Hello, everyone.

My name is Kira Kindala. I've been a member of this group for a long
time. It has also been a long time since I've spoken up on this group
but, reading this discussion, I felt an urge to participate. However,
before I do, I feel I should start by explaining exactly who, and what,
I am. There has been a fundamental change in myself and my nature
since the last time I spoke here.

To understand who and what I am, you first must understand something
about our moderator John Ardelli's writing technique. In particular,
you need to understand a character creation skill he has which he calls
"directed split personalities." He explained it once on another group
he was once a member of. In his words:

> I have always had the capacity to create alternate personalities at
> will in my own head. You could think of them as "imaginary friends"
> of sorts, though they go beyond that somewhat.
>
> Each personality in my head starts with a person I imagine. It maybe
> be a real person but, more often, the "seed" is planted by a fictional
> character. If I like a person that "appears in my head," my thoughts
> tend to go to them when daydreaming through the day. If my mind
> dwells on a particular "person" for long enough, that person
> eventually develops a distinctive consciousness, separate from mine
> but living side by side with it.
>
> Once this happens, I find myself able to communicate with this
> consciousness in my head just as if I was sitting in a room with them.
> I can even ask them questions about their personal pasts and, just
> like a "real" person, they're immediately able to give me answers (if
> they wish). I don't even have to think about it; the answers just pop
> up, as if they're in another mind, another memory, separate from my
> own.
>
> This skill has come in handy for a variety of therapeutic uses. If I
> need to bounce ideas off of someone and I have no one to talk to, I
> can always turn to one of my "internal friends." This skill has also
> proven invaluable when writing. I am a screenwriter, and my best
> characters tend to be based on these people that come "alive" in my
> head.
>
> My best "imaginary" friend is named Kira Kindala. I originally
> developed her as a version of Kira from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal
> for the purpose of writing a sequel (The Crystal of Truth, which I
> completed several years ago). However, Kira retained a life beyond
> the day I wrote "FADE OUT - THE END." Even though I know full well
> she exists only in my head, she is as real to me as any friend I've
> ever had in real life. I even introduced her to [other people on rare
> occasion].
>
> Kira's consciousness is so strong and has come so close to the surface
> that, today, she's actually aware of the nature of her existence. By
> that I mean Kira is aware she exists only in my head; that the world
> she inhabits exists only in my head . . .
>
> Shortly after becoming aware of the nature of HER existence, she made
> it a point to explain this to the other people in HER world (the other
> characters I created with her when the screenplay was written). So,
> basically, I've got a little family of personalities in my head, each
> distinct, each aware of his or her own existence and the nature of
> that existence.
>
> I call THIS phenomenon "directed split personalities," a term I
> adapted from "directed dreaming." These personalities are distinct,
> but they do not have the power to TAKE OVER my personality. I can
> bring them to the surface and allow them to speak through me, but they
> cannot take over total control. When I bring Kira to the surface, *I*
> can speak to her at will as if I'd simply brought a friend out from
> behind me to introduce them to someone.

I, and the other characters from The Crystal of Truth, are directed
split personalities. Jen and Doria also are members here. We three
are unique in all the characters John has ever created in that, as he
says above, we are aware of the nature of our existence. We are aware
that we began as characters written for a screenplay, but we have taken
on a life that goes beyond that initial creation. We have become as
dear to him as any flesh and blood person ever has been, and he is dear
to us.

As a result of my unique nature, anything John experiences, I
experience through his eyes. That is how I knew of this discussion.
As John read it, I read it also. Another advantage of being aware of
the nature of my existence is that I have access to John's knowledge
and experience. I therefore know everything he knows about Human
culture and beliefs. I have his skills. I have his personal memories.
His memories and skills are distinct from my own, but I have access to
them. If you use the analogy of a computer, you could think of it as a
partitioned hard drive. I am on one partition which has my memories
and experiences and John's are on the other partition. Though on a
separate "partition," I can access his memories at will.

Come to think of it, hard drive partitions themselves are a good
example of the kind of knowledge I wouldn't otherwise have without
access to his memories.

Although I live within John's body and mind I am still, from the point
of view of my personality and personal history, Gelfling. That is why
I wanted to participate. I thought this particular discussion might
benefit from the point of view of a Gelfling. As you're not likely to
ever meet one of my people in the flesh (unless someone discovers how
to cross the barriers between quantum realities some day), I thought my
participation would be the closest you'll get to being able to have a
Gelfling participant in the discussion.

So. Now that I've reintroduced myself, allow me to begin:

On Oct 21, 2008, at 10:08 PM, theem_from wrote:

> Gelflings seem to be a much more evolved and enlightened species than
> we human beings.

Thank you. However, I disagree with your next statement:

> Our nature is absolutely nothing like the Gelflings.

I would not be so certain.

