IRSA

Overview

Excerpt from Otha Gerzog, Interview with the Retrospective

Much of what you would like to learn about ISRA is impossible to comprehend if you are not clairsentient, but I will relate my knowledge as clearly as I may. We clairsentients do not search for glory or power. We are servants of a greater power, of the energy that surrounds us all. We are your eyes, always watching, ever aware of the forces at work in the universe. It is not ISRA’s function to control these forces. Instead, we alert our Gifted brethren, and gather when those forces conspire to disrupt the living harmony of all things. Aberrants are the great discordant note in this reality, and we direct ourselves most intently against them.

Clairsentient psions are vigilant for the telltale disruptions that signify quantum energies at work, and are quick to call for aid to combat these monstrosities. But do not assume that is allISRA does. We aid humanity in whatever fashion we may. For some, this means venturing into space aboard marvelous craft. Others investigate mysteries, from historical analysis to rooting out criminals. There are also those who plumb the enigmas of psi itself, hoping to unlock the further potential that lies in our tremendous abilities. You know me as a proxy, the leader of ISRA. I must correct you in this. I merely guide my siblings, giving them the wisdom of my experience when appropriate, much as I do with you now. They must follow individual paths. I simply hope my words are beneficial when my fellows take their steps.

Living Letters of Holographic Text

What structure exists for ISRA is styled after the simple,elegant models of monastic orders. All funds and property of the school — meeting areas, v e h i c l e s , equipment and the small number of facilities we are fortunate enough to have — are communal.

Decisions are arrived at democratically, although weight is given to the wise and experienced among us. In ISRA, everyone has a voice. Ours is not the largest order, nor is it the smallest. While those who manifest a low level of clairsentience are numerous, those with piercing insight number only a few thousand. The demographic figures that we have show ISRA’s membership to follow a broad “universal human norm,” with members from, and in, all parts of human space

I am often asked about my politics, and those of my siblings. Such things, much like hairstyles and musical tastes, are personal choices. Politics has no place in ISRA, though I understand governments’ perceived necessity in greater society. The school displays favoritism and antagonism toward no nation, corporation or other powerful group. I am pleased that many of my siblings follow my example and renounce their national citizenship. Artificial bonds of political loyalty and patriotism are not the way of ISRA, for they cloud the purity of the visions we seek. Still, I think no less of those who maintain ties to home. They follow their own paths. They may have seen that the courses they must take lead them to serve their countries, or to even join the Æon Trinity. It saddens me that ISRA’s policies have not endeared us to the more authoritarian national governments. I do not understand why members of Asian extraction cannot renounce their Chinese citizenship.

Or why local statutes in some regions of the Federated States of America equate ISRA membership to treason. How is such a thing possible? We are all citizens of humanity. Such boundaries and limitations serve only to separate us from one another.

Vision and Insight

Although I follow Baha’ism, as do many of my Mashriqi siblings, we do not reference it explicitly in the school’s materials or training literature. ISRA does not make any claims about the truth or relative worth of any religion or philosophical system. Instead, the school practices a policy of enlightened tolerance, encouraging each clairsentient to find her own symbolic framework. Those elements of Baha’i (largely terminology and general ethics) included in ISRAn teachings are secularized. Even so, much of the public believes that ISRA is an official conduit for Baha’ism. This makes it difficult for my siblings to deal with Israel-Judah, given that followers of Baha’i were expelled from their headquarters at Mount Carmel during the Temple Sealing. I have nothing but the greatest friendship for the Israelis. I am in debt to Jerusalem for encouraging the Baha’i — and my humble school — to look spaceward.

We ISRAns prefer to be away from the distractions of a gravity well when contemplating complex visions. This should address your curiosity regarding our tendency to work and live in orbital stations and other extraterrestrial locales. Our “isolation” is also due in large part to our involvement in jump-ship development. We are best suited of all the orders to pilot these incredible new vessels. Our past work with the Upeo wa Macho to locate teleportation destinations gave us invaluable training, and an affinity for sensing the depths of space.