The Last Jedi – 8 out of 10 on the JWO Scale

I saw the movie last weekend. Coming out of the movie I loved it. I wanted to wait a few days to let it sink in, and after thinking about it more, I loved it even more. I rank it as the third best Star Wars Movie. (Empire Strikes Back #1 because of a sentimentality for Yoda, and Rogue One #2 because it actually was the best of the movies)  The movie had it’s obligatory Star Wars moments. A bar scene (casino in this one) with many different alien species. Cute little creatures (porgs in this case) that will become big holiday gift sales. and instead of just a whiney Luke, we have an old whiny grumpy Luke. And although I found Luke’s new found humor funny, I sort of felt it was just put in to have funny lines in the movies. It didn’t seem to be in his character at all based on previous movies. I could rationalize that with the fact that through his suffering he now found life as absurd.

With that out of the way, I thought the movie raised some very interesting and theological and political questions. Do we learn wisdom from books or do we learn it from our direct experiences. This question has been asked throughout history going as far back to the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Job. It raises the issue of letting go of the past and moving forward. Much like the Buddhist saying “If you meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill the Buddha.” To me this statement means we must find enlightenment by ourselves, and not just take the word of the ancient religious leaders. Must we destroy the past to move forward? Or can we incorporate what we know from the past and  infuse it with current knowledge to create something new. Every Fundamentalist and Reformer religious leader deals with this question.  I think the movie also as has previous star wars movies raises the question of redemption. Is everyone redeemable? In previous movies Luke believed Darth Vadar was redeemable. In the end he was redeemed, but after countless, countless murders and only while he was dieing, in order to save his son. Is Kylo Ren redeemable? Even after killing his father? This series constantly asks that question.

I think the most poignant part of the movie is the question as to whether leaders and heroes are chosen/born, part of a priestly class,  or are they created by the circumstances of their life. Can anyone be a hero/leader? Are leaders supposed to come from one family line as if ordained, like so many religions, kings and rulers throughout history proclaimed.  I admit I never really liked the Midichlorian storyline that only a special few and their offspring were especially strong with the force. Previous star wars movies showed the diversity of the Jedi, so it is unclear as to how those two concepts (diversity and choosiness) go together  in episodes 1-3.  I tended to like Yoda’s teaching that the force is there for anyone to tap into if they become awake to its power and presence and practice using it. This movie’s story line focuses on this latter teaching.

This movie again shows us the folly of hubris, from both good and evil. It also speaks to the question of balance. If there is a Jedi there is an equal dark side and vice versa. I am not sure I agree with this. We have seen throughout history the unchecked power of evil and violence has not always led to the rise of the good. In fact one of the question that is still left open is why after Vadar and the emperor were killed did the republic not come back into existence. Where did Snope come from?

From a political (and maybe religious) front the movie asks the question we ask in our political lives. Is aggressiveness and/or sacrificing oneself, the best course of action, or is a calculated retreat necessary at times? I guess one other sticking point for me, is that the movie continues a line of thought that I hear a lot in the ether about our fetish and idealization of failure as a teacher. Failure is failure. Failure is only a teacher if you use the information you learned from failure to be successful in the future. Failure for failure’s sake is meaningless. Yes we should not fear failure, but we should takes steps to mitigate it. Jedi’s hubris led to them failing to recognize the Sith taking power. Clearly defeating the empire still led to failure and ongoing retreat for the resistance. Luke Skywalker hubris, being the strongest Jedi, and then his low self esteem, led him to failure and retreat from the world. I don’t know if the message is that Evil is stronger then good, or an overview about how Democrats struggle to be organized and don’t have staying power and about how the oppressed don’t join together to overthrow systemic injustice. Or perhaps the message of the movie was a view of our current society as encapsulated in the character of  the amoral codebreaker played by Benicio Del Toro, who had no allegiances and saw no difference between good and evil, and focused only self-preservation.

It was a fairly depressing movie in that sense, with a few hopeful notes thrown in here and there. However from seeing the negative, we can cull from it, what should be done. Perhaps if Luke had not given up, and instead of retreating had honed his powers and matured, perhaps he could have lifted up the resistance over the first order. It is a reminder for us to not give up and to be vigilant.  It is Rey, who is the great hero of this movie. Looking for the good in others and looking for meaning in her life as she says “I need someone to show me my place in all of this.” I think we all are looking to find purpose for our lives and meaning in the world. Rey epitomizes this, realizing her own power to change things for the better, and looking for the better in others and she constantly learns and grows. So not a simple or ra ra movie, but it gave me a lot to think about. I am curious where it will go from here. Lots of good questions and metaphors, and no easy answers. That is why I liked it so much. 

