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Guest author: Liz Budd Ellmann, MDiv
“I see you,” Jake says to the tall, blue-skinned, native woman, Neytiri, in the futuristic, sci-fi epic movie Avatar. The greeting implies a connection beyond seeing with only the eyes. Much like the Indian Sanskrit greeting, “Namasté” which means “I bow reverentially to you,” the phrase “I see you” is used throughout the film to communicate a deep respect for the whole being. Not only does Jake learn to truly see Neytiri, but he also learns that deep-seeing leads to revering the interconnectedness in all of life.
My favorite scene involves Jake visiting the Tree of Souls. As a former Marine who is a wheelchair user, Jake becomes more and more involved with Neytiri and the plight of her people. He receives encouragement from Grace, a scientist who works on the “Avatar” project. In the film, he is forced to choose between following corporate orders to destroy a forest or helping the native Na'vi people. At a loss for how to help, he visits the Tree of Souls in the faraway world of Pandora, seeking connection and to be seen as his true self. It’s such an uncharacteristically Marine and corporate male thing to do: Jake the hero pleads for spiritual guidance from a tree and from a strong native woman, Neytiri. I loved it!
Australia member Jack Stuart recently sent me his thoughts about the film, “In light of Marysville and Black Saturday, I found Avatar a fascinating movie that has a strong element of caring for our planet and at times calls for a contemplative approach to our living. I'm not too sure if the makers realised this. [Carl] Jung said that often we are not aware initially of the import of what we say or do.”
In spiritual direction, we listen with more than our ears. We listen with our hearts for the whole being of the people we companion. We offer the opportunity to be seen and to be heard.
What a privilege to live in a time when the ministry of spiritual direction is “being seen” by more and more people, thanks to helpful media coverage like the brand new PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly television program. Like Jake, people want to learn about spirituality and be truly seen and heard. Thank you for helping people awaken to the connections among seeing, listening, and tending the sacred in all of life.
03/02,2010, at 08:21
How great! This year's theme for our weekend retreats is "Believing is Seeing: Take a closer look" and it is so exciting to share your views! Blessings!
03/02,2010, at 19:13
What a wonderful suprise to see the segment on Religion & Ethics. I thought it was so well done.
03/02,2010, at 21:45
What a beautiful theme for weekend retreats, Patrick. Thanks for letting us know about the synchronicities among us. Blessings...
03/03,2010, at 01:59
Grandmother Rabbi weighs in on Avatar and gives it priestly blessing. Sure, It’s for guys--70 percent of the viewers--and for the young. But I’m a sucker for 3D and the NYT and the New Yorker liked it. It sounded like it could be a cultural phenomenon like 2001 or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and I wanted to feel part of the world. I used my greatest powers of persuasion to get my partner and three other women to go with me. The big theater and matching screen worried me. I don’t like violent, despairing, or scary movies, and I didn’t know enough about Avatar to be assured we wouldn’t walk out feeling bludgeoned. No worries. This film healed my heart. When the exotic version of a superhuman from the planet Pandora falls in love with the earthling, instead of “I love you”, she says, “I see you”. I felt seen by the movie. Others may flock to see it for its unprecedented cinematic beauty or the breathtaking battles between good and evil. I see this movie. While its morality may be obvious, the filmmaker has used the medium to speak of spirit and to create religious experience. I don’t understand a world still attempting to solve its differences by physical domination. The heart of the grandmother grieves at the insensitivity, hardness, and greed practiced by those who destroy the natural world and widen the chasm between the rich and the poor. I am enraged by the world’s increasing injustice in the name of security. If you’re nodding, go see this movie not to be further enraged and frustrated but to see the vision of an interconnected world. It illustrates the verse, “God is one”. The first minutes of the film show hundreds of soldiers learning how to infiltrate the Na’vi, the indigenous people of the planet who mistrust and attack the “sky people” (the “white men” of the future). The Na’vi, which means “prophet” in Hebrew, have reason to fear the earthlings who have killed their Mother earth. and need to raid other planets for their resources. Pandora has a magic mineral, unobtanium, and it sits under the tree of souls, where the natives live. Don’t picture these heightened beings, much taller and stronger than earthlings, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Beefy and swaggering is out, sinewy and graceful is in. Big doesn’t win on Pandora, and again there is ancient resonance. The most powerful don’t win the day in the Holy Scriptures. Jacob, the second son, gets the blessing; Ruth and Naomi, the weakest in society, save the people and provide the messiah’s lineage; and the Jews themselves, who have no explanation for why or how they have survived as a miniscule, eternally despised and feared people, remain a mysterious and living witness to the world’s memory. The hero in the collective dream of the Jewish people is not only the dark horse, but sometimes a downright lout like Samson. Or Bilaam, who is ordered to curse Israel but when he opens his mouth, out come praises. Same in Avatar. Its hero begins as a double agent, working for the Army to get the Na’vi’s secrets. The most enlightened in that community see him as a force for good: little diaphanous jellyfish settle on him as evidence. Another profound thing about this movie is how our hero gets enlightened. He doesn’t physically go anywhere. No one external to him tells him anything. It is the imaginal world that takes him on a ride of rebirth. While we’re watching his “dream” on Pandora where he cavorts, fights, and falls in love, our hero is inside a mummy-like chamber. This is the mystic’s journey into the world of hazon, or vision. It is a burning bush, a sea splitting, and a shared experience of the divine. It is for all of us who have sensed the God-field yet doubt its reality. Avatar sees women, interconnection, and wholeheartedness in a broken world. I see this movie. You should, too. Never forget that the last gift of Pandora’s box is indispensable to survival: hope.
03/03,2010, at 09:37
How wonderful to read "I see you". Avatar was a healing moment after a very stressful week of medical appointments. I felt so hopeful around the Tree of Souls". It was a moment of listening and being for me. Some of the violence could have been deleted. But the overall connectedness took me to a contemplative stance and a reminder to listen to the Divine all around us. Thank you for this.