Sometimes I wish I could be Vulcan. Then I’d have control over emotions that have no logical basis. I still seem to be able to weigh the pros and cons of a particular situation and make what seems to be the wisest choice even if it isn’t the choice I emotionally want. So far so good. But I can’t stop FEELING. If the logical conclusion is one that makes me sad or scared I can’t make the sad and scared go away. Not even if logically there is no reason for feeling that way.
25 thoughts on “Vulcan-ism”
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If you’re capable of making logical decisions in spite of your emotions, you’ve mastered the first step.
Seriously, though, I think we all go through that feeling sometimes, where we know that our emotions are unwanted. I think we’ve all made a good decision at some point that we’ve felt bad about.
I’m sorry to say, having the residual emotions just makes you human… but that’s the way we like you.
Vulcans are sexy…
Vulcans are sexy. Rowr!
Running away now…
I am running away now. ———–> (me.)
Re: Running away now…
Howard groks Spock?
People don’t stop feeling. You don’t want to stop feeling, because it moves you farther away from being a person. Sort of like the killers you always read about in fiction: the first murder is tough, and then they start getting easier, until you don’t feel emotional about it any mroe. Not a good thing.
Zen, as a practical application, is the act of considering all sides of a situation or problem, deciding what the best option is, and carrying it out; then, quit worrying about it, because it’s done. There’s a good example story about two monks and a woman unable to cross a patch of water. Maybe studying Zen would help you feel more in control when you make “logical” vs. “emotional” decisions.
Howard Groks Spock?
If by “grok” you mean “understand” in the traditional, non-biblical sense, then the answer is yes.
If by “grok” you mean “finds slender-yet-athletic females of his kind to be sexy” then the answer is also yes.
If you’re insinuating something about me and Leonard Nimoy, I’ve gotch’er “grok” right here, pal.
Eh. Just do what I do. Stuff the emotions in a bottle until you don’t need to be emotionless anymore. Then find a quiet, secluded, weapons-free place, maybe with padded walls or a nice bed, and uncork the bottle.
–Howard
Once the decision is irrevocable I find it easy to not second guess. But the anticipation of irrevocability is hard.
Yes. I’ve learned that skill from you. But don’t forget, when I DO uncork the bottle, you’re likely to be the sole witness.
Emotions are, by definition, not logical. You don’t need a logical reason to feel sad or scared.
There seems to be a current societal trend to believe that sadness, fear, anger etc. are inherently bad. Any time you’ve had a bad day, or something bad happened to you, “Oh, you’re depressed, here, take these drugs.” The antidepressant pushers want us all to go through our lives in a sort of state of glazed, smiling Stepford blandness. It’s normal to feel bad when bad stuff happens, and frankly, anyone who doesn’t worries me a hell of a lot more than someone who has normal emotional reactions to things that happen around them. Someone who never feels fear or sadness is, frankly, either living in some kind of utopian Shangri-La or is mentally unbalanced (and I’m not at all sure that, even if they existed, utopias would be healthy).
There’s this leftist delusion that any “negative” emotional state, whatever the reason, is somehow bad and unhealthy. And granted, inappropriate negative emotional states can be unhealthy. But there’s nothing wrong with being in a “negative” emotional state for a sound and valid reason. Emotions are a normal and natural part of life. They’re part of how we function, and intentionally disconnecting them is one of the most remarkably stupid ideas we’ve ever come up with. I’ve seen too many people with these glassy-eyed, brittle smiles that you just know are not fully in contact with the reality of the world they’re living in.
You’ve said you can make rational decisions and wise choices in spite of how you may be feeling about the matter at hand; this doesn’t sound to me like you have anything to worry about.
All very good thoughts. And a very interesting observation on society, I think you’re right about it.
In my case, I know the feelings are normal. I know that they are what makes me human. I know that eliminating them would be a bad idea.
But they hurt and I don’t like them and they aren’t convenient. There’s another thing our society is big on. convenience.
Fortunately Howard gave me this handy little bottle. I’m feeling much better now. 😉
*nod*
Unfortunately, I don’t think our convenience was included as a requirement in the design specification for the Universe. 🙂
I thought you sublimated your baser emotions through writing about interplanetary mercenaries who travel the galaxy, meet interesting life forms, and kill them.
I suspect second thoughts are one of the things that truly divide us from animals.
*hug*
Re: Running away now…
Don’t tell me you’ve been ogling T’Pol again. Or have you been ogling T’Pau? 😀
Lass… Vulcans don’t stop feeling either – they never have. If the Original Series did not teach you this, then let the heathen creations that are Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise do it for you – Vulcans have emotion still. The only, only difference is that they’re taught to control it, to try and keep it in control and to avoid letting it master them. The emotions exist beneath everything else, but they’re not necessarily what they act on, until they hit Pon Farr – well, at least until the men hit it anyways.
In other words, you’re sounding quite Vulcan to me at this moment, and I’m sure Howard appreciates being bonded to T’Sandra. 😀
*runs from the retribution for awful puns or voicing an opinion on Star Trek series*
I’ve been waiting for someone to be geek enough to bring that up. 😉
I’m just geek enough to know it as well. But I couldn’t find a better analogy for what I felt.
I’ve already told Howard I ain’t doing surgury for pointy ears.
Rowyn, you have repeatedly managed to respond in exactly the right way to make me feel better when I have a downish entry. Thanks.
Obviously the universe needs to be recalled and made better. 😉
Just put on the silver catsuit and you’ll be fine. 😉 Hell, even Spock and Tuvok mellowed out later in life, and we all know what T’Pol’s doing now…
If you’re not doing surgery, I guess giving Chalain or someone else the Vulcan Executioner’s Mask is out? 😀
*beam*
You’re quite welcome. (Your reply made my morning!) 🙂
Um… WHAT is T’Pol doing now? We haven’t been keeping up.
According to reviews and synopses, over the last season she managed to get herself hooked on a drug that lets her emotions loose and now she’s got brain damage which has permanently killed her Vulcan suppression/control of them. Now she’s got to deal with them the way humans do – by not letting them control her, but they’re pretty bad on the science side, as you’ve probably guessed. SHe’s just lost control of them, period.
Oh, and she’s slept with Trip, IIRC. Or was it Tucker? I can’t remember anymore.
In other words, she’s gone from being a Vulcan to being a standard Sci-Fi eyecandy with pointed ears and the baggage that goes with being physically Vulcan. At least with Seven of Nine, they had an excuse – she was not an individual till Janeaway kidnapped her and made her human again, and then forced her to deal with her emotions without retreating into the Borg shell just because she was now not only missing the hardware for it, but had to cope with life as a human… including human drives and emotions.
T’Pol, on the other hand, was Vulcan all her life. Now they’ve gone and decided she should discover what it’s like to be human, after giving her a drug addiction and then saying ‘You’re no longer able to control your emotions like a Vulcan, because Vulcans don’t have them. You’re human now, so cope’. That and ‘you have to sleep with a character’. Hell, at least they left Seven her dignity, even when she was playing with her Holodeck programs. 😛