields of unity in diversity.
Their supreme goal was to set up a Worlds' Conversation that would make people think about their