A question for those who got inspired

[Niri Te]

Where on the planet did you live in the jungle?

Originally Posted by Fkeu'itan

It's been a long time here for me, too but today I had the feeling all day that I wanted to watch Avatar but couldn't quite place exactly why. It was only when I saw that it was the 3rd anniversary of release that I realised that was the reason.

Anyway...
Life for me has changed a lot.
Just about a year ago, I set off for what would turn out to be 3 most incredible and life-changing months living in the jungle of one of the most incredible places on Earth. That experience alone has tought me much about myself, my future, my true wants and desires... Since then, I have found an occupation in life that inspires me to get up in the morning, to work hard and (most of the time) to enjoy what I do with the pride at the end of the day of feeling I did that little bit to help encourage the regeneration of what we have, my "true calling", if you will. Although i'm not yet sure if my current environment is *exactly* where I want to be, the translucent feeling wil become clearer in the years to come, i'm sure of that.

On other fronts, i'd be fair in admitting i've been led astray. The goal of living the day-to-day Na'vi lifestyle has drifted away from me somewhat, although as an ideal, it still sits golden on the horizon and despite the fact that I still am in search of someone to share my life with, I am now far happier in myself as a personality and convictions to begin to seek out that person - there are certain people in my life with whom I feel something, but it's really an ongoing discovery.

I have a vague plan for all things generally, all I need to do is to act upon it. Without the life event that turned out to be as simple as being introduced to an amazing world that I got fully pulled into for such a length of time, none of this would have happened to me.

Aside from all that, this thread is pretty cool (as Silver Stag pointed out) for just letting people we're alive, we're active and we're still working towards our own respective 'Pandoras'.

[Fosus]

Very interesting stories Gunny's reminded me of my own.

There's nothing left from the big effect but I think these have stayed forever:
I'm less cynical, more spiritual, more accepting and caring.

It sounds funny giving so much credit to a movie, but at that age I was really trying to find myself so there is a big chance I would be very different without Avatar.

[Empty Glass]

^ I've also experienced lessened cynicism. I still get very cynical thoughts in my head, but after seeing the movie I just didn't want to let them out loud. Can't exactly say why, but maybe I just came to believe that life is too precious to live it with excess negativity. This effect has always intrigued me because I don't see it connected to the movie in an immediately obvious way.

[allroock123]

Avatar spoke to a deep part of my inner core understanding in ways that are almost imposable to express in words. I felt it pointed to primal core part of me with profound insight and It took me much time to understand the source of my core " Emotive feelings" this its unlike anything I have ever experenced in my life reflecting back on the very real deep core issues our people faced seen from my heartfelt core understanding in a way I simply could not Deny, I went through very chalenging issues with deep core emotions and Dreams unlike any I had ever experenced in life, this profoundly changed my view on our world and also made me seriously question my true core "sense of place" as I felt like an outcast among my own people and the mechanistic politicaly driven system of thought corupting our core values and our root true bond to our deep core humanity as a people its like someone reached inside and pluged in a connection long disconnected and I could now See and feel from my inner understanding. the emotions where absolutly overwelming and no one I talked with could even remotly understand I then learned there where "others" going through there own experences from diffrent viewpoints
Quite a few "others" often just as confused about what they where fealing as well, I reached out for help and most of the people I spoke with had not a clue I got answers like "attachment to fantasy" and this film deluded your thoughts, it was then that I met a Mi'kmaq Medicine man (I wont go into detail in a public forum) He helped me address the emotive madness from its core roots I was very suprised on what I found and its been quite a lifes learning experence to say the least reflecting back on our deep inner human core humanity that is universal among all are people no mater what cultural/spiritual background they come from , Damage to this core understanding at at the roots to our peoples disrespect of nature and our conflicts with each other going back generations and if people are truly intrested in speaking on this issue and sharing thoughts on our Core humanity It would make an intresting topic of discussion.

Irayo

[Moco Loco]

Empty Glass, I kind of feel the same way, like if a place like Pandora could exist, that somehow changes how I value everything, including my own life. I wasn't pessimistic by any means before this, but Avatar definitely didn't depress me or make that worse.

[Human No More]

I'm not one for "core values" but I still feel a sense of what you mean - my view has certainly changed over time as I've found things on Earth worth living for, but maybe that just let me appreciate the message for humanity more, and it has certainly made me far more aware of the problems humanity faces, where I used to care less in that I'd be dead before they were a true problem anyway. Maybe that's true, but maybe not, and in any case, it's simple responsibility to not perpetuate them.

