My friends and I recently saw the new film, Interstellar. While the science may be accurate the anthropological motivations underlying the various characters' behavior are blatantly Western. That's not surprising since it is an American film. What's interesting to me is pondering how someone with a different cosmological view might react to the prospect of a dying earth.
As the trailer suggests, the earth is dying and humans must find an alternative abode on a new planet. Finding that planet is the crux of the film. Or so we're led to believe. There is another option. Or perhaps several options other than Missions A and B that the film posits.
What if the film's underlying premises are questioned? If humans have created the conditions for a dying earth can we not collectively reverse that process? Of course we can but then there would be no exciting space film to watch. So grant that there is an unsolvable crisis on earth so we can have a rip roaring adventure story.
The Western view of time is linear and progressive. Despite global communications, we ignore the possibilities of cyclical time and ascending and descending ages of consciousness as some Eastern philosophies hold. Given this view, would a dying earth and a lack of collective will to work together to solve the problem merely be the nadir of one of these great cycles of consciousness? If so, we merely reap what our level of consciousness has sown.
Science declares that energy is neither created nor lost, merely transformed. If we die as a species, would we not simply transform into another type of energy? In other words, is death, either individual or of our species, such a bad thing? Judging by the multitude of research regarding near-death experiences, life between lives, and past-life regression there's a lot more going on after we die than some of us have ever imagined. A simple Amazon search for authors such as Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring, Michael Newton, and Brian Weiss will lead one to a multitude of information that indicates that death is not to be dreaded or feared. In addition, there are multitudes of metaphysical writings that posit a rosier scenario of life after death than the usual Christian options of a saccharine heaven or a beastly hell.
So my question is, how would a Buddhist, Hindu, or Vedic philosopher approach the questions that Interstellar poses? It would be enticing to see what kind of film another culture would create. It's also enticing to ponder how other cultures would attempt to solve some of our current social and political crises.
1 comment:
Excellent musings & thoughtful questions you pose, Brenda! I prefer to put on my rose-colored glasses & believe we as a species CAN undo the damage we've inflicted on the planet. And yes, if that isn't in the cards, who's to say another realm -- not another planet -- isn't the better alternative.... ��
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