PART TEN: The Thread of Emotion

Meditation

Once you have thrown away your pach-te, you have found the true center, the golden river, the life blood of the world.

I am quarantined in a cave that serves as a monastery, with a candle for my light and a straw mat for my bed. At night, the monks bring word of the millions who have taken ill and the tens of thousands who have died, as the lunglock fever rages throughout Vulcan. Centuries ago, the disease decimated the cities and it ravaged the northwestern continent, but we were mistaken when we thought it would not return. Scourges and famines always do in the face of war, and now our antibiotics are no longer effective. Even the ancient herbs have failed us. But what has not forsaken us are our minds, along with the Vulcan heart, the life blood of our world.

Vulcan is ever changing and evolving, more so now since the Vulcan species has long interfered with and directed T’Khasi’s natural development. Emotions, deeper and wider than those of any other known species, allowed the Vulcan to adapt and survive in a capricious environment. Through highly developed neural pathways, telepathy — and with it, compassion — ensured our survival by allowing us to better communicate amongst ourselves. Our intense emotions allowed us to sense all the nuances of a situation and then to understand the possible outcomes of our actions. Without words, we could convey fear and identify threats faster than the Nets can transmit messages now. Our heightened emotional response, stemming from our heightened senses, allowed us to escape the le-matya’s claws or the poisonous leaf. Fear, in primitive days, was our ally.

But now, after many millennia of physical and civil evolution, even in a state of crisis, fear is our worst enemy. Where fear walks, anger is its companion. Behind them, hatred follows closely. Where does it end if not in violence? I say it must end with the understanding and discarding of the pach-te.

It was the monks here in this lonely-but-not-alone place who brought the ancient concept of the pach-te to light for me. From a very young stage, the adepts are taught to focus on the strongest of all their desires and the source of their emotions. This source, or core, of the individual is the pach-te, and it is what prevents the individual from joining the Oneness of the world. It is what sets the individual apart from the Other, the family, clan, community, nation, and all of Vulcan — including the le-matya, shavokh, cactus, and rock. The simplest way to define this core state is selfishness. We are all born with it to ensure our survival by looking out for ourselves first. But at some point, too much looking out for ourselves leads to our downfall — our own and of our species.

If the Vulcan species is to survive, we need to reprogram our emotions — away from a state of reaction without thought to a state of careful and controlled response. From reaction to response. The adepts of Seleya accomplished this through ritual — ancient and profound.

Why ritual? The simple act of lighting a candle and saying a devotion, or making an offering to the ancients, allows us to break from our innate ways of responding to the world, if only for a brief time. These small acts allow us to imagine another version of ourselves in a scenario we create as if it were reality. We behave in this ritual world by projecting the best part of ourselves and how we believe our lives should unfold.

For example, although my father and I were estranged — he demanding that I join the Shi’alan Army and I advocating peace — if I light a candle in his memory, I am setting aside our differences and choosing to remember and project those qualities that were the best in both of us. Each night as I light the candle, I choose to remember not what was but what should have been between us.

Thoughts

Some adepts demand that Vulcans, as a species, should strive to purge all emotion. But it’s our emotions that help us perceive what is right. The problem is, we do not always do what is right.

The same night my beloved friend Senet was killed in an ambush, a matter-antimatter weapon was tested on the surface of T’Khut. I spent the night flying through the mountains in my hovercar. Death, it was all death. Mount Seleya stood there dividing T’Khut’s brightness and darkness, one from the other. The image, or perhaps the mountain, seemed to say: Here is your choice. The light, or the darkness with its fire. It has always been your choice. It is late. Choose now.

The choice before all Vulcans now is a life of ritual, discipline, and logic…or the path to our destruction.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

Once you have thrown away your pach-te, you have found the true center, the golden river, the life blood of the world.    [The way of kolinahr: The Vulcans. (1998). Culver City, CA: Last Unicorn Games, p. 15]

Death, it was all death….Mount Seleya stood there dividing T’Khut’s brightness and darkness, one from the other. The image, or perhaps the mountain, seemed to say: Here is your choice. The light, or the darkness with its fire. It has always been your choice. It is late. Choose now.  [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p. 264]

Surak’s original post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Pilash Kin-kur (Golden River) music video by T’Prion

Lyrics and translation

PART NINE: The Thread of Service

Meditation

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

I slept and dreamt that the world was awash in joy. The flame of Nevasa no longer scorched earth and skin but was diffuse and soothing through a golden haze. The hell-fires of T’Khut had faltered and gone out – her light the reflection of a deep pool. And everywhere, Vulcans raised the hand of friendship to one another. I awoke to the sound of my father screaming at me to leave my bed and serve my nation. He was a general in the Shi’alan army and could not understand why his son chose the Right of Privilege over service to Shi’al, why he would want to sit around all day and discuss philosophy with his friends in place of freeing Shi’al from tyranny. I told him of my dream and that I did not serve Shi’al but all of Vulcan. He told me to get out of his house and to never return. I left as he had asked and that was the last time I saw him. That night, he was slaughtered along with the rest of my family by agents of the mind-lord Sudoc.

That dream stayed with me and I returned to it many times in sleep and in pain. Each time I returned to the reality of wakefulness, I was reminded that life is service. In my discussions with my friends, we outlined what was wrong with the world, what needed to change to correct it, and what those in power should do to make it happen. We were only students. We were not great and we had no power. What we did not understand is that anyone can be great, because anyone can serve. It is not withdrawal from our world that will save it, but instead, the desire to go out and transform it.

How can we do this when we ourselves face destruction from our enemies, famine and drought, the crushing loss of loved ones, unemployment, or just the paralysis of fear? All these unwelcome situations can paralyze the mind and heart with worry. But worry has an antidote, and that is action. The greatest and most restorative of all action is that undertaken for the well-being of another. By coming to the aid of another, our own problems fade into the background. But first we must push past the fear that roots us to the ground.

It is not necessary to sacrifice oneself to help another. In all that we do, we must complete our own journey. The path before us is so long and winding that we may believe that we shall never reach our goal – and we won’t if we do not stop at crucial turns to aid another. Medical analysis has proven that giving reduces mortality – in the giver. How? By reducing stress and anxiety.

Many, however, believe that they have nothing to give. They themselves have limited resources in wealth, food, water, or housing. But it is not the giving of resources that is the greatest service. Rather, it is the gift of ourselves. Acting in service to others is where we shall both find and lose ourselves. And there are many ways we can offer up simple acts of kindness. Here is a short list:

• We can use the skills we have to empower others. For example, we can plant another’s garden and teach that person how to care for it.
• We can be a mentor by inviting someone who is unhappy or isolated to accompany us in helping another.
• We can create meaning in another’s life by celebrating small steps and offering encouragement.
• We can find courage in the face of threat, composure in the face of rage, and compassion in the face of hate.
• We can confront destructive behavior by listening and cultivating understanding.
• We can feel the weight of our grudges by placing a stone for each person we have a grudge against in a sack and carrying that sack for ten days. We can forgive those grudges and empty our sacks.
• We can imagine our lives ten years in the future and examine a present hurt from this perspective. Perspectives change and time heals. If we can change our perspective in the future, we can change it now.
• We can offer hope to others by constantly seeking the possible.
• We can offer respect in the form of acceptance by first cultivating humility within ourselves.
• We can offer reverence to the uniqueness of another by silently bowing in appreciation. We can allow ourselves to be fascinated by other approaches to life.
• We can seek to understand rather than to be understood.
• We can affirm another’s worth by cultivating silence and listening.
• We can feel another’s pain. We can see all the colors of the soul and acknowledge all the facets that make that person complete.
• We can make a quantum leap in creative thinking to find richer solutions to problems.

