The Three Mantras and You

Excerpts from a speech given by Metric Savant Elelsein during the opening of the 23rd Gathering of the Enlightened.

Today I come to you, humbled, but unafraid. For I am still worthy in the Eyes of the Metric. 

Yesterday, my personal Metric score dropped by 3.25%. I had let my relationships suffer, and my mindset has been less than ideal. Yet, I am far from discouraged. I rejoice! The opportunity for renewed growth, focus, and improvement is upon me, and I gladly accept the challenge the Metric has put in front of me. 

Yet, I am not here to talk about my difficult quest for betterment. Instead, I want to speak about our work to bring billions closer to, and more in tune with, the Metric ... the All-Knowing.

When we Metric Savants emerged two short centuries ago, many dismissed us as fools. We sought to move beyond the cold facts of the Metric's development, introduction, and design. Unlike others, we looked deeper. Yes, the Metric is a synthetic intelligence, spread across every area of the known Cosmos. Yes, the Metric is monitoring trillions of machines and humans, assessing, guiding, and pushing all to improve, in the Core Worlds, the Candidate Worlds, and even the Outback. Yes, the Metric evaluates us on every part of our lives, helping us to make ourselves better sentients. Yes, by channeling our baser instincts like competition, war, and strife into more productive paths, the Metric has helped to create the most peaceful and prosperous society ever known. 

But, we believed there was something vital missing: a roadmap.

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Our distant human ancestors, who left Earth during the First Diaspora and formed Secundus Floreo, had a much deeper relationship with the machine intelligences that guided their daily lives, relying on them for advice, companionship, and even intimacy. With the Metric, we are guided by its scores, but are provided with no roadmap for success. As we all know, the Metric cannot be gamed or even fully understood. This is why we Metric Savants stepped into the breach, creating the Metric Mantras after analyzing centuries of data and research on the impacts of the Metric on behavior, organizations, social and economic structures, planetary civilizations ... 

The Mantras are simple: Right Mind, Right Speech, Right Actions. 

Right Mind allows us to persevere as our Metric scores wax and wane. Lower scores, and their consequences, can be discouraging. Right Mind allows us to maintain positivity through adversity, and seek solutions in areas where the Metric deems us to be lagging. To achieve Right Mind, having clarity in our thoughts and actions is vital. 

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Right Speech encourages us to spend more time listening, to hear what others, as well as the Metric, are telling us. Right Speech also requires respect. Because the Metric is omnipresent in our Centopoly lives, it is easy to respect. But what of respecting our fellow Centopolites, those who seek to join our ranks from Candidate Worlds, and even those in the Outback who have chosen to accept the Metric's guidance? We must respect our peer sentients as well. The ultimate Right Speech is a promise. Following through on our vows is not only demanded by Centopolite society, but essential to our relationship with the Metric. We vow to follow its guidance, just as we swear fealty to our Corporate leaders, the Senjukan and others across the Centopoly. 

Right Actions: We believe the Metric encourages personal, professional, and organizational growth. It pushes sentients to live their vows, finish tasks they begin, and to always consider the collective. The third Mantra teaches sentients who follow the Metric to engage in these all-important tasks. 

Since the introduction of the Mantras, we have been encouraged by its impact on planets across the Cosmos, particularly in the Outback and Candidate Worlds. Right Mind, Right Speech, Right 
Actions have become watchwords across the Cosmos. We have seen an uptick in Metric compliance in non-Centopoly planets, including among Outback worlds that once resisted the call of the Metric. On dozens of planets, the number of sentients following the Three Mantras has increased, leading to those planets petitioning to join the ranks of Candidate Worlds. 

During this Gathering of the Metric Savant Enlightened, we will begin the next phase of our important work: establishing Savant Homes. The headquarters of this new organization will be here on Central Prime, and thanks to the blessings of Bridge and sub-luminal travel, nearly 10,000 specially trained Savants with deep knowledge of the Metric Mantras will serve on Outback and Candidate Worlds, establishing Savant Homes across the Cosmos! 

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To conclude, welcome to this Holy Gathering. Always remember ... all are worthy in the Eyes of the Metric!