What fiction expresses the metaphysical world?

Spiritual & Metaphysical Matters
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I would say that the portrayal of religious/ spiritual things in order to discuss them is a potentially relevant part of peoples spiritual life, and if it was expressed more people would be more spiritual/ religious.

So what is one that you think is interesting? I have many but will stick with one.

For me, one that sticks out is Star Trek Deep Space Nine. I realise you have probably all seen it but still not using direct names for people that haven’t seen it:

  • The way the positive entities are expressed.
  • The visions of the prophets are like dreams.
  • The feeling of being chosen. The seemingly strange logic around that. This is biblical ‘you are called’. Something I don’t like because some part of me wants to convert everyone to my viewpoints but I have discerned that some people are really not meant to be “spiritual”. (Ref 36.11).
  • Part late in the series where connection with the higher forces was re-made after being broken and then “luck” of most of the characters, characters not connected with the main character physically, suddenly improved.
  • One episode where the character connected to the positive entities goes a bit nuts and gets too into it. I.e. he gets access to technology of some sort that speeds his spiritual path.
  • One episode where the character connected to the positive entities suddenly gets inspired to find an ancient city. The irrationality of it.

The dark entities are later expressed in an interesting way.

  • I don’t know much about negative entities. But the Law of One talks about the entities having an ‘emissary of fire’ (24.12). The Pah Wraiths had a lot of fire symbology and manifestations. I think negative entities put their adherents through mysterious ‘trials’ which the character that connects to the Pah Wraith experiences.

A lot of Deep Space Nine is not at all realistic. Is completely off the wall. But patterns of how things work seem to fit.

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Star Wars, with its distinction between the Light and Dark Sides of the Force, resonates with the metaphysical concept of positive and negative polarity.

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Cameron’s Avatar, the human represents STS civilization (conquering, controlling, greedy).
the Navis represents STO civilization (harmony with nature, planet, universe)
And it also modeled ‘incarnation’ (consciousness focusing towards an avatar) quite nicely.

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This one is more myth than sci-fi. Till We Have Faces is a novel by CS Lewis. It’s an exploration of the myth of Eros and Psyche. There is so much rich symbolism. Here are a couple of thematic points:

Know Yourself:
The title comes from a line in the book which is speaking of the gods, saying,

“How can they meet us face to face, till we have faces”

Our incarnated relationship with the divine begins with having a “face”, with having a deep knowledge of the self with which to relate from. (know yourself, accept yourself, become the Creator) The main character’s “face” is the theme of the story.

The Veil:
The veil is the richest symbol in the story, imo.

Orual is the main character. The character of Psyche is Orual’s step-sister and they have a deeply bonded relationship. Psyche marries Eros, the god of the mountain. Orual cannot see Eros and thinks her sister has gone mad.

Orual’s fearful and possessive actions severe Psyche’s relationship with Eros, which sends Psyche into exile. After this, Orual chooses to wear a veil for the rest of her life.

So, Psyche (the soul or deep Self) is married to (united with) the god (intelligent infinity). When the union is severed, the soul experiences its illusionary exile in 3D. The veil.

The veil has a physical as well as a weighty symbolic presence throughout the story. Orual refuses to look at herself, in every sense. Refuses to look at her face. Refuses to look at her shadow. Refuses to know all aspects of herself. Blames the gods for her suffering. Laments why couldn’t they just show themselves (Eros could not be seen by Orual, only Psyche). Orual asks “Why must holy places be dark places.” (Light and dark is another theme, in the sense of walking by faith in the moonlight.)

At the end of the book (and her life), she has a visionary experience where she is reunited with Psyche and sees everything, including herself, clearly. It’s revealed in the vision that Psyche was with her all along, giving aid.

It’s a really generous piece of storytelling that keeps revealing layer after layer with each read. I’m always hesitant to pick favorites, but it’s my favorite:).

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Star Wars, with its distinction between the Light and Dark Sides of the Force, resonates with the metaphysical concept of positive and negative polarity.

I can imagine some of the Law of One quotes being said by yoda: “The positive side sees love in all things, the negative side is very clever”.

The kids animated series had a lot of mythology imo. It’s like because they had less scrutiny, the writers were really able to be creative. Personally I found episode 7 to be dead boring. It wasn’t even a conscious choice, I just didn’t watch episodes 8 and 9.

