Darren Aronofsky movies The Fountain and Pi

I have my friend Joe to thank for turning me onto Darren Aronofsky
movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Aronosfsky's The Fountain and Pi. But
before you go off and rent these, it's best to prepare a little. The
movies are rich in mythological themes. I'll butcher these here.

The Fountain.

The Fountain's trailers (http://thefountainmovie.warnerbros.com/) will
tell you the movie's about a man named Tom (in three different ages,
as a warrior, scientist and astronaut) looking for a way to save his
queen, the woman he loves. He wants to conquer death for her. The
movie, however, is sooo much more.

The Tree of Life in the astronaut era is clearly taken from Norse
mythology Yggdrasil (the bubble around it gives it away). Yggdrasil
symbolizes the axis of the world; the tree is in the center of the
world. The World Tree had saved Líf and Lífthrasir, the only man and
woman to survive Ragnarok (the end of the world).

Tom in the movie fails to conquer death. Instead, what he finds is
rebirth in the same way Native Americans thought of rebirth, as well
as Christians. All throughout the Americas and other places around the
world there have been myths of a person who is killed so others would
live. This, somehow, is symbolized by food. Food represents the body.

The Iroquois tell a story about a man who dies, and out of his dead
body grows the first corn stalk. Whenever you eat corn, you eat of his
body.

Another Native American tribe uses a similar story to justify killing
of a buffalo. A father is killed by the buffalo; his daughter
resurrects him with song; the buffalo asks the daughter to sing the
song for any dead buffalo. They tell her they will willingly come to
be slaughtered if she'll sing the song to resurrect them. She does.
The tribe sings when they kill buffalo; this makes it ok to kill them.
It's a way of thanking the buffalo for their sacrifice. (Joseph Campbell tells it much better than I do.)

The Maya also have a Tree of Life sacrifice as portrayed in the movie.
They also believe the gods are the Milky Way, exactly where the
astronaut is heading. The astronaut eats of the tree to live. He and
the tree are really one.

Egyptians have Osiris. He was killed, thrown in the river Nile, and
when his sarcophagus came ashore a great tree grew around and
completely enveloped the tree.

And, of course, Christians believe in a God killed on a tree, who was
then resurrected. Think of the sacrament.

So what is "The Fountain." The very thing Tom is trying to conquer
(death), is in fact the fountain of life. He finds the tree of life,
he drinks from it, and what happens? I'll let you watch the movie.

Suffice to say, when I'm buried, I want a tree to be planted on top of me.

Pi.

Pi is about a number (3.14141414...) and a pattern that a
mathematician is trying to find—the pattern that describes life. Lots
of headaches trying to get to it.

He finds the pattern, but when his computer tries to print it out,
it's unraveled by its own make-up. The pattern unravels. And what does
it create? It creates life through spiralling upward from the
beginning of its pattern. The pattern of "chaos." The pattern of the
transcendent being. The pattern of the Torah.

And the pattern serves as a predictor. It can predict anything. What
is the spiral then? The spiral represents a brain, the make-up, the
DNA, all life. But that means it can also predict the stock market,
the way to beat a person in Go, chess, whatever. The main character
looks at a shell with a spiral. The spiral is in the Milky Way
(similar to The Fountain).

Pi includes many ideas of Dan Winter, founder of the San Graal School
for Sacred Geometry. According to the Internet, the guy's obsessed
with the Holy Grail, chaos theory, DNA, aliens, etc. Used to work for
IBM. He's a Celestine Prophecy guy. We know where that ends up (at
Machu Picchu and disappearing).

Dan believes people should not live in metal houses or they'll die
sooner; people should live in Mother Nature (See interview here
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/A_Blissful_Interview_with_DAN_WINTER.htm).
Weird guy.

So there you go. Neat movies. Neat ideas. Enjoy!

CéU

Have you downloaded a CéU album yet? I love her music. http://www.ceumusic.com/

David

Zoroastrianism is Dying

Before there was Christianity and Islam, there was the ancient religion created by the prophet Zoroaster. I never knew about it. I didn't grow up learning about it. But the religion's ideas had forever changed the Western world; we all owe the popular idea of good God versus evil demon to this religion. Now the religion is dying.

