“Avatar” | Spirituality Without Borders: Reflections on Spiritual Practice

My sister shared this photo which she took while on an outing to Alki Beach in West Seattle- our adolescent playground. I responded to it on a cellular level. Not because of conjured memories- it was the jellyfish that pulled me into their light with the enticing movement of their tentacles. They calm me. “What do you want me to learn? I asked them.

A National Geographic/Nova documentary, “Creatures of light” gave me the answer in a query posed by a scientist, “How to survive the dark? Make Light.” The documentary is a study of bioluminescence in more than 200 species of deep-sea creatures and the bioflorescence of many land creatures. Light is the stuff of life for them.

In biofloresencence species take light from an external source and give it back. Watching fireflies on an otherwise stifling summer night. What a gift. As human beings, our spirits catch the light from other beings and store it deep in our souls where it generates more light. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Jn.1:5

In bioluminescence, species create their own light. It is programmed into their genes. My imagination goes to the magic of Pandora, in the film Avatar.

Human beings are body and spirit and spirit is light. Light is as integral to our spirits as it is to the genes of bioluminescent creatures. With light we can make light.

Give-receive–give-receive. I celebrate this interdependence on the weekend when Americans bow to independence.

Photo Credit Avatar: http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/navi-river-journey/news/16may2017-review-and-pov-video—na’vi-river-journey-on-pandora—the-world-of-avatar.htm

I watched Avatar again last evening and luxuriated in the luminescence of Pandora. The Na’vis’ greeting of “I see you,” moved me as it always does. “I see you,” not “What’s up?” I offer three vignettes of the phrase:

I I see you.

Mom greets me from her station on the front steps
Where she weeds and waits.
“Honey. Tony is gone. He died today.
Tony sang his little heart out for us.
I’m sorry.
I lay my loss down in the softness
Of her embrace,
Knowing that she saw me.

II. I See You.

We shared song and soul,
Discourse and discovery.
Then we set sail separately
To save our respective worlds.

I had not known
We were in love until the energy
In our farewell ignited the truth
Living in our eyes.
A bittersweet moment of sheer joy
Imprinted on the genes of our souls
Left to shape us separately even now.
I see you.

III. I see you.

Innocent on-looker to T.V. reporter:
“I’m not prejudiced,
But
Those people need to respect
Themselves more and not stoop
To such beliefs and actions.
I know you. You’re me.
And
I see you.