INTRODUCTION

Hi! My name is Jonas. I am about to start my training as the new Receiver of Memory of my community. It is a very honoured position. It is a job that requires intelligence, integrity, courage, and the capacity to "see beyond".  At the ceremony of Twelve, the Chief Elder said  I have these qualities, even though I am not so sure myself. She also explained that I would acquire wisdom through my training, though I still don´t understand exactly what she meant.

I was given a folder with instructions. I read them when I was alone in my bedroom, and to tell the truth, I found them quite weird and a bit worrying....For example, the prohibition to apply for medication reminded me of the Chief Elder´s warning  that the training would involve physical pain. This is unsettling. Will I be able to cope with this?

The instructions also say I won´t have any time left for recreation. This means I won´t be seeing my friends Fiona and Asher so often. I don´t like this idea very much. We used to spend so many hours together before our Asignments!

 Besides, my training will be absolutely secret, so I cannot discuss it with anybody in the community, not even friends or family, so that is why I´ve decided to start this blog. It will  allow me to word my feelings. We are used to wording our feelings. It helps us to understand them better. Each family unit does this in one of our rituals: the evening telling of feelings. We also tell our dreams to each other, every morning. Now I am exempted from these rituals, and I am told I may even lie, something I have never done before.

I start this journal in the hope that it will, in a way, replace the rituals. Recording my training and the feelings it arouses will definetely help me to understand them clearly. I am so used to order and clarity...I cannot do away with them so easily!