It's called Zoroastrianism. The prophet Zoroaster had a vision that led an entire people off of ancient Buddhism.

Ancient Buddhism believed the earth had pleasure and suffering. The only way to enlightenment was to separate yourself, to reach nirvana. Meditate and don't cause suffering. Also, don't have any pleasure. Barely anyone could do this.

In Zoroaster's vision there was Arhura Mazda (meaning "Light"). Mazda was a particular God (among many) that loved the human race. So humans worshipped him. After all, anything good that happened came from Mazda. Anything bad, by other gods. The only way to be saved was through Mazda. Do the things that helped Mazda bring pleasure to people. Die and go to a lovely place. Do the things that cause suffering and be destroyed.

In Joseph Campbell words, Mazda was the personification of everything good. His jealous rival Angra Mainyu was the personification of all evil.

The Egyptians jumped on the Zoroastrian idea of having an afterlife, plus Good gods and Bad gods. This is clear in the Isis/Osiris/Horus myth.

And Islam and Christianity were born from it. Christianity, in fact, was a result of merging ideas of Judaism, Zoraster, Egyptian and pagan myths all together to create one. Before Mohammed, Iranians all worshipped Mazda. But the idea is basically the same. You have to get to heaven through a representative of Good.

Judaism evolved from Zoroastrian ideas too. In ancient Judaism, according to Anthony Mercatante, God created both pleasure and suffering, good and bad. You thanked God for the good and if you suffered, it's because God willed it. The chosen people are saved at the end. Later Judaism was changed. God only creates good things now, not bad. The devil does bad; he causes suffering. Ancient judaism would've never given the devil such power.

But there are few Zoroastrians left. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. The religion's law of not allowing converts has led to its doom. Some Zoroastrians are trying to change the law. Eventually, maybe it will change. But nonetheless, we mustn't forget this ancient religion.

Kids back tomorrow

I miss my kids a lot; they're coming back tomorrow. So today, it's up to me to get the house ready and go buy a fish (Kelsea's beta died while she was away; my fault). Can't wait to see them. I'll take pictures Saturday.

moby's post

I totally agree with moby's June 8 post. There's a ton of media attention directed on global warming, the environment, etc. But hardly any in the U.S. is about one of the world's main pollutants: livestock. Just by dropping our meat consumption by 10%-20%, heart disease could cease to be the No. 1 killer in America, we'd save a ton of rain forest, we'd save a ton of water, and we'd free enough grain to feed all the people in all third-world countries. Eat less meat, for your health and the world.

Thanks moby, for being a sane voice this week (it's not always sane).

Joseph Campbell's Mythic Reflections

Mythic Reflections is famous for being one of the times when Joseph Campbell openly criticized the Bible in an interview with Tom Collins saying it was "tribally circumscribed mythology," which meant that it directly claims one tribe to be better than all others. One tribe has a God who loves them; no one else does.

Then, when Collins annoyingly tries to get Campbell to try to reconcile the Bible's "seven-day creation" with evolution, Campbell dismisses the discussion as being as useless as trying to reconcile evolution with the Navajo creation myth.

On these points, a lot of people dismiss this interview and miss the wisdom in it.

This interview was hugely moving for me, however. Not because of the above, but because of why Campbell's explanation. He talks of a "transcendent energy" all humans feel. He explains that humans come up with Gods as a way of personifying that transcendent energy so we can actually talk about transcendent elements. What a concept! What a way to explain why there's a mythology for every culture.

I took something else away from this interview. I stopped being a theologian; I quit looking for answers in scripture and started being a mystic. I decided to listen to my inner-core spirit a little more. Staying away from doctrine, what are my morals? What does this transcendent energy tell me is right and wrong?

Let me know what you think of the interview.

Uruguay should've beat Brazil

Uruguay was better than Brazil today... I hate penalty kicks.