Cameron’s Avatar, the human represents STS civilization (conquering, controlling, greedy).
the Navis represents STO civilization (harmony with nature, planet, universe)
And it also modeled ‘incarnation’ (consciousness focusing towards an avatar) quite nicely.

I watched that about four times at the cinema or something. It was at Uni and it was later in the year, everyone going their own separate ways socially since so many had gone home.

Amazing they could make destroying a tree so traumatising.

What I like about sci fi, some sci fi, is that the corporate model and associated military groups, who never lose power here, are actually confronted by something they don’t understand and is more powerful than they are. I would like to see how a lot of people that seem to hold a high opinion of themselves and their grip of the world would respond if something alien like that came along.

This one is more myth than sci-fi. Till We Have Faces is a novel by CS Lewis. It’s an exploration of the myth of Eros and Psyche. There is so much rich symbolism. Here are a couple of thematic points:

I haven’t read it. I do think though that books are in most cases a superior medium for explaining these things. There are some small exceptions like ‘The 4400’ which showed supernatural powers. But you can explore the emotional internal dimension in books which you can’t do in shows.

This is definitely a female take it seems to me. Women engage more in the minutea of emotions often.

At the end of the book (and her life), she has a visionary experience where she is reunited with Psyche and sees everything, including herself, clearly. It’s revealed in the vision that Psyche was with her all along, giving aid.

You know, in real life psychic experiences can be a little prophetic and otherwise interesting, but there is something satisfying about the fictional non vague mystical experience. Like, the visionary experience here was non compromising.

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Thanks for your post! Great question- loved reading the replies!

I think ‘The Good Place’ could be viewed as expressing the metaphysical world. There seemed to be a surprising amount of overlap.

I don’t watch a lot of tv but I watched it with my partner and very much enjoyed it! Do recommend! And please do watch it to the end before you disagree with me!

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The older the films, the better :slight_smile: I haven’t watched the animated versions, but the major films already lean towards being family-oriented. If it weren’t for the references to the Force and the two opposing paths, they would just be ordinary Sci-Fi movies. The all-encompassing Force, however, can be considered a metaphor for Intelligent Energy. The Jedi and Sith each have their own complex philosophies within this universe, and I used to be quite interested in them. You can find many points of overlap for exploring both positive and negative polarity development.

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The Good Place? I’ve seen it it’s very funny. How do you feel that it expresses the metaphysical reality for you? Tell me more?

The older the films, the better :slight_smile: I haven’t watched the animated versions

Well, firstly, let me give you a taste then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hBZNsPnyg

Maul has something of a redemption ark in the animated series. He never becomes a good person, but he reveals that he is a broken person, rather than an evil person. That he was a product of the Emperors torture.

Personally, my favourite was episode 3. I watched it when I was young and extremely hot headed, and I felt like I had been Anakin for the duration of that film. One of the things that the writers, at least of the animated series, deliberately tried to show was the “paved with good intentions” aspect of the negative path!

It is definitely STO and STS metaphor leaning in a kind of Qi Gong kind of direction. I think episodes 7+ could have been really good and could REALLY have educated people. But they didn’t go with that. In my view if there was a famed QAnon/ Wilcock style mass arrests, and the population did suddenly have to confront the reality of the negative polarity as a structured path, and not just as confused chaos; then Star Wars will have been something that helped them understand.

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Many of the so-called “Pagan Traditions” (British Druid, Native Americans, Polynesians) do literally communicate with their surroundings. Such as trees, mountains, animals, fish, sea. This is currently one of my main focus on research currently.

Within the many traditions across the world, there exist the legend on “Tree Of Life” like in the Avatar movie.

In some traditions they literally believe in the existence of the tree of life, which was destroyed by some “evil gods/deities” (symbolized by human alien coming down from heaven/outer space in the Avatar movie)

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From my childhood, I recall something like this:

The Jedi Code, Expanded

There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; There is serenity.
There is no death; there is only the Force.
A Jedi does not act for personal power or wealth but seeks knowledge and enlightenment.
A Jedi never acts from hatred, anger, fear, or aggression but acts when calm and at peace with the Force.
Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use the powers to defend and to protect, never to attack others.
Jedi respect life, in any form.
Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.
Source: Jedi vs. Sith Ideologies – The Nerdd

I remember that at the time it was part of my personal development.

