January 27, 2010

Epiphany, virtual realities and ‘Avatar’

By Father Michael Warren, O.M.V.

These days many of us are relaxing to the well-known and popular story of some wise people who set out for a distant star to discover an energy source that would surely bring them a new direction in life.  I do not refer to Epiphany; rather, I allude to the extraordinarily successful and technically accomplished movie “Avatar.” 

The wise people in the film are scientists from earth seeking an element of truly astronomical value.  But the real energy that is found on the moon Pandora is Eywa, the All Mother, which is worshiped by the native blue beings whose faith in it sustains them throughout the story.

Interacting with the blue natives proves to be rather risky, so the humans use avatar bodies.  These artificial and fetching mobile tenements are controlled through a machine that allows the humans to connect their minds to the avatar.  The humans never have to leave their base to interact with the native blue people because they have their avatar bodies to do it from a safe distance.  Eywa, the All Mother, and the human avatar bodies combine to expose Pandora to unbridled manipulation.  The energy behind all things has no face, no voice, no personality, and therefore can make no demands of its worshipers.  The All Mother it seems is capable of being massaged by its children, if the blue people were so inclined.

As for the avatars, they permit the wise people to embark on their machinations through the safety of a mind-controlled virtual reality.  Should anything go wrong, a simple disconnect makes escape possible.  Is this what the truly wise seek?  Don’t think it is all science fiction.  Is this not all too similar to the virtual realities we create here on earth through the various social networking sites?  Now, I do not wish to suggest that virtual social networking is bad or that everyone should disengage the new technologies that allow us to connect with one another.  But it is all too facile to become so absorbed in these digital worlds that it very much resembles Pandora.

Manipulation often takes place in the digital world where everything is controlled by a source so powerful and distant that it might as well be called the All Mother.  And the avatars we can create in the digital world allow for an easy escape from the real world of honest responsibility.  With a digital identity I can interact with others at a convenient distance creating what can ultimately become a grossly lugubrious existence.

Contrast this with the wise men we celebrate during the season of Epiphany.  At first they relied on the stars to guide them but they soon discovered that the stars point beyond themselves to some One.  The Magi sought out this One and found a God who is excitingly and dangerously close.  In Christ, God has a face and hands and toes and a voice that brings him so close to us that we cannot possibly avoid the demands he will make upon us.  A God who has a face and a personality can make the greatest demand of all: that we should love; not from the safety of a laptop but face to face and eye to eye.  He hands himself over to us in the form of a baby and asks, “Here I am; will you try to manipulate me?” 

A God who is a body is dangerous, but also exciting and adventurous.  He calls us to set out like the Magi on an adventure that will demand the utmost from us, the demand to give him homage and to love in concrete ways the real people in our lives, even if they are blue.  The real world of flesh and blood is the world of Jesus Christ and it is far more exciting than any digital fantasy we could create.  In the Eucharist he demands of us the “Amen” of acknowledging his fleshly existence but also the commitment to go forth into a world where the twists and turns of reality are unknown to us, and the actions and reactions of real people cannot be rehearsed.  This world of the flesh, this world of the God made flesh, is dangerous and exciting and when things go awry we can’t hit the escape button.  Instead, we must love—in the flesh.

Yes, the incarnate God is dangerous because he is close.  His is the voice that made some men gnash their teeth and St. Paul collapse to the ground.  His is the face that made St. Peter weep and St. John sing.  His are the hands that flipped tables and drove merchants from the Temple, but made other men see.  The story of the fleshy revelation of God in Jesus Christ is dangerous and exciting and adventurous, and the truly wise are the ones who seek it.

Father Michael Warren is an Oblates of the Virgin Mary priest who serves as a parochial vicar at Holy Ghost Church in Denver.