BorderPoint

District 9: Paving the Way to Unity

Peter Jackson’s recently released District 9 can be a difficult, at times disturbing, movie to watch. Although Jackson does not resist the now common abuse of technical innovation enabling extreme graphic violence, the movie is not without merit. In fact, this latest creation by the acclaimed director makes an important point. The film’s value is significantly increased when one reflects upon the underlying drama and theme of the film.

In a word, District 9 is a powerful presentation on the subject of self-preservation and the ramifications of this seemingly inherent drive among sentient beings. Peter Jackson effectively illustrates the unsympathetic, heartless consequences that result from a reality based in unconscious, ego driven instinct. And through powerful symbolism, Jackson offers the cure to the end of conflict: That only by becoming the other and developing our capacity for empathy can we hope to live up to our divine potential as compassionate, selfless beings, thereby creating a better world for all.

The story begins with the arrival of an alien spacecraft that hovers above Johannesburg, South Africa for some time. Eventually, the alien inhabitants are discovered within, in a state of malnourishment and decrepitude. They are given asylum in Johannesburg in what essentially becomes a ghetto, nominally known as District 9, and begin to take their place at the bottom of the food chain within the greater society.

Naturally, tension and resentment arise between the alien visitors and the humans within the vicinity, leading to escalating hostility that eventually necessitates the relocation of the offworlders to yet another concentration camp further from “civilized” society.

In the course of events the human administrator responsible for managing the transplantation of the residents of District 9 contracts a bizarre condition resulting in a startling physical transformation, irrevocably altering the course of his otherwise normal life.

Without revealing too much about the film, the point that District 9 ultimately makes is that only by becoming the other is our empathy engaged. In other words, until we learn to empathize with the other and feel from their perspective, we will continue to be driven by selfish fear at the expense of cooperative benefit, accompanied often times with primitive, violent and sadistic behavior.

From a humanitarian and spiritual perspective, the understanding of this concept is a significant step forward in our evolution as a species and the realization of our divine destiny in a world based in peace, love, compassion, prosperity and justice for all.

For as long as there exists an other, we will have enemies and we will have conflict. Only when our paradigm shifts from us and them to simply us, when we truly realize that we are all in this together, will we manifest the beautiful, divine potential we are gifted with and create a world worthy of us.

We suffer from the loss of our humanity when only self-preservation rules. It is the lack of empathy, true and real feeling for another, that leads human beings to the incomprehensibly cruel and callous treatment of other living things, with total disregard for their sentience, causing unimaginable suffering.

How have we fallen to such abysmal depths in consciousness, particularly in the western world where the very spiritual tradition that is embraced by the vast majority of people, the Christian tradition, is fundamentally based in love, compassion and self-sacrifice, in stark contrast to the ego-based drive for self-preservation?

The great prophet Jesus is said to have died out of love for his enemies, and yet our society, nominally based in “Christian” values, goes out of its way to create enemies to crucify. How have we arrived at this?

It is the fundamental error in perception of disconnection, disunity and separation that causes us to judge, condemn, label and ultimately attack another. Returning to the example of Jesus, where his peers were quick to judge and condemn another, he rather reacted with empathy and compassion, mercy and forgiveness. We have much to learn should we come close to truly exemplifying the principles and paths of the great spiritual traditions we lay claim to.

Compassion is only possible through empathy. Empathy is the key to selflessness and evolution of the spirit. Empathy is the key to healing the rift and separation between a man and his brother, and thus between humanity and God. For as a great spiritual teacher once said, “If you fail to see the Divine in your brother, you need not look further.” It is empathy that enables us to forgive.

Furthermore, it is precisely the ultimate sacrifice, self-sacrifice, the conscious embrace of death, that ends the illusion of the ego and is the doorway to freedom, love and truth. In light of this, the words of the Prophet Muhammad ring with clarity, purpose and divine guidance where he advised to the believers, “Die before you die.”

The practice of empathy is a powerful gift. To be able to feel the pain that another experiences is a divine favor. For it is through empathy that we acquire the capacity to love even our enemies, and so become true, human beings.

The world requires healing. And the most effective act to effect global healing is to effect healing in our own lives, our own seemingly small personal lives. Yet the repercussions of such small actions are great and span outwards, as in the butterfly effect, creating a cascading wave of change, the effects of which are far greater than we may realize.

In this time of accelerating change, when one candle is lit, hundreds, perhaps thousands of others will be en-lightened.

Through empathy and genuine love for another, human interactions become transformed from what I can get to what I can give, from how I can benefit to how I can serve. And as we actively practice the golden rule, we will cooperatively create a golden world.

Empathy and compassion are the cure.