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It is a visual feast, and a wonderful film in many different ways. The premise of the film is that a select group of humans grow an alien body so that they can move their consciousness into it and explore an alien world.
It reminded me of a guy I knew in Finland years ago. He used to call his body an “organically grown 3 dimensional space suit, custom designed to explore earth”. I always thought this was a great outlook on his relationship with the body, and it is not very far removed from the truth.
The movie Avatar also infers this experience. I have read that there are people across the world having treatment after seeing the movie Avatar, because they leave the theatre and realize they can never actually visit that beautiful alien planet.
The funny thing is, we are all doing that right now. We are all experiencing a world through the senses of a body. There is something looking out through your eyes, hearing with your ears, feeling with your skin, tasting with your tongue. YOU interpret these things, but you are not them.
The eyes simply pick up data, the ears simply pick up data, as does the skin and the tongue and all the senses of the body, and yet YOU interpret that to make it real.
The body is not, in and of itself, sentient. Your leg cannot discover and experience what it means to be a leg, and this goes for every other part of your body. It is you, the experiencer that makes a world out of sensory data. It is you that has the capability of discovering life, and through that life, remembering who you are.
By identifying with thoughts and feelings we come to believe we are the mind. By identifying with the minds need for sensory experience, we come to believe we are the body. We lose ourselves as pure immortal consciousness, and believe we are transitory, frail and limited beings.
I saw my fathers’ body lying on a bed a few weeks ago, lifeless and so at peace. It was completely obvious to me that he was gone. All that remained was the body, but not him. The physical form looked exactly like him, but there was no “dad” in it, it was merely a shell.
There is supreme peace in recognizing what we are, as opposed to what we are not. Your body does not feel any certain way, does not crave, does not want or need, it is simply an interpretation of the mind. The mind says, “I need” “I want” “I expect”, but it is only in identifying with those thoughts that we continually chase happiness and joy outside of ourselves.
True unending peace and joy are possible, but only by undoing the illusion of “I am this body” and “I am this mind”, and returning to the direct experience of consciousness as the Self.
When you next look in the mirror, remember what you are seeing is simply your Avatar, your vehicle to experience the joy of this world. In that moment of recognition, freedom is, literally, closer than your next breath.
It reminded me of a guy I knew in Finland years ago. He used to call his body an “organically grown 3 dimensional space suit, custom designed to explore earth”. I always thought this was a great outlook on his relationship with the body, and it is not very far removed from the truth.
The movie Avatar also infers this experience. I have read that there are people across the world having treatment after seeing the movie Avatar, because they leave the theatre and realize they can never actually visit that beautiful alien planet.
The funny thing is, we are all doing that right now. We are all experiencing a world through the senses of a body. There is something looking out through your eyes, hearing with your ears, feeling with your skin, tasting with your tongue. YOU interpret these things, but you are not them.
The eyes simply pick up data, the ears simply pick up data, as does the skin and the tongue and all the senses of the body, and yet YOU interpret that to make it real.
The body is not, in and of itself, sentient. Your leg cannot discover and experience what it means to be a leg, and this goes for every other part of your body. It is you, the experiencer that makes a world out of sensory data. It is you that has the capability of discovering life, and through that life, remembering who you are.
By identifying with thoughts and feelings we come to believe we are the mind. By identifying with the minds need for sensory experience, we come to believe we are the body. We lose ourselves as pure immortal consciousness, and believe we are transitory, frail and limited beings.
I saw my fathers’ body lying on a bed a few weeks ago, lifeless and so at peace. It was completely obvious to me that he was gone. All that remained was the body, but not him. The physical form looked exactly like him, but there was no “dad” in it, it was merely a shell.
There is supreme peace in recognizing what we are, as opposed to what we are not. Your body does not feel any certain way, does not crave, does not want or need, it is simply an interpretation of the mind. The mind says, “I need” “I want” “I expect”, but it is only in identifying with those thoughts that we continually chase happiness and joy outside of ourselves.
True unending peace and joy are possible, but only by undoing the illusion of “I am this body” and “I am this mind”, and returning to the direct experience of consciousness as the Self.
When you next look in the mirror, remember what you are seeing is simply your Avatar, your vehicle to experience the joy of this world. In that moment of recognition, freedom is, literally, closer than your next breath.
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