Posts Tagged pop culture

The Spirituality of “Avatar”

January 2nd, 2010 by

Across the blogosphere you can read about Avatar being a Hindu myth, rich in Biblical symbols, and a long apologia for pantheism. That James Cameron was drawing from Hindu themes is evidenced throughout the movie: from the greeting “I see you,” which is very much like Namaste (“I salute the God within you”), to the word Avatar itself, which is Sanskrit for “descent (of a deity)”, to the fact that the Na’vi people (the indigenous population of Pandora) believe in rebirth (and James Sully is ultimately reborn into his Avatar body).

But it’s also arguably anything you want it to be, so rich is the movie in symbols and spiritual undertones. And though the critics may rush to want to answer the question of whose spirituality Avatar mirrors, the beauty of the movie lies in the celebration of a world whose people truly treat it as sacred, and in which all living beings are not only interconnected, but also honored by the people of the planet, who thrive as a result of that interconnectedness. The official Avatar website says, “Some believe that this interconnectedness, which on Earth is merely a spiritual concept, exists in a physical and tangible way on Pandora, in the form of a strange, collective psionic consciousness embedded in the planet, drawn from all Pandoran life.”

I love this sentiment, that on Earth this level of interconnectedness is merely a spiritual concept. Maybe it’s merely a concept because we don’t know how to listen. Through much of the movie, Neytri (the princess of the Omaticaya Clan) attempts to teach Jake Sully how to see, how to listen at an entirely different level. In many spiritual circles, this is the practice: dropping down enough, being still enough, silent enough to be able to see and listen to what’s underneath the chatter and chaos that not only surrounds us, but lives inside us as well.

The Na’vi people are certainly not an entirely enlightened people. After all, they dominate and kill the beasts on their planet (despite honoring them after a kill, or bonding with them on a level that humans can certainly relate to; we might feel a similar heartfelt connection to our dogs, cats, or horses). They are individualistic and there’s a clear hierarchy among them. They hold resentments and grudges; it’s Jake Sully who unites them with the other clans during a time of great unrest. They’re flawed in many of the same ways human beings are flawed. They want to protect what’s theirs and they are resistant to outside influences. But their deep-felt connection and appreciation for their planet, as well as a strong understanding of energetic connectedness, is at the heart of their existence. Neytri teaches Jake that if the Na’vi people take energy they must give it back. There’s a giving and a taking, and an honoring in the taking that’s not particularly celebrated in Western culture, where too many are not wholly conscious of how much we take and how little we give.

In response to the above-mentioned New York Times op-ed that called “Avatar” pantheistic, Christianity Today wrote that it’s better described as panentheistic. Panentheism, as defined by Wikipedia, is a belief system which posits that God exists and interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. Pantheism, on the other hand, holds that God is synonymous with the material universe.

“Avatar” is this, but much more, too. Panentheism may well describe the belief system of the Na’vi people, but their intention to honor life and to attune to energy is rooted in a spiritual understanding that shouldn’t be overlooked by commentators. I hope this movie opens up more possibilities for spiritual fiction (as one blogger called “Avatar”) to find its place in mainstream pop culture.

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