Book Review “Home” by Marilynne Robinson

This is a follow up book to the Pulitzer Prize winning Gilead about a rural Iowa Congregationalist Minister. My review of Gilead can be found here.
http://jwoworld.blogspot.com/2014/12/book-review-gilead.html

I liked the concept of this book. It’s story takes place at  the same time and with the same characters that are in Gilead, except it focuses on two different characters that were more minor characters in the Gilead Story. I felt like I already knew something about the characters and now this book goes into more depth.  It is the story of a sister and brother, one very dutiful, the other a reprobate (authors word). It discusses the return of both to their ancestral house. They are taking care of their ailing father who is a retired Presbyterian Minister. Both have their secrets, ulterior motives for being there, both have their personal failures, and both learn to live with them in different ways. The book is really the inner life of these two characters. It is a well written and like Gilead, at times a bit slow but easy read. From a theological perspectives It touches on salvation, forgiveness, predestination, redemption and how that plays out in our day to day lives. Do we find ourselves to have a role to play in the larger scheme of things and even if that does not bring us happiness does it bring us purpose? And is that good or bad.

In the end, it also speaks about the concept of what home is. Is it a physical place,  a touchstone for the history of who we are and how we became who we were. Or is it a state of mind, a place where we find our way. What are the touchstones of your lives? Why do we always look to escape the place from which we were raised?

“All of them call it home, but they never stay….Home, what kinder place could there be on earth and why did it seem to them all like exile….The soul finds its own home, if it ever has a home at all””

Overall I found it a very sad book. That is not good or bad, it is just how it left me. At the end, I was sad for the characters. It made me realize how often we are trapped in our own stories, and how we judge ourselves more harshly then others might. It also focuses on the beauty of the banality of simple kindnesses, but how often that can lead us to avoid our truth.
If you like to read about the inner lives of what drives people, and how they live within the dynamics of family and fitting in or not, it is a good But somber read.

Review of Born to Run – Autobiography of Bruce Springsteen

I recently finished this 500 or so page book. I knew before I even started it, I would love it. Springsteen’s music was formative for me growing up and his concerts are moving and electrifying and he rightfully calls them revivals. In one way, I was curious about the man whose music affected me. I was also curious how much of my perception would be different then what he writes about himself.  Although I can nitpick here and there, the book is a well written book. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Springsteen is a great writer of songs which tell stories. The book is at times a series of vignettes that seem like Flannery O’conner short stories. He looks back on his life adding flourishing descriptors and with a psychological perspective trying to make sense of it all. I appreciated the stories of the struggle of his upbringing on the Jersey Shore, his persistence of breaking into music, his struggle to get the “right sound”, his struggle with the business side of the music industry, his struggles with relationships  and how he dealt with stardom. He goes into depth about his relationship with his Family, especially his father and how that was formative for him.  I also Shamelessly admit (although there was not much about it,) I enjoyed that he did write briefly about his first marriage and why it failed. (my perception was wrong about this)  Another important topic that he touched on was his battle with depression and his seeking help for it. Although he has mentioned it in interviews, he goes into a bit of depth about how it affected him. My nitpicking would be, he barely touched on the reason the E Street Band broke up. He alludes to a few things, but doesn’t go into depth about it. I imagine since they are back together he didn’t understandably want to open old wounds. It was interesting to see the development of his music from personal stories to a craft of songwriting. The second half of the book seemed to be a little rushed, but I imagine after page 400, he needed to start wrapping it up. Even if you are not a Bruce Springsteen fan, it is an easy and informative read about how and  what it takes to become and survive being a rock and roll star. My image of him has not been shaken. In fact as usual, his story and his writing inspire me.

The moral of the story is Know who you are and what you want, be authentic to who you are, be persistent and willing to sacrifice it all to maintain that authenticity, find people you can trust, and ask for help when you need it.

The End of the Road

Honestly we have been kicking the can down the road with North Korea since the Truman Presidency. Truman’s firing of General MacArthur who wanted to expand the war with China and some say wanted to use nuclear weapons was the first step in a line of Presidents who just didn’t want to provoke conflict with China and in later years feared actual retaliation from North Korea against our allies in the region. We have known they have been in pursuit of nuclear weapons since the Clinton Presidency. Each President since, both Democrat and Republican has at best slowed or delayed the inevitable. But we are near the end of the road of kicking the can. 

