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[T'Mihn Ah'mygahn]

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.1
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.2 For example, as a child I was taught that stealing was 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 are?

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.3 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.4 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.5 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 telling 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.6 People make their own futures.7

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Sources
1The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans. (1998). Culver City, CA: Last Unicorn Games, p. 15.
2Bonanno, M. W. (1985). Dwellers in the crucible. New York: Pocket Books, p. 37.
3Duane, D. (1988). Spock’s world. New York: Pocket Books, p.252.
4ibid.
5ibid.
6Lorrah, J. (1984). The Vulcan academy murders. New York: Pocket Books, p.74.
7Sherman, J. & Shwartz, S. (2004). Exodus. (Vulcan’s soul, bk. 1). New York: Pocket Books, p. 41.