FRIENDS

by Richard Kaplan

Mira looked at the invitation from the National Council of Churches of Christ (yes, that's its full name) and giggled. //I think we have the organized religions worried.//

Bennu: //Immatures are so predictable! They can and do talk themselves into anything, and, for once, it's serving the cause of Good. Despite all of the warnings and threats, Maturity is proving irresistably seductive.//

Mira: // To the Immature mind, it would. Greatly improved health and, usually, a somewhat extended life, and even if you're not a Healer, you have ready access to one, is a good start. Then you get an IQ so high that Immature mental tests can't even measure it - of course, the potentially Mature imagine how they'll use it to become wealthy, powerful, or famous, little realizing that such things have little meaning to the Mature ...//

Bennu: //Who know better than to point that fact out. Just like so many other effects of Maturity, most of what seems so desirable to the Immature is simply outgrown.//

Mira: //Still, it IS amusing that the downtrodden and discriminated against are, naturally enough, the ones most likely to accept Enlightenment. Why, the councils of the native tribes of this continent have actually formally endorsed us. They have enough sense to FINALLY be first in line to get something good.

//Then, there is a minority religion// (don't forget, this is maybe 1990, before the major influx of Asians with their religions of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism) //divided into three factions. As expected, its members are often discriminated against. The orthodox faction, not finding us or what we offer in the holy book it takes literally, rejects us, of course, though the other two divisions are not so dogmatic. Many of them, like many of the young of the orthodox faction, fantasize about how they will use the Powers Maturity gives them against their tormentors, and so are willing to tread the Path to Maturity. Of course, once they become Mature, they can usually find relatively nonviolent means to defend themselves and discourage the evil-minded. Telepathy IS a big advantage when you tend to be attacked, and so is Channeling Power.

//Similarly, the leaders of a pigmented minority group don't trust us, and therefore our message, because of our skin color. Again, many of the youth prefer results (and have typical Immature fantasies), and so our message spreads to them, too. Now we finally meet the representatives of the religion most of the inhabitants of this country claim to believe in. Many of the factions also are literalists or hierarchical, and they, too, are having trouble with the Temptation of Maturity. Anyway, I wonder how many truly believe we are extraterrestrials.//

Bennu: //Far fewer than believe we are gods - or Earthmen. But then, the lack of telepathy makes it hard for them to trust anyone they think of as "different."//

And so the Two traveled to the meeting. Mira, who had chosen "Immature religious practices" as a hobby early in her Adult studies, would do most of the speaking - when she was given the chance. The Two first had to face an angry diatribe from a number of the representatives (simply labeled by "R" and a number, as there is no reason to specify denominations), but their Training had prepared them for this.

R1: "Why do you spend so much of your time associating with pagans? Native Americans - from what I hear, you encourage them to revert to their Old Ways -"

Mira interrupted: "We teach Equality, Love, and Maturity. How the Mature choose to express that is up to them, not us - and certainly not you!"

R1 (continuing): "New Age psychics and crystal users, even WITCHES!"

Mira: "Wiccans. And all of the groups you've mentioned are naturally sympathetic to us, as Maturity permits the control of Channeling, something they are all doing to some degree already."

R2: "I don't know why we invited them. I voted against it. It's clear - they're pagans themselves. They worship the Sun, don't they?"

Mira: "We honor the Sun. Without it, there would be no energy to power the chemistry of life. Indeed, there would be no planets for life as we know it to evolve upon. And, of course, our Power is Sun-based.

"But you complain that we seek out practitioners of religions you consider false. Do not be so quick to condemn. On every planet we know of, yours and ours included, The Light has spoken repeatedly to the inhabitants. No one can know His mind, nor why He acts in this manner, but it is clear that no religion holds all of the Truth. And all, no matter how genuinely inspired they are, are practiced by highly fallible Immatures. All contain errors and misinterpretations.

"We go to those - of ANY belief, or none at all, who will accept the Message and the Healing we bring."

R2: "But what of the souls of non-believers?"

