Avatar (pseudo)Spirituality - A Need for True Spirituality
I see Avatar as a spiritual fiction as against some who might see it as science fiction. The essence of the movie is the battle between a race that resorts to technological solutions and one that resorts to spiritual solutions for their problems. It is not surprising that in Avatar, the spiritual ones come over the top at the end, after all 'avatar' is a religious word.
In Sanskrit the religious text of the Hindu religion, 'avatar' means incarnation. I am not surprised that Christians who see the movie see similarites between Jake in Avatar and the incarnation of Christ. Jake, the protogonist, enters the Navi world with a human mind and a Navi body and eventually redeems the Navi from being wiped off by the human race.
If we look at the movie in its entierity, the 'Avatar' is more reflective of the Hindu mythology than Christian theology. Hinduism has many Gods, good ones and bad ones. Then there is the God of Gods who is the impersonal reality called the Brahman who keeps the balance and sustains life. The 'Avatar' God Mother, Eywa, is a feminine characterization of Brahman in Hinduism. When Jake goes to the trees and prays to the Navi God Mother to help him in the battle, Neytri tells him that the God Mother does not take sides and that she is not concerned about individuals, she is responsible to maintaining the balance of life.
There are three ideas here
1. God does not take sides.
2. God is not concerned about individuals.
3. God cares only for the balance of life.
The first idea implies that there is no distinction betwee the good and bad for a God to take sides. This is true in Hindu mythology. Brahman the God of Gods is the source of all of life, both the good and the bad. This is a complete contradition to the God of the Bible.
The second idea implies that the Navi God is as impersonal as is Brahman. The very fact that Godhead is co-equal trinity belies the extent to which God can't help being personal. Of the 100 sheep, even if He looses one, He goes in search of it because He cares for individuals.
The third idea flowing out of the second and implies that the Naiv God is at best a force, at worst just an idea about reality. Brahman, as per Hindu mythology is the impersonal reality out of which all thing flow and that which also holds things together. The Bible does say that all things in life are held together by the Word of God, but this just a very small part of who the God of the Bible is is, whereas with Brahman, to hold the world is balance is ALL of what/who it/he is.
As Neyetri tells Jake in Avatar, there is no use praying to God. If God is an impersonal reality, then prayer becomes ponitless, one can only meditate. It is in this vein that when someone supposedly asked Paul Tillich, "Would you pray when you die?", he replied, "No, I do not pray. I meditate".
That a science fiction thriller is actually a spiritual fiction, belies the need for the modern techno-crazed generation for spirituality. But the spirituality of 'Avatar' is a psuedo-spirituality that makes one aware of God, but does not lead one to God. As much as I feel encouraged when I see movies acknowledge the spiritual, I feel saddened when the spirituality acknowledged is a pseudo-spirituality.
In Avatar, spirituality is just portrayed as the acknowledgement of an alternate reality. Period. Noting more. This caricatured view of spirituality is not even like seeing one half of the coin, it is perhaps like seeing the coin in a parallel line of sight, that it appears as a slender metal stick. What saddens me is that a person who sees the bankruptcy in technology and tries a pseudo-spirituality of this kind will find this too to be as bankrupt. Because in the spirituality where the god does not care for the individual, there is no individuality that affirms the existence of the individual. In that world view, even if a person commits suicide, noting is gained or lost. After all, this god who is just the representation of an alternate reality that we dont normally see is silent, it has not answers. It just IS.
On the other hand, true spirituality is not about alternative realities, but about a personal supernatural reality. This spirituality points to a God who is a person and so He needs to talk. He needs to give us answers. He needs for us to enjoy having a relationship with Him through which restores us back to our individuality, that our deeper needs of life are catered to in this regenerative process is just another add on.
This generation does not need movies that falsely exalt pseudo-spirituality. We need movies that truly exemplify true spirituality. We need Christians who can use their God given ability for imagination and art to depict true spirituality through great arts.
In Sanskrit the religious text of the Hindu religion, 'avatar' means incarnation. I am not surprised that Christians who see the movie see similarites between Jake in Avatar and the incarnation of Christ. Jake, the protogonist, enters the Navi world with a human mind and a Navi body and eventually redeems the Navi from being wiped off by the human race.
If we look at the movie in its entierity, the 'Avatar' is more reflective of the Hindu mythology than Christian theology. Hinduism has many Gods, good ones and bad ones. Then there is the God of Gods who is the impersonal reality called the Brahman who keeps the balance and sustains life. The 'Avatar' God Mother, Eywa, is a feminine characterization of Brahman in Hinduism. When Jake goes to the trees and prays to the Navi God Mother to help him in the battle, Neytri tells him that the God Mother does not take sides and that she is not concerned about individuals, she is responsible to maintaining the balance of life.
There are three ideas here
1. God does not take sides.
2. God is not concerned about individuals.
3. God cares only for the balance of life.
The first idea implies that there is no distinction betwee the good and bad for a God to take sides. This is true in Hindu mythology. Brahman the God of Gods is the source of all of life, both the good and the bad. This is a complete contradition to the God of the Bible.
The second idea implies that the Navi God is as impersonal as is Brahman. The very fact that Godhead is co-equal trinity belies the extent to which God can't help being personal. Of the 100 sheep, even if He looses one, He goes in search of it because He cares for individuals.
The third idea flowing out of the second and implies that the Naiv God is at best a force, at worst just an idea about reality. Brahman, as per Hindu mythology is the impersonal reality out of which all thing flow and that which also holds things together. The Bible does say that all things in life are held together by the Word of God, but this just a very small part of who the God of the Bible is is, whereas with Brahman, to hold the world is balance is ALL of what/who it/he is.
As Neyetri tells Jake in Avatar, there is no use praying to God. If God is an impersonal reality, then prayer becomes ponitless, one can only meditate. It is in this vein that when someone supposedly asked Paul Tillich, "Would you pray when you die?", he replied, "No, I do not pray. I meditate".
That a science fiction thriller is actually a spiritual fiction, belies the need for the modern techno-crazed generation for spirituality. But the spirituality of 'Avatar' is a psuedo-spirituality that makes one aware of God, but does not lead one to God. As much as I feel encouraged when I see movies acknowledge the spiritual, I feel saddened when the spirituality acknowledged is a pseudo-spirituality.
In Avatar, spirituality is just portrayed as the acknowledgement of an alternate reality. Period. Noting more. This caricatured view of spirituality is not even like seeing one half of the coin, it is perhaps like seeing the coin in a parallel line of sight, that it appears as a slender metal stick. What saddens me is that a person who sees the bankruptcy in technology and tries a pseudo-spirituality of this kind will find this too to be as bankrupt. Because in the spirituality where the god does not care for the individual, there is no individuality that affirms the existence of the individual. In that world view, even if a person commits suicide, noting is gained or lost. After all, this god who is just the representation of an alternate reality that we dont normally see is silent, it has not answers. It just IS.
On the other hand, true spirituality is not about alternative realities, but about a personal supernatural reality. This spirituality points to a God who is a person and so He needs to talk. He needs to give us answers. He needs for us to enjoy having a relationship with Him through which restores us back to our individuality, that our deeper needs of life are catered to in this regenerative process is just another add on.
This generation does not need movies that falsely exalt pseudo-spirituality. We need movies that truly exemplify true spirituality. We need Christians who can use their God given ability for imagination and art to depict true spirituality through great arts.