I didn’t see it when I was younger, but now I see that various studies have already been written:

The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy
Does it take faith to be a Jedi? Are droids capable of thought? Should Jar Jar Binks be held responsible for the rise of the Empire? Presenting entirely new essays, no aspect of the myth and magic of George Lucas’s creation is left philosophically unexamined in The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Star-Wars-Philosophy-Blackwell/dp/1119038065

I wonder if it would actually be valuable.

While it seems unlikely that I will return to Star Wars in any significant way, I do think it could serve as an additional motivation for raising children. :wink: Watching and reading Star Wars together would be an opportunity to introduce them to the concepts of STO and STS, as related to the duality of the Force.

When the tides of mass culture shift and the time is right, I will calmly sit down to write and publish my series of sci-fi novels for all, crafting a universe as I envision it, ensuring everything aligns seamlessly. The story will naturally incorporate the highest principles of spiritual development, as this is, of course, the most important aspect.

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In some traditions they literally believe in the existence of the tree of life, which was destroyed by some “evil gods/deities” (symbolized by human alien coming down from heaven/outer space in the Avatar movie)

Almost all traditions have a simllar type of story I think. The same theme where a few times in the past humanity has become too advanced for the likings of negative beings, so they have been pummelled back to worse than a cave man situations by extremely vicious entities, in the bible these are called the ‘Elohim’/ the powerful ones and translated as God in some of the old testaments (Other lines talk about Yahweh that is a different entity). So Tower of Babel is one of these examples.

In my personal life though I’m actually trying to come away from this kind of information, even though I believe it is true it is also kind of maddening.

Does it take faith to be a Jedi? Are droids capable of thought? Should Jar Jar Binks be held responsible for the rise of the Empire?

I draw the line at philosophising on Jar Jar Binks. ("The line is here NO FURTHER!)

I did see a youtube video once that Jar Jar Binks was secretly a Sith Lord. The video explained there was quite deliberate animation, it seems, to show there was something not quite right with Jar Jar. There was a part where he jumped off a bridge and a droid that had been about to shoot him looks over confused as he is in a different location than he should be, as though he force jumped to avoid the droid, and people that work making those animations say that you don’t do something like that by mistake. Every frame is obsessed over.

It seems as though they pulled out and feared it being too stupid. But I like the idea a great deal. Imagine if there had been some sort of scene revealing he was Darth Plaguis and then when people watching it in order. Episodes 1-6, Jar Jar disappears after episode 3, and the updated background is that he is just “out there somewhere”? If that risk had paid off it would have been one of the most impressive character reveals ever made.

It would make more objective sense as well, since negatives have an entire heirarchy they are not just one individual. I.e. Jar Jar could have links to an already existing empire of negative beings somewhere like the Orion group.

When the tides of mass culture shift and the time is right, I will calmly sit down to write and publish my series of sci-fi novels for all, crafting a universe as I envision it, ensuring everything aligns seamlessly. The story will naturally incorporate the highest principles of spiritual development, as this is, of course, the most important aspect.

That is very exciting! It is not at all my gift. I will be doing music and philosophy most likely if things were to work out. It’s another thing, like healing, that I have tried again and again and not been able to do. It really is very apparent to me that people are just what they are and are not really meant to be doing things outside a specific defined purpose. ‘The path is narrow’ to use a biblical and Law of One term.

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Just saw FarSight’s Remote Viewing video on George Lucas…

It seems George’s inspiration for Star Wars came from his past life’s memory.

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Maybe before there was writing there was
some oral tradition of songs, where a song
might capture some degree of fiction.

Strange as it sounds, the Gayatri Mantra
may be one the oldest songs. A great
SciFy show Battlestar Gallactica used it
as a theme song, and the characters are
caught in some unrelenting conflict that
precipitates some sort of Genesis.

It seems interesting; as if the story tellers
may have been helped by way of this song,
As if a collaboration of so many people
working to tell that story, attracted some
help via inspiration or obvious intuitions.
A lot of that story seems in Bear McCreary’s
music, his music augments that fiction.