For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. (Corinthians I: 13:12)
I spent this Sunday, September 11, 2011, at the cinema watching Helen Mirren work out a complex, dark, and utterly brave character's destiny in a rock-solid, white-hot performance in The Debt. The film runs in flashback between the present day and 1965 when three characters worked together as special agents to capture and bring to justice a horrid Nazi war criminal called the Surgeon of Birkenau. In the scenes of the past tense, the role of Rachel is played by the beautiful young newcomer Jessica Chastain. In the present tense, the role of Rachel is played by English cinema's greatest actress, Helen Mirren. Her face, chiseled by time and scarred with one hook-like line across her right cheek is more beautiful than ever. What is it about the woman that makes her still appear like a gorgeous lioness despite the fact that she's pushing 70? In any event, the film is a beautiful one which examines the issue of 'truth' and 'deception.' It is a central issue in the character Rachel's life both as a young woman and an older one who has lived with a horrible reality in her mind for 40 years.
At the end of the film, I drove homeward and stared out at the brilliant blue sky and thought of the fact that it was 9/11 and I thought of what happened on just such a beautiful day in 2001 at WTC, New York City, USA. I thought of how the people in the two towers were thinking or feeling that morning before the unimaginable happened. They (like the rest of the country and the world) had no idea what was coming for them that morning. How could they have known? And how different life would have been if they/we had known.
Similarly, the characters in the Debt have no idea of the outcome of their actions over their lifetimes. They had no idea how their contact with this Nazi zealot would alter them. And even though Rachel, the main character at the heart of the story is brilliantly intelligent, she couldn't see the outcome. If she or the other characters had known, perhaps their lives, though disrupted and collapsed, might have been less sad, less horrible.
Finally, as I was pulling into my driveway, I thought of the book Journal of a Foreign Correspondent by William Shirer. It is one of the greatest books ever written, as far as I'm concerned, by a consummate journalist who wrote about everything he saw and heard in Berlin, Vienna, and then Prague as Hitler was beginning his reign of terror. And even though he felt sad and unsure of the future, he and the rest of the world, had no conception of the level of sadism this man was prepared and willing to take out on the whole of Europe and the Jewish people. Even though Shirer was a clear-eyed and astute a journalist as ever lived, even he couldn't see the outcome of Hitler.
All of this reminds me of what Paul wrote in Corinthians, 'for now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face.' I wonder what life would be like without the darkened glass which veils the future and the truth from us. I wonder if in the afterlife we will see clearly all things, as Paul says, and feel delight in finally being free of the world and its lies. In the end, I am not sure if it is better to know the truth or worse. But given the inquisitive nature of my mind, I would say that come hell or high water, I'd rather have the truth. Sooner rather than later preferably.
The wisdom of the Buddha helps us understand that if we learn to discern between truth and lies, between reality and non-reality, we are on the path to enlightenment and freedom in this lifetime. So, for the sake of our heart's potential joy, let's set our sights on learning to discern better. Always, to discern better.
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| Helen Mirren in 'The Debt' |
For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. (Corinthians I: 13:12)
I spent this Sunday, September 11, 2011, at the cinema watching Helen Mirren work out a complex, dark, and utterly brave character's destiny in a rock-solid, white-hot performance in The Debt. The film runs in flashback between the present day and 1965 when three characters worked together as special agents to capture and bring to justice a horrid Nazi war criminal called the Surgeon of Birkenau. In the scenes of the past tense, the role of Rachel is played by the beautiful young newcomer Jessica Chastain. In the present tense, the role of Rachel is played by English cinema's greatest actress, Helen Mirren. Her face, chiseled by time and scarred with one hook-like line across her right cheek is more beautiful than ever. What is it about the woman that makes her still appear like a gorgeous lioness despite the fact that she's pushing 70? In any event, the film is a beautiful one which examines the issue of 'truth' and 'deception.' It is a central issue in the character Rachel's life both as a young woman and an older one who has lived with a horrible reality in her mind for 40 years.
At the end of the film, I drove homeward and stared out at the brilliant blue sky and thought of the fact that it was 9/11 and I thought of what happened on just such a beautiful day in 2001 at WTC, New York City, USA. I thought of how the people in the two towers were thinking or feeling that morning before the unimaginable happened. They (like the rest of the country and the world) had no idea what was coming for them that morning. How could they have known? And how different life would have been if they/we had known.
Similarly, the characters in the Debt have no idea of the outcome of their actions over their lifetimes. They had no idea how their contact with this Nazi zealot would alter them. And even though Rachel, the main character at the heart of the story is brilliantly intelligent, she couldn't see the outcome. If she or the other characters had known, perhaps their lives, though disrupted and collapsed, might have been less sad, less horrible.
Finally, as I was pulling into my driveway, I thought of the book Journal of a Foreign Correspondent by William Shirer. It is one of the greatest books ever written, as far as I'm concerned, by a consummate journalist who wrote about everything he saw and heard in Berlin, Vienna, and then Prague as Hitler was beginning his reign of terror. And even though he felt sad and unsure of the future, he and the rest of the world, had no conception of the level of sadism this man was prepared and willing to take out on the whole of Europe and the Jewish people. Even though Shirer was a clear-eyed and astute a journalist as ever lived, even he couldn't see the outcome of Hitler.
All of this reminds me of what Paul wrote in Corinthians, 'for now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face.' I wonder what life would be like without the darkened glass which veils the future and the truth from us. I wonder if in the afterlife we will see clearly all things, as Paul says, and feel delight in finally being free of the world and its lies. In the end, I am not sure if it is better to know the truth or worse. But given the inquisitive nature of my mind, I would say that come hell or high water, I'd rather have the truth. Sooner rather than later preferably.
The wisdom of the Buddha helps us understand that if we learn to discern between truth and lies, between reality and non-reality, we are on the path to enlightenment and freedom in this lifetime. So, for the sake of our heart's potential joy, let's set our sights on learning to discern better. Always, to discern better.
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