(no subject)
I recently watched a movie that has got my mind reeling in many directions at once, and it is mainly because the movie has given me some different things to think of for a change, instead of centered on my own little part I am now thinking of a little larger issue, and that is what is life. Just that question alone makes my head go in one thousand different directions, because of personal beliefs, what I have learned either through first hand or other experience, and then the last part which can make some people look at me alot differently after saying this but truthfully my affinty to the series and "universe" that is Star Trek. I grew up first watching Star Trek: The Original Series on my local PBS station, and was intrigued for nothing more than face value of the surreal world that sci-fi can be. Then when I was about 7 years old Star Trek:The Next Generation debuted and I immediately became wrapped up in the show, and once again at the time for just the sci-fi things in it. To let you understand my interests when I was younger my other favorite tv shows were A-Team and Knight Rider, one with purely action and the basic good always wins over evil, and the idea that the end justifies the means, and the other where action was there but a almost more believable sci-fi world was created due to the fact Knight Rider took place on Earth with an intelligent talking car as the center piece, and what young boy would not fall for those. Anyway back to my points here. I got into Star Trek and up until recently only viewed it as a sci-fi entertainment show but now while looking at it in a different light I can say there is so much more to the show, and it is a shame it has a stigma to it as being just a sci-fi junkie's show, but peel away the elements of sci-fi and there are constant themes that ring true from day one of the original series all the way to the recent ending of the most recent series. The basic idea is that all life should be respected and that all life can learn to be peaceful IF given sufficient reason. To fill people in, and maybe to bore people to no end that they leave the entry right now, the basics of what became Star Trek, Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets , was when humans discovered they were not alone in the universe. Short and sweet here, after earth and its people were recovering from World War 3(Nuclear War), one scientist had a vision, he figured out how(that is saying if that is even seriously possible but try to follow along) to convert an unused nuclear missle and then be able to break the speed of light(what is known in that world as warp speed). Now in the constructs of the show that was just as big as Chuck Yaegar(if I am wrong with the person or the spelling please corrent me but I am remembering my real history as best as possible) breaking the speed of sound. When he flew his ship for a short trip another intelligient race detected it and since they were basically a peaceful race decieded to reach out and make "First Contact" with the people on earth since they had now discovered how to break the speed of light. The point of this whole tangent was to say how in that world peace was finally reached on earth, and that was when we realized that we were not alone, and even though we met a peaceful race I am sure they realized some out there may not be that way, so in short order of history time earth radically changed from a world so dead set on starting petty wars over a line on a map, or the value of a commodity, they finally learned their survival may depend on everyone becoming the same, instead of having americans, englishmen, asians and so on, we now had humans who lived on a planet and tried their best to keep the focus on the larger picture, and that was survival as a race and not just as a certain culture or government. That whole idea is no doubt a fantasy in our life times with how things are now, constantly people are fighting over issues that seem big, but when compared to issues that deal with the human race as a whole they are meaningless. It is that which draws me into Star Trek now, for now I see those issues intertwined into a highly entertainning show for someone who likes sci-fi. It is impossible to dream what may be truely be capable of being made out of the show, but one thing that remains in my mind is that sometimes the greatest of discoveries were found from someone having the knowledge and where with all to follow a dream, a dream no doubt many people thought was foolish...that is until the dream became a reality and then became a scientific certainty. As you can tell I believe highly in science, even science that may be nothing that someone's day dream because I seek what is concrete, and to me science is concrete so therefor I find alot of answers in it. But alas for all the science now, and even in a dream land of Star Trek there is no answer to the question of what is life. Is there anyway to define that question, and it is there I begin to find myself thinking of an idea of a God, and I use a God because while I have a believe in the Roman Catholic God I am in no way qualified to preach here saying that is the only one, and I respect others may believe in another kind. What I have been wondering is what if we are thinking in way too narrow of terms when it comes to God, I mean obviously the universe as we know it was created somehow, and even though I have read alot of scientific theories I find them to be only partly believeable. Consider this for a minute that there is a God out there in charge of all this as you will, we think of God as being only for us, but I am wondering if there is a God that created everything out there, and is worshipped by many planets out there in different ways and forms. Something created the universe from nothing, so to me it is reasonable to conclude that somewhere out there is an all powerful God, that created all that we know, and even all that which we do not know. If any of our thoughts about the universe, or even our galaxy are true there is alot of space out there for other beings to be evolving in their own way, and maybe, just maybe, one day in our grandchildren's grandchilden's time they will have the knowledge and the power to seek out the unknown that is beyond our plane. Let me end this line of thinking with a quote by a famous astronomer by the name of Carl Sagan(and forgive me if I am off with the exact words, but it is idea that is important) If we are truly the only intelligient life in the universe it seems like an awful waste of space. To fully understand what life is (and there is no way I am expert here, this is just a belief) you need to look at things with the innocence and wonder of a child, but with the mind of an adult, when those two things combine there is a chance to understand it in my book. There is no way I can believe that we are born to live out a certain life, filled with trials and tribulations , to only be hated and skorned by others and then to eventually die, there has to be more to life and I believe it. Now to my final item here, the movie that got me thinking alot of life was Stephen King's Riding the Bullet, and I reccomend it to anyone who enjoys to be entertained but at the same breath is also willing to search deeper into the movie to find a hidden meaning, and to me in that movie it states that all life is sacred and should be treated as such, for we do not know what the next corner holds for us, it might be great and it might be death but to quote directly from the movie "Nobody lives forever, but we all shine on". For some reason that statement has profund meaning to me, just typing it sends chills up my spine for it makes me also thing maybe we are alone out there and what we look at as stars are really our past souls out there shining on for all eternity, and they are trying to guide us if we chose to look and listen. I am beginning to wonder if the Native American Indians have a connection with all this that is far beyond ours, they treat everything with respect, even for a time the white man who came and took his land and drove them away, they even respect items we take for granted. From what I have read and understand they feel everything is sacred and feel blessed to be able to live with it, in times like we live in I think an approach to a more simple philosphy might be the most beneficial, I mean can those ideals really lead us down any worse paths than those that we have carved out. I hope in my lifetime to get a chance to study about the Native American Indians as much as possible, and maybe if the time is right and I feel the need I may try to seek out some of the remainning tribes and ask them to allow me to spend some time with them because I think answers to our question about life is more likely to be there, than in aestheic or other such means which we frequently follow. I am not some visionary, nor do I feel like I have taken wrong paths by believing as I do, I just feel like I need to do some futher research into something, and who knows while I am researching I may come across some answers to my own question of life. Well if you read all this thankyou, it was all organized in my head, but as I said my head is reeling, so I am sure it came out choppy and mismatched but I hope the meaning comes through it, and my ideals.