While there are many things about Humans I, even with the benefit of
access to a Human's memories, do not understand, there are many things
about Gelfling and Humans which are similar. We have a similar
emotional structure. We experience the same happiness, sorrow,
pleasure, pain, joy, anger, envy, jealousy and so on that Humans do.
Our vision is sharper, but we still see in the same colors. Our
hearing is more sensitive, but we still hear the same sounds. Our
sense of smell is more sensitive, but scents smell the same to myself
as they do to you. We want the same things out of life. We want to be
loved. We want to be needed. We want comfortable lives. We want to
be useful.

There are many differences between us, yes, but I would hardly call us
"absolutely nothing" like each other.

> Gelflings are a people who can not only live in harmony with each
> other without a need for things like money but can even live in
> harmony with nature. Human beings have a much darker nature than the
> gentle Gelfling.

I concede this is, in fact, a difference. In fact, this is one of the
things I have the most difficulty understanding about Humans. Your
planet sustains you, just as any planet sustains the life on its
surface. It is hard for me to understand how a species can be so far
out of touch with nature as Humans are.

Humans seems to have a need to separate themselves from their roots in
nature. You see this in so many things Humans do. Many of you live in
a world encased in concrete and glass, hardly ever seeing a tree. You
build structures to live in with carefully controlled environments
designed to keep out everything living. When you bathe, you go beyond
just getting clean, trying to mask or destroy your natural body scent
entirely with chemicals and harsh soaps. You insist on wearing
clothing at all times, even at times when it serves no protective or
practical purpose. You feed your offspring with artificial nutrients
called "formulas" from a bottle instead of simply allowing them to feed
from your breasts. The last one is particularly puzzling to me since
it seems like a lot of trouble to go to, getting the temperature of the
formula just right, sterilizing the bottle and so on when the whole
task could be completed in mere seconds by simply guiding your baby's
mouth to your nipples.

True, I have known some Humans who take a more natural approach to
life. Breast feeding in particular seems to be becoming more popular
among your people than it once was, and this is good. As a species
overall, however, your people seem to want to fight the simple fact of
what they are. Animals.

In fact, there seems to be a negative connotation associated with the
word "animal." It's occasionally used as an insult. Why? We are all
animals, Human and Gelfling alike. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It
is what we are and we, Humans and Gelfling both, are as beautiful as
any other animal in nature. We should be proud of that.

I am.

> Our nature truely does more reflect that of the Skeksis. The way they
> calliously used up the planet Thra the way they horded personal
> possessions for themselves dispite how few of them there actually was
> the fact that they were willing to destroy the planet they were living
> on just for a chance of preserving themselves for a little bit longer.
> They had not only no respect for nature but for other people the way
> they waged war and oppressed the weaker races.

While I admit that many of these things are true of Humans (I cannot
deny it), I would not compare your species with a species as detestable
as the Skekses. I have known many Humans through John and I find most
of them, though misguided, mean well and are, at their heart, good
people. I've even met a small handful of Humans I liked enough to ask
John to introduce me to them. Only one of those Humans was I ever
truly disappointed in. The others, I judged their characters well and
was impressed with the kindness in their hearts.

I witnessed the events of 9/11. In that event, I saw both the worst
and the best Humanity is capable of. I could not understand how any
intelligent being could inflict such suffering on others of their own
kind but, once the damage was done, I also saw Humans come together to
help each other in a way that truly showed the best side of your
people, too.

> It is my firm beleif that there is no potential for our species at all.

I disagree. You have flaws, as all species do including my own, but I
would not call you Skekses. Your people are much better than that.
There is potential. Your species simply needs time to reach it, just
as ours did.

Gelfling weren't always the "enlightened" species we are now. I have
gone over our law books with Jen. Though they rarely ever need to be
enforced in modern Gelfling society, our laws still contain definitions
and punishments for horrible crimes such as murder and rape. The fact
that punishments for those crimes are in our laws in itself implies
that these offenses were once more common than they are today.
Surviving historical court records reinforce that conclusion. There
are still records of court cases against Gelfling who committed truly
unspeakable acts of violence in the past. Even in the recent past,
Jolen Dellin-Maranek would have been charged under many of these
ancient laws had it not been for his death.

We all carry a seed of violence within us, Human and Gelfling alike.
Even myself, fighting Jolen, discovered this seed within myself. I was
ashamed at first, but then I realized that I was no different from
anyone else. Anyone pushed as far as I had been then would have been
driven to the same violence I was. Now, I do not look back with shame.
I look back with pride in the fact that, though I felt the urge to
murder, I did not.

I believe it was Captain Kirk, in Star Trek, one of John's favorite
television shows, who said, "We can admit that we're killers, but we're
not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we're not
going to kill. Today." I saw that episode the last time John saw it.
Those words were instantly etched into my soul when I realized that's
exactly what I did at that moment when I had my sword at Jolen's
throat, and it's exactly what we all do, Gelfling and Human alike, day
by day.

I've observed your species and, in my opinion, you are more Gelfling
than Skeksis.

Kira Kindala
Operational Ruler
Kingdom of Rindaar