Avatar and Philosophy Quotes

“Jake Sully went from being a self-centered individual, only concerned with regaining the use of his legs, to being the defender of an entire world.”
― William Irwin, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“One of the aims of Tantra is to recognize the divine perfection of the world by seeing it as a mandala "a celestial mansion.”
― William Irwin, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“In Avatar Jake embarks on a journey of self-discovery and self-realization, advancing along a path that can map out with the aid of these seven main energy center chakras.”
― William Irwin, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“The word tantra comes from two Sanskrit verbal roots, tan tra. Tran means "to expand" or "to weave," which is just what does in his avatar body when he weaves the tendrils of his n queue with those of his teacher-lover Neytiri, the animals of Pandora and the trees that connect him ultimately to Eywa.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Pandora could be a "giver" to humanity by providing a model for how we can live in communion with our world. Jake receives the lesson, but unfortunately most of the other human beings on Pandora fail to listen and learn.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Pandora is an "unfallen" world - a metaphorical Garden of Eden - characterized by a beautiful harmony among its inhabitants that's disrupted only when beings who aren't native to that world violently invade it.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Vatican Radio asserts that Avatar "cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium. Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Traditional Christian theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent, meaning that God exists wholly outside of the created uni-verse, outside of space and time, yet interacts with the created universe in myriad ways - most directly through incarnation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Compare this with Eywa, the Navi "All Mother." Eywa is also worshipped as a divine being; but, unlike the Christian God, she doesn't merely interact with the world of Pandora but is Pandora itself, manifested through the intricate neural network among the plant and animal species that inhabit it, the Navi among them.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“After all, a pro-imperialist and anti-environmentalist stance is con tent with the church's long history of making strategic alliances v and conferring spiritual blessings on conquistadores and others v raped the land and the indigenous populations of the "new world exploit its resources. This history of conquest may in turn seen follow a tradition that ostensibly began in the Book of Genesis, w God said to the first human beings: "Be fruitful and multiply, and the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that mi upon the earth.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Jake has learned that the masculine perspective of the warrior is incomplete, that it needs the feminine ethic of caring to give a worthy meaning and purpose to the fight. Without that care perspective, the world can easily devolve into a living hell.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Love provides the motivation for caring. Caring is complex and messy.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“f the justice perspective was born of the experience of men in the rough and tumble world of "territorial threat displays," where you better “keep your head on a swivel" and keep an eye out for hostiles at every pass, the care perspective reflects an experience of the world much more familiar to women, where nurturing and responsive care, rather than disputatious jousting, are the anchors of daily life.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“The Na'vi seem to regard the borrowed energy that nurtures and sustains their existence as a gift of Eywa, their Great Mother. And, ironically enough, the name human beings chose for the Na'vi's world is Pandora, a Greek name meaning "All-Gifts." But the "sky people" seem to lack a full appreciation of the implications of that name, not recognizing that the proper response to a gift is not a jealous sense of entitlement but rather heartfelt gratitude, which is most genuinely expressed as a desire to give back.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“The masculine voice puts a premium on justice - in particular, protecting individual rights and on appealing to abstract rules order to adjudicate conflicts.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“The feminine voice, on the other hand, bears a remarkable resemblance to the voice of Eywa, since it focuses not on refereeing disputes, but rather on the care that sustains the web of concrete relationships in which people can flourish.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“By contrast, the world of the Na'vi is much more feminine. Na' vi women are equal partners with their men and are just as capable as their male counterparts.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Above all, they revere Pandora - and Eywa, the deity who pervades animates the planet - as a source of life, a nurturing mother, a provider and a protector. Pandora, for them, is more than just an arena ; deadly conflict. It's first and foremost a place of caring.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“That Quaritch and the Na'vi have such divergent views of the natural world may have something to do with the very different social worlds in which those worldviews were born.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Clearly Cameron is encouraging us to see the environmentally destructive aspects of modern industrial civilization as products of a deluded worldview, a bad dream from which we might be awakened.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Avatar is a feast for the eyes, but it also offers much food for thought on issues such as the health of our planet, imperialism, militarism, racism, corporate greed, property rights, the plight of indigenous peoples, and eco-friendly spirituality.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“More than a dreamlike escape, Avatar is also an allegory for events in the real world.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“Captivating movies are like dreams. They offer a break from our ordinary lives, a release from the stranglehold of mundane concerns, and a passport to fascinating worlds that exist only in imagination.”
― George A. Dunn, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“the word "avatar" comes from the Sanskrit noun avatāra derived from a verbal root that means to "cross over". Jake's avatar is what enables him to "cross over" from the mortal world to the sublime universe of Pandora”
― William Irwin, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See

“See the world we come from. There's no green there. They killed their mother and they're gonna do the same here....I will stand and fight. You know I will. But I need a little help here.”
― William Irwin, Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See