by Ray Newman, radio and television commentator, attorney, educator, author

Saturday, November 21, 2009

FROM ACROSS THE SKIES

"We come from the planet Atari in the TriLunia Galaxy. We have studied your world with great interest and in much depth. We have read all of your profound writings and listened to your esteemed wise men. We admire your intellectual and esthetic achievements. We come because there is a word you use here on Earth that is causing great damage on our planet, as it has caused on yours. It is a word that we abandoned centuries ago as an anathema to our species.

"Many of our children have innocently accepted this word as representing an honorable, even noble, principle, when in fact it represents a concept that is a vile and menacing enemy to our existence. In the name of celestial affinity and harmony, we have come to ask you banish this word forever from your use and memory. It is the word 'must'.

"The beings on our planet are called essentia, as yours are called humans. The essentia mind is as the human mind, and unlike anything else in the Universe. It is a choosing instrument, with the unique power to select, to prefer, to decide. Our capacity to choose our actions is at the core of essentia and human genius, and it is what makes us...we and you...the most evolved and astounding beings that we are.

"Freedom of choice is incompatible with what the word 'must' represents...unchosen duties and obligations to other members of society. It is understandable to us that young essentia are captivated by the notion that others 'must' do things for them. It brings to them an endless bounty. Under the banner of what must be done for them rather than chosen to be done for them, they would have other essentia labor to gift them with shelter, clothing, toys, education, health maintenance, and more. They are too young to realize that the word 'must' is incompatible with their nature, and that one day that word, in ever growing scope, will be directed at them. They will be mandated to live their lives in ways they don't wish because others decree they do so. The elder beings on our neighboring planet, Dioxus, adopted 'must' as the cornerstone of their socio-political structure, as many of your elders have done here on Earth...and never saw its terminal dangers even as their planet imploded.

"To remove choice from the mind is deadlier than ingesting fatal poisons into the body...for if the mind is given freedom to choose, it can choose steps to remove or neutralize the poisons. Without choice, essentia and humans become as sand, to be blown about by the winds and drowned by the tides.

"We ask you to remember that choosing to surrender choice is a prelude to extinction.

"Essentia bestow upon you a lavishness of the Six Pillars of Life: purity, love, courage, beauty, serenity and simplicity."

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