Thoughts

The most important thing we have to give is ourselves to one another. But most of us do not give because of fear – fear of pain, fear of abandonment, fear of unappreciation, fear that we might lose something of ourselves, fear that more will be demanded, but most of all, fear of one another. It is this fear that we must overcome to heal Vulcan. Then all other fears will vanish.

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Source of Surakian Quote

It is not withdrawal from our world that will save it, but instead, the desire to go out and transform it.   [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 48]

Surak’s original post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Run t’Surak (Surak’s Dream) music video by T’Prion

LYRICS

Run t’Surak

Abrurasathau 

Bolayalar t’wehku 

Bolayalar t’zamu 

Il t’veh.

Vesht yuk-tor heh run-tor nash-veh 

Ta vesht nam-tor panu pu-torik svi’mak.

Ri-weht yontal yai t’Nevasa solektra

Heh wadi hi vesht sas-torik

Heh mohk-torik fna’smud kin-kur.

Ki’nehal-tor heh ki’tev-tor 

Bogozh-yonlar t’T’Khut —

Ha’gel t’ish-veh haulan t’glu-muzh. 

Heh kanok-wilatashenal vuhlkansular 

El’ru t’thrah’es na’veh-vathsu

Hafal ish-run k’nash-veh 

heh vesht fun-tor nash-veh 

Na’ish-veh wehk-waklar 

Svi’yuk heh svi’kusut.

Wak tik ta vesht fun-tor nash-veh

Na’ek’yeht’es t’hokni’es, 

Vesht nam-tor zakashtauk 

Ta nam-tor ha’kiv dvin. 

Ri nam-tor saseshaya s’panu 

ta fa-wak korsau n’ish-veh 

hi svi’shi aitlun sahal-tor 

heh mesuvulau n’ish-veh.

Nam-tor dan-lo’uk 

Heh dan-hakauk t’ek’torai ish-veh 

Ik torik na’muhl’es t’vathsu.

Hi wuh’rak vun-mesakhkwitau etek 

Pthak girau ik etek na’solektra.

Nam-tor torahan svi’dvin na’vathu 

Lu fa-wak tal-tor heh pak-tor 

Isha etek shai-etek. 

Heh nam-tor wehk-tular 

Kup abunufau etek 

Veli-toperlar t’utan’es. 

Nam-tor shai-etek vel dan-yauluhk 

Ik ma etek tan-tor veh-vathsu. 

Hi ri tan-tor dan-etek fai’ei pthak –

Weh-ek, pthak t’veh-vathsu. 

Nam-tor ha-pavek nash-pthak 

Ik vun-nessau etek hakau T’Khasi. 

Yi fa-wak sasaudau ek’vath-pthak.

Abrurasathau 

Bolayalar t’wehku

Bolayalar t’zamu 

Il t’veh

Surak’s Dream

The needs of the many 

Outweigh

The needs of the few 

Or the one.

I slept and dreamt 

That the world was awash in joy. 

The flame of Nevasa no longer scorched earth 

And skin but was diffuse and soothing 

Through a golden haze. 

The hell-fires of T’Khut 

Had faltered and gone out – 

Her light the reflection of a deep pool. 

And everywhere, Vulcans raised the hand

Of friendship to one another. 

That dream stayed with me 

And I returned to it many times

In sleep and in pain. 

Each time I returned

To the reality 

Of wakefulness, 

I was reminded

That life is service.

It is not withdrawal from our world 

That will save it, 

But instead, the desire to go out 

And transform it.

The greatest and most restorative 

Of all action is that undertaken 

For the well-being of another. 

But first we must push past the fear 

That roots us to the ground

Acting in service to others 

Is where we shall both 

Find and lose ourselves. 

And there are many ways 

We can offer up simple 

Acts of kindness. 

The most important thing we have 

To give is ourselves to one another. 

But most of us do not give because of fear –  

Most of all, fear of one another

It is this fear 

That we must overcome to heal Vulcan. 

Then all other fears will vanish.

The needs of the many 

Outweigh

The needs of the few 

Or the one.

PART EIGHT: The Thread of Growth

Meditation

There is no higher praise than satisfactory.

True growth comes with a shock. Adversity is an unwelcome teacher. It exists to bring us together so that we may learn and draw strength from one another. Alone we cannot grow. In order to grow as a society, individuals must support one another in skill development, but praise can be over-used, over-extended, and used inappropriately. Praise is a distraction because it swells the ego with self-consciousness and can lead to negative actions. In order to help others, we need a strong self, one that is cultivated through encouragement – not praise. Let’s consider the experience of the student.

Currently, the marking system is this: excellent, above average, satisfactory, below average, and no understanding. I see little reason to differentiate between the last two. Either the work is acceptable or it is not. The student whose work does not meet expectations should not be permitted to pass the course. At the other end of the scale, one can make a case for greater distinction, but is this wise? Delineation between above average and excellent can evoke resentment in less skilled students and feelings of superiority in those highly praised. By creating the multi-point scale, we create unnecessary judgment and unnecessary competition. By reducing the scale to satisfactory and unsatisfactory, we reduce these unwanted emotions in our students and put the focus where it should be – not on the praise but on their achievement or their need for additional tutoring.

We’ve all read about the recent tragedy in Te’Rikh where a young man named Tok murdered his brother Suhur. This happened while Suhur was joined in the bonding ceremony with his betrothed. Tok was heard to say, “Without you, I would have been excellent,” before he shot Suhur and turned the phaser on himself. Due to the joining, the blast also killed Suhur’s bondmate. The brothers’ parents confirmed that at the academy, Suhur’s marks were excellent, while Tok’s marks were satisfactory. Tok also believed Suhur’s bondmate should have been his. Had both brothers been equally encouraged and had Tok received additional training in mastering his emotions, this tragedy may have been avoided. I will address the mastery of emotions in future writings.

Here the teacher will argue, “The student whose work is satisfactory will not strive for excellence unless he understands what excellence is.” The manager will say, “I only want to hire excellence. I need to see excellence in academy records.” The excellent student will protest, “It is unfair that my work does not receive the praise that it is worthy of when its quality is higher than that of others.”

My answer is this: We all know what excellence is. We do not need to point and say, “Look! There it is!” As a student, I attended the opening ceremony for the Shi’Kahr Archives. Svaid, a friend of mine, served there as an assistant archivist at the time. I listened as the director praised the architects, the construction manager, and the network technicians. During construction, when the architects and the council argued over a design element for the atrium, Svaid offered one – a light screen to serve as a welcoming focal point. He also designed the memorial plaque to honor those who had invested in the project. Svaid’s work was not acknowledged during the ceremony. He was never compensated for his designs. I told him, “Your work will inspire others for years to come.” His eyes moistened, but he said, “I seek only to inspire myself.”

