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Life Is Like a Garden
“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.” Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)
Mr. Spock, aka Leonard Nimoy, beamed up for the last time on February 27, 2015. Spock was a fictional Vulcan, a race known for its cold logic and eradication of all emotion. More accurately, Spock was half-Vulcan; his mother was human. This created tension between logic and emotion through which the Star Trek franchise writers explored the nuances of human thought and action.
Nimoy is being eulogized as a cultural icon. He once said he was drawn to acting by the exploration of "psychological, emotional, and physical territories of life that can't be done anywhere else" (Wikipedia). I find all this philosophical brow-furrowing, for lack of a better term, “fascinating.”
Why do we feel that a fictional TV character is worthy of deepest analysis, yea even emulation, in the search for what is truly “human”? I must admit that certain aspects of the Spock character appealed to me, for he was always able to cut through the emotional noise and expose the real issue. I wish I had more of an ability to do that.
However, is it not true that God’s word holds the key to truly understanding all things human – and divine? It is Scripture that is a mirror which reflects our true selves (Jas 1:21-25). Scripture is a sword that penetrates and exposes the depths of our souls (Heb 4:12-13). Finding deep inspiration through humanistic, fictional writers is akin to eating junk food: It is convenient; it tastes good; it gives a temporary “sugar high.” But it doesn’t really nourish our inner man as God’s revelation does.
A note about Nimoy’s final tweet quoted above: The thought would fit rather well in Ecclesiastes. There is a tinge of sadness and a lot of truth in his observation if we consider it as a comment on “life under the sun.” Earthly life has wonderful moments of beauty, but “all flesh is as grass … the grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pet 1:24-25). And those who come to know God through His word will live forever. You won’t discover that truth in Vulcan philosophy.
