In the weeks after seeing Avatar I've been a little obsessed -- I've scoured the web for reviews and ardently scrolled through long forum discussions, fascinated with what people were seeing in this movie, and how it was resonating with them. What I found, a myriad of impassioned interpretations, confirmed my impression that although this is, on one level, just a predictable Hollywood blockbuster about sexy aliens and explosions, it's also a valuable parable inspiring deep dialogue.Like most viewers, I was enchanted with the newness & beauty of visual aesthetic, the psychedelic iridescent forest worlds & creatures -- the alien world of Pandora felt more like where I wanted to live than the concrete strip mall jungles of Sydney.
But I was especially taken with the film's elegant fusion of core spiritual concepts from diverse spiritual traditions. In other words, I loved it's "New Age-ism".
And the concept that has stuck with me most is "I see you". In Pandora, seeing is important. "I see you," one of the sacred greetings of the Na'vi, refers to seeing into a person, seeing his essence and actual being. When Jake arrives to the Na'vi tribe and is about to be killed by the angry crowd, it is the Tsahik, the shaman, who examines him with her wide-open eyes to recognize his essence, and then decides to let him stay. Later in the film, when all have turned against him, after his apparent betrayal of the tribe has been exposed, she will also be the one to set him free. She has seen something.
If we could just learn this one lesson - to actually "see" the person behind the face and inside of the body - I reckon our world would be a lot more like Pandora, and a lot less judgmental, fearful and prejudiced.
7 comments:
This movie really resonated with me as well! And I too blogged about it. As a feng shui consultant, it was an amazing to see the visual of how "everything is connected."
I see you too : )
Tisha
It seems to me that to see into others first requires us to see into ourselves. As humans we have this reflexive capability but how many of us have the courage to exercise it? It requires courage because we have to look behind our façade and perception filters, which form our layers of protection, to evaluate our values and, hence, our identity.
And it requires more than reflexivity and courage: a guiding hand to help us explore those murky passageways of our minds is surely necessary. Whilst there are many would-be guides, many of them are charlatans seeking their own rewards.
To be able to say genuinely “I see you” is a noble aim with enormous benefits for everyone. As with most things which have high value, achieving them is, perhaps necessarily, challenging.
Lovely words! You look like such a dear man to me. I haven't seen it yet. Hope you are safe in all this wacky weather. Peace
I see you. Richard :)
Unfortunately we're too layered in social graces and other crap to "see each other". It is a rarity these days in our busy, insular lives. That's why I found the Navi enchanting. I loved therr spirituality and especially their oneness with nature.
Cheers P_ _ S
Should anyone wish to take this idea of 'I see you' further, may I suggest considering something which is a basic NLP skill called calibration. Googling 'NLP calibration' would be a good place to begin.
Great post Richard. There were so many more layers to this movie than the usual Hollywood blandbuster. This movie also really struck a chord. Aside from the really powerful saying "I see you" their philosophy that "energy is only borrowed and then (when we die) we have to give it back" also really resonated.
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