Jay Michaelson takes the nondualist view of Avatar.
Here’s an excerpt:
By my estimation, approximately 700,000 people will see Avatar for every 1 that reads Everything is God. Admittedly, it has better special effects. But let’s not think that nonduality is something James Cameron, or Hollywood, made up. It’s in the Zohar, the Upanishads, the writings of John of the Cross, Rumi, the Tao te Ching, the Heart Sutra, and many other texts written long before Lumiere’s train arrived at La Ciotat. Of course, these millennia-old traditions do not fit cleanly into our postmodern world, and so contemporary people adapt them to their lived experience. But at its core, Avatar’s philosophy is not new; it is ancient, profound, and liberating.
Advertisement
January 11, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Yes, it is an ancient concept that has circled back to our time. I became fascinated by it several years ago and traced its ebb and flow through the ages. You are so right that it is in the Upsanishads, Rumi, even the Bible if read with an eye towards it. My book is “In the Same Breath.” I’m continuing to write about the concept and expand on the book in my blog, which you have been so kind to have mentioned here. Blog is beginningless.wordpress.com. Book can be purchased from the usual places or at cyberinkonline.com. Thanks for a great site!