Therein lies the answer. Motivation to succeed – and surpass – expectations must come from within. Excellence will always be recognized for what it is without the need for fanfare. Before his death in a hovercar accident, Svaid became a renowned artist with work displayed throughout the city. The Archives recently underwent a major remodeling. Svaid’s screen and plaque are the only original features that remain.

Thoughts

If someone tells us that our work is “satisfactory,” we should be content. If the work does not meet our own expectations, we should increase our efforts. The outcome may be nothing but inner satisfaction, but there is nothing greater.

Let those who compete with you grow as well. Use their success as stepping stones along your own path. Above all, judge your success by what you needed to sacrifice in order to achieve it. If you live your life with honor, when you look back upon it in your advanced years, your actions will bring you satisfaction a second time.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

There is no higher praise than satisfactory.  [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2006). Vulcan’s soul, book two: Exiles. New York: Pocket Books, p. 65]

Surak’s original post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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To’ovaya (Growth) music video by T’Prion

LYRICS

To’ovaya

Na’lof to’ovau u’shila’es 

Vun-nenikau wuhsular veh-vathsu 

Svi’renkup’es-storaya

Na’lof gol-tor vathu 

Bolau etek shai karik, 

Veh ik pusokasitau bai’kastoraya – ri krol. 

Tra’ti kilko. 

Vun sarlah dvubolaya navau eh namautau 

Gishatlar s’svi’shai-veh. 

Kuv var-tor ein-veh na’etek 

Ta nam-tor ar’kadan 

T’etek nar-bosh, 

Dang-nam-tor etek aidihn. 

Kuv ri pulau ar’kadan sha’gishatlar t’etek, 

Dang-abulau etek urgam.

Lau nam-tor kim-pavek 

Ri’el hi tvi-naran, 

Hi nam-tor ri’el weh-lo’uk.

Kal’uh eifasu 

Kuhlau vi k’du

To’ovau isha. 

Is’uh navunlar t’au 

U’ashan-kovlar 

Bi’sha’yut t’du. 

Kuv ha-tor du ha’kiv k’dor,

Lu zanglazhau tu fi’ish-veh du’storil-tevunlar,

Fa-wak katau torailar na’tu naran dahr-wak.

Growth

In order to grow as a society,

Individuals must support one another

In skill development

In order to help others, 

We need a strong self, 

One that is cultivated through encouragement – not praise.

Therein lies the answer. 

Motivation to succeed – and surpass – 

Expectations must come from within. 

If someone tells us 

That our work is “satisfactory,” 

We should be content. 

If the work does not meet 

Our own expectations, 

We should increase our efforts. 

The outcome may be 

Nothing but inner satisfaction, 

But there is nothing greater.

Let those

Who compete with you

Grow as well.

Use their success

As stepping stones

Along your own path.

If you live your life with honor, 

When you look back upon it in your advanced years, 

Your actions will bring you satisfaction a second time.

PART SEVEN: The Thread of Respect

Meditation

Only in the sanctity of privacy can we find peace. With rest and quiet contemplation we can shoulder our burdens again and move forward.

As I write this, everything I do and say is being tracked. The market knows what I ate for mornmeal even though I did not leave the house. From the inventory in my food preservation unit, the market delivery service knows that I used two eggs and a blue-fruit. According to my consumption pattern, they know when I’ll use up these products and can plan their delivery with efficiency. The information nets track which articles I read, which services I use, whom I contact, which products I buy, what I owe and to whom, where I live, where I work, my education level, my retinal image, my family history and its economic status, even the date of my last pon farr – in order to determine when I shall be a potential threat to society. The words I offer here are tracked by threat analysts throughout the world. Through electronic signal, my own door betrays when I come and go.

Not long ago, I watched a young woman’s torment grow until she could bear it no more. She served as a receptionist in my father’s firm. It was her duty to welcome each visitor with a smile and a friendly voice. One man mistook her friendly behavior for interest. Each time he visited, he brought her little gifts. These she accepted with gratitude as she had been taught to do. He easily learned where she lived and sent her communications expressing his love and desire for her. He sent her bigger gifts. Her shame grew when she learned that he was bonded. She returned his gifts and told him to contact her no more. He did not listen. He did not respect the feelings of his bondmate or this woman. He continued to violate the privacy of her life until I told him to leave, to never return, and not to bother her again. My father was furious. The man was his best customer. The next day, my father terminated the receptionist’s employment.

I do not regret my hard words towards the man or that my actions caused the receptionist to lose her job. The privacy of her feelings and the sanctuary of her home and work-life have been restored. She now works as a teacher’s assistant and holds the hands of children. She has peace.

Today there is very little thought given to the bond between mates. The old Houses still arrange marriages when their children are young. Although it is logical to make such arrangements, for they strengthen the bond between families, if the children are not a good match, the bond will not survive. Anger and resentment grow. But they need not. The priests of Seleya can establish a bond between the children with a mind-meld, joining together their thoughts so that they mature as one, each secure in the knowledge of the other. If the children are not a good match, disharmony will soon arise and the bond should be broken. There is no one to blame. We are all different and have different needs. This is the respect of the child. If the child’s needs are considered, as an adult he or she will respect the needs of others.

Last night someone threw a stone through my window. Today a workman came to fix it. He was a soldier who had been injured in the war, but he could still use his hands. In the beginning, he did not say much, but soon he asked what I thought about the recent elections, and we talked of many subjects. He told me of the day someone dented his new groundcar while he had stopped at the market. He took a crowbar and smashed the windshield of the vehicle owned by the offender. On the seat he left the message, “Don’t park so close next time.” I said nothing and watched him work. He told me of other times when someone had offended him, and I became alarmed at the violence within him. But I listened and nodded with understanding. Although I did not agree with his behavior, I gave him my respect. As a guest in my house, he could expect my courtesy. Perhaps the next time his vehicle is dented he will say to the other driver, “Please be more careful.” Perhaps the other driver will look down with humility and understanding.

There are many who fear the mind-melders and believe the practice to be the ultimate violation of privacy. Their logic is sound, but their fear is not. The ability to mind-meld is the inheritance of every Vulcan. If practiced, as the priests do, with reverence and courtesy, it is a skill that can only deepen the bond among all of us and the creatures with whom we share this planet. There will be no need to guess what your pet is trying to say when it howls. You will know if your baby is hungry or in pain when it cries.

But with the development of psychic skills comes a higher level of responsibility. Today the life of the Vulcan must be a sense of universal responsibility. A responsibility governed by a new code of privacy. A code of silence. There is too much noise in the world today – noise of interference. Interference and probing into one’s marital status, home-life, medical status, sex life, thoughts and remembrances, religion and spiritual beliefs, personal space, personal loss, and even into one’s own birth and death. Intrusion into these private matters must be restricted. Unless there is great need, a Vulcan must not intrude into such personal matters of another. These are the Silences of which we must not speak. Only this way shall we regain our privacy, and with it peace.

Thoughts

The deepest goal of the Vulcan soul is to find the source of sanctity. It can only be reached through discipline, respectful living, and daily contemplation. We must leave others the privacy of their minds and lives. Intimacy remains precious only insofar as it is inviolate; invading it turns to torment. We must reach out to others courteously and accept their reaching in the same way, with careful hands.

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Source of Surakian Quote

We must reach out to others courteously and accept their reaching in the same way, with careful hands.  [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p. 252.]

