Friday, May 14, 2010

Peace or Freedom

I am so fascinated by the TV series Supernatural. Over the last couple years it's been amazing. They moved from a zombie/demon killing show to one with real meaning and allegories. It's heavily based on the Bible, and shows the good and bad sides of both angels and the devil. The parallels - two brothers who are vessels for Gabriel and the Devil (he has a name, doesn't he? I forget). Armageddon is the fight between the two heavenly beings. Can one stop what is supposedly pre-ordained? Why does God do what he does? What is faith and how can you keep it? Can mortals teach heaven a thing or two?

The season finale ended with a question: If you had to choose between peace and freedom, which would you choose?

I thought about it all the way to work (I walked). I asked it on FB and got a wide range of answers. I really don't know how to answer, and maybe even what the question means. The book that came to mind was Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, which I've talked about before. To me, if you truly want freedom, you have to be willing to accept conflict (ie, sometimes a lack of peace). But, can you have both? Can you have a free, peaceful society? Or is mankind 'human' and thus it cannot be perfectly peaceful? In the series, even heaven is not peaceful, but it also is represented as not free.

What do you think?
I'm off to San Fran to find a place to live. Won't be back until late Tues, so not sure if will blog. All the best to you all.

6 comments:

laura b. said...

That is a really tough choose and defend!!! I will take freedom, though, and use that freedom to promote peace.

Enjoy SF and I hope you find someplace to live :-)

(PS-I don't think the Devil has a given name, just things he's called)

Ananda girl said...

Enjoy SF! I love it there this time of year.

Yikes... I guess I have to agree that freedom must generally speaking be defended and that cannot happen without conflict.

As for the up in the air stuff... its all a test... and the right answers just depend on your choice of solutions.

Mel said...

Oh.......house hunting in SF! :-)

Lucky you.

And you're right--that's a tough choice. And there's a difference to me on the external and the internal.

So I'll choose peace. But I always choose peace.
Peace for me isn't lack of conflict. Peace for me isn't external circumstances deciding for me. It's not something someone can hand me. It's not absence of anything--it's a state of being which lends to a state of acting.

*laughing*
Leave it to me to make it all about ME. LOLOL

Sebastien Millon said...

you hope to have a blend of both, that's what I say. But if I have to choose only one, I'd say freedom. Peace while living in a totalitarian regime with no rights is not worth it to me.

Churlita said...

Good luck this weekend.

I would choose freedom. I went so long without it when my abusive aunt and uncle were my legal guardians, that it's really important to me now.

Tara said...

I've always been a huge fan of both, but I choose freedom. LB makes a good point - with freedom, we can work on peace.