“Do
you understand? The spirits will always
have a place in this world, as long as you- and humans like you- create one for
us.”
“But
how can you be sure we’ll do that? How
can you know?”
“I
don’t know, young Avatar. I hope.”
-Lady
Tenhai speaking with Aang in Avatar: The
Rift (Part 3)
We live in skeptical times. We are seeing a profound shift in our popular
consciousness towards scientific reasoning, and hard facts, as the preferred
basis of thought and public policy. The
benefits of this are countless, and beyond quantifiable value- silly,
unhealthy, and even downright destructive superstitions are vanishing piecemeal
throughout the world, it is becoming easier than ever before to collect and add
to the vast pool of knowledge that humanity has collected over the course of
our existence, and our ability to understand the fundamental laws of nature and
the universe has exploded to levels previously unknown.
But something can easily be lost
(indeed, is being lost) in this rapid transitional process- the importance of
spirituality to a healthy and full existence, from the individual to the
collective level. With so much of our
focus these days on the external proof of the senses, trying to live
spiritually in accordance with religious or faith practices is dismissed by
many as frivolous, or childish, or ignorant, or simply useless. Religion and faith, we are told, are things
dead or dying, no longer fit for a modern world. Faith or philosophical doctrines are at best
quant, and at worst, destructive.
Therefore, best to slowly remove such things from our popular
consciousness.
Avatar,
in both its concept and its execution in TV show/comic book form, rejects this as
something positive or inevitable. At its
innermost core, Avatar is more than
just a series of coming-of-age hero adventures with a wacky bunch of teens,
their kids, and their grandkids in a realm of animated fantasy. It is
that rare example of something successful, popular, profitable, and mainstream
that beats against the current of the times, that dares to say that cultivating
a spiritual philosophy and resolutely holding on to hope and optimism, no
matter how dark the times, is not only important and helpful, but is indeed
essential if we genuinely wish to see a better tomorrow.
Given the wealth of spiritual material worked
into every level of the film, from the broad strokes of the plot to the tiniest
features in the artistic designs and lore of the world, a full tackling of the
religious/philosophical material in the show could easily fill several
semesters’ worth of college seminars, but for now, let’s consider one
particular spiritual practice that takes center stage throughout much of both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra; meditation.
Meditation serves a number of
crucial purposes within the Avatar
world, with perhaps the biggest one being that it is the primary method for the
Avatar to travel back and forth between the spiritual and physical world. Since there are only a handful of direct
portals between the worlds, when the need is great enough, the Avatar must sit
down where they are, be present in the world, and go deep within to enter into
the other realm. This is not just
something the shows treat as a side detail- it is often an absolute necessity
for Aang and Korra to retreat from the human world for a time to seek answers
for their troubles. I am thinking
especially of Aang’s visit to the Koi Fish during the siege of the North and
his encounter with the lion turtle (preceded by an extended round of
meditation) just before the arrival of Sozin’s comet in TLA, and Korra’s struggles to find her own inner connection with
the spirits in Books 2 and 4 of LoK.
Think about how drastically at odds
this approach is to not just American animation, but American visual media in
general; even in the thick of a battle, our heroes often realize there is a
need to not throw themselves into the fray just yet, and that a better solution
(or better help) could be just around the corner if they take a few more
moments to seek it out within the greater connection of the two realms of the Avatar world. Just hopping in and busting heads isn’t
enough. Doing so requires patience,
mindfulness, and a strong spiritual connection with the greater universe, and
having these qualities at the forefront of the story sets it far, far apart
from the hectic, animated climaxes of so many of the superhero shows and movies
currently clogging our cinemas.
But the show brings in meditation in
other ways as well, especially in The Last
Airbender. Aang is a kid, impish,
impulsive, and fun, but also a spiritual nomad trained in various meditative
practices, and we see him utilize them constantly, not just for emergencies or
official Avatar business. He uses them
often just to deal with daily frustrations or negative emotions, or to try to
sort through emotional turmoil. It is
not an abandonment of the outside world, or a way to repress or cast out
emotions, but simply a way for him to handle everything more constructively, to
hold himself back a bit when he senses his first instincts might not be the
right ones to follow. And, above all, it
is his way of constantly refreshing his spiritual connection to the world
around him, how he comes to peace with everything in his life.
The most refined example of this is
found in “The Guru,” already on the record as one of my favorite Avatar episodes of all time. Aang is taken through a series of intense
meditative practices to unlock the power of each of 7 chakras of the human body
and psyche. Chakras that, by the by,
aren’t just thought-up fantasy powers ala the chakra in Naruto, they actually exist and are studied extensively. Each of them deals with a different spiritual
aspect of a person, and to unlock each one, Aang has to delve deep within
himself to identify the core qualities and characteristics of his being. This includes the bad, his fears and regrets
and worries, but also requires in equal measure identification of the good- his
loves, his hopes, and his confidence.
