This Side of Paradise – Eden, Heaven and the Challenge of Being Human
August 20th, 2011
In the Original Series episode “This Side of Paradise,” the Enterprise goes to Omicron Ceti III, a planet settled by a colony of humans seeking a simpler life. Here, the landing party encounters spores that, when inhaled, protect their human hosts from the lethal Berthold radiation on the planet, providing them with health, longevity and a new attitude – freedom from all want. The episode demonstrates important ideas about human nature and furthers questions about Biblical ideas of paradise, both Edenic and Heavenly.
This post was inspired by a comment made by Mark Boone on my previous post,“Roddenberry on Heaven and the Afterlife.” You can read that comment here. The scene Mark mentions in his comment occurs in “This Side of Paradise,” after Spock has come under the influence of the spores and has decided to stay on the planet, along with almost the entire ship’s compliment. Spock and Elias Sandoval, the leader of the Omicron colony, are trying to get Kirk to join them.
ELIAS: Captain, why don’t you join us?
KIRK: In your own private paradise.
ELIAS: The spores have made it that.
KIRK: Where did they originate?
SPOCK: It’s impossible to say. They drifted through space until they finally landed here. You see, they actually thrive on Berthold rays. The plants act as a repository for thousands of microscopic spores until they find a human body to inhabit.
ELIAS: In return, they give you complete health and peace of mind.
KIRK: That’s paradise?
ELIAS: We have no need or want, Captain.
SPOCK: It’s a true Eden, Jim. There’s belonging and love.
KIRK: No wants. No needs. We weren’t meant for that. None of us. Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.
ELIAS: We have what we need.
KIRK: Except a challenge.
SPOCK: You don’t understand, Jim, but you’ll come around sooner or later. Join us. Please.
KIRK: I’m going back to the ship.
This need for challenge is presented here in the context of a common theme in Star Trek: humankind’s desire to grow and advance. Note Spock’s reference to Eden. If his assessment is to be taken as correct, then Kirk’s words may be seen as a rejection of the concept of Eden (and, by extension, Heaven) as a human paradise – at least, as it is popularly understood. Star Trek answers this with its own idea of paradise in 23rd Century society. While Roddenberry’s Earthbound utopia may be free of war, disease, poverty and illiteracy, the challenge set before humans is found in the stars. This concept allows the presence of both a kind of paradise and a continued human journey.
As Mark pointed out in his comment, Earth as created could not have been dull and Heaven (or, rather, the New Earth) will almost certainly be an adventure. But the concept of challenge without a struggle against our ills is difficult for our current perspective to encompass. It is against this cognitive dissonance that Roddenberry seemed to constantly battle, living in both hopeful expectation of the achievement of an ideal and in constant appreciation of the struggle it takes to get there.
In this sense, Roddenberry’s imagined future tells us something about the essential necessity for life-affirming challenge to define our humanity. In essence, if we cease to challenge ourselves, to progress or advance in some form, we cease to be human. The film Wal-E is an excellent example of this idea and a picture of the redemptive recovery of our true humanity.
While, at our best, we strive to improve ourselves and to advance as a species, our humanity is a tarnished one and can give rise to the kind of lethargy and contentment with mere existence that both Wal-E and “This Side of Paradise” warn against. It is perhaps for this reason – our ability to lose our own humanity by inches – that some ofStar Trek‘s notable nonhuman/part-alien characters (Spock, Data) are best able to articulate and demonstrate what it means to be human.
In “This Side of Paradise,” freedom from the illusion of the spores (and thereby, freedom from a kind of bondage to them) is reached through the fostering of anger and negative emotions. The too-perfect world of the spores cannot contain the full depth and breadth of human experience and expression. Struggle, anger, dissatisfaction: these are all essential (if unpleasant) elements of the human experience. Without them, this episode postulates, we are merely half-human, too willing to give up against the promise of happiness at the cost of living truly valuable lives.
For Spock, especially, this transition is a difficult one. He gives up a sense of belonging and the chance for romance in order to return to his true self, his chosen path and his ultimate calling. The world of the spores on Omicron Ceti III is an enticing one, but ultimately it is empty. In the same way, it is often difficult for us to abandon the things that attract us, but which pull us away from Christ. As Jesus says in the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel,
“If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily,and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?” (NET)
Faith itself is its own adventure – its own challenge with its own sacrifices and struggles. And, though we tend to see struggle in a negative light, it is an essential element of a true, deeply engaged humanity. In that sense, the notion that either Heaven or Eden is a paradise that presents no challenges or opportunities for advancement is not in harmony with the Biblical concept of a restored, redeemed humanity.
In the fullness of restoration, our humanity will not be abolished like that of the inhabitants of Omicron Ceti III. Instead, it will be brought to its truest, most robust expression. Though we will no longer struggle against the deleterious effects of sin, our curiosity will be ever piqued and the world of possibilities ever open for new expressions of creativity and adventures of discovery. When we become truly restored as human beings, our human experience will be the greatest adventure we’ve had yet. As the closing words of Star Trek: The Motion Picture remind us, “The Human Adventure is Just Beginning…”
This post was inspired by a comment made by Mark Boone on my previous post,“Roddenberry on Heaven and the Afterlife.” You can read that comment here. The scene Mark mentions in his comment occurs in “This Side of Paradise,” after Spock has come under the influence of the spores and has decided to stay on the planet, along with almost the entire ship’s compliment. Spock and Elias Sandoval, the leader of the Omicron colony, are trying to get Kirk to join them.
ELIAS: Captain, why don’t you join us?
KIRK: In your own private paradise.
ELIAS: The spores have made it that.
KIRK: Where did they originate?