Surak’s original post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

Read more about the tradition of The Silences.

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Fmak t’Sochya (Sanctuary of Peace) music video by T’Prion

LYRICS

Fmak t’Sochya

Goh svi’dorvai’es t’awak’es

Kup tal-tor etek sochya.

K’shom heh kohlan hizhuk

Kup lesh etek lestlar

Va’ashiv heh fadvun-tor.

Sarlah weh-pid-vok

T’gu’vam k’storaya

T’kash-renkup’es.

Nash-gad vun nam-tor ha’kiv

T’Vuhlkansu kash-ral

T’ek’gu’vam.

Gu’vam puspana- kau

Bai’uzh-kiht t’awak’es.

Kiht t’ralash-fam’es.

Nam-tor nuh’mau ralash

Svi’panu nash-gad –

Ralash t’snertaya.

Vita nam-tor bolaya lo’uk,

Vun ri vi-kwitaya Vuhlkansu

Svi’suyal-onglar t’vathsu.

Nam-tor aifa Ralash-Fam’eslar

Po’ik vun ri stariben etek.

Goh nash-tu fa-wak tabakau

Etek awak’es

Heh k’ish-veh sochya.

Nam-tor dan-glu-terai

T’vuhlkansu-katra tal-tor

Shu-pal t’dorvai’es.

Goh kup pupulau

Ish-veh bai’tafar,

Hayan naat-bosh,

Heh kohlan kanok- gadik.

Vun zatrasha etek

Na’vathsular awak’es

T’kasheklar heh ha’kivlar.

Vun-sapulau etek

Na’vathsular k’nuhk’es

Heh nar-tor etek pulaun

T’au svi’ka-tu,

K’el’rular tun-bosh.

Sanctuary of Peace

Only in the sanctity of privacy

Can we find peace.

With rest and quiet contemplation

We can shoulder our burdens

Again and move forward.

With the development

Of psychic skills comes

A higher level of responsibility.

Today the life of the Vulcan

Must be a sense

Of universal responsibility.

A responsibility governed

By a new code of privacy.

A code of silence.

There is too much noise

In the world today-

Noise of interference.

Unless there is great need,

A Vulcan must not intrude

Into such personal matters of another.

These are the Silences

Of which we must not speak.

Only this way

Shall we regain our privacy,

And with it peace.

The deepest goal

Of the Vulcan soul

To find the source of sanctity.

It can only be reached

Through discipline,

Respectful living,

And daily contemplation.

We must leave

Others the privacy

Of their minds and lives.

We must reach out

To others courteously

And accept their reaching

In the same way,

With careful hands.

PART SIX: The Thread of Kaiidth

Meditation

Marks in dry clay disappear when the clay is soft again.

The herd of dzharel bolts as if their tails are on fire. The shavokh leaves its perch and flies over the canyon, calling to its mate. The ground shakes until the walls of the palace crumble. Bodies lie broken, twisted, lifeless beneath the rubble. The ground becomes stable again. Disaster strikes at its own time.

It is easy for those who survive the quake to resent it, to grow hard and shake their fists at it. Others fall down in despair and look upon the world with lifeless eyes. They die although their hearts continue to beat. The herd of dzharel stops, listens. They swish their tails and begin to graze again. The shavokh returns to its nest to find it has slid down the cliff, its eggs broken. He builds a new nest and calls to his mate. Life calls to life.

Why does the Vulcan scream and raise his fist or lie helpless in a pool of tears? Beloved trees may be uprooted in storms or quakes, but most stand and bear what life brings them. Why can’t the Vulcan? We cry and rage when the strong and the beautiful die and ask how can this happen? How can a sweet child die in a traffic accident? Why?

The dzharel does not question the quake. The shavokh does not question the broken nest. The beautiful and strong who die before their time are masters in disguise. They serve to teach us about the impermanence of life. What good comes from shaking the fist at the volcano or from lying hopeless in the sand? If we lose a child, we may mourn for a time, for mourning clears the mind and heals the body from shock. But then we must get up and put one foot before the other. We must accept what is and move on. We must live to give honor to the dead. We are here but for a short time and we must not waste that time.

Although the rocks may be jagged, the water in the stream flows about them. If it stays in the same place, it becomes stagnant. If it is allowed to move freely, it will remain pure. We must be like water. We must learn to master the unavoidable, to suppress overt reaction to that which we cannot prevent or remedy. We must control not only our reactions but the thoughts which might invoke those reactions. A single phrase for the concept is kaiidth! It is an old Zhialan expression that means “What is, is.”

I do not speak of apathy but of acceptance. Acceptance does not mean the adoption of a state of helplessness. Acceptance means letting go of thoughts of what isn’t here and appreciating what is here now. If you are passed over for a promotion, you must feel gratitude that you have a job and that you still can serve. You must monitor your direction, yield, and open yourself to all possibilities. As in the game of kal-toh, assess the patterns before you and adapt. Create new patterns and move on. There is nothing to gain from haste but error. There is nothing to gain from ill-will but a black heart.

I have often noticed that artists and composers easily grasp the concept of kaiidth. They use it in their creations without conscious thought. Even the best painters experience accidents. Paint is spilled. Water is splashed. Eager fingers leave stains. Some artists weep, believe their work is ruined. But the true artist fits the paint-drip, watermark, or stain into the picture. This is kaiidth. The composer’s fingers slip on the ka’athaira and he plays notes that he did not intend. If he were teaching composition, his awkwardness in front of students may cause him to turn green mwith embarrassment. But the true composer allows the accidental notes to guide his composition towards a whole new direction. The melody gains new interest and is better for the wrong notes. This is kaiidth.

In my mother’s garden the sandblossoms reseed themselves every year. One never knows where they will sprout up when the rains come. One year, she asked me to pull any that grew out of the cracks in the wall. She said that they looked untidy and that people would think that we did not take care of our garden. Like many people, my mother considered sandblossoms to be weeds. I did not pull them. That year there was little rain and water usage was restricted. She could not water he prized nar’ru vines and they died. But the sandblossoms covered our wall in gold. They were the only flowers in the garden that year and my mother was glad I had not pulled them. This is kaiidth.

Thoughts

The le-matya knows there is a time to hunt and a time to let the prey escape. Our ancestors knew there was a time to dry clay in the sun and a time to wet it again. There is a time to water crops and a time to let them go. Fighting against the situation is like swimming against the current. The good swimmer knows that if he fights against the rip current, he will exhaust himself and drown. But if he does not panic, he will be able to swim to the side and return to the shore with ease. Kaiidth means letting go and allowing the current of life to carry us. We must accept that it will bring us to the still waters where the situation will stabilize with less effort.

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Source of Surakian Quote

There is nothing to gain from haste but error.  [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2006). Vulcan’s soul, book two: Exiles. New York: Pocket Books, p. 58.]

Surak’s original post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Kaiidth (What Is Is) music video

PART FIVE: The Thread of IDIC

Meditation

Many are the paths to the summit. As long as we all climb, fracturing arguments from differing traditions are irrelevant.

I rejoice in our differences. Diversity on this planet developed so that life would survive the cruel environment. Through the ages, random changes occurred in the encoding of nucleic acids. Mutations occurred. New species and subspecies evolved. The evolution of life demands a balance between mutation and selection. Mutation is random changes in DNA. Selection is the process by which beneficial traits survive and allow the organism to better adapt to the environment. When balance is achieved, amazing adaptations happen.

