a lot of my autism masking is just making myself more palatable for other people and my therapist said “does spock make himself ‘more palatable’ for others?” and had me promise to keep unmasking like:
“never kill yourself” is such a funny phrase to me that i think it’s accidently started working. its like an affrimation. say ‘never kill yourself’ enough times as a joke and maybe you won’t try to kill yourself over minor inconviences anymore
I like the combination of it with the Litany Against Fear
“You must not kill yourself. Killing yourself is the yourself killer.”
A long time ago, in the Age of Physical, software would be stored on beautiful mirrored discs, and inside each disc a tiny wizard lived who would install the software for you.
puttering around the house is an underrated form a self-care. make some tea or coffee. put on a podcast. sort the mail. tidy some pillows and fold some blankets. start the laundry. thaw some soup. just casually wander around aimlessly doing little things to make your space and life a little nicer. who cares if you get distracted or only do a little. you aren’t being productive. you’re puttering.
star trek explores these strange seemingly inconsequential extremes because it wants you to consider the possibility that your concept of ethics doesnt and could never possibly account for every scenario. It wants you to consider the ethical ramifications of just wiping out the little nanites taking over your ships computer even though eventually this will kill you all becuase
-What if they’re alive?
-What if they’re sentient?
-What if they don’t realize they’re hurting us?
-What if what hurts us is what they need to live?
-What if we can communicate with them?
Star Trek takes the situation of, “these computer bugs are eating our ship and in an hour we’ll all be dead and we COULD just wipe them out utterly but…what if they’re like us?” because the ramifications effect what risks we ourselves are willing to take in the name of pacifism and understanding. it says that even the smallest most immenently dangerous creature deserves as much of a chance to live peacefully as we can possibly give it through understanding.
without examining ourselves this way, through these made up seemingly inane situations, we will never be able to understand ourselves and what we’re truly capable of, what levels of understanding can be achieved. without the ability to place ourselves in a difficult situation and reach beyond our first instinct of fight or flight and self-preservation, we will never be evolve as a global community
this is unequivocally true. the rabbi at my childhood temple made it a point to bring a Star Trek scenario into every single d'var, and there was always something relevant!
but have you ever even heard of the fynbos biome ?!!?!?!?!
a biome so unique in south africa that it’s earned an entirely new biome classification for itself. so many plants are endemic to this area, and ofc it’s under threat of extinction.
It’s a wonderful place! I had the privilege of visiting the fynbos last year and it was as amazing as these photos show and more!
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