The importance of Data
I was thinking about why it is I think the way I think, like what exactly are my primary motivations for aspiring to live by my virtues. And I came up with this partial answer: Data. Lt. Commander Data, Science Officer of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D. Hear me out.
I live my life with as much emotion as possible. I allow myself to feel and feel deeply, because I believe that is embracing life, and living life fully, and experiencing, being "close" to God. Because I now flex that muscle, I am strong. Because I embrace my emotions and my desire to laugh and especially my desire to cry, my emotional muscle strength can keep me in control when emotions like anger and fear come up. Because I feel and because I laugh and cry, anger and fear no longer control me - I control them. I am now stronger than them. I now have the whip and chair. And my animal will no longer overpower my human reason and my ability to stay in control and analyze and find the best solution to any situation, any problem, any crisis in life (an attribute I would also consider a characteristic of being "close to God").
And part of my inspiration to live that way and part of the reason why I believe living with emotion brings me closer to God is Data. Data's character was written to be "the next logical progression" of being Vulcan - Mr. Spock from the Original Series, to be specific. Spock was the ultimate "voice of reason", perhaps the most famous in the history of television. So the writers had to kick it up a notch for the new show, and they came up with an android: a humanoid computer to A) show the progress humankind has made over the years since the Original Series took place (23rd vs. 24th centuries), and B) to go beyond Vulcans who merely suppress their emotions to use logic - Data will be pure logic. Nothing but 1's and 0's. Immutable, mathematical logic. And nothing but logic.
And what did Data's pure logic "reason" him to conclude: he wanted to be human. He wanted emotions. His reason and ability to compute far beyond those of humans or Vulcans lead him time and again to desire to feel. Because feelings are logical. They are the higher achievement to which humans have evolved. They are the evidence that we are "closer to Truth". And not the fear and anger that animals use to help them survive, the human emotions: love, sadness, hope, mourning, passion, pride, courage. The values we put on life and the loss thereof. To quote Dead Poets Society: "poetry, beauty, romance, love;" the things "we stay alive for."
What Data shows us is that Vulcanism in an inferior, immature philosophy (in the "search for logic" sense). Vulcans espouse logic devoid of emotion as the path to Truth, when in fact they lack Truth, they are farther away from God than humans, because we feel. We allow ourselves to experience emotions. They are one of the two paths by which we touch God. Vulcans threw away the emotional path to God thinking that they reach Truth via the logical path alone, when the truth is we must take both paths simultaneously. Data, being of pure mathematical reason, comes closer to God than they, and by virtue of the inherent wisdom of being closer to Truth because of his design, Data can "look back" down that path and see so clearly that the path of emotional Truth has a richness he lacks. His life in incomplete. In fact, the path of purest logic, on which Data was explicitly built to walk, can only go so far, can only bring us so close to Truth without emotion, because logical reason and emotional reason only meet AT God. Our emotions, our weakness as "higher logic" Vulcans believe, are the logical conclusion of a being of pure logic. His dearest goal in life to have those emotions, to be human, and thus to live as "close to Truth" as possible.
And if Data, that being of pure logic, concludes that emotions are logical and necessary towards a life "close to God", then I am certainly going to drink in every flavor of every emotion available, because in doing so, quite simply, I "be", I "live", I revel IN God. And choosing to live that way is the most logical decision I can make in my life.
I live my life with as much emotion as possible. I allow myself to feel and feel deeply, because I believe that is embracing life, and living life fully, and experiencing, being "close" to God. Because I now flex that muscle, I am strong. Because I embrace my emotions and my desire to laugh and especially my desire to cry, my emotional muscle strength can keep me in control when emotions like anger and fear come up. Because I feel and because I laugh and cry, anger and fear no longer control me - I control them. I am now stronger than them. I now have the whip and chair. And my animal will no longer overpower my human reason and my ability to stay in control and analyze and find the best solution to any situation, any problem, any crisis in life (an attribute I would also consider a characteristic of being "close to God").
And part of my inspiration to live that way and part of the reason why I believe living with emotion brings me closer to God is Data. Data's character was written to be "the next logical progression" of being Vulcan - Mr. Spock from the Original Series, to be specific. Spock was the ultimate "voice of reason", perhaps the most famous in the history of television. So the writers had to kick it up a notch for the new show, and they came up with an android: a humanoid computer to A) show the progress humankind has made over the years since the Original Series took place (23rd vs. 24th centuries), and B) to go beyond Vulcans who merely suppress their emotions to use logic - Data will be pure logic. Nothing but 1's and 0's. Immutable, mathematical logic. And nothing but logic.
And what did Data's pure logic "reason" him to conclude: he wanted to be human. He wanted emotions. His reason and ability to compute far beyond those of humans or Vulcans lead him time and again to desire to feel. Because feelings are logical. They are the higher achievement to which humans have evolved. They are the evidence that we are "closer to Truth". And not the fear and anger that animals use to help them survive, the human emotions: love, sadness, hope, mourning, passion, pride, courage. The values we put on life and the loss thereof. To quote Dead Poets Society: "poetry, beauty, romance, love;" the things "we stay alive for."
What Data shows us is that Vulcanism in an inferior, immature philosophy (in the "search for logic" sense). Vulcans espouse logic devoid of emotion as the path to Truth, when in fact they lack Truth, they are farther away from God than humans, because we feel. We allow ourselves to experience emotions. They are one of the two paths by which we touch God. Vulcans threw away the emotional path to God thinking that they reach Truth via the logical path alone, when the truth is we must take both paths simultaneously. Data, being of pure mathematical reason, comes closer to God than they, and by virtue of the inherent wisdom of being closer to Truth because of his design, Data can "look back" down that path and see so clearly that the path of emotional Truth has a richness he lacks. His life in incomplete. In fact, the path of purest logic, on which Data was explicitly built to walk, can only go so far, can only bring us so close to Truth without emotion, because logical reason and emotional reason only meet AT God. Our emotions, our weakness as "higher logic" Vulcans believe, are the logical conclusion of a being of pure logic. His dearest goal in life to have those emotions, to be human, and thus to live as "close to Truth" as possible.
And if Data, that being of pure logic, concludes that emotions are logical and necessary towards a life "close to God", then I am certainly going to drink in every flavor of every emotion available, because in doing so, quite simply, I "be", I "live", I revel IN God. And choosing to live that way is the most logical decision I can make in my life.
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