The same process affects the evolution of the Vulcan species. But instead of accepting and using our differences to make a better world, we work to minimize or destroy them.  Perhaps you have heard about the kash-nohvu – those who are able to meld their thoughts and sense the thoughts of others, including lower life forms.  Now they are outcasts. Telepathy is not new to the Vulcan species. It is a latent trait in all of us, one that helped our species to survive. From the other animals, we could easily learn what they knew – where the best water holes were, where the nearest le-matya den was – without the need for language.

But we have forgotten how to meld our minds, and those who remember are hunted like dangerous beasts. Many believe that the kash-nohvu can not only read minds but control them. This is a false belief. The kash-nohvu are touch-telepaths. They cannot sense thought without touching , their partners are willing, and they are not associated with Sudoc. I have lived among them and studied their ways. They are a peaceful folk. Their skill will enhance the Vulcan race.

Some say that the te-Vikram nomads should be driven away, their oases poisoned. They cling to old ways, raid towns and crops, and steal sons from the cities to swell their clans. They pass through valuable land, drink precious water, and give nothing to society. These words are in the minds of many politicians. They forget that the te-Vikram healers discovered the cure for storm-fever. They are skilled in animal husbandry and know how to survive for long periods in the Forge, even during solar flares. They know the most about electrical storms because they survive them daily. When Vulcan can no longer support life, the te-Vikram will be the ones who survive, not the city-dwellers. We would be wise to tolerate their differences and learn what is good from the te-Vikram. From us, they will benefit through our compassion.

When I was an accountant in my father’s firm, he gave me the duty to plan a banquet for our volunteers to thank them for their service. During the banquet, the volunteers would be recognized for their work. My father told me to record what each had achieved during the past year. I did not know any of them and was intrigued to learn about the skills of each one. Then my father asked me to identify the one who was the most exceptional. That one would receive a special award. I could not. One is not better than the other. The le-matya is not better than the shavokh, and I am not better than the le-matya. The total number of atoms in my body is 1028. The total number of atoms in your body is nearly the same. The body of the shavokh contains a bit less since its mass is less, but if you reduced the three of us to atoms, we would look the same. We are stardust. How can one volunteer be selected over the others? While one may work more hours than the others, aren’t all the hours that they work equally important? They all work toward the success of the company.

My father was angry. I let him be angry.

Truth and beauty are often the result of two diverse things coming together. When light shines through droplets of water, it is fractured into diverse wavelengths and a wide spectrum of color. But pure light is all colors. In the same manner, opposites are part of one phenomenon. Without darkness, we would not understand light. Weakness and strength define each other within the body. When we are ill, we know what it means to be weak. When we are healthy, we know what it means to be strong. When I graft a new shoot onto an old plant, I create a new plant. If I mix black and white, I create a new color, a new possibility. A painter has only three primary pigments on his palette, but the possibilities to create new colors by mixing them are limitless. It is the same with people. If we meld our minds and our creativity, the possibility for problem-solving is limitless. The source of creativity, the combination of thought, is endless.

Thoughts

We must not fail to explore anything that interests us. We must not accept the first answer that comes but explore alternatives. We must overcome our insecurities. Intellectually, we stand on a plateau surrounded by an endless desert of the unexplained. A handful of its sand contains about 10,000 grains. Each grain represents a thought, a possible explanation or solution.  The possibilities for collecting and mixing these grains are infinite. Like this desert, all life is one whole. With each generation, our task is to build up the plateau by combining the sands of the desert.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

I rejoice in our differences.  [Lorrah, J. (1984). The Vulcan Academy murders. New York: Pocket Books, p. 27.]

Truth and beauty are often the result of two diverse things coming together.  [Robinson, B. (ed.). (1999). Briefing: the Vulcans. Star Trek magazine, p. 91.]

Surak’s orginal post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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IDIC music video by T’Prion

PART FOUR: The Thread of Nonviolence

Meditation

Where there is water, there is the potential for war.

Due to the nature of this world, conflicts and disharmony are likely. Food, water, and shelter are limited, but the population grows. We compete not only amongst ourselves but also with the le-matya and the cheveh. Today, the city-state of Mahn’hen wars with the Kingdom of Lahirhi over the Tekeh area. The State of Ovek, caught in the crossfire, is destroyed, made lifeless and black by nuclear warheads. Crops fail. The earth is stripped of its motherhood. Food, water, and shelter become even more limited. The weapon turns on the wielder. The spear in the other’s heart is the spear in your own. How then do we manage conflict? How do we end the violence?

To answer this question, we must first examine the nature of violence and how it evolves. It is not difficult to see how it spreads, how one action leads to another, because violence is simply illogic by physical means. For example, when both the leaders of the Mahn’heh and the Lahirhi desired to take the Tekeh oasis, a neutral trading center used by all, both decided to kill for it. Now the oasis is lost to all — its water, soil, and air poisoned by radiation. While the Lahirhi achieved their goal to add the oasis to their territory, the violent method created crises that are worse than the original problem of insufficient water. We all need water to survive, but the taking of it at the distress of others is illogical. Why do I say illogical? Because it is not a solution. In this example, one transfers the water shortage from this people to other people. There is still a water shortage. Transferring the problem does not cause it go away.

How then should a leader provide water for his people when wells run dry? Rather than stealing the wells of other nations, he must reach out to the leaders whose wells are not dry and ask for assistance. Those who have sufficient water must not hesitate to share. The leader who says, “I cannot help you — my people only have enough water for themselves,” must not hesitate to offer other assistance. Perhaps his kingdom has a good supply of fruit, which will nourish and hydrate the water-poor nation. Perhaps there is a scientist amongst his people who knows how to construct an efficient supply line from the polar ice or how to extract water molecules from other chemicals. If the leader cannot help through an immediate solution, he should help to find a long-term solution. Perhaps he might allow a water supply line to traverse his land. If one can wage war, how much more logical is it to wage peace? – in this case, by being part of the solution.

Here we have examined one cause of violent behavior – desire. Desire for more land, desire for mineral deposits, desire for wealth, desire for power, desire for another’s bond-mate, desire to annihilate the competition. When desire starts, it grows like a volcano, swollen by the forces of emotion, until it erupts with destructive effects. Therefore, the first step along the path to nonviolence is the ending of desire and the development of contentment. I shall write more about the cultivation of contentment later, but here I shall say that if one controls desire, contentment will follow.

What is desire? Desire is an aberrant need. One must not mistake desire with need. If one is dehydrated, the desire for water is strong. But this emotion is not desire. Anything that one must have to maintain life and health is a need. Without its fulfillment, one would perish. But one can live without the newest air-car or the new fountain in the courtyard. When one’s basic needs have been fulfilled – for nutrition, for a safe and clean abode, for family, for community and education, one should be content and should help to fulfill the basic needs of others. If greater blessings come, one should accept them with gratitude and give to others in need.

It may be easy to turn away from a new tunic ones does not need but difficult to control the desire to hurt someone who angers us. People who fight due to anger and hatred may gain victory over their enemies in battle, but they are not victorious. The only true victory occurs when one controls hatred and anger. When one controls the emotions, all desire will cease. I shall write more on emotions later.

