Star Trek: The Enemy Within

Unlike the Stargate SG-1 episode of the same title, this episode of Star Trek involved something much more philosophical than a worm, worm, worm that takes over a man's body and attempts to blow up a U.S. military base: the separation of a man--via malfunctioning transporter technology--into 2 selves, a "good" self and an "evil" self. This is, in many ways, one of the most fascinating episodes that Star Trek ever offered, and I think it shows us a particularly eye-opening glimpse at some of the perspectives that informed large sectors of the 1960's counterculture. The principle is simple: Kirk, having transported from an ice planet, is split by the transporter into 2 versions of himself--one of which is kind, benevolent, but indecisive, and the other of which is authoritative, vicious, and greedy. Of course, both selves cannot exist apart for long, so after a series of episodes involving mistaken identity (during which Kirk's first officer, Spock, of course, gets what is going on), Kirk's "good" and "evil" selves come together in a climactic conflict, then consent to an attempt to fuse them together into the original Kirk (who contains both of these selves meshed into one personality) via the transporter.

I like a lot of what this episode says about the goodness and evil present in every man, but let's take note of something here. Note that Kirk (and presumably anyone else) needs BOTH his good and evil natures in order to function adequately as a captain (and as a human being). Without his "evil" self, he becomes a dimwitted, pitiful excuse for a man who cannot make his own choices.

This perspective of good and evil is highly reminiscent of Taoism and other Eastern philosophies which suggest that we need a BALANCE of good and evil inside of us to function properly. The problem with this perspective, of course, is that we (yes, that's right, we--the same people who muck up every important thing that we encounter in this life) are the ones who are vested with the responsibility of determining what that balance is. How much evil is too much? How much GOOD is too little? These are questions that none of these Eastern philosophies seem willing to answer.

The fact is, as those of us who have been born again can tell you, it's not that simple. We have an "evil" side because we ADDED that "evil" side to our human matrix through our disobedient attitude toward God. We no more "need" that evil side than a gunshot victim "needs" the bullet that threatens his or her life. If we were to lose that side of ourselves, the wonders we would have attained as a species would have far surpassed anything our inventions, clunky technologies, and new political ideologies have ever wrought during our fledgling 6000 years of existence. A world without hunger, a world without war or disease--these were God's intention for us all when he first formed man and woman from the dust of the ground. It is only because of our arrogance, our refusal to listen to the still, small voice inside ourselves that says we can be something better, that we continue to wreak atrocity after atrocity on each other, unleashing torrents of death and misery on a world that God intended to be a happy one. Our "evil" side is what causes hate and war and prejudice and pollution and a thousand other ills that all of us bemoan but none of us--in our heart of hearts--really want to change.

Therefore, if one of us were to be "split apart" in the same way that Kirk was in this episode, I think she would be surprised not only at how destructive her "evil" side really is but at how little she finds her "good" side needing it.