Babylon 5 was always the thinking man's science fiction on TV, and "Comes the Inquisitor" was one of its greatest episodes. It isn't often that you can use popular entertainment to teach Stoic philosophy.
Our protagonists will soon face a terrible trial. Their mysterious allies, the Vorlons, send a strange emissary to test Delenn and Sheridan's worthiness for the upcoming war.
"Who are you?" he asks. Like most of us, Delenn answers with names, titles, or lineages.
"Unacceptable! What a sad thing you are. Unable to answer even such a simple question without falling back on references and genealogies and what other people call you. Have you nothing of your own? Nothing to stand on that is not provided, defined, delineated, stamped, sanctioned, numbered and approved by others? How can you be expected to fight for someone else, when you haven't the fairest idea who you are?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ufC2OtH28
Delenn and Sheridan both learn that it all revolves around how much they are willing to give. Would they die for one another, surrendering everything else?
"How do you know the Chosen Ones? 'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother.' Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame. For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l60RW02e1g
"I have been in the service of the Vorlons for centuries, looking for you. Diogenes with his lamp, looking for an honest man willing to die for all the wrong reasons. At last, my job is finished. Yours is just beginning. When the darkness comes, know this: You are the right people, in the right place, at the right time."
I am amazed at how many people, from so many different backgrounds and with greatly diverging points of view, have told me how powerful this episode was for them.
Written in 7/1998
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