Thoughts

I have made it my mission to persuade scientists to wage peace instead of war, by removing themselves as the means of keeping Vulcan fighting. I have met with the hydrologists of Kir and Raal to persuade them to turn their research from the study of groundwater flow – to discover how to poison enemy wells efficiently – to the desalinization of sea water so that it is drinkable. I’ve met with the physicists and engineers of the Vulcan Space Initiative to persuade them to convert their great ships into generational ships to carry us beyond this world in search of new sources of energy, nutrition, shelter, and to preserve the Vulcan way of life.

I can only hope that they will listen.

Difficult times can cause us to see others as enemies. Decisions become wrong decisions under the influence of resentment. But with difficult times comes the opportunity to do the greatest good. I believe that this is the purpose of adversity. Without challenges, we cannot grow; we cannot be all that we can be. And those whom we perceive as our enemies are those who challenge us to develop patience, tolerance, and compassion. If you are harmed by the words or deeds of another, your most effective weapon against hatred and violence is your refusal to enter into battle. You must refuse to see the one who has harmed you as an enemy. When two competitors meet, the one without an enemy is the only one who will triumph.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

Where there is water, there is the potential for war.   [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 107.]

The spear in the other’s heart is the spear in your own.  [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p.17.]

Violence is simply illogic by physical means.  [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 28.]

If one can wage war, how much more logical is it to wage peace?   [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 48.]

I have made it my mission to persuade scientists to wage peace instead of war, by removing themselves as the means of keeping Vulcan fighting.  [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 48.]

 

Surak’s orignal post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Sochya (Peace) music video by T’Prion

PART THREE: The Thread of Choice

Meditation

The outcome of our actions is entirely out of our control. Only intent remains entirely within our control.

Every day we must make choices. For good or ill, the freedom is ours. Dzharok has debated me how far this perceived freedom extends. While we agree that the Vulcan species possesses a will that is free to exert choice, he asserts that the outcomes of our choices are predetermined. I will not repeat the debate here, but I will allow that every choice, every action has its ripple effect – meaning that there is no action which is without significance. One’s slightest gesture creates incalculable actions and reactions, possesses ramifications which cannot be foreseen. For example, as a child I was taught that stealing is not acceptable. I knew that if I stole the beautifully carved kal-toh rods from the game merchant, my parents would punish me. I would be forced to give back the rods to the merchant and ask, bowing before him, for his forgiveness. I would also ask how I might serve him, perhaps work in his shop to pay for my selfishness. These outcomes can be foreseen within the moral code of modern Vulcan society.

But what if my parents did not know of my selfishness and the theft was allowed to stand? How far would the ripples go? The next time I visited the shop, I might find the door closed, the interior dark. The merchant gone. I did not understand the expenses he faced. Because I did not pay for the sticks that I desired, he was not able to pay the landlord. This outcome of my action, my choice, I could not have foreseen.

There is the story of the woman who lived during the Second Dynasty. On a dark day, her village was attacked by an enemy tribe. The men were slain, the women carried away, but she was able to hide with her baby and seventeen other villagers. Her baby began to wail, and because she feared that its cries would reveal their hiding place, she suppressed the airway of the infant. She knew that if she held the child too tightly and too long so that it couldn’t breathe, it would die. She also knew that more than her life and the life of her child were in danger, if the raiders found them. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few or the one. When the raiders left, the villagers found their homes destroyed and sought refuge in a nearby village. The woman was cast out to the desert because she murdered her child. Unable to find water, it was not long before she died there.

I asked a priestess at Seleya if the villagers were correct to exile the woman. She said that they were correct, because the punishment for murder, by law, was exile. It still is.

Next, I put the question to a priest-king of the te-Vikram. He said that if the child was the son of a king, then the villagers were correct. He said that if the child had been the son of a warrior, the killing was of no consequence. The child would never be the son of a king. By smothering the child, the woman saved the lives of many – perhaps even a priest or the son of a king. One life sacrificed for seventeen others was acceptable. The woman should have been praised for her bravery and sacrifice, he said.

Who is correct? How should we treat this woman?

The first answer – that the taking of a life is immoral at any time – demands a list of rules that one must commit to memory so that one can act acceptably: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat. The list is created to be a universal code – for all persons in all societies. Thus, under this code the te-Vikram warrior who steals a boy during kahs-wan and raises the boy as his son should be punished for theft. Under this code, the woman who smothers her child should be punished for murder.

I say that the code does not exist, cannot exist with any finality. Instead, what we have are guidelines to help us make good choices. I shall explain.

The second answer is an example of relativistic ethics. Concepts of right and wrong are relative to a particular society. In this thinking, what works for that society is right for it. Amongst the te-Vikram, stealing is a way of life. If times are hard and too few sons are born to replace the warriors who have fallen, healthy sons are stolen from the cities. These out-sons are treated with courtesy and raised in high status. Since the te-Vikram do not permit bonding outside their group, stealing boys from the cities allows them to expand their gene pool. Although it is not a logical solution to their problem, it is a solution in their minds. They do not believe they’re behaving unethically. How, then, do we know we’re behaving ethically?

I will say to you that there is only one criterion for making an ethical choice. The criterion is an easy one, but the circumstances in which it is used are, without a doubt, difficult. The concern for the wellness and safety of others, above your own, is the guideline to follow in making any choice. Ideally, do no harm. Harm speeds up the death-heat of the Universe, and indirectly your own. But there are times when we must do harm to shelter others, as the woman did when she smothered her beloved child. We all must eat, but so that we nourish the body, it is necessary to kill, because the body is nourished by organic material. It is far better, then, to take only life that will not notice you taking it. We cut down and dig up plants daily, ending their lives to continue our own, but they lack a nervous system and are not conscious of their own deaths as is a hayalit or a ferravat. To notice one’s own death increases entropy. It would be best if we could eat rocks, which are not alive, but we do not have that choice.

Lying is another behavior considered unethical in many societies. Our relations with each other would be chaotic if we couldn’t depend on one another. Therefore, lying increases the death-heat of the Universe. But there are times when we must lie for the safety of others. In such cases, I would say do not speak an untruth when possible. Do not position yourself in a situation so that your only choice is to tell a lie. Consider this example:  Two brothers were wrongly accused as the thieves of a precious stone from the House of Anauk. They escaped, but Anauk’s guards pursued them. The brothers came to a keeper of the dead who lived on the edge of the city and asked him to hide them. He touched their faces and quickly determined that they did not steal. He told them to hide in the catacombs but turned his back before they ran toward the entrance. After a moment, the guards came there and asked Sikan if he saw two men flee into the catacombs. Although Sikan had heard the brothers run and knew that they hid below, he shook his head. He could say with honesty that he had not seen the two men flee into the catacombs. Two lives were saved. A lie was avoided.

