Chapter 3
“The Smallest Doubt Would Be Enough To Kill You”
Franchise: The Original Series
Season 3, Episode 6: “Spectre of the Gun”
Entrepreneurs, salespeople, and network marketing professionals often speak of mindset as a key factor in their chances of success. Books have been written about it; speeches have been given to cheering crowds extolling its power; millions of dollars have been spent on training and coaching programs – all with one goal:
The cultivation of a frame of mind which can focus us on our goals, ignore rejection and criticism, and drive us without distraction or diversion toward our chosen destination.
Here in “Spectre of the Gun,” we’ll take a look at an allegorical demonstration of this principle … one which, in this case, literally saves the very lives of our heroes.
Prepare yourself: we’re about to take a trip into not only the function of the human mind, but into Trek’s view of the very nature of reality.
What Happens:
Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew have been dispatched on a diplomatic mission to establish relations with the inhabitants of the planet Melkotia.
As they approach the planet, however, they are confronted with a “space buoy” which transmits a threatening message, warning them to withdraw. Their message is delivered telepathically, sent so as to be heard in the native languages of each of the members of the bridge crew. (Keep this point in mind; it’ll become important in a moment.)
It soon becomes clear that the Melkotians are xenophobes, desiring no contact with outside worlds. Of course Kirk, being Kirk, ignores the warning and proceeds with their mission.
Once Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Chief Engineer Scott, and the ship’s navigator, Ensign Pavel Chekhov, “beam down” to the planet’s surface, they are confronted again by the Melkotian, who metes out punishment for their “disobedience.”
Using the Melkotian telepathic power, he reaches into Kirk’s mind and chooses an incident from Earth history as the “pattern” for their execution: The Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona on October 26, 1881.
As you may recall, on that date the Clanton Gang faced off against the Earp brothers, Tombstone town marshals, along with Doc Holliday. The Earps killed the Clantons that day … and in this “pattern of their death,” Kirk and his crew are now the Clantons.
As they move through the town, Kirk and his men are constantly addressed and treated by the townspeople as though they actually are Ike Clanton and his cohorts. No amount of arguing or attempts to convince the people otherwise has the slightest effect.
To this manufactured town, their faces, their clothing, their mannerisms, all seem to be exactly what the Melkotians intend for them: to be the Clanton Gang, destined to die at five o’clock that afternoon.
One of them even dies before five: Chekhov, mistaken by a local girl for her lover Billy Clanton, is shot dead by Morgan Earp in a standoff over Sylvia’s affections.
(Or IS he? More to come …)
As the men mourn Chekhov’s death, they are also at work creating a possible weapon imagined by Spock and McCoy: a tranquilizing gas grenade, with which they hope to immobilize the Earps long enough to either resolve or escape the situation. McCoy brings his extensive chemical and medical knowledge to bear, and he creates a perfect, scientifically proven, guaranteed effective tranquilizer.
Which doesn’t work.
WHAT??
It’s Spock who finally begins to realize the truth:
“It did not function … but it MUST function. A scientific fact. But if the tranquilizer does not function, which is clearly impossible, then a radical alteration of our thought patterns must be in order.”
What’s he talking about? Let’s look deeper ...
It’s at this moment that Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and McCoy are forced to the OK Corral. All avenues of escape are cut off, and they realize that they will have to fight the Earps … but the Earps are expert gunfighters. Our heroes have no chance!
Or don’t they? And now, Spock explains why they may not need to fight at all.
I mean, Doctor, that we are faced with a staggering contradiction.
The tranquilizer you created should have been effective…
Physical laws simply cannot be ignored.
Existence cannot be, without them.
Now, it gets REALLY deep.
Spock asks Dr. McCoy’s opinion of what killed Chekhov. When “Bones” cites “a piece of lead in his body,” Spock corrects him:
SPOCK: Wrong. His MIND killed him.
McCOY: What do you mean unreal? I examined Chekhov - he’s dead!
SPOCK: But you made your examination under conditions which we cannot trust. … Physical reality is consistent with universal laws. Where the laws do not operate, there is no reality. All of this (the situation) is unreal. …
We judge reality by the response of our senses. Once we are convinced of the reality of a given situation, we abide by its rules. We judged the bullets to be solid, the guns to be real; therefore they can kill.
What is Spock talking about? Kirk now gives us a clue:
KIRK: If we do not believe that the bullets are real, they cannot kill us!
SPOCK: Exactly. I know the bullets are unreal, therefore they cannot harm me.
KIRK: We must all be as certain as you are, Spock, if we’re to save our lives.
When McCoy admits that with humans, “there’d always be some doubt,” Spock gets to the crux of the matter:
SPOCK: THE SMALLEST DOUBT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO KILL YOU.
McCOY: We’re just human beings, Spock. We don’t have that clockwork ticker in our heads like you do. We can’t just turn it on and off!
KIRK: We must. Spock: The Vulcan Mind Meld.
What Kirk is referring to is an ancient Vulcan mental discipline called the Mind Meld, where a Vulcan joins his mind and thoughts to that of another, and thus can not only read, but influence the other’s thought patterns.
Have you ever wished that you could control your thoughts, shut out unwanted influences and opinions, keep your “eyes on the prize” to the exclusion of all else?
Observe as Spock “mind-melds” with Scotty, McCoy, and Kirk – and shows their minds the truth about the illusory “threat” they face:
Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts. …
The bullets are unreal. Without body.
They are illusions only. Shadows without substance.
They will not pass through your body, for they do not exist.
Unreal. Appearances only.
They are shadows. Illusions.
Nothing but ghosts of reality.
They are lies. Falsehoods.
Spectres without body.
They are to be ignored.
Thus mentally fortified, the four men face off against the ephemeral Earps – and they emerge unharmed.
Our heroes are then transported back to the Enterprise – where they find Chekhov sitting at his station, alive and well. It seems Spock was right all along: even the “bullets” were unreal.
Small additional point here:
In this final shootout, Kirk is forced to defend himself in hand-to-hand combat – but when he gains the upper hand and has the chance to kill one of the Earps with his gun, Kirk refuses, and he spares the man’s life.
The Melkotian notices this, and he asks Kirk about it:
“Captain Kirk, you did not kill. Is this the way of your kind?”
Kirk confirms that “our mission is still one of peace,” and the Melkotians agree to the beginning of treaty negotiations.
(What’s the point? Just this: never respond to your critics in kind; stand your ground and stick to your purpose. In time, you may find that some will not be critics forever.)
Lesson You Can Use:
What are we trying to say here? That if you just “believe,” you, too, can dodge bullets?
Of course not - nothing of the kind. However, Spock’s reading of the truth beneath the illusion shows us that the slings and arrows of criticism, the doubt of others, and our own fears and insecurities can be overcome by applying our own form of “mind control” … that is, by developing a superior state of mind, one that is built on positive expectation and the rejection of negative influences.
For specific tips and techniques on creating your OWN “Vulcan Mind Meld,” I commend you to two classic works in the arts and science of personal development:
Think And Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
and
The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles
There are hosts of others, of course – but I think these two are a pretty good place to start.
Remember, you’re looking for the means and methods to “bulletproof” your mindset against the enemies of fear, insecurity, and disbelief.
The smallest doubt would be enough to kill you … your dreams, that is.
Now, let’s talk about one way to fight negative forces and obstacles to our success … by not fighting them at all.