It’s the closest the show gets to having a single, unified religious
philosophy, even though the creators have gone on record as saying they never
tried to create such a thing, because it touches on just about all of the core
things living a life of faith and spirituality requires- openness to the bad
and the good inside oneself, having the wisdom and sight to identify which is
which, and finding within this journey the strength to do the right thing.
There’s another aspect to how
meditation and spiritual elements are used in Avatar I’d like to call attention to briefly- how they can be used
to strengthen optimism and hope, even in the face of seemingly impossible
odds. The quote I included at the
beginning of this post, found towards the very end of Part 3 of The Rift, is a key example of this; the
story of this particular graphic novel revolves partially around the struggle
to reconcile the oncoming tide of modernity and change with the timeless need
to find room for (and, of course, balance with) the spirits and their
world.
At the time of this exchange, one
spirit, Old Iron, has abandoned his ancient form, convinced that the age of
spirits is over and that they no longer have a place in the world of humans,
directly accusing Aang (and, by extension, the entire existence of the Avatar)
of facilitating this by always siding with the interests of humans over those
of spirits. Aang, taught to revere the
spirits by both the air nomads and his training as the Avatar, is distraught and
worried by this, wondering if what the old spirit says may be true. However, another spirit, that of the Lady
Tenhai, appears to him and says that she believes that the other spirit is
wrong- there IS still a place for spirits alongside humans, and vice versa, and
even though the connections between the two are often broken or harmed by human
error or arrogance, they can always be repaired and rebuilt, even if a
beneficial and balanced outcome is never guaranteed.
That last point is one of the best
examples I can think of that testify to the brilliance of the storytelling
we’ve gotten from both the shows and the comics over the past 10 years. Avatar deals
with a lot of heavy, complicated, and messy material, including PTSD, genocide,
colonialism, WMDs, and post-conflict reconciliation. It does them all justice
too, treating them with nuance, and never talking down or over-simplifying
things for the viewer. Even when the
show is at its most kid-friendly, it still deals with itself (and us) maturely
and intelligently. But despite this, it
never stoops to providing easy answers or cop-outs for any of the problems
brought up. Korra’s recovery from PTSD
is arduous, long, and exhausting. The
first of the comics dealt with the difficult and messy fallout of the Fire
Nation’s colonial policies and the hurt feelings preventing post-war
reconciliation. Mirroring our own
world, Avatar eschews simple
solutions, outright telling us that sometimes, the only way to move forward is
to jump head-first into an ocean of uncertainty and dubious outcomes.
The key (and Lady Tenhai recognizes
this as well) is that humans must want to work for a solution to problems both
physical and metaphysical; we must want to create space for both, and must make
the effort to make it possible for both the material and the spiritual to live
side-by-side. The outcome is never
guaranteed, but Lady Tenhai still sees reason for hope simply because it is
possible for people to change, and as long as people are able to change for the
better, things can always improve over time.
None of this is anything
revolutionary, of course. Avatar may not be the launch point for a
new wave of spirituality-infused children’s TV.
It could, of course, but it will be years yet before we can properly
judge the full cultural impact of a franchise a mere 10 years of age. Nonetheless, even if nothing else were to
come of this, for what it is, it is a breath of fresh air, a collection of
tales that take a different tack from most of modern entertainment. Avatar is a masterwork of storytelling and
adventure, but I also love it for how it nurtures spiritualism as part of its
world and characters as well, encouraging thoughtful reflection over all
aspects of existence, and not the cold abandonment of some to the favor of
others.
This is important because,
ultimately, there is no life without faith, regardless of the form said faith
takes. When we just look to the surface
of what we observe and claim it as the whole, we see only the superficial
divisions of the world, thin dividing lines between existence and empty space,
living and non-living matter, plants and animals, humans from other animals,
and individuals from each other. We
forget faith, and are unable to move, though we live in the illusion of
perpetual motion.
Think about it- we only get out of
bed in the morning because we are able to find the faith within myself that the
day will be wonderful, that good things will happen, and that we will survive
it to see another. If that faith were
not there- if we could find no reason to believe that standing up and getting
dressed could not lead to something positive, we would not move. We would wither, and die.
But we do not. We rise, we eat, we live, and we grow. We do this because we have an inherent,
instinctive faith in tomorrow. And our
going through this life is enhanced, and improved, and made more joyous when we
actively seek out our inherent faith and look for the paths that strengthen and
enhance it. Through this, we cultivate
the spirit as well as the body, and by tying this to an enduring hope of a
better tomorrow, we make our world anew with each breath we take.
Avatar
deserves praise for a great many things, but for me, chief among them is that
it does its part to try to get each of us, young and old, to be more thoughtful
and mindful of the spiritual side of life, thus enriching both ourselves and
those around us. And God bless it for
that.
-Noah
Franc
**For
Part 1 of Avatar Month, click here
**For
Part 2, here
**For
Part 3, here
**For
Part 4, here
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