Inside The Blue Theta

Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars, I.

We continue to learn:

Kyra is engaged in business that obliges her to avoid "secret agents" (p.7);

one man seated in a lounger is a robed, hairless, gold-skinned "metamorph" (p. 6), recalling the hairless alabaster future human beings of the Time Patrol series (see Futures);

"Avantists" (p. 6) ideologically control North America;

a multiceiver shows a woman exhorting youths to report deviationists;

parents have been charged with abuse for telling their child not to accept school teachings about Xuan's insights.

Of course we have not heard of Xuan before but we get the point. I practice Zen mediation but would not want to live in a society where parents were arrested for telling their children to disregard the Buddha's teachings. In fact, I would regard not only them but also myself as oppressed by such a regime. Any regime has to be told that we attend a place of worship or meditation because we choose to, not because it tells us to. Imagine having to boycott the meditation group just to make that point!