I watched the Terminator last night, and wondered why there are so many sci-fi movies about cold, calculating, apparently unstoppable robotic and/or alien adversaries. What is so fascinating about them?
Of course, it can be exiting – and useful – to get in touch with the clarity and energy of our basic survival instincts. There is a sense of all of us, all humanity, being in the same boat. There is comfort in the simplicity of having a clear enemy and knowing what to do, and entertainment in the openness of not quite knowing how to do it. And it is enjoyable to vicariously experience drama without being part of it ourselves.
Then, if I see these movies as a dream, with all parts mirroring something in me, what in myself do these characters remind me of?
What I find is that the terminator mirrors what happens when there is a belief in a story, and does so in a quite exaggerated and cartoonish way which makes it easier to recognize.
As soon as there is an identification with a story, this human life is in the service of that story. I live as if it is true. I defend against whatever may threaten that story and identity. And there is a certain dehumanization that takes place. If someone speak or act in ways that creates friction with my story, my heart becomes ambivalent and may close down. There is a sense of separation. I identify others with the stories they temporarily use as guides.
I dehumanize myself by clouding over my natural intelligence and heart. I dehumanize others by identifying them with a story I take as wrong.
Just as the terminator – and the Borg and the triffids – are the enemy of humanity, beliefs are the enemy my own humanity. (Not really “enemy”, but that word fits in this context.) Sometimes, these beliefs are pretty stupid, they just insist on being right without much justification. (Like the triffids.) And sometimes they are pretty smart, although still wrong about being right… as all beliefs are. (The Borg.)
Yet, as soon as there is a release of this identification, my humanity surfaces again. I can recognize stories as temporary guides only. My heart opens. I recognize myself in others and there is a sense of us.