Bodhi of the Future - Aphras

[Sage Lev Calxur]

Why are you still on NS, what keeps you interested in the game?
Do you have any talents or hobbies, what are they?
What's the future like? Yes, I know you're secretly a time traveler, now you have to tell me about the future!

[Radiant Aphras]

Yes...our RP is lacking.  But we're working on it! ;)

So... you wanted more questions, right?

If you could take a single photograph of your life, what would it look like?
What's the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
What is the best combination of pizza toppings?  (I will judge you most for this one)

I believe it. :) I look forward to it! As for more questions, more questions are always good!

A single photograph? If we were looking at something from a purely average standpoint (i.e. something that is the most likely to have occurred), it would probably be something boring like me being on the computer, playing a video game, or I mean, even on NationStates lol. But since this is my answer, I'll answer how I want to! :P And in that case, I would probably say me probably somewhere in Europe...where specifically though, if I had to pick one place for certain, probably in St. Peter's Basilica. Now, I'm not religious at all, but I can safely say that that is one of the most single most beautiful places I have ever been in. There are a lot of other ones that I would LOVE to pick, but that is definitely one of the most important ones I can think of.

The nicest thing? There's a lot of really nice things people have done for me. Gifts that weren't ask for (but of course appreciated), somewhat spontaneous trips with friends I haven't seen in a long time, but...Oh gosh. A bit of a stretch since it's not someone, it's two people, but my parents taking my sister and I on a trip to Europe. They saved up for it for years and years, and to be honest with you, it has really allowed me to appreciate history, travel, and different cultures even more than I had before, and I consistently rank that trip as some of the most fun I've ever had. It was truly generous of them to have done that for us, and I could not be more thankful for it.

Pizza toppings? Oh, that's easy, this one is a go-to for me. Pepperoni and mushrooms. Pepperoni is the classic, and mushrooms are truly amazing, and I will fight you on this if you think otherwise.

Why are you still on NS, what keeps you interested in the game?
Do you have any talents or hobbies, what are they?
What's the future like? Yes, I know you're secretly a time traveler, now you have to tell me about the future!

Before I found my region, I wasn't really all that interested in the game. Admittedly, even after I found my region, my interest in NS has waxed and waned, but I genuinely couldn't imagine giving up on Foundership at this point. Through a good portion of my effort, I have helped to create a community that I can proudly say is my own. I have known and talked to some of these people for well over 6 years now, and honestly, that's a wonderful feeling. Not only that, but my sense of duty and obligation, which historically may have been....somewhat lacking, has been really on point for almost a year now, and I don't really foresee that stopping any time soon.

My talents and hobbies are pretty uninteresting for the most part, honestly. For talents, I can read pretty damn fast. Uhh....There's probably a lot of other things that are talents of mine, but I just don't think of them as such. I'm a very dependable and hardworker, especially over the last 2 years or so, but I just don't really regard those much as talents, you know? As for hobbies, plenty. Travelling, hiking, reading, playing video games, chatting with friends (often people that I have known for 7+ years and still talk to on a near daily basis), engaging on a 15+ niche political simulation game...you know. The usual.

This question is evil, and I hate you for this. Before 2020, I could have potentially given a real answer, but I just....I don't know. I am torn between it being more of this steady degradation into whatever the future might be, given political situations, the pandemic, steady environmental, social, and economic issues, or potentially something brighter, something like how a lot of older films and novels (well, non-dystopian ones, anyways) think of the future, on how we've advanced so far and have actively eliminated or fixed a majority of our issues. The idealist in me wants to envision a future like that, but the realist in me is very, very worried about the future. I'm....I'm more inclined to believe the latter. 2020 has kinda reinforced that belief in me. Do I want this to be true? Absolutely not. But I'm hard pressed to see much otherwise, especially as of late.

[Sage Altino]

Thank you for walking with us down this path! The Sages have the biggest task for you maybe ever. We present to you the Bodhi of the Future. The world is in danger. In moral decay, filled with violence and hatred, we have lost a sense of normalcy and we can find little peace. But we know that you can solve this. We will send you back in time to the 1970s where you pose as a Soothsayer to warn the past of the future which they are creating. Write a letter before you go detailing what it is important for a citizen of the 70s to know about the future. The Sages will review your letter here before we send you on your trip. Good luck and Godspeed!

[Radiant Aphras]

My friend,

The world that we both have called home is in a time of immense peril. You might not yet know it, but while we come from the same place, the Earth of my time is a sad, decaying, pitiful husk of what we once knew. I have gone back in an effort to ensure that this does not occur and that we are not cursed to live in this time that I have come to know. 

I must start this out by saying that we as a species need to learn that we are not immortal, and that we are not masters of our future as much as we may think that we are. While even now in this past time, where it seems that we have near dominion over much of what happens in the world, we constantly live on a knife’s edge. All it takes is one decision, one mistake, or one simple bit of random chance before we plunge ourselves into catastrophe, and yet, our species acts as though that it doesn’t matter and that future generations will fix it. As somebody from one of those future generations, it never ends like that, and we continue this persistent cycle. 