Or are we? I have to admit, after the Iraq debacle (both the intelligence prior to the war and the war planning dismantling their police), that has cost us trillions of dollars, thousand of lives and the creation of ISIS, I am skeptical about information I hear from intelligence sources. Now some people say to me, Jay why aren’t you skeptical about intelligence sources about Russia interfering in the election? The reason I am not, is that there seems at least to be corroborating evidence in that instance. The President during the campaign publicly asked for Russia’s help in hacking Hilary Clinton. Don Jr.’s meeting with the Russians, Flynn and Manafort taking money from Russians, and Don Jr. publicly stating that Russians are their bankers. Enough digression though. What would be the purpose of such a distortion of information to bring us to the brink of war? With our other wars slowing up, Is the military industrial complex looking for a new war?  Or is it the evangelicals who are trying to create an apocalypse to bring about the return of Jesus?  Possibly a mutual interest of the two combined. 

Clearly North Korea has been launching rockets though (I do believe half of what I see) so I assume even without nuclear weapons, they are rattling their Sabres. To what purpose though? What is their underlying motive? I sort of liken it to Amazon losing money year after year after year until they finally drove others out of business and now they are reaping large rewards. I could argue that capitalism in its roots leads towards destruction (such as book stores). But I don’t have time for such a digression. North Korea has been supposedly starving their people to build up their military. What do they hope to gain? I don’t know, and that is what perplexes me. They would gain significantly more financially by agreeing to not build weapons, then to build and use weapons. This is why I was thought our attack on Libya was so short sighted and self defeating. We promised Khadafi if he gave up his nuclear ambitions we would leave him in power. Then we reneged on that agreement. Why would North Korea (NK) trust us if we agreed to a similar deal. I thought about what if we just accept NK into the world to avoid war. If we do, the fear would be of course that they would build up their arsenal of weapons with increased money flowing into the country. Ideally they would have to accept ongoing monitoring. However they have shown no willingness to negotiate and no willingness to keep to previous agreements.  If NK brings these threats to fruition, it will certainly lead to their destruction. 

This brings me to China. China’s support is the reason that North Korea has been able to continue with this for so long. They must know that any conflict would adversely affect them and their economy (as well as the world economy). North Korea was a pawn for China, but now it seems the pawn has made to the other side of the board and is being exchanged for another piece that can cause real damage. Initially China’s motive was to place a wedge between them and Russia and the US on the peninsula. How would China react if we launched a Preemptive  attack against North Korea? Whose interest is that in? Maybe Russia’s interest. 

Which brings me to Trump. China has been in Trump’s crosshairs for a long time. Is he using this provocation as a way to ultimately hurt China and help Russia? If we are fighting China, Russia benefits. This also leads to questions about whether Trump is being manipulated by Russia.  Trump has used aggressive language towards North Korea. If I thought he was a strategic thinker I might say he is playing good cop/bad cop, as a way to bring them to the negotiating table and let them get their payday. Sadly though, based on his previous actions I don’t see Trump as a Strategic thinker.Perhaps NK will fear that Trump is truly unhinged and unpredictable and that will bring them to the table to negotiate. That is what Trump is counting on.  If NK drops a bomb somewhere, we would be forced to respond. We could not use nuclear weapons because of its effect on all the surrounding countries and fear of escalating nuclear war. We could respond militarily, without nuclear weapons,.  This will be hard and it will be devastating to the region and thus devastating to the world. So it comes down to whether China can have any control over NK. It is time for China to sacrifice its pawn NK. 

The game that started 70 some odd years ago it coming to an end. Let us hope it is not the end for us all. None of this really makes sense. Madmen to the left of me, Madmen to the right of me. Here I am, just trying to make the world a better place for all. I am not naïve about the evil in the world, But also not naïve about our own military industrial complex that spreads violence throughout the world. I am hopeful that calmer heads will prevail. 

We seem to not be bothered how many people will die if this escalates as long as it doesn’t touch our country. But it does affect our country in so many ways. We saw that on 9-11. We saw that in Charlotte, NC and in the streets of our cities. The ongoing cycle of hatred and violence affects us and seeps into our consciousness and becomes part of our culture. Violence has always been a part of the American Culture since its founding. How we treated the native American population, slavery, the “wild” west. The question is do we evolve as people and a nation or do we continue with destruction which will lead to our own self destruction. 

