watching Star Trek made me realise that preordained destiny is not restricted to a niche belief. as much as humans are divided into two schools of thought: one that hates feeling that life is a product of destiny and out of our control; and the second that can’t accept that there is no meaning and sense to life – do we all drift in a sea of abstract chaos? Star Trek talks (albiet vaguely) about two ideas: that the future is preordained in our own time conundrum; and that an alternate universe exists where life can potentially be mirroring that of our own – and time is just a construct, but one that has a supreme significance to our life and future. Time in that sense is a part of fate or destiny.

So in our meaningless/ful existential world, are we merely biding time until our future plays itself out for us? Apparently not – even in preodained-ness, there is a sense of control – a fighting spirit to either fix, change or correct the chain of events that brings us to the most acceptable future – and like any other rom-com or hindi flick, live happily ever after. But that is not real life. Real life exists in a complex fragmentation of self-doubts, misgivings, trials and minor triumphs – the latter giving one the will to move on. Ironically, without the ability to see into the future, one really doesn’t know what it is that we are moving on towards. Are we running away from our selves, or towards finding our selves? And even if it is either – that still brings us to the biggest problem facing humanity right now – the importance of the self.

If we take a movie like star trek to understand that we are but miniscule and largely insignificant players in the bigger picture – think how small each of us would look when viewed from another planet or galaxy – we begin to question the importance we give to our self. Every task we do, every decision we make in life, can eventually be traced right back to ourselves. Even if we do something for others – it is to make ourselves feel better. It’s like what Pheobe tried to do in an episode in Friends – and failed miserably – in finding the one unselfish act that would not amount to being self-serving. If we let ourselves become bigger – in our eyes – than the great populace, than say the planet or the human race; it can and will lead to no good. If we mean nothing, and are nothing by ourselves — and we exist based on the strength of the entire race, then maybe its time to start thinking about the bigger picture.

Tomorrow, if we had to make a decision to save ourselves or tons of other people – what would we choose? Captain Kirk (and his kind) are merely poster children of an extinct species.