Sunday, May 31, 2009

Daydreaming about star trek and other things

Star Trek banner 1 Pictures, Images and PhotosWhy can't Star Trek be reality. It seems like the federation had a great goal, Ugh. Perhaps I enjoyed that movie too much, it has me day dreaming entirely to much. Wishing I wasn't so human. I find myself wishing us Humans would learn a thing or two from Star Trek. Is it possible for humans to survive self-destructive ways, to solve the problems we have here, collaborate, and work together as a species?
Sure, the humans in the show and movie are always getting into fights but Earth in the "Star Trek" universe is an egalitarian, Utopian planet. The vision that Star trek seems to gleam toward is that we Humans would use our time and talents to explore the universe in a peaceful manner. It seems that the message star trek producers give us is that if we could get past our petty fights and stupid wars, and worked together we would go where no one has gone before.
Since star trek, and Star fleet is an imaginary example, I ponder the existence of any peaceful beings that grace the Earth's surface. Is an example of peace the Amish societies? Can we learn to live the way they do, at peace with ourselves and our neighbors? At peace with the essence of the human condition?


After all this I wonder still.. what is the human condition?


Lately I feel doomed to inherit the condition of being human. I wish perhaps I was Vulcan.. free of emotion. spock Pictures, Images and Photos But unfortunately, that is a huge day dream. I am so full of emotion, Its locked into who I am. I fear that my emotion or humanity will over run me, and I too, will become like the people I once admired, whom I now, don't even respect.
Is the human condition one of doom, of sickness? Do we become monsters and always make monstrously hurtful decisions?

I read the following on page 71 of East of Eden by John Steinbeck. "I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. Some you can see, misshapen and horrible, with huge heads and tiny bodies; some are born with no arms, no legs, some with three arms, some with tails or mouths in odd places. they are accidents and no one's fault, as used to be thought. Once they were considered the visible punishments for concealed sins. And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul? Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or less degree. As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential of conscience. A man who loses his arms in an accident has a great struggle to adjust himself to the lack, but one born without arms suffers only from people who find him strange. Having never had arms, he cannot miss them. sometimes when we are little we imagine how it would be to have wings, but there is no reason to suppose it is the same feeling birds have. No, to a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself. To the inner monster it must be even more obscure, since he has no visible thing to compare with others. Ted Bundy Pictures, Images and PhotosTo a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish. you must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous."

His words stick out, they say so much, so effectively. Its an almost answer to my ponderings, and yet not at all.
Is there a possibility for monsters to not exist? For peace and cooperation amongst humans? Is it possible for us not to be corrupted? I look inward, at my own failures and short comings and I sigh. I sigh because I realize how I am not even a step in the right direction. I have done so many things that are monstrous, I have allowed the human condition to affect me.
Sigh. I can only change me, and hope that one day the world will change too.