Going off of this, we must learn as well that, Earth, the place that humanity, as well as every other known bit of life, has called home, is finite. While in past times it may have seen that resources were bountiful and nearly infinite, we cannot think like this anymore. My world has seen the decimation of life, of habitats, of whole countries, and it must be avoided at all costs, and we must learn that infinite consumption of finite resources will only lead us to a doomed fate for our species and our whole world.  In fact, I come to you to say that we must not just learn this, but we must as a species adjust and prepare for the consequences of our actions, and do what we can to minimize them. I am not entirely sure that we can stop them altogether, but we can reduce and minimize the risk altogether, and this is crucial for the future of our world and all life. 

We must also learn that the biodiversity that has also defined Earth as well as even our own history as a species is something that must be protected without question. I must stress this greatly, as an abundance of life is not only a natural product of our world, but it is also essential to it. While it of course is important to humanity as a source of sustenance, it provides so much more, from natural processes that impact all sorts of things, such as even the cycle of water, minerals, and so much more. This is not to mention as well that they do not deserve to die at our hands, directly or indirectly, simply because we willed it. It is inexcusable, and it is imperative that we preserve it. 

Science and technological progress is something that must continue, as the collective knowledge of humanity is something that I truly believe is our greatest achievement and legacy, and we must continue to pursue it, as it has of course resulted in immense progress for our world and species in leaps and bounds that will continue into the future. We must, however, treat this with caution as well, as we must not allow it to become all-encompassing nor must we allow our obsession with consumption act as the driving force behind science. This must too be shattered as a concept for the betterment of our world.

Meanwhile, education is something that in my time has been neglected for many generations now. It may sound surprising, considering what I have just mentioned about how important science has been, but the general populace in my time is undereducated and when they are, it is disputed at best and downright lies at worst. The general population deserves the right to be learned about the world, what it has to offer, and so much more. This is not only for their own good, but to ensure that they are not goaded into ploys by those with easier access to education and to make sure that they have access to the same opportunities as most other people without obtuse barriers to entry. 

While this one is not as imperative, it must still be mentioned that we must do everything in our ability to accurately record and preserve our history, of not only us, but life itself. There will be a time where our own history is actively questioned by members of society who have the real power to make it seem like it did not happen, and this alone has caused innumerable issues. Not only must we record our history for this reason, but it is simply too risky to not record it all for future generations, for they may be deprived of their own culture and sense of belonging without it. 

Religion, while an important part culturally of our species, must be treated with caution from those in power. While this should go without saying, my own words here must be considered in this context, and I do not wish what I am saying here to be regarded as some word from a deity, being, god, or what have you. I am, however, of the firm belief that people can believe any faith or religion that they may choose, but the institutions of religion must be regarded with a grain of the salt at the very most. Religion can be used as something for individual people to use on their own, but it should never be allowed to hold true power, and especially not politically. There have been times where their power and influence has been absolute, and my time has seen many of these religious institutions become exceptionally powerful due to irrational fair and misguidedness among people. This must be regarded with immense caution in the near future. 

It must also be stated that the rights of the worker are to be upheld. I know that coming from your time that such an idea might sound a bit, well, suspicious, but make no mistake, I come from a time where people are made to toil away without little recourse, and that is for those of us who are fortunate to work at all. Rights that generations of old have fought so hard for had been steadily eroded and eventually we had no choice but to accept the grim conditions for almost nothing in return. One must be careful about giving those in charge more power than they already need, as it can lead to the point where they can determine who goes hungry, and such is a future is something that we must avoid for the betterment of all. 

It is also quite important that we must be careful when it comes to leaders in the near future. There will be times where there will be leaders that come up promising things that can not and will not happen, but they sound so appealing that people may think that it is worth a chance. While I know that you may think that such a thing may sound preposterous to you, given what has just happened less than 40 years ago now, there will come a time where people will come promising everything and more to “fix” many present issues. My time has seen many of these so-called leaders promising to fix every one of our issues, and yet nothing is fixed and it becomes arguably worse than it was before. These people must be regarded with extreme caution, and should not be allowed to access the levers of power at any cost. 

And while all of this is also noteworthy, it is absolutely necessary that humanity must settle on other worlds. I have mentioned briefly as such before, but we constantly live on the assumption that our world will still be there the next day, and this is a very dangerous game. We must create colonies, cities, and habitats elsewhere to ensure that we are not doomed as a species if something were to happen to Earth. However, it must still be stated that we cannot do this under the assumption that we cannot continue our unsustainable existence, but that we must still learn as a species to live within our means and not as greedy murderers who slowly but surely kill themselves. Space truly is the final frontier, and it is something that I wish that we had done sooner in our time, but this is something that could truly cause a true shift in the way that we treat our existence if we were to expand beyond our homeworld.

While you may not know me well, I tell you all of this as my friend, and not as something to scare you. I have heard and read many stories of you as someone of great wisdom and empathy, as someone wise beyond your days, and I say this with quite literal meaning now. While this all may indeed frighten you, the goal of this is to serve as a template. I hope that this information will hopefully allow you to influence events enough to avoid the dark future that I hail from, and to allow a bright and prosperous future for our world and all of its inhabitants. 

Best of luck to you, my friend. I trust in you to do what is best for all of us.

[Sage Lev Calxur]

Great read! I really liked it; I'm sure the people of the '70s are going to be very thankful for this information, and they're definitely not going to throw it away! Anyway, good luck on your travels, and congratulations on reaching Enlightenment!!!