Eywa's Test
 

Bear in mind, this thread is the result of some tired guy, thinking he has made a good point, and through my sleep deprived state at this moment in time, i am trying to write these thoughts down, if it does not make sense just tell me :P

Could the human invasion been some religious test by Eywa?
Like "Job" in the bible, no matter what your beliefs are, this particular man was tested by god, had his family killed, and had his crops and source of money destroyed, but he retained his faith, and prayed to god every day to keep him going. This showed to god, the extent of some people's beliefs, and how nothing could overcome them.

This is similar in the case with avatar, the human invasion brought suffering, misery and pain to the na'vi people, but through this they retained thier belief in Eywa, prayed to their deity in times of great sadness, and never lost their sense of community, and in the end they had their faith rewarded.

YAY! this post is awesome Cyan! it makes sense :D i feel bad about before.. maybe cause you are tired.. no worries! :P everyone gets tired.. and everyone gets cranky (ie me lol)
but you are right!! they have faith in Eywa and its restored!! :P it comes for them in their greatest need! :P its awesome!

Cyan i totaally agree with your point borther! :)

Eywa herself is simply the connections between the trees of Pandora that formed intelligence, not an all powerful god, so if you're wondering if she made it so that the humans would find and go after Pandora, she didn't.

Ah, yes, the problem of theodicy, or how to explain death, misery and evil while assuming an all-powerful God. Easily solved when you realize that the Earth and the Sun created us, and neither is infinite, neither is all-powerful.

I'm sorry I feel the need to correct something real quick :)

God didn't test Job, Satan came to God and asked if he could test Job, it was like a challange, Satan making a bet with God that if he could do whatever to Job that Job will curse Gods name, God simply gave permission (seems like Satan doesn't get it... God knows everything, and He knows Job won't curse His name, yet Satan continues, Satan has to ask Gods permission to test Job) Sorry Cyan just something that I had to correct :)

But a great point none-the-less! Good thinking Cyan! It's funny, some of the greatest and brilliant ideas (although probably not the safest) I've had are when I'm tired... let them flow!

I'd have to agree with Devourment, I don't think that was Eywa's doing. Good comparison, though. Tiredness brings out the best in people sometimes. :P

Interesting thought, but I'm with Devourment. Eywa isn't an omnipresent being on another plane, but a semi-omnipresent life form on which The People live.

Also, on the topic of being tired- My vocabulary gets better and better until I'm ready to pass out, however my train of thought gets less and less coherent and intelligent. Figure that one out!

Eywa isn't like human 'gods'. She's just a planetary organism, she has no specific supernatural powers. She didn't cause the human invasion.

Of course, not to mention the fact that it would be completely unjustified to deliberately cause so much differing and death, as well as damage to Pandora, to herself.

Hmm... an interesting proposition indeed.

I'm afraid i'm with everyone else though. I don't think the human invasion was really a test. As HNM said, there was no need for Eywa to test the Na'vi on their faith (or whatever you wish to call it) as they never doubted her existance. They can 'feel' her after all. ;)

Anyone else realize god was being a total jerk?
I'm paraphrasing:
So god ruins this guys life and makes him suffer to prove a point to Satan.

Well, Jake had those dreams before he even knew he was going to Pandora, yes? And some of the Na'vi seem to able to connect to her without tsahaylu. It's great that She has a body which even a super-materialistic scientist can measure and verify, but there seems to be more going on. How much more, we don't know.

But she isn't like Jehovah. She would never purposely allow an invader to harm her or her children (everything alive on that moon is part of her body, and at the same time her child). She isn't omnipotent, and doesn't pretend to be. She is, however, a lot smarter than any individual Na'vi or human, and a lot more powerful than RDA gave her credit for.

Cyan, very good post and a good observation. This is one of the aspects that struck me the most about Avatar: the Na'vi's reaction to the destruction of their home. It probably could have been very easy to fall into despair and curse Eywa but they didn't. In fact, in the voiceover, Jake tells us that the Na'vi saw her as their only hope. They clung to their "goddess" even more after Hometree was destroyed. That touched me a lot while watching the movie.

One observation about the reference to Job.

Now I'm not much of a devout Christian, so maybe I didnt study this to the degree of some others. Anyway...

A critical piece of the story is freewill. The wager between Satan and God would have no meaning if man had no freewill. Even God does not know what choices we will make. In this case he had a good idea of the outcome, but it was still a test.

If you live long enough bad things will happen to you. However, I have never been tested to the level of what Job had to endure. Not even close. I think of it as an ideal to aspire to. Something to consider in a moment of weakness.

Very well said Txen. No one can escape pain and sorrow. We will always go through it. The question is how we deal with it. Will it eat us up to where we have no love in our hearts? Will it make us go into despair? For those who have faith, will it make you lose faith?

I know that it is through suffering that we can love more if we allow ourselves to. It helps us to have empathy for the other who is in pain. Since we have been there, we can help. In fact the story of Job brings a mirror up to us. What would we do if we were in Job's situation? Or, better yet, it also shows what NOT to do if you are one of Job's friends.

Job's friends do NOT come off looking good in the story. They are jerks and show a profound lack of empathy and compassion, except one..the youngest. He rebukes them in the end. It is a story that shows that one needs to be compassionate toward our brothers in their hour of sorrow. It also shows that we will all experience sorrow. What is important is clinging onto faith and love. In the end, Job regains everything. This is through faith and love.

The devil wanted to show that under dire circumstances, Job would curse God and hate. He was disgusted to see that love prevailed in spite of all the pain and sorrow. Its one of the most powerful stories in the Bible and one that speaks to us today, I think. At least in regards to how our attitude should be when bad times come and how we are to be to each other when we see a brother in pain.

I'd say something, but I'd just end upsetting people for no reason.

To put it as mildly as I can, I'd say you're way off in your "comparison".

I don't remember any kind of connecting without tsahaylu...

Everything about Eywa can be understood, the connections between the tree are almost completely analogous to neurons.

I agree.