The Square

It was in middle school. I was doing my normal "reading the newspaper purely for the comics" when I stopped to read an article. It told of a child abuse case in which this little boy's parents beat him with an electrical cord. They did other forms of abuse but that was the one that stuck out to me. My sheltered reality came tumbling down and there, admist the rubble, stood a girl who could not fathom why anyone would want to hurt a child in such a way. And then I remember the clear desire to hold that little boy in my arms and make sure no one ever hurt him again. It was that day I decided to become a children's social worker. My dreams have taken many forms since then but that story has remained with me, haunting me.

What did that boy need? What do the millions of children around the world need? Something stuck out ot me at the very end of The Square (a documentary of Egypt's revolutions on Netflix. Check it out!). Ahmed, one of the revolutionaries, said that he wasn't looking for a leader in Egypt, "someone to rule over us" but rather, he was looking to create a conscience. That is what would rule Egypt.

Conscience (n): 1. the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives,              impelling one toward right action
       2. the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the               actions and thoughts of an individual
     
If we created a conscience, then good leaders would naturally rise. Or would we even need them at all? Replace "conscience" with "love":

If all of us had perfect love for every other person,

there would then be no need to have any other laws 

or commandments. Each of us would base his/her thoughts,

actions, and statements upon how they affected every other

soul, and we would do, think and say nothing that might

be harmful to another.

To build a global conscience where love was the rule of law would require more time and effort and resources than we might have the capacity to give. But that does not mean we stop striving. "For with God, nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37). God. That is the key. Not so much converting people to your religion because we know that often creates more problems than it solves but it's remembering what is good about your religion. The compassion. The charity. The forgiveness. The hope. The selflessness. The holiness.That is the conscience this world so sorely needs.

Every aspect of the universe is breathing with life, with energy:: every person, every object, every animal. There energies collide as two ripples in a pond. Everyone is affected whether you are aware of it or not. In this way, every interaction we have produces a new energy that is sent out in the universe-- a good energy or a bad energy.

 I went to a mediation class last Saturday. The mentor taught us a mantra that was important he said: "I am nothing. I know nothing. I want for nothing." Every time I said "I am nothing" my body rejected it. "I am not nothing", my soul said to me, "I am everything. I am the light from the sun. I am the sound of the birds I hear outside. I am the love I feel for my friends and family. I am ......" So that must mean I am literally made up of all the energy I surround myself with every day. I am only because of my interactions with others. It is what creates me. It is what makes my existence real.

Now what if this energy being created was the way to create a conscience. We need to be creating positive energy so that the conscience we are building is a positive one. How do we do this? By having positive interactions with everything around us. This is more than a good word exchanged between friends once a month.

 What would happen if all the food we ate was grown with love and eaten with gratitude? What would happen if when walking home from work or school, you thanked the trees for giving you shade? Stopped to smell the beautiful flowers in bloom? Didn't kill the bug you found in your room but rather scooped it up with a paper and took it outside?

What would happen if every time you went to the grocery store, you smiled, talked with, loved the person scanning your groceries? Or when you went to the movie theater, do you bother to call the workers by their name? I mean, they do wear name tags don't they?

What if we took advantage of the thousands of opportunities presented to us each day? These connections do more than create love, peace, happiness and place it out in the universe-- they weave together fibers connecting all one to another. Soon, those fibers become stronger, unbreakable until the world is blanketed with the fabric of love. Love is the strongest material there is.

So what do I need to do? That was my original question. What is my role in all of this? I need to be more aware of the energy I'm creating with others. I need to learn more about Futbol so the next time I'm in a pub in a foreign land, I can make conversation with the fellows watching the latest Euro match. I need to kill less bugs; spend more time outside creating bonds with Mother Earth. I can learn basic nursing so when there is a sickness around, I can offer loving, knowledgeable hands to help. I can buy an acre of land and plant fruit trees so my whole neighborhood can enjoy the fruits of summer. I can start looking people in the eye so they know I truly see them; really learn their names and call them by it so they know they're more than just a face.

I need to be so committed to the idea that love is what the world needs that I literally become love. Personify it. Embody it in body, spirit, mind. 

My Two Cents about NOAH

In one of my Humanities classes in college, my teacher told us that with the invention of the camera, art suddenly had the freedom to capture more that what their eye could see. Thus, modern art became a pursuit of imagination, doing what has never been done before, introducing worlds people have never seen. It made art more powerful.

NOAH is exactly that. The makers of this movie, in my opinion, were not setting out to tell the story of Noah. If you want to see it, go watch a cartoon you were always shown in Sunday School. If you want to see it, go read Genesis. BUT, if you want to see the idea of Noah presented in a powerful, thought-provoking, fantastical (as in fantasy-like) way, go experience NOAH. For it truly is an experience.

What is the theme of the story of Noah? What is the idea? I've been thinking about this ever since I talked with my sister about her experience seeing this movie. She said Noah was, for her, always a story of obedience. For me, Noah was always a story of..... well, I didn't even really know. For Darren Aronofsky, Noah is a story of starting over. So many different ways of getting off the path intended for you and various ways of getting back on. That was the driving theme of this movie-- people getting off a path and how to get back on it. 

Humanity, for example, had strayed so far off the path intended for them by the Creator. (It didn't really bother me that they never called him God because the movie is about creation. Creating new life, creating original life so it seemed fit to call him by that title.) Aronofsky's depiction of the evil humanity had succumbed to was both subtle and in your face. I finally understood what the Bible meant by saying men were so wicked it disgusted God. I was disgusted by humans in that movie; by their subtle pride and reliance on themselves alone, to their destruction of the creations around them, to the cold, hard hearts. Sometimes, we get so far off the path that there is no way to get back on but by starting completely over. Thus, the Creator decided to wipe humanity off the Earth and start again. Try again. So he did.... obviously by a flood because that's the story.

But Aronofsky and and Handel (the second writer) didn't stop there. They saw and portrayed other examples of getting off the path. They used this biblical story as an avenue for exploring that.

Noah himself got off the path. He became so blinded by one commandment, one idea-- the wickedness of man-- that he forgot all other commandments. He was consumed with wanting to be so obedient because he could feel the weight of his calling. Could this be a commentary on religion in general-- how sometimes extremists focus so much on one commandment, they forget about mercy, love, change, and faith? Yes. This idea is both universal and personal. I found myself reflecting of how often I've done that in my life-- and how, like Noah, I learned to get back on the real path. Noah did it through realizing the love in his heart, taking control over his own decisions rather than assuming God would take control, and through forgiveness. Making Noah human made him real.

Sometimes we get off the path because we do not allow ourselves to get on it. We do not allow ourselves the happiness the Creator intended for us. Ila (Emma Watson's character) went through that journey. She did not let herself on that path because of she was damaged (I don't want to give too much away!). Whether it be through tragedy, illness, disabilities, circumstances-- we are not on the path of the Creator but just as with Ila, it is through God's mercy that we can begin walking. Ila's story hit me more than others perhaps because I'm a woman so I felt as though I could understand exactly what she was feeling and so, when the Creator blessed her, his mercy and love overwhelmed me to tears. Truly God is good. He does want us to be on the path of happiness.

You know, I said a silent prayer in my heart as the movie was starting. I said "God, I want to see beauty. I want to understand." I saw. I understood. And I'm grateful for the artists who were brave enough, inspired enough to create an avenue where I could draw closer to the Creator, be inspired to be a kinder human to all creations, and feel hope that no matter how I get off the path I can always get back on.