Catastrophe
The most moving documentary I've seen in a long time is on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DMiy_DVok
It's little more than a collection of amateur video shot of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which claimed at least 250,000 lives in a single day.
Sadly, such catastrophes are not uncommon. 20 million in World War II, 100,000 in Gulf War II. We're always digging up the remains of entire civilizations that were swept away and utterly lost. What is different about this catastrophe is that it was caught on film by the survivors -- we share the happy days in tropical paradise, the horror of the event, the immediate aftermath and the long term effect on real individuals.
It gets you thinking.
One of the things that impressed me is how our ability to understand the universe is stretched to the breaking point in these situations. The philosophies that are handed out by the religions of the world are put to the test and found wanting.
In interview after interview, you see people trying to wrap their heads around what has happened to them personally, the abrupt loss of their close family members, the trauma of searching for loved ones amid heaps of stinking corpses. Most of all, we see the incredible ability of people to pick up and re-build when they are left with literally nothing but a pulse.
Well.
Nobody in the film is suggesting that God did this, even though we should be expected to think that. After all, He supposedly wiped out all humanity in the great flood of Genesis. If anybody still takes that kind of thinking seriously, they did not appear in this film. The literal interpretation of the Bible has faded away over the last few generations to be replaced with an empty scaffold of rhetorical questions that nobody expects to have answered. Why did I survive when so many perished? How do I find meaning in my own life, now that everyone I cared about has been snatched away? How do I deal with the experience of seeing how utterly fragile human life is? Above all, How can I go on?
Of course, if you live for a few decades, you will be faced with these questions on a smaller, more personal scale. As you bury family members or face your own mortality, there are moments of reflection when you confront the terrible truth about death and the awesome improbability of your own birth and survival.
On this terrible Boxing Day, one young woman lost most of her family. She herself was saved by being swept out to sea and was eventually rescued after hours of prayerful desperation Of course she attributes her salvation to the intervention of God without blaming the Almighty for the catastrophe itself. I believe that this kind of double-think can literally drive people mad. These poor folks hang on to their superstitious belief in God, but draw the obvious conclusion that God loves to create suffering on a vast scale. The result is that they see themselves as trapped in a universe ruled by an all-powerful sadistic spirit. The obvious escape from this horror is to jettison the premise that the universe is operated by a hidden spirit or that there is some kind of moral force baked into the laws of physics. Thanks to brain washing in early childhood, this option is not available to millions of ordinary folks facing the cruel realities of the actual universe they have been born into.
True, it's hard to face that plate tectonics have no regard for human life. But you are aided by the simple fact that it's true. This is is far better than being lost in superstitious double think and/or the idea that the universe is out to get you.
Months after the catastrophe, we see the young lady firmly convinced that she will be reunited with her dear family in heaven. We feel nothing but sympathy for the poor girl, but we mentally bite our tongue. She is simply employing the the emotional band-aid she's been handed as a child to blind her the reality of what has happend. She will go on with life, while the band-aid prevents the horrible experience of death from infecting her ability to function day-to-day.
Loss of a loved one is a deeply personal and private catastrophe. We feel that a big, important part of our selves has been ripped out. We are convinced that it will be impossible to re-build and continue on. The implausible idea that we will be reunited with our loved ones can be a kind of emotional valium, allowing us to stop thinking for for a few days while the simple routine of life pulls us back into the real world. Life goes on. I have met very few people who seriously believe in the silly idea that we somehow survive death. On the other hand, I've met lots of people who have used this personal catastrophe to reflect on what is real and what is important. They are deeply wounded, but somehow wiser, more compassionate and more at home in the world.
Each of us come into the world as a result of an incredible string of improbable circumstances. We are born into a world full of peril and suffering, but we is also share a universe full of majesty and wonder. The astonishing fact that we are alive at all can be seen as a blessing or a curse -- the story can be told either way.
What we do know for sure is that we're all in this together. Whatever stories we tell ourselves about the ultimate meaning of it all, we somehow know what to do in situations beyond human comprehension. We reach out to the survivors, pick up the pieces and re-build, heal ourselves and those around us. We tell our stories, apply our band-aids. We learn to laugh and love again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DMiy_DVok
It's little more than a collection of amateur video shot of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which claimed at least 250,000 lives in a single day.
