Traveling On

Dumbledore smiled at [Harry]. "We are in King's Cross, you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to … let's say … board a train."

"And where would it take me?"

"On," said Dumbledore simply.

J. K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", Page 722

We celebrate the Ascension of Jesus this week. Many a pastor will no doubt wrestle with where that train is going to take us. And as you sit there in your pew, ask yourself if any truer description has ever been uttered than "On"? I suppose it all comes down to another simple question: Do we trust they who built the railroad?

But of course you ask: “Where will I go?” Does it matter? To you, I suppose it does, but the answer will not satisfy what you want. You want a place, a destination. This we cannot give, because it is like trying to assign a place to us. We are everywhere and nowhere, every moment. Do you think it will be any different for you?

A Reminder From Mother Nature

"The greatest lie, the greatest scam of our lives is that this world was created for us, for our pleasure and enjoyment, for our dominance. What stupid, arrogant animals we are. We were created for it. We are simply the audience. What would true art be without an audience? Only in this work, the artist painted us inside the canvas. We are art and audience all at the same time. We are part of the grandest work ever created, ever dreamed."

There is a certain irony to Hurricane Sandy's arrival a week before election day. We oftentimes act as if our political choices will decide the fate of the world. The Landlord just reminded us how very delusional we are.

Minutes and hours. That's all it took for air and water to decimate the work of human hands. Yes, we will repair and rebuild, and pat ourselves on the back for our ingenuity and perseverance. And one day, Mother Nature will snap her fingers again, and it will all come tumbling down, again. We pour endless amounts of time, treasure, and talent into our creations. But air, water, fire, and earth will always get the best of them.

We humans are a small and impotent part of the cosmos. It is not the reality we want, but it is the truth we need to accept. And let us do so joyfully, not grudgingly; for we are not diminishing ourselves. Rather, we are embracing our rightful place in a much grander family than we could ever dream of, if we can be humble enough to listen to Sister Hurricane, and all that she has to teach us.

"So much of life is a paradox, but it is there that we find God the most. It is there, in the confusion and that mess that we must dwell. It is there that we experience true beauty, true joy. It is there that we can see something wonderful, something that sends a chill down our spine, and puts a smile on our face and a laugh in our heart, where we know with certainty who and what we are and why we are here in this time and place."

"Outcasts" (2011)

One of the things my wife and I have really enjoyed about Netflix is the exposure to British TV shows. One in particular kept hanging around as a recommendation, a sci-fi drama set on a distant planet that is being colonized by refugees from an Earth that has been devastated by nuclear war. It sort of seemed interesting, but never enough to start watching, until about a month ago. I'm grateful that I gave it a chance.

"Outcasts" only lasted for one season on the BBC. Apparently it was too much drama and not enough sci-fi to keep the ratings up. It did not help that so many of the main characters were just unlikable, so you were kind of rooting for them to get beaten or killed. But they were very human characters; the kind of people you would expect to find in such circumstances. And the story seemed more than plausible. It felt almost inevitable somehow. As if this was our future unfolding on the screen.

The final episode ended with a great cliffhanger. One of the best I've ever watched. It makes you want to scream at the BBC for not giving you another season. And yet it also leaves you with a deep and powerful question to ponder. A question you know the "right" answer to, but an answer you're not sure is correct after all.

Why does the human species deserve to live?

This a classic science fiction question that has come up in countless movies and TV shows. But the way "Outcasts" does it, it's like a gauntlet being thrown down by the universe. You're the center of creation? You're the apex of intelligent life? Just who the hell do you think you are? We are an arrogant and childish species, playing with the forces of nature like an overgrown toddler sticking a fork into an electrical socket just to see what happens. Perhaps it would be good for the stupid talking monkeys to get knocked down a peg or two. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Notions of Armageddon will be in the air as we get closer to December 21st and the whole Mayan Calendar circus. Yes, that "prophecy" is a farce. But we can still use it as an opportunity to do some necessary soul searching. Why do we deserve to live? Something tells me that if we don't come up with a damn good answer, we may regret it in the future. By the way, I didn't plan to publish this post on a Friday the 13th, but maybe it's the universe's way of firing off a funny little warning shot across the bow.

Check out this TV show on BBC One, IMDb, Wikipedia, or YouTube.