Making Moderation Appealing

For the Seven Shapes, this was certainly one of the most daunting challenges.

How could they make moderation appealing when the Shadow of the Espers so often drove them to act against it?

First of all, the presence of Atma, the Shape of Balance, was, just as with the other Shapes and their respective elements, a way of reminding the Espers every day of the importance of balance in their habits.

To achieve a sustainable society, finally in harmony with nature and at peace among all the elements, the Espers had to accomplish a task that had never been achieved before: perceiving and taming their Shadow.

For understanding it and becoming aware of its existence was the means to change minds and make the Espers aware of the consequences of their actions, not only on the planetary ecosystem, but also on their own species.

This would bring about a paradigm shift on a planetary scale, in which every individual would have an important task to accomplish, and no one could accomplish it in their place.

Why moderation had to be appealing would then become obvious to everyone.

On a planet with finite resources, dreams of grandeur and excess had no place if the desire was truly to live in harmony with the nature that provides those resources.

And that “if” depends on the behavior of every Esper…