Live Long and Prosper!

I am a Star Trek fan. Not to the point of dressing up like characters from the show but certainly a fan enough so that I have a collection of the various TV episodes and movies. There is just something about the idea of exploring what is out there on other planets that I just find really appealing and of course the idea that, on the show anyhow,you could make up things as you go. Think about it, for those of you who have watched the show, how many times have they re arranged the Dilithuim crystals to push out energy that they didn't really have in the first place, and you sat there and watched the show and nodded in agreement with what they were doing? Had no clue as to what they were rambling on about but it sure sounded good! Of course you also knew that anyone that you didn't know who was wearing a red shirt was toast, some things were just a given.
I think , at least for me, that part of the appeal was that they lived in a harmonious world. Greed was gone, prejudice a thing of the past, war and disease eliminated, at least as far as the earth was concerned, and everyone lived comfortably. They could talk about flying off to Alpha Seti 4 just as easy as they could discuss going to San Francisco, overall life was good.
Probably one of the most famous lines ever from that show was when Spock would raise his hand, part his fingers into a "V" and say "Live long and prosper." I have thought about that line just a bit and have always kind of been curious as to what he meant by that. If you believe the scenario that they present then everyone on the planet ,and Vulcan as well I assume, is already prosperous. Remember in their universe all the things that make the world a bad place have been eliminated so what does it mean, then, to prosper? Live long is easy one, but to prosper in a world that's already as perfect as it can get? Perhaps it's a message to us, the viewers.
We don't live in that perfect world, so what does it mean to prosper? In our world when you think of prosperity you think of great wealth and having the various toys and whistles that accompany that, but is that the real definition?  The dictionary defines prosper as "to be fortunate  or successful or to thrive." So what does it mean then to prosper? If by "fortunate" you mean wealth , then by that definition I have failed miserably, as I suspect that most of us have,but if you mean being greatly blessed then I am indeed a fortunate man , who has a wonderful loving wife and children and some of the best friends any man could ask for. If you mean by successful that I have my own business or practice or that I am CEO of some major corporation, then no,once again, I fail the litmus test. If ,instead, you mean that I have taught my children right from wrong, have taught them the values of honesty and integrity and personal sacrifice and have shown them what it means to truly love your family then I would say that I have been successful. If by thrive you mean the accumulation of things then I have failed that as well. Quite frankly, my wife and I look for ways to make do with what we have and if we have things that are not needed  or we never use ,we give them away. If there is any any thriving to be done in that , it would be that we can be a blessing to others so that they can thrive.
So I guess when it comes right down to it you have to ask yourself what does it mean to you to "prosper." For me I think I am quite prosperous but it has very little to do with the accumulation of wealth or of things. I am prosperous because I have a family that I love and they love me. I have, as I said earlier, some of the best friends a man could want and I worship a G-D who loves me, not because I can do anything that makes that so but simply because he created me. I am, indeed, a very prosperous man.
Live long and Prosper!
Ignacio