Sadly, such catastrophes are not uncommon. 20 million in World War II, 100,000 in Gulf War II. We're always digging up the remains of entire civilizations that were swept away and utterly lost. What is different about this catastrophe is that it was caught on film by the survivors -- we share the happy days in tropical paradise, the horror of the event, the immediate aftermath and the long term effect on real individuals.
It gets you thinking.
One of the things that impressed me is how our ability to understand the universe is stretched to the breaking point in these situations. The philosophies that are handed out by the religions of the world are put to the test and found wanting.
In interview after interview, you see people trying to wrap their heads around what has happened to them personally, the abrupt loss of their close family members, the trauma of searching for loved ones amid heaps of stinking corpses. Most of all, we see the incredible ability of people to pick up and re-build when they are left with literally nothing but a pulse.
Well.
Nobody in the film is suggesting that God did this, even though we should be expected to think that. After all, He supposedly wiped out all humanity in the great flood of Genesis. If anybody still takes that kind of thinking seriously, they did not appear in this film. The literal interpretation of the Bible has faded away over the last few generations to be replaced with an empty scaffold of rhetorical questions that nobody expects to have answered. Why did I survive when so many perished? How do I find meaning in my own life, now that everyone I cared about has been snatched away? How do I deal with the experience of seeing how utterly fragile human life is? Above all, How can I go on?
Of course, if you live for a few decades, you will be faced with these questions on a smaller, more personal scale. As you bury family members or face your own mortality, there are moments of reflection when you confront the terrible truth about death and the awesome improbability of your own birth and survival.
On this terrible Boxing Day, one young woman lost most of her family. She herself was saved by being swept out to sea and was eventually rescued after hours of prayerful desperation Of course she attributes her salvation to the intervention of God without blaming the Almighty for the catastrophe itself. I believe that this kind of double-think can literally drive people mad. These poor folks hang on to their superstitious belief in God, but draw the obvious conclusion that God loves to create suffering on a vast scale. The result is that they see themselves as trapped in a universe ruled by an all-powerful sadistic spirit. The obvious escape from this horror is to jettison the premise that the universe is operated by a hidden spirit or that there is some kind of moral force baked into the laws of physics. Thanks to brain washing in early childhood, this option is not available to millions of ordinary folks facing the cruel realities of the actual universe they have been born into.
True, it's hard to face that plate tectonics have no regard for human life. But you are aided by the simple fact that it's true. This is is far better than being lost in superstitious double think and/or the idea that the universe is out to get you.
Months after the catastrophe, we see the young lady firmly convinced that she will be reunited with her dear family in heaven. We feel nothing but sympathy for the poor girl, but we mentally bite our tongue. She is simply employing the the emotional band-aid she's been handed as a child to blind her the reality of what has happend. She will go on with life, while the band-aid prevents the horrible experience of death from infecting her ability to function day-to-day.
Loss of a loved one is a deeply personal and private catastrophe. We feel that a big, important part of our selves has been ripped out. We are convinced that it will be impossible to re-build and continue on. The implausible idea that we will be reunited with our loved ones can be a kind of emotional valium, allowing us to stop thinking for for a few days while the simple routine of life pulls us back into the real world. Life goes on. I have met very few people who seriously believe in the silly idea that we somehow survive death. On the other hand, I've met lots of people who have used this personal catastrophe to reflect on what is real and what is important. They are deeply wounded, but somehow wiser, more compassionate and more at home in the world.
Each of us come into the world as a result of an incredible string of improbable circumstances. We are born into a world full of peril and suffering, but we is also share a universe full of majesty and wonder. The astonishing fact that we are alive at all can be seen as a blessing or a curse -- the story can be told either way.
What we do know for sure is that we're all in this together. Whatever stories we tell ourselves about the ultimate meaning of it all, we somehow know what to do in situations beyond human comprehension. We reach out to the survivors, pick up the pieces and re-build, heal ourselves and those around us. We tell our stories, apply our band-aids. We learn to laugh and love again.
Comments
Post a Comment