Making the best of 47 terrible choices of in-flight movies, on the way to New York I watched World War Z.
A mysterious virus turns people into zombies; zombies swarm and bite, spreading the virus; the bitten become zombies; Brad Pitt creates a vaccine. Not very original.
But there’s an incredible Israel vignette. Turns out, Israel’s security wall was really built to keep out zombies. In Jerusalem’s old city, Israelis and Palestinians belt out the Hebrew-Arabic peace song “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu/Salaam” … and then the zombies scale the wall and attack.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY! Leaders should have let the zombies gather on the Mount of Olives, re-unite with their souls, and make their way to the Temple Mount. Happy endings for all, according to one Jewish version of the end-times.
But the movie has no happy ending; it reaches no final goal. The zombies are discarded human shells, without subjectivity, used only for the virus’ purpose. Enemies may unite under the banner of peace, but this peace is not a blessed end state. In this movie, the work of finding peace is never done.
Have you noticed? The words “scatology” and “eschatology” sound suspiciously similar.
Scatology is the study of the end-state of an animal’s food. As in, “Did you see any moose scat on the trail? If we see the droppings, we might see a moose!”
“Eschatology” is the study of the final state of the human soul and the human community. As in the Christian Rapture, the Jewish Messianic Time, the Muslim Day of Judgment, the Humanistic era of peace and justice.
Maybe eschatology is a bit like scatology. Scatologically speaking, you eat, food reaches its end state; you eat again, and the process continues. Eschatologically speaking, you reach for perfection and you achieve it; it ain’t so perfect, and you reach again.
A few days ago, I woke disoriented, after a scatological dream. Grocery bags filled with scat were piled everywhere.
What could the dream mean? Should I skip the processes of rumination and digestion, and go straight to the end state? Is scat the end-state of all my years of work? Worse, is it the end-state of my soul?
Am I nothing, nothing, nothing?
Would it be terrible if I were? Hasidic spiritual teachers talk about bitul hayesh, nullifying one’s ego. Reduce arrogance; quiet the mind; make room for God.
Maybe it’s good to be nothing. Not a professor, not a rabbi, not a daughter, barely a mother anymore. When I can fully let go of mourning for all those roles, I’ll be able to discover who I really am.
No, wait, that doesn’t seem right. Underneath all the layers of something, I should not find another something.
Unless the top layers are mere “roles,” and hidden deep below them is my “essence.” My “essence” represents a different order of reality.
And yet, if I seek my essence, I still seek what is really me, me, me, ME!!! I have not let go of the ego.
Should I now speak of bitul b’etzem, nullifying one’s essence through mystical union with God? Some Hasidic teachers call it a “higher” bitul. Maybe it is higher; but in my experience, it is also easier. Through the light touch of grace, a switch flips, and I perceive the truth about everything.
Much easier than bitul hayesh — but not a replacement for it. No matter how brightly the mystical secret burns in me, I still slog daily through layers of feeling and opinion to find the truth about myself.
A truth I call into question the very next day.
Image: http://www.containsmoderateperil.com. Concepts of bitul from the Tzemach Tzedek.
The next time we meet, let me tell you the joke about the synagogue caretaker–it ends with the line “Look who thinks he’s nothing!” Maybe it’s a classic Jewish joke. I heard it from my colleague Jerry Zaslove.
Have you seen, “Warm Bodies,” the feel-good romantic comedy…with zombies?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I think its resolution is a bit closer to what you’re looking for. I keep thinking there’s some bizarre, tedious link between Pitt’s roles in Seven Years in Tibet and World War Z.
I bought, and am considering reading, the book World War Z. It’s written by Mel Brooks’ son, Max (as is the Zombie Survival Guide). I wonder how being written by a Jew, fits in with the above?
Which leaves me thinking about soul.
I saw that movie in theaters! For me, the Israel vignette had a very unexpected effect. I watched the movie after slogging through all the Israel programming during smicha week. Thinking about Israel and expressing opinions about Israel in smicha week I thought of myself as I always have, as not having any real personal stake, an emotional connection or spiritual connection to the place itself. But as silly as it sounds, when I saw the visuals of zombies swarming through the old city something inside me made itself known that I had never been aware of before. I reacted emotionally and realized I do have some sort of emotional connection after all, to those places. It was very interesting.
Thanks, Sarah. I thought those scenes were very powerful as well; for me they made the movie more than a throwaway Zombie formula. So interesting to watch symbols at work…