Thoughts

There is much more I could say about choice, because choice for us is endless. We always have a choice in every situation. Here, I shall leave you with this thought: There is no offense where none is taken. When your neighbor refuses to help you fix your well, notice his words, that he quickly returns to the shade. Instead of thinking him lazy, feel his heartbeat above yours. Perhaps he is ill and is ashamed by his frailty. Perhaps he does not possess the skill to help you and is ashamed by his lack of knowledge. And when he asks you to help him mend his wall, do so without hesitation and without offense, even if he is your inferior. Nobility lies in action, not in name. People make their own futures.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

The outcome of our actions is entirely out of our control. Only intent remains entirely within our control. [The way of kolinahr: The Vulcans. (1998). Culver City, CA: Last Unicorn Games, p. 15]

One’s slightest gesture creates incalculable actions and reactions, possesses ramifications which cannot be foreseen. [Bonanno, M. W. (1985). Dwellers in the crucible. New York: Pocket Books, p. 37.]

Ideally, do no harm. Harm speeds up the death-heat of the Universe, and indirectly your own.   [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p.252.]

We all must eat, but so that we nourish the body, it is necessary to kill, because the body is nourished by organic material. It is far better, then, to take only life that will not notice you taking it.   [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p.252.]

To notice one’s own death increases entropy.  [Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p.252.]

Nobility lies in action, not in name.  [Lorrah, J. (1984). The Vulcan academy murders. New York: Pocket Books, p.74.]

People make their own futures.  [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Exodus. (Vulcan’s soul, bk. 1). New York: Pocket Books, p. 41.]

Surak’s orginal post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Dvel (Choice) music video by T’Prion

PART TWO: The Thread of Knowledge

Meditation

Intellect without discipline is empty – devoid of wisdom. The calm mind is the one that truly knows.

As this war continues, generation after generation, the thinking person must ask, how did it start? How did we achieve this state of affairs? Although war is a complex game, its cause is simple: our knowledge is insufficient. And because it is limited, so too is our understanding.

The scientist will say that he conducts experiments so that he may increase his knowledge of the natural world. Through careful observation, the scientist discovers that lunglock fever is caused by a bacterium. He now knows how the disease can be controlled. He creates an antibiotic. The te-Vikram priest will say that he studies the patterns in a stain of blood in order to increase his knowledge of the world. Through careful observation, he concludes that lunglock fever is caused by the failure of the sick man to sanctify the hearth. He now knows how the disease can be controlled. He directs the man’s family to carry out the blood-sacrifice. Who is correct – the scientist or the priest? While it is true that those with lunglock fever carry the bacterium in their lungs, who can say a demon didn’t blow the bacterium into their lungs? While we can see the bacterium and its effect on lung tissue with a microscope, demons elude our senses and scientific devices. Does our inability to see or detect a demon mean that one does not exist? What science finds to not be existent, we must accept that it is not existent. But what science does not find must remain an enigma.

The greatest evils that Vulcan exerted upon Vulcan arose from feeling very certain about something, which was, in fact, not true. Consider these examples from our history. To the House of Sakkhet long ago, a child was born who could sense where water was. The child Mahta was fought over, stolen often. When he had grown and his Times came, he was forced to sire children for the house of this captor, then the next, each wanting to add Mahta’s gift to his own bloodline, each hoping to gain power over the other. It was a false belief. Through their excessive desire, the precious gift became common in the genome. Now, because of the water-adepts, no house is without water. But Mahta died a broken man.

The Lady Suvin of House Velekh believed she could be mistress of the richest and most powerful house throughout Vulcan by stealing T’Thelaih from House Yehenik. T’Thelaih had the killing gift. When she became angry, she could kill by touching the mind. Suvin meant to use the girl as a weapon and bound T’Thelaih to her grandson Mahak. When the girl learned Suvin’s plan and Mahak was slain while kept from his wife, T’Thelaih became enraged and killed everyone in House Velekh. Then she jumped out the window, killing herself and her unborn child.

Today, the mindlord Sudoc believes he can control the mind of every Vulcan and rule the planet. It is a false belief. Even now he grows weary. He is overwhelmed by the thoughts of those he controls. We should not fear him. He, too, will submit to his own greed.

Before we consider the question of the truth, let us first examine how we know what we know — how we gain knowledge. I shall begin by surveying the three primary ways that we commonly gain knowledge. None may be trusted.

Since we are physical beings that live in a physical world, we primarily gain knowledge through sensory perception. But our senses can deceive us. A flight simulator will cause me to think that I’m flying a shuttle craft when I’m actually resting in a box. Our senses can be damaged or may not function within normal parameters. In the marketplace, I may see a red tunic and a green tunic together. To me, their color makes one distinct from the other. But the man with color-blindness cannot make that distinction. He sees two tunics of a similar hue. It appears that the redness or greenness is not in the tunic but in our senses, in our minds.

The second way the Vulcan gains knowledge is through extrasensory perception, such as telepathy and psychometry. Additionally, information comes to us through intuition in the form of racial memory or recollection of past lives. The adepts of Seleya say that these abilities are inherent in all of us but that the skills lie dormant because we choose to ignore them. For example, those who do not believe in the existence of the katra do not believe they have past-life recollections. The data extrasensory perception brings us cannot often be confirmed. Thus, need we discard it?

When I first visited Seleya and was shown the guest chamber, I perceived a flash of vision. I saw, as if I had been in that chamber, a woman in childbirth. I turned my eyes away, for I saw her as if I had been delivering her baby. Because I had been disturbed by the vision, I agreed to a mind-meld. The priestess told me that in a past-life I had been a healer, but I could not save my wife or my child. They had died in that chamber. Because my father does not believe the katra exists, he does not believe  that I had a life before this life. Who is right? I choose to believe the priestess’s explanation because, presently, I have no other explanation for the vision.

The third source that we use to gain knowledge is authority. We must consider large amounts of knowledge from leaders, teachers, parents, and experts without being able to verify their statements. As a child, I bowed to the authority of my parents when they said, “Don’t jump from the cliff or you will fall to your death. You are not a bird. You cannot fly.” My youthful energy made me feel that I could fly, but I had never seen a Vulcan fly. I could not test my parents’ knowledge. The risk to myself was too great. If I had argued and demanded proof, I could have thrown my sehlat off the cliff and observed what happened to it, but I reasoned that if my parents were correct, my sehlat, which was not a bird, would have died. I cared what happened to my pet, so I didn’t throw him off. Instead, I hurled a sash-savas. When its hard shell hit the rocks below, it split open and splattered juice everywhere. I noticed the similarity between the fruit and my skull.

Because knowledge from authority is secondary, outside of our personal experience, we must use caution toward believing that a statement is true. If we possess the skill and equipment to verify a statement, we should do so, but often we cannot. We are left to consider statements from other authorities, experts, who have the skill and equipment. Therefore, how can we know if these experts speak the truth? We cannot. We cannot know because in our current state as Vulcans, the truth is unknowable to us. I shall examine this observation presently. But for those phenomena that are knowable, we must consider them with logic, with analytical thinking. Deduction, known to mathematicians, can help if our premises are correct. For example, if I begin with the premise that all sehlats are black, and my neighbor has a new sehlat, then I will deduce that his sehlat is black. But when I visit my neighbor and see that his new sehlat is white, I must conclude that my primary premise — all sehlats are black — is false. I must change my thinking based on my experience. Every day, we must live by what truth we can discover, but tomorrow we must be prepared to declare it false.

Thoughts

For our survival, it is important that we have knowledge of a physical truth. I know that if I jump off a high cliff, I will die. I understand the impact of the physical world on my body. But does knowing that sehlats may be black or white, that they hunt valits, or that they mate for life help me understand the sehlat? These facts help me to increase my knowledge of sehlats, but to understand the sehlat, I must ask, “What makes a sehlat a sehlat?” Or, “What makes a Vulcan a Vulcan?”

