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step into oblivion in order to have a hope of coming
out ok on the other side. Ordinary drama is
protagonists discovering better ways to blow each
other up or chop each other's heads off; Star Trek
drama is the protagonists discovering in themselves
the boldness to pass up the meek but deadly path for
the risky but rewarding path.
        Way of Harmony: This is the translation of
*Aikido,* the name of the Japanese martial art. Aikido
is unique in that it teaches no offensive moves. In
its perspective, conflict is not viewed in terms of
attack and defense, victory and defeat, but in terms
of balance and imbalance. A person who reaches out to
another with intent to harm throws himself off balance
and always opens up a vulnerable spot in his posture.
Aikido teaches that a clever and well-prepared person
who is dedicated to nonviolence can always exploit
that weak spot to deflect the attack and neutralize
the attacker. In Aikido, this is seen as doing the
attacker a favor; the Aikido master blends in with the
attack, comes into harmony with its energy, and by
neutralizing the attacker restores his balance.
Relative size and strength are of no importance;
disadvantage and advantage are yin and yang also, and
one can be turned into another with the flip of a
wrist if one has one's balance.
        This of course is the final revelation of the
episode "Gambit;" the ancient Vulcan weapon is useless
against those who take a nonviolent posture. It was
also the secret to survival in "Arena" and "Spectre of
the Gun." Time after time Kirk rejects the logic of
trading a few lives for many in favor of a more bold
option which restores balance and saves all lives. In
"Patterns of Force," Kirk gets word that Ekos has
launched its final assault force against Zeon. Abram
pleads with him to destroy the invaders, which is
easily in Kirk's power, saying what is a few thousand
soldiers' lives compared to the millions of innocents
to be slaughtered. Kirk says, "Yes, we can save Zeon.
But who will save Ekos?"
        Sisko also illustrates the point through his
actions in "Armageddon Game." He's facing destruction
in a virtually defenseless runabout from an alien ship
that is far stronger and faster. He devises an escape
that *exploits a weakness inherent in the aggressive
move of his opponent.* The jamming field the aliens
send out jam their own sensors, and Sisko takes
advantage of that technological blind spot. Equally
importantly, he exploits a psychological blind spot by
feeding the aliens' expectation of conflict. An
attacker whose mind is set on violence loses his
mental sharpness and falls into an expectation of
responses from his victim as simple minded as his own.
The idea of nonviolence is intended to keep Starfleet
officers from falling into that trap, not to shackle
them into a noble but naive idealism (as nonviolence
is often represented).
        Personal Truth. This is likely the trickiest point
to get across, but may bear the most fruit. In "The
First Duty," Picard says that an officer's first duty
is to the truth; scientific truth, historical truth,
personal truth. In "The Drumhead," he says, "With the
first link, a chain is forged. The first speech
censored, the first thought forbidden, the first
freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." When I
first saw that episode, I was surprised to hear him
defend free speech and individual freedom so
absolutely. Most people today wouldn't go so far.
        Later I realized that he was expressing the gnostic
viewpoint. "Gnostic" is a term used to describe a
variety of religious sects and beliefs from ancient
Egypt through the Middle Ages. But I mean it to
describe a world view shared by all these groups; in
this world view, truth, knowledge, and experience are
unreserved virtues. They are the key to individual
enlightenment. For a gnostic, the individual's highest
allegiance is to the truth, and he has the moral right
and duty to oppose authority in defense of it. In a
gnostic society (and there were many large gnostic
communities in Europe in the first centuries A.D.) the
role of the state is to protect and facilitate the
individual's quest for the truth, for it is believed
that only the individual (not governments or
churches), free to to enquire and experience what he
wills, can establish truth.
        The opposite of this view might be called the
"authoritarian" viewpoint. An authoritarian, by
contrast, believes that the individual's first
allegiance is to the state, and a small group of
experts has the right to decide what is right and
restrict access to knowledge of everything else. The
Catholic Church is an example of an authoritarian
organization, and Martin Luther a gnostic opponent of
it.
        Gnostic undercurrents have survived to the present
day to influence western civilization, and have given
western society (which is, like all civilizations,
primarily authoritarian) much of its unique character.
Trial by jury is a completely gnostic idea, with its
assumption that only a collection of free individuals
exposed to all sides of an argument can be trusted to
come up with reliable conclusions. Universities and
the practice of awarding tenure are products of
gnostic thinking, as was the U.S. Constitution and its
guarantees of free speech, press, and religion.
        What does this have to do with Star Trek? Well,
dedication to truth is an essential theme of Star
Trek, but in order to really understand how that works
dramatically it's important to understand how
dedication to truth can be an expression of a
community as well as of individual ethics, and a means
of people communicating their commitment to each other
and their culture. And it's important to understand
that this is not a fantasy, but a depiction of a
latent subculture of hope and dignity that exists in
human society. Picard's statements, and a great many
other things, go from confusing to consistent if you
assume that somewhere between our time and that of
Star Trek, some kind of drastic and marvelous social
revolution has transformed world society from
authoritarian with gnostic undercurrents to the
opposite. Perhaps this revolution arose out of the
century of regional nuclear conflict and social chaos
that Star Trek's history of the future predicts for
the next hundred years, just as the gnostic-influenced
Age of Reason arose out of centuries of Black Plague
in Europe in the 16th Century.
        Many of the differences between our society and
what we see of the 24th century make sense if we
presuppose this new Age. Starfleet is obviously an
authoritarian organization, but it is dedicated to
upholding gnostic values; truth, scientific knowledge,
and personal excellence. Obviously it is a new brand
of military organization, of the kind we'd assume
would be dreamed up by gnostic leaders. Star Trek is
often accused of being too "PC," but political
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 * OLX 2.1 TD * "It never happened!" - Yar
--- Maximus/2 3.01
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