Being the creative individual that I am, my imagination is very, very active. It is little wonder, then, that Pandora took hold of me by the scruff and didn't let go until several days after I went to see James Cameron's masterpiece. During the movie, I laughed, came close to tears, found myself staring in awe, held my breath, and clenched my fists and jaw in anger as Hometree was felled and the Tree of Souls was threatened.
You have only to ask my friend Deanna to find out how ridiculous I must have looked, baring my teeth at the screen as bombs were dropped and the Na'vi slaughtered, comic 3D glasses plastered to my face. After the movie, I was on an emotional and adrenaline high, needing to run after to get rid of some of the energy. Once the vivid fauna of the planet began to fade however, so did my spirits, and it was in the middle of a strange depression that made me began to wonder why this of all stories had such a profound effect on my consciousness.
I have a good life. I have a family and friends who love me, plenty of food, a good school, pets, and many blessings besides. I have no lack of entertainment, and have been to very beautiful places on our own planet. So why should I feel deprived, sullen, that my spirit wasn't free to roam the jungles of Pandora? All I could think about was my own Na'vi body allowing me to leap from branch to branch, behold the Tree of Souls, or climb the perilous cliffs to claim my own Banshee and a place in the clan. Nothing seemed good enough, the quote from Jake seemed to sum my feelings up completely- "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream."
Trying to reason my way through the emotional response Avatar had produced, I felt selfish, stupid, and somewhat pathetic for pining for a world that didn't exist. I didn't even want to leave my fading memories of the glowing Eden long enough to visit with my best friend, who was spending the night. This frightened me. No movie, book, or work of any kind had ever effected me in such a way.
Searching my soul, I began to pray, begging God to help me out of the depression, to find the reason I was so tormented by the beautiful demons. Slowly, it began to make sense.
Pandora's siren attraction pulls its power not from the fact that it is perfect, but from the fact that our world is not. Our world is groaning, bent more than double under a host of sins and agonies, its wounds almost too much to bear. Watching the Na'vi care for each other, respect their world, and welcome Jake with an open mind inspired in me a sense of shame at my own species, at our greed, racism, and most of all disdain for the sanctity of marriage and sexual intimacy.
Human beings are flawed, we have destroyed whole sections of the creation given to us to care for, and it matters not what religion or beliefs you hold, humans are cruel. Humans are monsters. And this world has been suffering nearly since its creation.
Please do not make the mistake of thinking that I see only the bad in the human race. The wonderful and terrible complexity of it all is that humans are both horribly destructive and wonderfully creative, monstrously cruel, and unfathomably kind. But the fact still remains, the whole of this existence, whether you believe there is a time after this or not, is wounded. Limping under the sores created by sin.
In my own life I have been deeply hurt by the effects of greed, lust, and the disregard for others. For a short time selfish intent wormed its way into the hearts of some I hold closest, and many have been hurt because of it. Divorce invaded my home, tearing my family apart and causing many tears among me and my 'people'. Just like the Na'vi, my way of life was uprooted and tossed aside with little regard, the 'diplomatic' solutions being brushed away when negotiation didn't move fast enough. Bombs were dropped, and it has taken years for me and my family to recover.
We are still healing.
I have no doubt that every person who lost themselves in the world of Pandora has also faced hardship and heartache, making the lure of the gorgeous planet a salve on wounds perhaps fresh, perhaps newly forgotten.
There is a reason. It is not merely the escape into a more perfect world than our own that draws us to Pandora, but the fact that every human being, whether they believe it or not, whether they know it or not, has an aching longing for another world. We do not belong here.
Our souls, our spirits, very much like Jake's, are imprisoned in bodies and environments not right for them. God created our souls for a paradise called Eden, one long ago destroyed. The Bible says that Eden was garden, perhaps much like Pandora where God walked with man. When Adam and Eve took that first disobedient bite of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, we destroyed a perfect world. But God didn't take away that need for paradise or communion with him. Instead he created heaven and paved a way for us to make it there, despite our flaws. He gave his son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice to bleed and die, washing away the sins and wounds of the soul of anyone who accepts him. This allows us to someday, through him, enter heaven and gain new bodies, leaving behind our poisoned world and our crippled physical bodies. Just as Jake was reborn in his spirit through contact with the Na'vi, and his body was reborn before Eywa and the Tree of Souls, so Jesus offers such a re-birth for us. Our souls can be cleansed by accepting his forgiveness and gift, and after we have struggled and served for a time in this world, he has a new body waiting for us in his paradise, where we can be reborn to live forevermore in a place truly beyond imagination. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4
The promise of heaven is one many do not believe, or think they have to work to get to. But the truth of the matter is all they have to do is accept the ride to Pandora, accept the forgiveness and acceptance of Christ, and walk a while in his light, waiting for that now understood longing to be fulfilled. Jake took a leap of faith and lived in the way of the Na'vi. He learned the truth, and woke from his diseased existence. That is all that needs to happen to a new believer. He or she must wake from the sickness of the world, and embrace the God who created and fills the longing in the soul. Anything the world and society has to offer to stem that underlying instinct is only temporary, and this fleeting existence is not too long to live before coming to the final resting place.
The time on this earth, even after being saved in Christ, is necessary. It is our time to learn about him, to tell others the wonderful news, and even though this world is not where we belong, it is a place where God has planned something for each and every person. We have gifts, abilities, and connections because God established them for his purpose. The search for purpose in life is something else easily shared by all humans, even mentioned by Jake, and that need for purpose is also God-inspired. He created each human to long for him in order to find him, to want purpose in order to serve his perfect and wonderful purpose, and to wish for a better place to keep the hope of heaven alive and be an encouragement through hardship.
The longing is there for a reason. The despair is there because what needs to fill you is not. Christ is waiting, Pandora is over the horizon. All you have to do is surrender.
Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come
to mind.
Isaiah 65:17
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 2For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 2But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:23-25
