[LINK] "The spirituality of Avatar"

[rfmcdonald]

I watched Avatar with Jerry last night and, while noting that the perspectives noticed by other bloggers that revealed the story to be substantially a retelling of Pocohontas are most correct, I did enjoy the film: the plot with its science fiction trappings interested me, and the visuals were spectacular. The Search's Douglas Todd has written an interesting essay about Avatar's relationship with the religious philsophies of our own early 21st century Earth.

[Protagonist Jake] Sully learns that the Na'vi practice forms of telepathy and sacred bonding, with both fellow Na'vi and phantasmagoric animals. A Na'vi tells the increasingly wide-eyed ex-marine that there is a "flow of energy" that inhabits everything.

Within this spiritually interconnected eco-system, they reveal the goal of the Mother Goddess is not to "take sides" in any war, but to "protect only the balance of life."

This does not do full justice to the many spiritual themes developed in Avatar, including the Christ-like role eventually taken on by Sully and the Na'vi belief that all people must be "born twice."

But I hope it provides enough background for a debate on whether Cameron is, indeed, promoting pantheism.

Pantheism is taken from the Greek work, pan, which means "all," and theos, which means "God."

It is a doctrine that declares nature and God are identical. Pantheism is sometimes equated with animism, which is often described as the belief that not only humans, but trees and animals, have souls.

I can see why people argue that Avatar preaches pantheism, since the Tree of Souls does serve a god-like purpose and the Na'vi's forest is suffused with spirit.

But it is also quite possible Cameron is trying to develop a more sophisticated metaphysical worldview.

It's one which many Jewish and Christian theologians, and even some scientists, call "panentheism."

Panentheism is a challenging concept. It includes aspects of pantheism, but goes beyond it.

The respected Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology defines panentheism as:

"The doctrine that all is in God. It is distinguished from pantheism, which identifies God with the totality or as the unity of the totality -- for panentheism holds that God's inclusion of the world does not exhaust the reality of God. Panentheism understands itself as a form of theism, but criticizes traditional theism for depicting the world as external to God."

In other words, panentheism rejects a classic church belief that God is a distant, unchangeable Supreme Being, like a monarch. Instead, it teaches that God is in all things, but also transcends all things. Panentheists believe the early Christians were panentheists, in part because they thought Jesus illustrated how God is "incarnated" in the world (which is the definition of the Hindu word, "avatar").

Go, read the rest of the essay and the comments.