No learning is ever wasted. Wide experience increases wisdom, provided the experience is not sought purely for the stimulation of sensation. Our senses can deceive us and the knowledge they bring us is limited. We create machines to extend their limits, but these machines can also be deceived. To know the ultimate truth, we must transcend knowledge, go beyond surfaces that our senses detect, to understand without knowing. By not seeking, we find. For the Vulcan species to survive, this is the discipline we must master.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

Intellect without discipline is empty – devoid of wisdom. The calm mind is the one that truly knows.    [The way of kolinahr: The Vulcans. (1998). Culver City, CA: Last Unicorn Games, p. 15.]

No learning is ever wasted.    [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 28.]

Wide experience increases wisdom, provided the experience is not sought purely for the stimulation of sensation.   [Vulcan Language Institute.]

Stories of Mahta and T’Thelaih

Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p. 161-179.

Surak’s orginal post in Traditional Golic Vulcan

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Ken-tor Rik’Faiyan (To Understand without Knowing) music video by T’Prion

Vulcan lyrics available on YouTube.

PART ONE: The Thread of Life

Meditation

Ages past, Vulcans bore the mark of heat, the scar of blowing sand and burning sun. The ground opened to eat us, the wind danced on our crops and leveled our cities. We wept for the pain and we fought–

Although the Vulcan evolved through processes beyond his understanding and control, he carries now the weight of creating Vulcan’s future. He is the cultivator of what is and what will become – the sundweller gliding on the thermals, the sandflower opening to drink the dew, the light in the eyes of a child, the black craters of fused sand in ShanaiKahr.

Like the creatures of the deep desert, we Vulcans are predators. There was a time when the environment shaped us, the way that wind shapes the sand or fire shapes the volcano. Now we shape the wind. Each minute we track the slightest change in its course, its intensity, its radiation levels. We hurl fire across vast distances, burn off less desirable plants in favor of others, melt rock to extract its minerals, trawl the sea until it is without fish. We are the ultimate predator.

But, unlike the le-matya and the shavokh, we perceive that the desert itself is as precious as food or water. Experience has taught us that these things do not easily renew themselves. We can see a time when the water will dry up, and without it, the crops will wither. It’s then that we start to plan – conserve water, abandon feeble crops, fast. But even with the best planning and careful conservation, the sandstorm comes – buries or crushes everything in its path. We look long on our neighbor’s well that is not dry, our neighbor’s crops that the sandstorm has not destroyed. First we exchange words — barter whatever we can spare so that we may feed our children. If we are blessed, our neighbor will regard us with compassion and treat us as guest-friends. If he reasons well, he can see that if the sandstorm had traveled to the south, or that if the snows had not come to the peaks to drip into his well, he would have stood with his hand out.

If we are not blessed to have a compassionate neighbor, he will turn his back on our troubles. Worse, we may take what we feel is rightfully ours. We may believe that because our neighbor is selfish, his punishment must be to watch his children suffer, to die.

But this thinking is not reason. This thinking is fear – fear that without our neighbor’s food and water, we will know pain and death. And where fear walks, anger is its companion. Never touched by the light, hatred grows, fed by the darkness of anger’s shadow – a cancer in the Vulcan heart, an unnatural mutation in the evolution of an enlightened species. Le-matya may fight over the waterhole, but the Vulcan need not. The Vulcan has the capacity for reason. For logic. For understanding.

Before the Vulcan can achieve a level of true understanding, he must first turn to look back at his own tracks in the sand. He must ask – how did I come to this place? If he casts his mind’s eye back far enough, he will see the first epoch of his relationship with the natural world. Like a parent, Nature both nourished and punished him. The Vulcan stood helpless before the storm, the drought, the sand-fire, the solar flare. Like the child, he could not understand the hand, which gave him life and pleasure one moment and slapped him with pain and death the next. He learned that if he ventured out into the midday sun, a demon would eat his soul. Yet he saw that the sun was necessary for life on Vulcan, for nothing grew in the dark places, in the lava tubes beneath the sands, or in the deepest depths of the sea. The Vulcan mind created a pantheon, each god in possession of a dual nature, so that he could conceive the inconceivable forces that filled the world and his life. The Vulcan worked to appease these forces and earn their approval, their compassion.

During the second epoch, the Vulcan learned the language of mathematics and found that Nature spoke this language. In this great conversation, reason was born while scientific study and experimentation advanced. Nature yielded many secrets to the Vulcan mind. Logic became the cement of our civilization. We ascended from chaos using reason as our guide. Although there was much growth in understanding Nature and we avoided unnecessary pain, after a millennium, chaos now prevails again. We perceive through reason, but we do not yet understand.

A third epoch is beginning. We no longer fear Nature because we understand its forces and its ways. We no longer need to struggle for a living in frustration and pain. We can look back and see our evolution and that we are part of the natural world. If we no longer fear Nature and we are part of Nature, then it is illogical to fear one another. If fear is controlled, what evolves to take its place is compassion.

Thoughts

History has shown that times of great strife are times for advancement and for new ideas, for growth. Experience tells us that the sandstorm does not last forever and that calm follows the storm. Unlike the le-matya, the Vulcan has the capacity to understand the temporary nature of the storm. Nature cannot sustain extreme forces but always strives for balance. If we are part of Nature, how can we sustain the extreme forces of war?

Rather than divide us, the storm must bring us together. If the storm has destroyed my neighbor’s house, my neighbor’s crops, I must open my gates to him as guest-friend – even if my house is half-destroyed – and offer him fire and water. If I do not have enough food to feed my family and his, I must ask mine to do with less for a time so that I may feed his. I must not let pride prevent me from calling for the help of neighbors, to ask that they might spare a bowl of soup, cup of water, or a blanket. If my neighbor has lost his bondmate and has faded into hopelessness, I must hear his weeping. I must reach out to him and show him the sunset, remind him that cool night follows the fire of the day. I must walk the pilgrim road to the mountain of hope with him and deliver him home again.

Many have argued that these ideals are too great a weight for one to bear, too great a sacrifice of time and resources. The burden may be great for one, but with the hands of family, neighbors, and community, the burden becomes light.

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Sources of Surakian Quotes

Ages past, Vulcans bore the mark of heat, the scar of blowing sand and burning sun. The ground opened to eat us, the wind danced on our crops and leveled our cities. We wept for the pain and we fought–    [Bear, G. , (1984). Corona. New York: Pocket Books, p. 152]

Like the creatures of the deep desert, we Vulcans are predators. But, unlike the le-matya and the shavokh, we perceive that the desert itself is as precious as food or water.     [Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Vulcan’s soul, book one: Exodus. New York: Pocket Books, p. 47]

Logic became the cement of our civilization. We ascended from chaos using reason as our guide.     [The way of kolinahr: The Vulcans. (1998). Culver City, CA: Last Unicorn Games, p. 15]

 

Surak’s original post in Traditonal Golic Vulcan

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I’Kushizhau Etek Salan (Now We Shape the Wind) music video by T’Prion

Lyrics in Vulcan

Lyrics in Federation Standard English (FSE)