For any of you Star Trek fans out there, you will undoubtedly agree that the writers for all of the different Star Trek television shows as well as the movies had their thumb as much on the pulse of humanity as they did on the joys of science fiction.
The trials and tribulations of the many different characters in the Star Trek universe certainly had the space-faring, phaser-blasting aspects that people enjoyed, but they also kept the general “message” of many of the shows and movies to be one that either acknowledged or taught about some aspect of simply being human.
In one such episode from the Star Trek Voyager series, Captain Janeway and the crew have a run in with the all-powerful beings from the “Q” continuum.
For you non-fans, the “Q” as they call themselves are a race of beings that have unlimited power to do literally everything and anything that they can imagine.
Readers of this blog, my articles1, or any of the products2 that I have put out there will recognize that same theme as something that I encourage every “mere human” here on planet earth to believe – that their power is limited only by their imagination.
In this one particular episode – and there is a point here, so stay with me – there are two “Q’s” that visit the crew of Voyager. One of them the famous Q played by John de Lancie, and another Q who has decided that he wants to “end it all” and commit suicide.
The members of the “Q” continuum are as well known for their arrogance as they are for their unlimited powers, so the notion that one of their number would want to die is simply beyond their understanding.
So enters Captain Janeway and the crew to act as moderators to this dispute between the two Q’s. Since the Voyager crew are “mere humans”, they play the part of the impartial observers who are charged with making a decision about whether or not the wish of an omnipotent being to end his life should be granted.
Since our human crew on Voyager have no idea what it is like to be all-powerful, the Q played by John de Lancie decides to take a handful of them to the Q continuum itself so that they can see what it is like to be all-powerful, and thereby showing that the idea of giving up all of that power and committing suicide is ludicrous.
At the time of the original airing of the episode many years ago, Star Trek fans around the world waited with baited breath for the next commercial break to be over so that they could see what it looks like to be all-powerful!
So it was that when the next scene materialized (sorry – Star Trek humor!) many people were confused to see the two Q’s, Captain Janeway and the rest of the gang to be standing in a place as non-remarkable as someone could possibly imagine.
They were standing on the side of a long and desolate road in the middle of the desert, with the road stretching off for what looked like eternity in either direction. Directly across from them was an old gas station, a few people sitting around looking very bored and very non-committal, and even an old dog who seemed to share the apathy of the humans at the gas station.
Janeway and the crew are a bit confused as this scene is boring at best, and hardly seems what they had expected from the realm of a species of beings who literally hold power over time and space itself.
Q goes on to explain that this scene was the easiest way to envision the life of a “Q”, where the entire universe is your playground. That you can go anywhere and do anything – represented by the road stretching off in both directions – or you can stay in one spot and play with your power to have, do, or be anything that you can imagine.
The Q who wants to commit suicide goes on to explain that he has done everything that there is to do. He has seen what is at the end of the road in both directions, he has been each of the individuals at the gas station, he’s been the building itself, and, he has even been the dog!
The other Q, who doesn’t believe that suicide should be allowed, says with disgust, “Everybody’s been the dog”!
The moral to this little trip down Star Trek memory lane is that you – mere human who is just this side of enlightenment – have NOT been the dog. In fact, you haven’t been any of the other people, you haven’t been the building or the gas pump, and you most certainly haven’t traveled to the ends of both stretches of that long road in the middle of the desert.
Truth be told you probably haven’t even fully experienced who you are!
However, here is the moral to all of this (and thank you for the non-S/T fans who made it this far):
You CAN be the dog. Or the road. Or the building. Or the desert. Or the gas pump. Or the…. INSERT WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE, DO, OR BE HERE.
You ARE a “Q”, and your time here on planet earth is simply a choice that you made to be here. Since you made that choice, the next choice that you can ask yourself is to decide what you are going to do with your time.
Are you going to exercise the power of the universe that is at your fingertips in order to make your life whatever you want it to be, or are you going to just lay there on the sand being the dog, and thinking – quite inappropriately – that your lot in life is to just lay there and be limited by whatever you see around you at any given moment.
Because here is the truth of the matter, my faithful omnipotent reader, the life that you see around you is not what limits you, but rather what you have created.
You are not surrounded by a sea of solid matter that is keeping you restricted to certain rules that will only allow you to have, do, or be certain things.
To the contrary – you are surrounded by a liquid mass of moving energy that you can manipulate in order to create whatever life it is that you want to be living.
Later on down the road, after you have been and done everything – including spending your time as the dog – then maybe it will be time to move on to something else.
Until then…let’s see what’s out there!