In the second episode of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko encounters a race of noncorporeal beings who inhabit a stable wormhole leading between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants. The noncorporeal beings do not understand the concept of time; and Sisko tries to explain to them that humans experience life in a "linear existence." He explains that once an experience is finished, it becomes part of the past and that humans use past experiences to prepare them for future experiences.
The beings, who will come to be known as the Prophets by the Bajorans living on the planet nearby, appear to him in the form of people from his life; and he explains things to them as they revisit memories from his life. One memory is visited repeatedly: the crisis on a ship at a battle with the Borg at which his wife, Jennifer, was killed. The Prophets ask, "Why do you exist here?" In later visits to the memory, this is a statement: "You exist here."
As Sisko comes to terms with the effect of this event on his life, he realizes that he never moved beyond the experience emotionally. One of the Prophets says, "Nothing in your past prepared you for this experience. ... It is not linear."
Sisko's encounter with the Prophets has a powerful impact on his life. He learns that he must choose to move on to the rest of his life, that he must choose a linear existence even when he is not prepared for it. The encounter also serves as a point of understanding that allows him to build relationship with the Prophets.
Like Sisko, we all expect to live a linear existence. We use experiences from our past to make choices about how to live in the future. But sometimes we experience things for which nothing in our past has prepared us.
How do you cope in these times? I choose my faith. God is not linear. That is something that comforts me.
No comments:
Post a Comment