Mira: "What of them? Wicca, for instance, as a Channeling religion, requires its practitioners to be as much in harmony with both nature and themselves as possible - hence it promotes the desire for Maturity. Its 'Threefold Law' strongly promotes the working of Good, which brings Good, as opposed to the working of Evil, which brings Evil in return. And, of course, it promotes Love as opposed to Hate. So, when a sincere Wiccan dies, assuming our beliefs are correct, she will face The Light. True, a few Immatures will prefer to reject Him rather than admit their mistake, but a person who is basically Good will 'shrug' and accept Him. So, no, the souls of Good non-Believers are not in jeopardy.

"As for Channeling itself, as is usual in monotheistic religions, you, like other Immatures, depend too much upon the science of medicine, and when that fails, upon Miraculous intervention.

"We would point out to you that the astonishing variety of plants that produce chemicals that seem to do nothing for them but work on human illnesses are surely Gifts of The Light. Yet you accept this as a matter of Nature and do not thank Him for this.

"So, too, the Power of this planet - Channeling - is a Gift of The Light. Yet that you spurn, and, indeed, paint those who attempt to use it as heretics - or worse. In fact, the so-called 'Western' religions leave no room at all for it.

"Some of you have - literally - attempted to demonize us. Perhaps you are jealous of the Sunpower. Races who possess it are a small minority of those we know of, and it is indeed a great Blessing from The Light. But it is not without its price.

"It makes possible the presence of true Evil on the planets of Races who possess it - Evil that, if not fully carnate, nevertheless can walk upon the face of our planet and, using it, affect material objects far more readily than a pure Spirit can.

"Indeed, our last war, some 20,000 Sun-cycles of our planet ago, was fought against the Shadow Lords and their Immature allies."

Two delegates sitting together suddenly began looking at the Two with considerable interest.

Mira continued: "We defeated them, and they are now confined to a few Evil places on our planet. Still, they seduce members of our Race on occasion, much to our sorrow. Yago was such a person, though our Wise did not fully understand his special type of Evil, and we deeply apologize for the terrible deeds he has done upon this planet.

"Our Mission is to teach Maturity to those of this planet who wish to learn it. Only in Maturity can the full Power of any planet be used, which is fortunate, because only the Mature can be trusted not to misuse it. Of course, no mortal Race is perfect, and, even without outside help, a few do become corrupt. But Mature Adults have little need to resist Sin and Temptation, since they normally hold little attraction for the Mature. Certainly the Mature do not seek to rule others, nor force others to conform to beliefs they find objectionable."

The same two delegates looked at the Two with even more interest. Others were less happy. Understandably, no religion wishes to hear that it does not hold ultimate Truth, or that in practice, if not necessarily in theory, it contains errors.

But there was another subject to discuss. It was all well and good to speak of a "many prophets" world, and even to provisionally accept it. But Christians do have a special belief that needs to be discussed.

R3: "Suppose we accept what you say as truth. What of our Savior, Jesus Christ?"

Mira: "It is not unreasonable that The Light would give such a Gift - either as a true Avatar of Himself or as a special Creation - to the Immature, who need all of the help they can get. Indeed, most Races we know of have a major religion based on the belief in such a Being. Of course, as you have seen, Immatures are quite capable of inventing gods, too, even when they themselves deny it. And it is also interesting to note that those Races also have a religion based on a Buddha-like figure. What the actual truth is, only The Light knows.

"Think of this - what The Light that is Love wants is to have His Love returned by a free-will act of His creations. All else - equality, justice, the resistance to Sin and Evil - follow automatically if one fully loves The Light. And to fully love The Light, as with fully being able to do anything, one must be Mature, and so have full control over one's mind. It is Maturity that we offer. Whether you choose to accept it, or what you do with it, is your affair.

"Again, I say, The Light has made many Paths to Him. True, one - perhaps yours - is likely to be the most efficient way to Him for the most number of people, but, even if that is so, that does not give you any right to say that any Path The Light accepts is wrong for the person who finds that Path to be valid. That is why we have said that 'all religions that sincerely seek The Light are valid, so that one may pray in any of their houses of worship and honor their holy sites.' It is, after all, all the same Light, and the various ceremonies and rites used in them are mostly to help believers follow the correct Path, resist Temptation, and be comforted in time of loss."