Our actions have consequences.  I just want us to think that there is always a third way. It does not have to be capitulation or destruction. I ask us to think about not just how to get out of this mess but how we got into it. When we avoid conflict, it usually just builds up. If by avoiding it, we can use the time to build better relationships, and to grow closer that would be worthwhile. But usually it just builds up until it explodes. There are ways to have conflict without violence. I know I have come to no conclusions. It is confusing because we really don’t know the facts about the situation. Just what we are being fed by the media. We try to piece it together, but we have only partial pictures and hazy visions. This is where the lack of trust in government wears us down. But who else do we have? For a start let us  put people in government we can trust. It is a myth to think we can control the outcome of what happens. A lot depends on China, a lot depends on North Korea. A lot depends on us. 

What are we going to do. What are you going to do. Do we wait until the bombs are falling on us to get engaged in political dialogue about we want to be as a nation. It will be too late then. We need to start talking now. We need to start taking positive actions now.  It is one reason why I do what I do. I am re-committing myself to build a justice seeking community that respects each others differences, that builds relationships and seeks to understand the underlying needs of each person. I hope it can be a model for the world. Please join me in working towards this end. 

The Leftovers – Some thoughts on the Series Finale

I finally caught up with the series finale of “The Leftovers” on HBO. I have enjoyed watching this show. It has been somewhat uneven in quality from episode to episode, (and sometimes it jarringly changes direction/plotlines) but overall I thought it was a thought provoking, creative and well-written show. The premise of the show is that 2% of the world’s population (randomly??) disappear suddenly. The three seasons speak to how a small group of individuals from one town (and the world in general) has reacted to this event. Of course it has overtones of the rapture, which made it a theologically interesting premise for me.  That being said, the series finale was anti-climactic and disappointing.   I don’t know why certain shows have such a hard time with this knowing a series will end. In the very last episode, the show compresses something like 30 years into 1 hour and only in the last 2 minutes of the show gives a quick explanation to what happened in the intervening years. (or was she lying, or were they dead a la Lost?) Although it was an interesting explanation at the end, there was much left unanswered, such as how and why the people the disappeared and the fate of certain other characters.  The theme song of the show was Iris Dement’s “Let the Mystery Be” I guess they kept to that theme in ending the series. 

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

So of course she won the Pulitzer for this book, but that in and of itself doesn’t prejudge a book for me. I have sat thinking about this book for a couple of days now.  This was an easy read. It is the story of a third generation farmer who gives his farm to two of his three daughters and their spouses and the aftermath of how that affected the family. What I like most was the book gave me a sense of what it was like to live and work on a family farm. Being a city kid now living in Iowa, I found this helpful and interesting. I felt like I was peering into a foreign culture. The story depicts the dysfunction and dynamics within families. It talks about our inner lives compared to our outer lives. It is a reminder that we often don’t really know the suffering that most people live with. It points to the strength, the pain and destruction of keeping secrets. Ultimately it talks about how our history, all of it is a large part of defining who we are.  My only slight complaint about the book is that for the first 2/3 of the book it was evenly paced developing the characters. Then in the last third of the book it felt very rushed to tell us all the secrets. Time lapsed without going into depth how these revelations affected the characters in other then a cursory way. Even so, I think I was just seeking more of a good thing. I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend it 

Rogue One – an 8 out of 10 on the JayWo movie rating scale.

Next to the “Empire Strikes Back” this is my second favorite Star Wars movie. Empire will always be number 1 because it introduced me to Yoda. Rogue One was a bit of a slower moving, and dark movie compared to the action oriented and feel good movies in the series. It was a well written movie. It gave us a chance to meet various characters of the rebellion not just see them fight.  It answered a long time stirring question (at least for me) about the original star wars movie and why the death star had a fatal flaw. (this doesn’t answer that same question for the Force Awakens)  The movie showed that anything worth doing requires risk and sacrifice.  That is a message that I think is important for our current world.  I also saw a similarity within the racial diversity of the rebellion leaders and fighters, and our own country. Possibly, it idealized how we could unify our fractured competing oppressions and join together to achieve a common goal of defeating the empires in our lives.  Lastly who doesn’t like a wisecracking droid.  “I am one with the force, and the force is with me” May the force be with you.