some notes on vulcan touch telepathy + empathy, as well as mind melding + bonding.
on some level, vulcans have telepathic and empathic abilities, which includes spock (and t'pol, saaryn, + l'nel, for anyone viewing from my other muses' docs). though the empathic abilities are not as notable as a betazoid’s, it is still part of who they are and so i will note it here. these things impact how they interact with others. for the most part, these abilities manifest through touch. therefore spock (and other vulcans) will rarely ever touch another person unless they have a specific reason to, or they are close to the individual they are touching.
"The Vulcan midbrain is comparable with the Betazoid midbrain, which comprises nearly 65% of their entire brain mass, although the Vulcan midbrain only comprises 45% of the brain. It is believed that this portion of their brain gives the Vulcan species their remarkable psionic abilities, though further testing has proved to be inconclusive. Despite this being the case, their race is known to be considerably more adept telepathically when compared to most Humans." (from the tos novel, 'the starless world')
vulcans have the ability to perform something called a mind meld, which is the main source of their telepathic and empathic abilities. this is where a vulcan links their mind with that of another, and while it is an interesting and useful ability, it is very dangerous to do without supervision. typically this is not attempted by vulcans who have no experience with it without the presence of an elder. however, this ability is also linked to the vulcan marriage custom, something noted as bonding. while very secretive, it is essentially the permanent linking of one’s mind and emotions with another’s. both of these practices are a sacred part of vulcan culture and are not to be shared with outsiders.
"Melding can be dangerous, particularly so when conducted with a non-Vulcan, but it can also be a useful tool; some neurological conditions can be cured by a mind meld. A Vulcan dying from the severing of the marriage bond can be saved through a healing mind meld initiated by close friends or family." (from voyager episode 'meld' and the tos novel 'the vulcan academy murders')
author's note: yeah that means vulcans literally begin to die if they get divorced or their lover dies. lmao. when vulcans get married it's for life, period.
"No Vulcan marriage was complete without a Bonding which bound the two to a greater level than simple custom." (from tos novel 'sarek')
some vulcans, spock notably, are able to perform melds without physical contact with another person, which is primarily where the empathic portion of this comes from. this is mostly headcanon on my part, but if you think about the fact that melding involves the emotional aspect of another person as well, that would then lead one to assume empathy is part of the meld, meaning someone powerful like spock would be capable of sensing great emotion without requiring touch as well.
this fact makes being around others extremely difficult for him at times. t'pol and l'nel are far better at controlling it than him, as they are both more emotionally disciplined than spock. saaryn and spock are similar in this regard.
here's a link to the memory beta page on bonding, and here's one that leads to the page for mind melding, in case anyone wants to do some deeper reading than i go into here.












