Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/star-trek-discovery-moral-arc-universe/
The soul of Star Trek isn’t optimism or idealism or a roadmap to utopia. All of those are byproducts of the actual moral core of the series: exploring post-conventional morality, and owning the consequences of decisions made from that stage.
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Looks like I’m going to have to find a way to watch the tv show! I was around in 1966 when the first one appeared - made a huge shift in my perception of life. And in those days the special effects were pretty obvious, though that made no difference to the message of the show to me…back then. 
Love the clarity of your description.
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I think you will absolutely love it Angelika. It is as different from The Next Generation as TNG was from the Original Series, and the Klingons look somewhat different than they did before, but I can still recognize my all-time favorite science fiction franchise behind it all!
And honestly, it may be the most beautiful show on television, and is almost certainly the strongest first season of any of the Star Trek series since the franchise debuted in the 1960s. I am actually on my fourth rewatch of the first season right now
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… I watched the blog about Star Trek.
I liked the ideas, they’re something i’ve noticed also independently.
What my thought was is, … what about “Andromeda”?
Before his death Gene Rodenberry conceived of an entirely new Universe. Not so much ‘Good Guys v Bad Guys’, but ‘The Light v The Dark’.
It is an extension of Subjects unable to be covered adequately or are side issues in Star Trek… Eugenics, Epigenetics, Evil that manifests from another dimension, characters who are conscious Avatars of Stars & who can swap positions with themselves on their time line & who can select probability branches and guide the characters,… etc, etc.
I could go on…
If Corey would like to produce another Vlog about Andromeda & its iNtegral themes, give me a hoy.
Regards,
Mark
You know, I’ve never actually seen Andromeda! I will add it to my (hopelessly sprawling) queue, on your recommendation.
Hey Corey 
… I know LOTS of Trekkies. I even got my 80 year old father engrossed in the Universe,… he loves 7 (of 9:TAU_0) & Voyager. And he even finds ‘The Big Bang Theory’ hillarious (and his Vietnam Vet mates dont get it)… .
I can’t recall ever running into a fellow Trekkie who even knows of the TV show Andromeda’s existence. But if you are talking about iNtegral & Gene Roddenberry then I’d highly recommend it.
I was just standing in my NeuroSOMAtic Coding Research Lab thinking about my post when your awesomely swift reply came in.
What I was thinking is HOW Star Trek is different from Andromeda from an iNtegral Perspective.
What is is the difference in Tiers?
Star Trek is Tier 1
Andromeda is Tier 2 & 3
It is Tier 3 because it has ‘Involution’ as a Primary theme.
To see this one needs to follow the character development of two characters,…
Trance Gemini
&
Rev (Reverand) Bem
*[Spoiler Alert- I would have liked somebody to explain the following to me before I watched the series. And in this Context of contrasting the differences, the following are key points… . Knowing the following does not necessarily impede enjoyment & aids in utilising it as a Learning Tool]
The first is a female humanoid Avatar of a Star (Sun). She starts out all purple and sweet, she even has a prehensile tail. At a major crisis point a portal opens up & she jumps through from a battle in the future and tells herself to swap places right now. This Trance is a Golden Warrior with experience of what is to come. She is an Agent of the collective Consciousness of all the Suns (Stars) of our Galaxy, our closest neighbour the Andromeda Galaxy, and another… a Tri-Galactic Commonwealth of Species, Planets, Solar Systems; all with a myriad of Forms & Stages of Development & Levels of Consciousness.
It is her task to counter a force manifesting from a dimension of pure Hatred for all Life.
Rev Bem, is an intergalactic Wandering Monk. He is of the species bred by this manifesting Hatred to act as infantry to decimate and replace all other lifeforms in the universe. They are asexual and reproduce by injecting eggs into a host with a bite, and like in Alien the movie, the ‘Mother’ or ‘Father’ dies during delivery.
Rev Bem’s character is central to the theme of ‘Involution’. So is Trance Gemini’s. In Star Trek it is a side issue (Wesley Crushers evolution into a supra-human Being. Nothing was done with that, it happened and got ignored. No utilisation of the characters Development).
Rev Bem’s Involution is about the Dialect between The Light & The Dark as we EMbody it as Sentient Beings.
