Dan Schwab

Greetings Zir’ruc, Son of Zaphlion, Emperor of the Andromeda Galaxy, and Council of Universal Exploration,

                I, your friend and elite explorer, Codariel Worldfinder, am writing to you with great excitement and information of a new Solar System I have found.  In this Solar System there is one planet that supports life.  There are many different types of life forms on this planet that they call Earth.  The most fascinating creatures on this planet outnumber other species in vast quantities.  They call themselves humans, or the human race.  I have been around the whole world learning about them.

In this report, I wish to focus on the humans that migrated to a continent called North America.  Some migrated in order to escape their previous lives and start new and fresh, and others migrated in order to explore their newly discovered continent.  After observing them both in their daily lives and in their writing, I have determined some of the most important aspects of their lives.  The most fundamental concept in North American life is a belief in the Christian God because everything they do is centered on this belief.  First, I saw Rowlandson, a woman who was captured by the American natives, place trust in her god and, with this trust, perseveres through many hardships. Secondly, I saw this with De Las Casas, a Spanish explorer, who journeyed to North America to convert American natives to his religion.  Thirdly, Taylor writes poetry, an earthly type of art that she uses to give glory to her god.  And last but certainly not least, Woolman rebukes his countrymen in a certain way that shows respect for his god and his fellow countrymen. 

First of all I shall take a look at Mary Rowlandson who was the wife of a Christian minister.  Christianity is the religion that these North Americans’ follow.  Rowlandson was captured by American natives.  I have seen many people write about being captured by natives.  These are called captivity narratives.  Most have the same order.  This order according to “Early American Captivity Narratives” is “Separation: attack and capture, Torment, ordeals of physical and mental suffering and Transformation (accommodation, adoption).”  Adam Wick, a fellow Amunomian, observed:

 “She writes, ‘I then remembered how careless I had been of God's holy time; how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how evilly I had walked in God's sight; which lay so close unto my spirit, that it was easy for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the thread of my life and cast me out of His presence forever’(Rowlandson).  She felt as if she had done wrong in God’s eyes, and at that her moment of defeat, she confesses to herself the misdoings of her past.”

She spent many years traveling from place to place with her fellow captives.  They are starving most of the time and are treated poorly.  I thought that she would go into despair.  However, she kept on persevering and pushing on.  How was she able to go through such harsh atrocities and still live in high spirits?  After reading her narrative on her years in captivity, I discerned that it was her belief in God that got her through all the hardships.  For example, there was a time when she was forced to cross a raging river.  She turned to her god and remembered a verse from the Bible, a religious book.  She wrote in her “Fifth Removal,” a verse that said, “When thou passeth through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.”  She ended up passing through the river safely, and after she got to the other river bank she thanked her god.  It is during difficult times like these that we see her belief in her god become so fundamentally important.  I found that every act that she committed, every word that she wrote was centered on this belief.

                Another man that I followed in order to find that belief in Christianity was such a fundamental concept was De Las Casas.  De Las Casas was a Christian who ventured to America to find and share his belief with the American natives.  Although not a captive, he also journeyed around America, going to and from native tribes just like Mary Rowlandson.  He shared his belief with all the natives he could find.  I was amazed that he would let his belief in this one god point his life’s trajectory and help him drive through conflict and hardship.  However, Zir’ruc et al, I witnessed the most amazing things.  There were many natives that De Las Casas came upon that were sick, injured or in need of medical assistance.  I determined that he was no healer, for he knew nothing of medicine.  However, there were many natives who he healed of their physical ailments. The Indians determined him as a healer.  I was thrown back, for the only place I have been able to see healing such as this has been through the magic on our home world.  This however was not magic, for magic does not exist on their world.  However, De Las Casas appealed to his god and his god was what was healing the natives.  De Las Casas was a man who talked to his god all the time.  He asked him for things and shared joys with him.  I saw his belief in his god at the center of everything did throughout his life. 

                Another person that I followed as I was curiously journeying throughout North America was a man named Edward Taylor.  His specialty was in a human art form called poetry.  From what I have seen poetry does not have one definition but an accumulation of definitions that mostly direct toward stimulation of emotion.  Taylor writes in his Poem “Meditation 8” of god:

“What Grace is this knead in this Loafe? This thing/ Souls are but petty things it to admire. / Yee Angells, help: This fill would to the brim /Heav'n s whelm'd-down Chrystall meele Bowle, yea and higher. / This Bread of Life drops in thy mouth, doth Cry. / Eate, Eate me, Soul, and thou shalt never dy” (ll 31-36).

Here we see Taylor writing about his belief in his god.  Though Taylor does not just write about his god he is caught up in the belief that his god is worth loving.  It is this belief in his god that helps him to write so many poems that are loved so much by his fellow humans.

                The last person I wish to report to you is a man by the name of Woolman.  He was a man who was close to this god I have been talking about thus far.  Woolman thought that his god was against the practice of taking other human beings from other countries and using them as slaves.  He believed that each human was created equal by his god.  It was this belief that drove him to write a book called Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negros.  In this book he gives passages from the Bible that show his fellow countrymen that men are created equal.  He quotes the Bible saying, "If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him; but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself" (Leviticus 19:33-34).  Also, Bill Samuel says in his article “John Woolman: Quintessential Quaker” that “He thought slavery was spiritually damaging to the slave owners.”  Even though he thinks that his countrymen are acting wrongly, he does not condemn or judge them, for he says that that is not his place.  He believes that it is God’s place to judge others.  My partner Chelsea Suiter agrees, for she said, “Woolman is not passing judgment on his friend, nor is he pushing his beliefs on him, he is merely trying to be a disciple of the ‘divine love’( Woolman 177) he had learned in early childhood.”  After watching him very thoroughly I have determined that the fundamental reason why Woolman decided to write his books was centered around his belief in God and focused on getting his fellow countrymen to draw closer to God. 

                In Conclusion I see that this religion called Christianity has guided the North American people.  This is the most fundamental aspect of their culture.  If we decide to invade Earth or wish to befriend these humans I would suggest learning more about Christianity and what this God can do.  As for my exploration, I long for the cool rivers and purple skies of Aamunomia.  I shall deliver my next report in person.

                Your Elite Explorer,                         

Codariel Worldfinder