April 6, 2004

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  Father Hess, a priest who once cursed God for killing his wife, now tries to comfort his family about the errie alien lights appearing all over the world:

  
  

  "People break down into two groups when they experience something lucky. Group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them.

  
  

  Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in Group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear.

  
  

  Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in Group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope.

  
  

  See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences...?"

  
  

  Family:  "Wait, do you believe in what you just said, I thought you no longer believe in God?" 

  
  

  Hess:  "Are you comforted?"

  
  

  Family:  "Yes."

  
  

  Hess:  "Then be comforted.  It doesn't matter."

  
  

  Except that it did.  For later in the movie Night gave us a chain of events that deeply challenge his viewers to decide which group they are in.  Night did not cheat and did not tip the scales--my faith/agnosticism was tested, and I left the theater reborn.

  
  

  Signs is my favorite essay on faith, and it affected me spiritually far more than "Passions."  I am reminded of this movie by a fellow Xangian, who queried whether religion was merely a rationalization to provide comfort.  If so, are such comforts satisfying?

  
  

  This was not a "look at me, I'm growing up and questioning all establishments to be cool" type of question.  She meant it as a question applicable to her personally, and it was a hard (heck probably the hardest) one to answer.  I'm a born skeptic, and yet I envy the faithful and at times yearn to be counted among them.  However, no matter how hard I try, I cannot cast off my skepticism, and yes, sometimes that means I feel scared and lonely and isolated.  Like when I found out my mother was sick.  I burried myself in medical research and filling up forms, but I felt alone, and tired.

  
  

  But alas, I think there is a third group of people.  They might be ambivalent about faith in God, but not about faith in each other.  A universe without God is not a lonely universe.  If anything, it should make you cling on to your fellow men even more tightly, for we are all each other have.  Before you protest that friendship and family is not enough to fill that cosmic void, ask yourself this:  Why do you post on Xanga when you could have easily kept a private journal on your own computer?  Some say God hears all prayers but answers none, at least not in this life.  I don't know if HE is watching me.  I do know that when I read about your weirdly wonderful lives and share my own with you, I feel good, and I'm comforted.

  
  

  P.S.  Speaking of cling ons, allow me to geek out for a moment.    After a long hiatus, Deep Space Nine is finally back on cable TV!  Starting today, there is a DS9 marathon on Spike TV from Noon to 9 p.m. for the entire week.  I will infect you with my appreciation for this show slowly, like Chinese water torture.  For now, suffice it to say that any show with episode titles like these deserves your attention:  Emissary | Babel | In Purgatory's Shadow | Ties of Blood and Water | Wrongs Darker than Death or Night | Treachery, Faith, and the Great River.

  
  

             

  
  

   

  • 6:15 am
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