Relativity of Reality

I spent a few hours today watching a documentary called the "Arrivals". While I found it entertaining, I have many reasons to be skeptical about its content.

The documentary talked about the arrival of Imam Mahdi, the Antichrist and the return of Jesus and how consciously or even unconsciously people follow the dark side or the light side. The idea, itself, is nothing new and as far as I know, has been mentioned in all holy books. What was interesting about The Arrivals, however, was the signs they mentioned throughout the whole documentary that seemed to serve as proofs that the arrival is near. While I believe some of the things they mentioned to be true (Media brainwashing and the modern Idol worshipping), I have to disagree with most of the other "facts".

They related many things to their theory of "New World Order" and "Freemasonry", and I, unfortunately, do not have extensive knowledge of most of them. So I can only start with things I do know about. let's examine some of these signs closely:

1-The Eye in Ancient Egypt

In The Arrivals, the eye is a symbol of The Antichrist (The one-eyed creature) from the time of the Ancient Egypt up to now, which is present everywhere, even on the back of the one dollar bill in the U.S, in famous buildings, monuments and so on and so forth.

What I do know about this eye is that in Ancient Egypt, it was called the Eye of Horus, the god of the sky whose right eye was associated to Ra (the sun). This right eye represents the sun, and what people may not know is that there is in fact a left eye, too, which represents the moon and together they are a symbol of the universe. Spiritually the right eye represents masculine and the left eye feminine energy. The eye was also used in arithmetic back in those times.

It might also be interesting to note that in 1592 the eye was painted in a triangle by Jacobo Pontormo as a symbol of Trinity in Christianity.

So I believe that the reason why this symbol is used on the tower of Aachen Cathedral, Alexander's Column, the top of the Declaration of Human rights and the bill is perhaps because of symbolic meaning of glory, provdidence, and the all-seeing eye of God in Christianity, not the other way around.

2-Freemasonry"

The modern signification of Freemasonry in which, since about 1750, the word has been universally and exclusively understood, dates only from the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England, 1717. In this acceptation Freemasonry, according to the official English, Scottish, American, etc., craft rituals, is most generally defined: "A peculiar [some say "particular" or "beautiful"] system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Mackey [10] declares the best definition of Freemasonry to be: "A science which is engaged in the search after the divine truth." The German encyclopedia of Freemasonry, "Handbuch" [11] defines Freemasonry as "the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the mason's trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind [Menschheitsbund], which they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale" (Quoted from Catholic Encyclopedia)

3-The Checkered carpets and floors

Now I think this was taking their theory a bit too far. Let's look at it this way:

I say "The color white is, in fact, the sign of antichrist and the color black is the sign of Imam Mahdi. You want proof? Why, Kaba is black and the White House is White. Hollywood is written in White. The Twin Towers are white. Ben Laden wears white!"

I'm sure there are a thousand places in which checkered carpets and the reason is probably aesthetic and nothing more. The same could be said about the Coat of arms of the Great Britain. In many flags (interestingly enough, in Iran's old flag as well), the lion is a symbol of Power (the king of the jungle) and glory, and of course it would be present in all British, Candaian and Austrailian exports for the same reason the Iranian flag is present in all our exports; just look at the back of Maz Maz.


4-The Elites deleted the files on YouTube

There is a logical and valid reason for this. Throughout the series, many clips from The Matrix, Lord of the rings and many other movies and music videos were used. As I'm sure you are aware, YouTube has a copyright policy. If you use clips without the owners' permission, your videos will be deleted due to the violation of the rights.


This list can go on forever, but the point I'm trying to make is that what they presented is simply a theory and a theory alone. Dan Brown used this method in his famous books, "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Angels and Demons", and his fictions were filled with facts, partial facts, and flat-out lies. What's wrong with what they showed people is that it is based on beliefs and not facts, and therefore cannot be proved right or wrong.

Somebody may decide tomorrow that Saruman is actually real, and the rings must be destroyed. Some may laugh at him, and some may take a leap of faith and start a community to find Frodo. In the end, reality is relative; you see it the way you want it to, and I can only conclude this with a quote by Descartes:

"Since reason already convinces me that I should abstain from the belief in things which are not entirely certain and indubitable no less carefully than from the belief in those which appear to me to be manifestly false, it will be enough to make me reject them all if I can find in each some ground for doubt."

The Black Swan

"We all carry within us places of exile, our crimes, our ravages. Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves and others." –Albert Camus

"We all know the story: virgin girl, pure and sweet, trapped in a body of a swan; she desires freedom, but only true love can break the curse. Her wish is nearly granted in the form of a prince, but before he can declare his love, her lustful twin, the black swan, tricks and seduces him. Devastated, the white swan kills herself and in death finds freedom." –Thomas in the Black Swan

There have been different interpretations of the movie, the Black Swan, ranging from misogyny to dopplegangers. What I want to concentrate on, however, is a psychological point of view separate from gender or cultural aspects and folklores.

The white Swan, as Thomas well described, is a symbol of purity, sweetness and perfection. Nina, the girl who is assigned to play the roles of both the white swan and the black swan, is just like that. A twenty-eight year old girl, she is a shy and sweet ballerina who strives to be perfect: She's dutiful, obeys her mother and strives more than anything to perfect and adored by everybody. Perfection to her is synonymous with control. If you have control over everything, if you do whatever that is right, then you will be perfect.

It should come as no surprise that playing the black swan becomes a great challenge for her. To the black swan, perfection is not about control; it is about letting go and submitting to your darkest desires.

This is when the metamorphosis begins. Nina's eyes are opened to a whole new world she was not thus far aware of. She disobeys her mothers, begins an affair with her teacher, does drugs and basically loses control. Due to the strain the role has on her, she starts having hallucinations and in the end of the movie accidently kills herself, and in that, just like the black swan, finds her own freedom.

The black Swan is a symbol of a worldview many people have: In order to find happiness, you must be perfect; the perfect child, the perfect parent, the perfect student. You must stay away from sins. There is one religion, one God, one universal rule that will bring them delight, and if you do not obey, you'll be damned.

The black swan, on the other hand, is the worldview of an alluring, imperfect world that has recently become mainstream: Life is flawed, we are flawed and the only thing we can do in this chaotic world is to admit to the absurdity of life, our imperfections and let go of this ideal thinking there will be an answer to everything.

Nina's metamorphosis then, is not much unlike the disillusionment Goodman Brown went through in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown: Life is not what she used to see. By this disillusionment, you shall not lose your faith, rather find a new one. You cannot be perfect and in that truth you shall find freedom.

In a way we are all auditioning for the Swan Lake. Some will be white swans; some will be the black ones. Which one's the right answer, however, is a choice I leave to the reader.