Did Syrran’s teachings change the accepted spiritual and philosophical ideology of mainstream Vulcans society? ENT had the unique position of being a prequel to TOS. It at first presented mind-melds as a deviant act that was socially unacceptable. Moving into the 23rd century of TOS and the movies (I’m going on recall right now), the deviance seemed to have gone away. However the dangers of mind-melds held true even by the time of VOY. When ENT reached the three parter of “The Forge”, “Awakening” and “Kir’Shara”, the story specifically focused on katras.
It feels like the direction ENT was pointed, the people in charge of the big lore wanted to flip what we knew about Vulcan society. One of the major conflicts over the course of the series was the Earth-Vulcan relationship. Of course this was rooted in the Federation arch.
To clarify my question: did the rebellious teachings of a cult (T’Pol specifically calls the Syrrannites a “violent cult”), become the accepted beliefs over a century?
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Yes, we see TPol reading the new rediscovered teachings of Surak, demonstrating the spread in new ideas
We also see the Vulcan ambassador standup for being a “deviant” and ultimately prevail, demonstrating a shift in attitudes.
The Vulcan arc was one of the most strangely satisfying because:
- It begins strong in the first 5 episodes or so (until Trip gives Tpol pecan pie)
- Goes into the back burner for 2.5 seasons, except for random jabs at the Vulcan High Command
- Goes into overdrive in S4 and shows us how these Vulcans become the ones we’ve come to know.
The Syrrannites being called a “violent cult” was propaganda by a corrupt regime trying to rewrite Vulcan history to keep themselves in power. They were deliberately suppressing beliefs and practices related to the Vulcan telepathic nature, because this posed a threat to them.
Vulcans, valuing rationality as they do, reacted differently than humans would to the exposure of the misconceptions and outright lies that had been propagated by Vulcan high command. Most of society reevaluated their beliefs and taboos around telepathy and the more spiritual nature of being Vulcan. By the time of TOS, Vulcan society had mostly reconnected with their more spiritual and pacifistic traditions and abandoned the more modern, arrogant and hypocritical views espoused by the High Command of the Enterprise era.
This tells an interesting story actually, of how humans and Vulcans (and Andorians) benefited on a societal level and became better people together through the cultural interactions and exchanges that took place during that era. Prior to Enterprise, we kind of knew that humans had benefited technologically and culturally through their contact with Vulcans. Enterprise showed us how Vulcans benefited and rediscovered themselves (and went through major and positive cultural revival) as a result of their contact with humans. I think it’s kind of a beautiful story.
I think one thing to add here is that spock was considered somewhat of an outsider with his half human hereditary. It’s likely his use of the practice was parfof his wider view of things. Also the reputation of mind melds may have improved via spocks reports and his strong character.
So the views on Vulcan society, were skewed by Spock? Are you saying his comments should be interpreted as having bias?
Its very likely that Spock had to grow up with his own view of what it meant to be Vulcan. They have drifted over time and he likely fastened to what he felt best represents the best of them. It’s notable that he was a paragon of vurtue where as broadly some others didn’t quite fit as well. Also he may have conveyed (without lying as such) a different view of things to the rest of the tos crew. Mostly they only had his version of things.
