As shown in Spock's World (SW), Surak was an office worker in an era of war. After seeing a newscast with the crater of an experimental matter-antimatter bomb, he had an existential crisis and left his job to fly into the desert, and then walk. There he had a series of spiritual experiences and began to develop his philosophy, which he posted on information networks. He and his teachings gained renown over the decades. Three-quarters of the planet were united by the time he was asked to help make peace with the last warring parties. He went, and was assassinated.
A small selection of Surak's original notes, as from SW:
- Ideally, do no harm. Harm speeds up the beat-death of the Universe, and indirectly, your own.
- More practically, do as little harm as possible. We are creatures of a Universe in which entropy exists, and therefore see no way of escape, but we do not need to help it.
- Harm no one’s internal, invisible integrities. Leave others the privacies of their minds and lives. Intimacy remains precious only insofar as it is inviolate: invading it turns it to torment. Reach out to others courteously: accept their reaching in the same way, with careful hands.
- Do no murder. The spear in the other’s heart is the spear in your own; you are he. All action has reaction: what force you inflict, inevitably returns. The murder of the other is the murder of your own joy, forever.
- As far as possible, do not kill. Can you give life again to what you kill? Then be slow to take life. Take only life that will not notice you taking it. To notice one’s own death increases entropy. To die and not notice if increases it less, but still does so.
- Cast out fear. Cast out hate and rage. Cast out greed and envy. Cast out all emotion that speeds entropy, whether it be love or hate. Cast out these emotions by using reason to accept them, and then move past them. Use in moderation emotions that do not speed entropy, taking all care that they do not cause others pain, for that speeds entropy as well. Master your passions, so that they become a power for the slowing of the heat-death.
- Do no harm to those that harm you. Offer them peace, and offer them peace again, and do it until you die. In this manner you will have peace, one way or the other, even if they kill you. And you cannot give others what you have not experienced yourself.
- Learn reason above all. Learn clear thought: learn to know what is from what seems to be, and what you wish to be. This is the key to everything: the truth of reality, the reality of truth. What is will set you free.
Gol-Vuhlkansu and translated teachings of Surak, from the Vulcan Language Institute (VLI):
- Dakh pthak. Nam-tor ri net na’fan-kitok fa tu dakh pthak. / Cast out fear. There is no room for anything else until you cast out fear.
- Vah mau vah tor-yehat ri stau. Kup-fun-tor ha’kiv na’ish du stau? Nom tam-tor vohris nem-tor ha’kiv. / As far as possible, do not kill. Can you return to life what you kill? Then be slow to take life.
- Ma etek natyan - teretuhr lau etek shetau weh-lo’uk do tum t’on. / We have differences. May we, together, become greater than the sum of both of us.
- Nam-tor ri thrap wilat nem-tor rim. / There is no offence where none is taken.
- Shiyau thol’es k’thorai ri k’ahm. / Nobility lies in action not in name.
- Tilek svi’khaf-spol t’vathu - tilek svi’sha’veh. / The spear in the other’s heart is the spear in your own.
- Variben veh sochya kuv nam-tor vah goh yut ha-tor. / He talks peace if it is the only way to live.
- Ri klau au ik klau tu. Nufau au sochya - yi dungi ma tu sochya. / Do no harm to those that harm you. Offer them peace, then you will have peace.
- Ri vath kau eh ri vath rok nam-tor na’etek hi etek kau-tor. / There is no other wisdom and no other hope for us but that we grow wise.
- Nam-tor wak vah yut s’vesht n’fa’wak heh pla’rak. I’wak mesukh-yut t’on. / Time is a path from the past to the future and back again. The present is the crossroads of both.
- Eik-veshtaya to’ovau kau - lu veshtaya ri glazhau goh na’kastorilaya t’kashan. / Wide experience increases wisdom, provided the experience is not sought purely for the stimulation of sensation.
- Spunau bolayalar t’Wehku bolayalar t’Zamu il t’Veh. / The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.