Background
Waking up humanity
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The Assignment
The communities had gathered around their screens to participate in forging a new constitution for the future society. Most of the thousands of individual communities had installed John's intelligent module and were using it to manage the growth and maintenance of their environment. It was now time to discuss how they would cooperate with each other. Betty was the first to speak:
"Friends, family, neighbors -- is what we are. It is now impossible to return to the Days Before. The values we had used to make our decisions then are, for the most part, gone. We must not allow that past to return. Humanity was on a collision course with Mother Earth and she would have survived our foolishness. Many people were waiting for a savior and it came in the form of a virus. We had to go blind before we could see. We must agree on continuing the sanity."
"The first agreement we must reach is that we all want the same things -- and that they are not 'things.' What we all seek is peace of mind, love and companionship. Those are the elements that bring balance into our communities. The only element that can prevent achieving that balanced community is the human ego. Ego is necessary to navigate our bodies in the environment, but it must not be allowed to make decisions. Why? Because it wants to glorify itself. It is the source of all human suffering and must be exposed as such."
"Our brain has wondrous capabilities. It has the ability to create thoughts and ideas that allow us to imagine what does not yet exist and, through our efforts and cooperation, we can make a vision manifest itself in our reality. We are creators existing in creation. The ruling class knew this and used the knowledge to glorify itself at the expense of the masses, but that's over. We each must take responsibility for our actions, ourselves, our neighbors and our planet. That is the first agreement we much reach. Ego be damned."
The screen blinked several times as though the connection was being lost, but returned to clarity with a face that was humanoid, but somewhat different than the survivors. The main difference was in the eyes -- piercing, pure black and obviously intelligent. As the people gazed at the strange face, they heard a voice within their head, but the face's lips did not move:
"The time has come. We have been observing this planet for a few thousand orbits around your star and have come to the point of decision. Should we allow humanity to commit suicide and take thousands, if not millions, of other life forms into oblivion, or should we rid the planet of this parasitic life form? We have watched as tyranny and oppression of the masses has been exercised by the ruling class. We have watched as wayward egos with ideas of superiority have murdered millions and millions of helpless people. We have watched as the greedy and powerful have created wars to gain even more power over the innocent. We have witnessed the inhumanity of humans. Enough."
You survivors have demonstrated the kind of cooperation and selflessness that may yet save you from extinction. You are about to take your final test. If you pass, you can join us in the universe and, if you fail, there will be no more of your kind on this planet."
"What kind of test?" Betty asks of the screen figure.
"I broke into your broadcast as you identified the human problem -- the ego. You are correct in that evaluation. We have tried to send messages in various forms to the population here to try and rid the human mind of this imaginary mental structure. Great teachers and leaders have risen in your ranks and attempted to show the way to universal knowledge. It appears that most humans have a short attention span and a short memory, as well. We have already given several tests that humanity has failed."
"Give us an example," Betty asks.
"The first significant attempt to rid you of your insanity was Gauthama Siddartha, whom you call the first Buddha. We impregnated his mother with our genetic material so that he could contain the knowledge we have. You may know he was a royal, but relinquished his ego to teach unity, love and compassion. The message did not reach as many as needed."
"Our second effort was Jesus of Nazareth. Again, we impregnated Mary so that Jesus could have our universal experience within him. He did a marvelous job teaching love and truth as the answers to achieving heaven. The money-hungry and powerful did not want to give up their egos, so they tried to kill him. We had to repair him as soon as they rolled the stone in front of his grave. We returned him to earth for a bit for a last message to his disciples. His message to the world was then commandeered and restructured to benefit the rulers of the time."
"We tried a different approach with Mohammed. We beamed him up to our ship and gave him directions for writing the Koran. He did an admirable job and he returned to earth with a more forceful hand to get rid of egos. Islam means Peace and Mohammed wanted to enforce peace with a stern discipline for wayward egos. It worked for a while -- until fundamentalists stopped progress."
"Each of these leaders and teachers reached a level of success at first, but the majority of the population was too ignorant or uncaring about how to exist and why they were in an animal body. Monarchs and conquerors took the opportunity of this ignorance by crafting organized religion and mind control to make the masses bend to their will. Obedience and blind faith to "authority" was the norm. This is why we finally decided to blind the human population for a few days -- to make you see the truth. You thought your blindness was caused by a virus, but we did that by broadcasting frequencies that numbed the part of your brain controlling sight."
"Why are you doing this?" asks Roy.
"Although there are many billions of inhabitable planets in the universe, each is a treasure. All of them support life that further defines their being. It is the planets that create their living forms, not the other way around. This is the first one we've encountered where the dominant life form seems to believe that it owns the planet. This is backward thinking. That thinking must be reversed if we are to allow you to remain as the dominant species. In fact, that is your test."
"What must we do?"
"Stop the destruction you have caused and let your planet heal. Humans are the only life form we have encountered that attempts to glorify the body, rather than understand existence. No other life we have encountered is as selfish, greedy, violent and ignorant as the society we just destroyed. Puny humans can never be the cause of universal failure, but they can cause unnecessary pain locally. If you allow the return of such attitudes, you must be eliminated."
"The ego can be bred out of the gene pool in two or three generations. During that time, it would be wise to teach your children well. Our ship will depart into space at near light speed for several days and then return. That should allow you about three generations of time on earth before we survey your progress again. We shall return."
"Wait, wait. I have questions!" Betty shouts as the monitor blinks back to life.