[allroock123]

I think Avatar brings to the surface and reflects apon many peoples core "dream" inside, I have seen many examples where people have spoken on this subject, For me it realy changed my life and how I view our world. as far as actions I have taken most of them reflect on addressing core human issues , I work with troubled youth often from broken familys. its a challenging job that takes a lot of patience and understanding.

[caveman]

Originally Posted by The Silver Stag

Avatar remains a guiding light in my life even after all this time.

This seems to be true for many of us.

My experience with Avatar forced me to become a more introspective person. It made me question why I felt so lost and confused; why I never felt comfortable "fitting in" with my peers; and why I always felt like something was inherently wrong with my life, as if I were caged from something, but didn't know from what.

Answering these questions was sometimes painful, but the challenge helped me grow into a more free and healthy individual. Avatar was always there as a guiding light, and remains as such today. It's there to remind me: this is what life feels like when you're a subject of it, and not to it.

[Niri Te]

If you go back far enough, EVERYONE on this planet, regardless of skin color, or language, comes from a Tribal lifestyle, go back farther still, a Stone Age Society. Perhaps this movie has inadvertently demonstrated how much the DNA of "Modern Space Age humanity" remembers, and YEARNS FOR a time when there were NO shades of grey.

[allroock123]

There is a video that reflects on the DNA issue I will say I don't think Avatar Relates to just native americans like they speak of in the video , I also think the core reaction to Avatar took James Cameron by suprise and may have touched on a universal core part inside all of Us a deep part of our core understanding.

'Avatar' is also a story of deep DNA within many Americans - YouTube

[auroraglacialis]

This is interesting - sort of a review of the past years...
I have to say that back then I really felt like I am shaken and waking up in some way, so I really started to think (again) about the big picture on how the world is and what humans and others on this planet do. I started to bring together what I knew and learned later from science and philosophy. So it was a really fruitful time and I must say I got what one might cann "radicalized" in respect of my opinions on what has to happen. I discovered a lot of authors and scientists who thought likewise - who thought that the natural world is important, that industrial civilization is destroying it and that technology will not save it but rather a deep change in thinking has to happen. This has shaped my thinking in the past years.
I tried to somehow not keep this in the realm of the mind but to actually let it influence my physical life, which turned out to be a lot harder though. Certainly I did all the neat little stuff like recycling and such, but to get to work I still needed a car and I used airplanes for travelling. I eventually tried to approach it pragmatically and thought to myself that not all will be done in a year, so I tried also more spiritually to reconnect and in the first 2 years it worked out well, I felt deeper rooted in the land and had some very neat experiences. I visited workshops and festivals of people looking for this as well, increased my efforts in gardening, picked up barefoot hiking and even tried for the sake of Avatar to learn hanggliding. I was very enthusiastic about forming an ecovillage with likeminded people very soon and dreamt aboout how this might look like.
Sadly after some years, things were not that bright anymore. I felt the grip of this society and culture had on me with the need to make money, consequently the need to have a job and at the time I was doing a PHD in ecology that took increasing hours per week to complete. I spent more and more time with these necessities and had less time for the spiritual or naturalist stuff. I eventually failed at hanggliding for physical reasons and had to skip one of my favourite festivals because of work. I barely had time to contribute to the ecovillage planning and felt frustrated about the whole need for money to do anything but either just live in a small city flat or as a bum. And I dont mean lots of money - I realized again that a regular job in many cases barely pays for rent, food, transportation and a bit of entertainment - and it takes away most of the lifetime. Like the grey men in "Momo". There is not enough money left in most cases to buy a farm to live self sufficient or even a whole large plot to found an ecovillage - not to mention to keep it going for decades. There is not enough time left to spend lots of time outdoors or visiting teachers of nature, do courses in permaculture or take some weeks of to do WWOOFing or something like this. So I increasingly felt trapped and the walls closing in on me and I must say now 3 years later my present main focus is on how to get out of that situation and liberate some of my lifetime and at the same time some money to be able to work for a different personal future.
At least I am happy that my job is not a destructive one - I got a position as a scientist working in water microbiology, looking at ecosystems and their ability to recover from contamination and I keep on refraining from buying useless stuff and trying to recycle and reuse a lot - for example this winter we are using used wood pallets that stores throw away to heat out kitchen and cook. And I keep gardening and keeping bees. But I must find a way to organize in a way that allows me to put more time into non-work related stuff like the work on increasing my nontechnological skillset, spiritual development and preparing and gathering knowledge and planning on how to realize something along the way of ecovillage community living, which still is the "big goal" for me to get there somehow...
Greetings