Star Trek Moment: The Face Of God
Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011
by Octavia Hansen
Octavia Hansen
I blame myself, I search for logic and logic is not always there. After all, it is television . . . a small rectangular frame beaming moving pictures with sound and music into my world for entertainment or information. But it's there and I question things as they fly past.
Okay, this was Star Trek: The Next Generation (Picard, Data, everybody . . .), The Starship Enterprise was beaming people aboard from a doomed planet to take them somewhere else, presumably less doomed.
Okay, it brought a question into my mind. Because it's television, it's impossible to actually confront anyone with my question, but my logic center kicks in and the focal point of my intellect is shifted off center. Sometimes, when it's pure logic like mathematics, I can feel the wrinkles in my brain forming as I learn something new. Maybe it's just that learning is more painful than I thought. Usually, I'm the only one who questions anything. Either I have a higher standard for reality or everyone else has something better to do with their time . . . scratch off lottery tickets, Wheel of Fortune or there's an Elvis movie on another channel. Oh, the mystery of an Elvis movie -- When is he gonna sing?
Back to where no man has gone before: this couple could see and recognize their god. Considering it was the first time they saw a satellite, or their planet from space, how did they know it was god? Any god? Their god? Would you know god's face if you saw it? Even if I met god, he better have two pieces of identification for me to believe anything. It's just the ex-cashier in me that makes me question everyone. And now with I.D.'s readily counterfeit, can I believe that when I see it?
I'm a natural skeptic . . . for just about everything. My big joke is that when someone says "Good morning!", I go out and check. Well, god would be the same way. Anyone can say anything. Would you know Obama if he was just walking around? Can you pick out a celebrity if they aren't in costume and make up? I can hardly pick out my blood relatives in a crowd when we're supposed to meet for lunch. And I've never seen anyone look like their WANTED posters . . . No, I'm not speaking from personal experience, I'm talking about on television programs where they pick up someone, hold up their WANTED poster and it still doesn't look like them. Years ago, I was actually standing in a Post Office thumbing through posters and Patty Hearst didn't look like her FBI WANTED poster and Osama Bin Laden looked like every foreign exchange student at my university, especially in a turban. And have you considered how interchangeable every blonde is on television and in the movies? Good thing they all have names.
But we're talking god here. Their god. And few civilizations share their god. Or gods. How many are out there now, or have been before? There's a lot of deities floating around, that includes mountain tops and under the sea, a few visions and maybe a miracle. And all those Saints -- maybe it's just their aura is so big that it makes them seem larger than life. Or at least holier than thou.
What I really hate is when people say "You'll never understand -- you are not a believer." This tosses logic out the window and excuses whatever they are doing. I think that's a good thing that I'm not one of them. Being a "believer" makes people stupid -- automatically they turn over their brain to someone else or something else, throwing off any further responsibility for their words, actions or thoughts, assuming they have one after becoming a 'believer.' And for those 'believers' who do something nasty, stupid or evil, the next standing excuse is that 'they aren't really a believer.' Geez, this non-logic covers everything, doesn't it!
Yes, that's harsh. That's cruel. That's what happens. I've seen it. Many of my friends have been sucked into something masquerading as a religion. But that's another mind game.
The question, even though it doesn't actually concern a real person, a real plot or any kind of real outcome . . . how did these people know their god when they saw it?
And I foresee an entire scenario with these two, after seeing their god (being able to actually use their eyes at a religious experience), will become high priests among their people and their two second encounter will be the basis forever more of stories, nay, an entire tomb forming the foundation, or at the very least, reinforcing a series of beliefs.
It's been done. I've seen it. There are books and movies out about this very thing. Oh, well, it's Star Trek. I'm sure I'll keep watching no matter what . . . what was that god's name again? . . .
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Full of great light hearted style with topics that are just too heavy for many. Oh well, that's part of your purpose isn't it? Good job.Thank you, closet Trekkie? Logic fan? God seeking person? I can't help it, I find comedy just about every place I look.
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