SPOCK: It’s impossible to say. They drifted through space until they finally landed here. You see, they actually thrive on Berthold rays. The plants act as a repository for thousands of microscopic spores until they find a human body to inhabit.
ELIAS: In return, they give you complete health and peace of mind.
KIRK: That’s paradise?
ELIAS: We have no need or want, Captain.
SPOCK: It’s a true Eden, Jim. There’s belonging and love.
KIRK: No wants. No needs. We weren’t meant for that. None of us. Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.
ELIAS: We have what we need.
KIRK: Except a challenge.
SPOCK: You don’t understand, Jim, but you’ll come around sooner or later. Join us. Please.
KIRK: I’m going back to the ship.
This need for challenge is presented here in the context of a common theme in Star Trek: humankind’s desire to grow and advance. Note Spock’s reference to Eden. If his assessment is to be taken as correct, then Kirk’s words may be seen as a rejection of the concept of Eden (and, by extension, Heaven) as a human paradise – at least, as it is popularly understood. Star Trek answers this with its own idea of paradise in 23rd Century society. While Roddenberry’s Earthbound utopia may be free of war, disease, poverty and illiteracy, the challenge set before humans is found in the stars. This concept allows the presence of both a kind of paradise and a continued human journey.
As Mark pointed out in his comment, Earth as created could not have been dull and Heaven (or, rather, the New Earth) will almost certainly be an adventure. But the concept of challenge without a struggle against our ills is difficult for our current perspective to encompass. It is against this cognitive dissonance that Roddenberry seemed to constantly battle, living in both hopeful expectation of the achievement of an ideal and in constant appreciation of the struggle it takes to get there.
In this sense, Roddenberry’s imagined future tells us something about the essential necessity for life-affirming challenge to define our humanity. In essence, if we cease to challenge ourselves, to progress or advance in some form, we cease to be human. The film Wal-E is an excellent example of this idea and a picture of the redemptive recovery of our true humanity.
While, at our best, we strive to improve ourselves and to advance as a species, our humanity is a tarnished one and can give rise to the kind of lethargy and contentment with mere existence that both Wal-E and “This Side of Paradise” warn against. It is perhaps for this reason – our ability to lose our own humanity by inches – that some ofStar Trek‘s notable nonhuman/part-alien characters (Spock, Data) are best able to articulate and demonstrate what it means to be human.
In “This Side of Paradise,” freedom from the illusion of the spores (and thereby, freedom from a kind of bondage to them) is reached through the fostering of anger and negative emotions. The too-perfect world of the spores cannot contain the full depth and breadth of human experience and expression. Struggle, anger, dissatisfaction: these are all essential (if unpleasant) elements of the human experience. Without them, this episode postulates, we are merely half-human, too willing to give up against the promise of happiness at the cost of living truly valuable lives.
For Spock, especially, this transition is a difficult one. He gives up a sense of belonging and the chance for romance in order to return to his true self, his chosen path and his ultimate calling. The world of the spores on Omicron Ceti III is an enticing one, but ultimately it is empty. In the same way, it is often difficult for us to abandon the things that attract us, but which pull us away from Christ. As Jesus says in the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel,
“If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily,and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?” (NET)
Faith itself is its own adventure – its own challenge with its own sacrifices and struggles. And, though we tend to see struggle in a negative light, it is an essential element of a true, deeply engaged humanity. In that sense, the notion that either Heaven or Eden is a paradise that presents no challenges or opportunities for advancement is not in harmony with the Biblical concept of a restored, redeemed humanity.
In the fullness of restoration, our humanity will not be abolished like that of the inhabitants of Omicron Ceti III. Instead, it will be brought to its truest, most robust expression. Though we will no longer struggle against the deleterious effects of sin, our curiosity will be ever piqued and the world of possibilities ever open for new expressions of creativity and adventures of discovery. When we become truly restored as human beings, our human experience will be the greatest adventure we’ve had yet. As the closing words of Star Trek: The Motion Picture remind us, “The Human Adventure is Just Beginning…”
Comments (Closed in Archive)
- T'Laina Ariennye says:
August 20, 2011 at 9:32 PM
Excellent post! I’ve always loved this episode, for some obvious reasons *cough*Spock*cough*.- Kevin C. Neece says:
August 21, 2011 at 6:29 PM
Thanks, T’Laina! This is a good Spock episode, as many that take him to less purely Vulcan places are. It’s his human side that is so mysterious about him and it’s the mystery that draws us to him. So, when we get to peek behind the curtain a little, it’s quite intriguing. Thanks for reading!
- Kevin C. Neece says:
- Scott Higa says:
August 26, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Since there are so many struggles in life it’s easy to believe that Eden would have been nothing but an everlasting Corona commercial. However Adam and Eve were tasked with working in the garden and they were also given the cultural mandate. God told them to be fruitful and multiply which addresses the idea of ambition and progress. God wanted humanity to expand its cultural and intellectual boundaries, he wanted them to be creative and innovative because those qualities reflect the very heart of God.- Kevin C. Neece says:
August 27, 2011 at 5:46 AM
How very right you are, Scott! And I must believe also that a redeemed and restored Earth will be filled with all of the art and culture we’ve brought to it as well. So, as those original mandates return, so does a rich human world in which to live them. It’s both a creative and a productive journey, full of discovery and challenge. I think it will be amazing – and far better than the mere existence portrayed in “This Side of Paradise.” I don’t think any positive part of our humanity will have to be turned off in order to enjoy the New Earth. God made us as humans to be humans and not something else. Therefore, the deepest parts of what it means to be human will be brought to broader and deeper expression and greater life.
I appreciate you putting direct Biblical examples with this idea. Thanks for joining the conversation!
- Kevin C. Neece says:
