Xena ’s Reviews > Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See > Status Update

Avatar offers us a cautionary tale to remind us that a selfish individualalist ethics can blind us to the importance of other people, of our dummunities, and of the living world of which we are a part, even to the point of threatening their (and our very survival)

So the happy ending of Avatar is a dream, while our world is closer to a nightmare, ecologically speaking.

For the Na'vi, however, the "sacrifice of the thing" is not a simple destruction, but is done with the intention to preserve and respect the spiritual essence of the natural world, which they regard as a singular being, the goddess Eywa. The alien "sky people," on the other hand, destroy without renewing, out of an unquenchable thirst for money, oblivious to their own deep interrelationship with nature.

Jake Sully went from being a self-centered individual, only concerned with regaining the use of his legs, to being the defender of an entire world.

In Avatar Jake embarks on a joi of self-discovery and self-realization, advancing along a path th can map out with the aid of these seven main energy center chakras.

We should embrace the beauty of the present moment without judgment, expectation, acceptance, or rejection. When we can do that, we have reached a state of liberation - or moksha, in Sanskrit.

Pandora could be a "giver" to humanity by providing a model for how we can live in communion with our world. Jake receives the lesson, but unfortunately most of the other human beings on Pandora fail to listen and learn.

Vatican Radio asserts that Avatar "cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium.
Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship.

By contrast, the world of the Na'vi is much more feminine. Na' vi women are equal partners with their men and are just as capable as their male counterparts.