Most of the delegates were unhappy. Although their beliefs were not actually being questioned, they were being lectured as if they were little children - which, to the members of a Mature Race, they were - and by beings who were not even either "human" or, presumably, Christian. Worse, those beings were corrupting Mankind.

Bennu, who like Mira, had been reading minds, spoke up. "We most certainly are human! True, we do not know the Being you believe in, but there is a simple explanation for that. Your written history goes back over 5,000 years. He made his appearance only about 2,000 years ago, and, interestingly enough, your Race has made little progress towards Maturity since then. This, sadly, is typical of Immatures. It takes many thousands of years to grow up. Believing we are corrupting Mankind is typically Immature thinking. Perhaps the common belief in a Fallen Angel has merit - maybe his job was to bring Maturity!"

The delegates were startled. That thought had apparently not occurred to the religious philosophers! Most of them shifted uneasily in their seats.

Bennu continued: "All we are offering - offering, nothing more - is the Gift of Maturity - the ability for each and every person to be able to take full responsibility for his actions. We do not offer more than that, for we are Missionaries of Maturity, not religion. If - and only if - we are asked, we say: 'If you believe in The Light, seek Him in the way you find most suitable, for if you are sincere in your search, He will surely find you.'

"As for why we could not be Christian, the simple explanation is this. We do not know if it is the obviousness of the Gift of The Light that the Sunpower is, and the obviousness of Evil that the Shadow Lords are, or whether there is some subtle difference in the brain structure of SunChildren {there is}, but, while our early history is about as disgustingly Evil as any other Immature Race's, SunChildren usually attain Maturity within around two thousand years. After that, SunChildren simply do not need that particular Gift, if that is what, in fact, it is."

Mira: "As for what Mature people do about their religion, many do, in fact, continue to gather together to give thanks and praise to The Light, and, in some form, many of the original religions continue to be practiced after 10 or 20 thousand local Sun-cycles. Now we have said all we came here to say, and, if nobody has anything to say to us, we will return to the service of The Light that Missionary Healing is."

There was a brief silence. Then the same two delegates who had been so interested in the Two stood up. One spoke. "Is it really true - forgive us, but we must be sure - that your Race has not fought a war for 20,000 of your years?"

Bennu and Mira nodded.

The other delegate then spoke. "For FOUR TIMES the history of our Race, these people have been at peace - and the rest of you reject them?

"We are from the Religious Society of Friends - the Quakers, as we are commonly known. Abolition of war is one of the most cherished aims of our faith. We would be honored if you would attend a worship service with us and our leaders."

And so they did. Quakers have little ceremony - the highlight of their service is the Standing Silence, when the congregation reaches out with their Minds and Spirits to each other and God.

Perhaps it was just the Sensitivity of those present being activated by the presence of the Two, or maybe The Light added something of His own, but those present felt something of the minds of them - a satisfied love of others and God, and an immense mental Power to be used in service of that.

At the end of the service, the leaders of the religion - the Friends General Conference and the Friends Service Committee - had a discussion.

Bennu and Mira waited outside, but such pacifistic religions were also present on all Immature planets, and they had no doubt as to the outcome of the discussion. Peace was the most seductive lure of all for many, and the Quakers had great tolerance anyway. They would not fear to learn from people - and, to the Quakers, they were "people", not "aliens" - from another world.

And indeed, when they were summoned back inside, the question was as they knew it would be: "Will you teach us to be Mature?"

Mira: "We cannot teach all of you, of course - there are only two of us, and we have many others to aid. But a religion such as yours tends to attract potential Healers. We will train a few of those, and they will spread Maturity to others, including those who will also become Healers. So it will go, as it must to Enlighten an entire planet."

And so it was done. Though members of other religions sometimes think of Quakers as overly idealistic, nobody doubted the ethics or morality of a sincere practitioner of the religion. And so, when the next convocation of the National Council of Churches was held, though they were still the only member church to have officially endorsed the Two, several other delegates approached the Quaker ones. And what they said was: "My church does not accept - yet. But I trust you two. Will you teach me Maturity?"

And so Enlightenment spreads, and a Race continues to grow up.