Michaelson: Taking Avatar Seriously
Jay Michaelson‘s musings related to the movie Avatar in Forward compares and contrasts its message to that of Kabbalah in the areas of spiritual and practical environmentalisms. He connects mysticism and environmentalisms in two ways, namely:
“Avatar’s” deep ecology is interwoven with its pantheistic, quasi-kabbalistic notion of a “web of life.” Indeed, the latter necessitates the former: it’s impossible to believe that all life is deeply connected, and yet not be troubled when the sinews of that connection are frayed and destroyed…
A second convergence between “Avatar” and Jewish mysticism is the controversial point that while individual actions are important and individual responsibility remains a value, the communal matters more: the overall health of the system, the shared justice of a society.
