How do you practice seeing God in all things when the violence and cruelty you witness makes it almost impossible to look?
I saw The Odyssey this week, finally. To be honest, I’m still processing what I thought and how I felt. From the moment the previews started showing in the theatre, my nervous system felt like it was under assault. Violence. Horror. Gore. Every storyline was either about humans trying to tear each other apart, or about evil demonic spirits inflicting terror on innocent people. I spent more time hiding my eyes than watching those previews.
And then The Odyssey. There are many interpretations of the deeper messages in this epic. Odysseus repenting for his sins of war. The hero’s journey home (can you ever truly go home again?). All I kept thinking was “Why didn’t he just go with Agamemnon’s ships to begin with and take that known trade route? Everyone was exhausted after ten years of war and just wanted to go home to their families. No one wanted an adventure. How arrogant of him.”
Throughout the movie, I found myself again covering my eyes fairly regularly. A lot of it was hard for me to watch. All the violence we inflict on each other. The cruel ways we tear each other apart. How Circe turned all those warriors into pigs (spoiler alert). It just breaks my heart what we are doing to each other – and that we’ve become so desensitized to it that we glorify it in movies.
The poem I chose for this week has challenged me. Almost admonished me. It is easy to see God in all things beautiful. But can I embrace God in all things?
I have been trying to do this – to see God in the horror, the war, the fear I saw depicted on screen the other night. It’s hard. Maybe it’s about having compassion for the underlying pain that drives such behaviour. Maybe it’s about looking for the pure essence of the soul, hidden in each of us. Maybe it’s in searching for their motivations – for dignity, for respect, to protect their homeland. I’m not sure. I’d love to know your thoughts.