Trance Gemini’s Involution regards Time & Space. Wisdom and Direction of greater order Sentient Beings. Solar System Consciousness. Galactic Networks of that Consciousness.
Star Trek & Andromeda provide ‘Models’ for evolving ones conceptual comprehension of the Space that exists outside of our world & Planet I find.
Star Trek aired in September 1966. I was 8 months old. And I watched it live growing up. Strangely, it ceased being broadcast in June 1969. The month before Neil Armstrong put his boot prints on the moon. I watched that live on TV too.
“Space,… . the Final Frontier… .”
After the moon landing we had a new way to see the Earth. A photograph of Earth, with the Moon as foreground. Floating in a vast Void. I agree with Ken, this shifted the Consciousness of the entire species. People often ask Who “Generation_X” is. We are the children who watched live on TV, a human being blast off from the Earth, travel through Space, land, and walk around on the Moon (…and, were the first Generation of humans to have Computers in school. Not just “Analogue” like all generations before, nor “DiGiTaL” like the Generations after us. Both, Analogue AND DiGiTaL … .)
So ‘Space’ is no longer a Conceptual Fontier.
Star Trek is INTRAgalactic.
Andromeda is INTERgalactic.
Star Trek is about Humans interacting with aliens in our neck of the woods and in our Galaxy. Tier 1 quarrelling. Politics.
Andromeda is about Humans & genetically augmented Humans & Humans who are hidden Divine Beings all interacting with other species and Solar, Galactic & Interdimensional
Divine Beings/Consciousness.
The Starship IS a character. It has an advanced Android Avatar that goes on Away Missions with the crew. And she, Andromeda (Romy), can best be described as an ‘A.C’ not ‘A.I’; an ‘Artificial Consciousness’. She feels emotions. And, she has an Ordinance Package that can destroy a planet with one missile… .
Then there’s the Central character. Played by Kevin Sorbo (Hercules). His is a Rip Van Winkle Tale. Being pulled back into time 300 years into the future. The Commonwealth has decended into Chaos. His mission,… Rebuild the Tri_Galactic Cooperation that fell. With just one Starship & a motley crew of Pirates & Blagards. Who at first want to kill him and commandeer the ship. But seeing as he’s the only living member of the command structure the ship’s A.C will recognise, he manages to quell that.
Andromeda, is Star Trek for “Grown Ups” Corey 
… (but, that’s just like, my opinion man/Dude )
Sold
I have it queued up on Amazon Prime after your enthusiastic endorsement, will probably start watching in the next couple days. Thanks for the suggestion!
… as we say Downunder here in Australia,…
“No worries Mate!”
Hey @corey-devos , loving the new community and your thoughts on Star Trek So I am contemplating…If the morality at the core of the Star Trek universe is post-conventional/integral would that mean that all the different series and movies that take place in that universe would all be considered integral?
The show sounds amazing…I will be putting “Andromeda” on the Integral Cinema Test to test list.
… if You like it Mark, let Us know here what You thought
Will do…started watching season one…getting hooked…very interesting…I will be going through the whole series for the test and then post my results here…thanks for the recommendation…
Mark, I loved Andromeda! Big thanks for the suggestion and I totally agree with you analysis of it. Definitely Integral to Super Integral with an unfolding Kosmocentric center-of-gravity and a wondrously simple yet complex exploration of involution and evolution, and an expanded perceptual field of sentient being and becoming.
Yes mate, it’s a pearler as we say down under here in Oz (Australia)…
I’ve been watching 'The Orville and I’d give that a big rap as well. It’s like ‘Galaxy Quest’ (starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver & Allan Rickman), meets Star Trek. Brannon Bragga, one of the Star Trek producers produces this too.
There are a couple of really good, iNtegraL episodes.
One on Gender. Another on the nature of our Reality, and has a cameo by movie actor Liam Neeson. It’s a brilliant episode about social conditioning of truth, rule by myths, and what happens to that in the face of actual reality. I adored that episode. Plus there’s themes of AI’s & their logics agenda & so on & so forth. All done with a tongue in cheek and a nod and general lampooning of the Sci Fi genre. Seth is a genius.
Cheers mate 
