1 Path of Surak ______________________________________________________________________________ The Path of Surak The following is a collection of material by James W. Meritt and does NOT represent his final efforts and is not to be taken as canon The Philosophy of Surak 4 Summary of Surak's teachings 7 Intuition 8 Patience 8 Vulcan Specialty Schools 9 T'an sahat 9 .Kalinahr 10 C'thia 10 Meditation 11 Logic 13 Lyras Lecture on Logic 15 Philosophy of Logic 17 Mathematical Logic 18 Motivation 19 Reason 20 Emotion 20 Similarities to Zen 26 Zen 26 What is Zen? (the simple question) 27 What is Zen? (the real question) 27 Satori or enlightenment 27 The misconception of self 28 Beyond illusion 28 Some thoughts on zen and modern physics 29 Quantum physics and intuitive knowledge 30 Inter-dependence: interactions and non-local variables 32 Another dimension in reality 32 Time in physics and instant 33 The universe 35 Modernity: So Dignified, So Disconnected 35 The Problems of Modernity 37 Who is a Modern Buddhist? 37 Six paramitas 43 The Transcendence 44 Mystical Zen Buddhism 49 The Teachings of Mystical Zen Buddhism 50 The Future of Zen Buddhism in the West 58 Monkey in the House of Six Windows 61 On The Use Of Words 67 Applied Yoga 68 Training 71 Language 72 General Semantics 76 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy 78 What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 78 What are the goals of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 78 2 What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 78 What are the goals of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 79 Ellis' Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) 79 Beck's Cognitive/Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 81 What Is Cognitive Therapy? 83 Cognitive Distortions include: 85 Cognitive Restructuring 86 How Cognitive Therapy is Different. 86 How effective is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy? 87 Stoicism 87 Background 88 Principal Ideas 88 General Description 92 Basic Ideas of the Stoics 93 Stoic Philosophy 93 The Major Tenets of Stoicism 94 The Basic Tenets of Stoicism 94 The four essential tenants of Stoic Thought 95 The Stoa 96 Stoic Logic 97 Stoic Physics 97 Stoic Ethics 98 Moral Development 99 The Emotions 100 Preferred and Rejected Indifferents 101 Answers to Objections 104 Stoicism and Christianity 106 An Imaginary Conversation on Ethics Between a Stoic and an Aristotelian 106 Characters 106 Agreements between the Two Views 106 Differences Between the Views 108 External and Bodily Values 109 External and Bodily Disvalues 109 The Value of Life 110 The Emotions 110 Emotions and Judgments 111 Pain 112 Once Again: External and Bodily Things 113 Moral Reasons and Ethical Conservatism 113 Pragmatism 114 Objectivism 115 Humanistic Principles 116 Sayings attributed to Surak of Vulcan 120 Sayings attributed to Spock of Vulcan 121 On Being a Vulcan 121 On Logic 121 On Existence 121 On Death 121 On Killing 122 On the Warrior Mentality 122 On Intelligence 122 On Fear 122 On vegetarians (sort of) 122 On Computers 122 3 On emotion 122 On knowledge 123 On Humans behaviour 123 On Humanoid behaviour 123 On Fascinating 123 On diplomacy 123 On madness 123 On Appreciation 123 On Beauty 124 On Creativity 124 On Wanting 124 Spock’s mental rambling 124 Conclusion 126 A voice out of the darkness spoke softly about improving the mind. This voice was that of Surak, who gained numerous followers over the years. Surak's philosophy was that of peace and disciplining the mind. However, while many people were absorbed in Surak's teachings, others were unwilling to accept this passive approach. The essence of Surak's teaching is in arriving at the truth through logical process. Emotion is illogical, thus making them impure, and deterrent to truth. However, Vulcans are born with the same emotions that afflicted their violent ancestors, but the continual mind conditioning, the t'an s'at, gives them the impassivity sought after by almost all Vulcans. The t'an s'at is an intellectual deconstruction of emotional patterns, a lifelong process that strives for absolute detachment from all emotion. Though not all can arrive at the penultimate pure logical state, the exacting process of mental control gives Vulcans enough to conform to the ideals of Vulcan society. Vulcans of this creed are impervious to greed, deception, anger, and all other vices that still plague the Terran psyche well into the 24th century. Vulcans believe knowledge to be the only defense against unknown dangers, and pursue them with the intellect and logic that makes them some of the finest scholars in the Federation. Their pursuit of knowledge and impassivity of emotion are the driving forces in a Vulcan's life. Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide. ~T'Plana'hath The Philosophy of Surak A movement toward a lasting peace on this planet will not magically appear, nor will its goal be achieved by those who cease reading this now, but it will be achieved, and for those who put forth the effort, there will be a greater reward than we have ever lead ourselves to believe exists. The solution is, simply stated, to keep our passions in check so that they will not cause entropy. Use logic so that you will know what causes entropy and how to stop it. You may say, “That is not simple ” Indeed the trip we must take as a civilized people is not a simple one, but it will be a fulfilling one. It is much like a trek across the desert, where the terrain is inhospitable, the creatures unfriendly, and the journey seemingly endless. But like the sight of the occasional oasis or green edges of the fertile land, the value of what destination is reached is tantamount to any suffering along the way. It is a joy that cannot be taken away from one’s katra. The essential ingredient is that of the abhoration of violence. This is the permissible passion; the one that leads to its mastery. This is not innate in many of us, and must be taught. One does not learn this from another person, or from one’s teacher, but rather from an event one sees that encourages the opening of eyes, and the acceptance of diversity. 4 Once this rebirth occurs, it changes a person for good, and for the good. The planet has never been free of war. We have seen how nations send armed forces to keep peace instead of letting tyrants and terrorists fight amongst themselves, but the end result is the same. War. Fighting war with war is humanity's biggest mistake. We seem to be creatures of great intellect and the ability to learn from our mistakes, and certainly the mistakes of others (if history is taught to every generation), so why, then, do we continue to fight war with more war? The problem is that we are using the word fight . If we fight, so that we do not need to fight, we are still fighting, aren't we? It is an endless cycle that cannot be broken…unless...we don't fight at all. Now there is a novel idea When someone approaches you with hate, give him peace, and there will be no fight. After all, it takes two people to have a fight. If one is unwilling, then the other will not have his way. Their devotion to logical thinking came as a result of near self-extermination in ancient times when the Vulcans were a hostile, warrior race whose lives were ruled by strong passions. Surak, the father of Vulcan logical thought lived during the planet's last great war. After both sides were devastated, Surak met with emissaries from both sides to establish a workable peace. The philosophy of logic eventually prevailed. In the ensuing years since Surak, there has been little to disrupt the peaceful and logical existence of the Vulcans. The sayings, wisdom and teachings of Surak, and those attributed to him after his death, play an extremely important part in Vulcan culture and society. Although all Vulcans do not follow his teachings in the same manner and some have even rejected his teachings, the vast majority of Vulcans revere Surak above all other Vulcans past or present. It is unlikely this will ever change as long as an advanced culture lives on T'Khasi. Recent information has shown that selected items from Surak's teachings, approved by the government, are even taught in Romulan society Surak quietly began to convert those around him to his philosophy of logic and control of emotions. He developed rigorous disciplines. As more and more Vulcans accepted his way, the situation on Vulcan began to change. People discarded their weapons and destructive emotions. One myth is that the Vulcan discards all emotions. This is not true. The emotions remain but under tight control. The key is controlling external display of these emotions. As in all revolutions, groups of Vulcans rose up against Surak's changes. There were many attempts on Surak's life and ultimately he lost his life on a peace mission. Much of the history of this time is a mystery. The point is that Surak, against all odds, succeeded in saving the Vulcan race from its path of self-destruction and forever changed Vulcan society. It is now known that a large group of those who opposed Surak gathered a fleet of spaceships and left Vulcan to find a world of their own. These pilgrims were all thought to have perished while attempting this journey. But some did survive and the Romulans are living proof of this. The Romulans are a living reminder (and embarrassment) of the way many Vulcans were before Surak.