The film is full of and embodies the concept of "struggle" from beginning to end. There are struggles between the ruling party and religious power, between philosophy and science and religion, between believers of different religions, and between different viewpoints within the natural sciences. And this film revolves around
the struggle between these different fields. Here are some thoughts:
1. Religion
Smith once said: "The story of religion is not all rose-colored, but is often low and rough, and wisdom and love always appear intermittently." For this sentence, this film seems to be the best example. . It is true that religious emotion is one of the most noble and beautiful emotions of human beings, and it is rose-colored, but the believers in the film show its other side, terrifying fanaticism and extreme rejection. There is a lot of space in the film showing the situation of "jihad" between pagans (Jews and Christians, polytheists and Christians). The scene is extremely bloody, brutal and brutal! The most beautiful things are often closely connected with the most terrible things. When dealing with brothers and the weak, the (then) believers were selfless and full of love, but when faced with pagans and so-called "witchcraft" (the film actually refers to the astronomical research of the time), this tenderness Water-like love instantly solidifies into solid ice, sharp blades in hands, and stones in pockets! Therefore, some people have said: "Religion is beautiful, but once it is associated with people, it will inevitably lead to depravity, and eventually people will be cast aside." However, if religion is high and does not connect with people, religion will It can't be called religion. This seems to constitute a paradox.
So here, perhaps what is needed is not black and white, but a balanced perspective on religion. The Indian sage Ramakrishna firmly believed that different religions were different paths to the same destination. All teachings are just many ways, and any one way is not God Himself. It is worth noting that the panorama of the earth in the universe appears from time to time, especially when describing the "jihad", the camera is constantly zooming in, and Christians in black robes can be seen rushing towards them like ants. "Enemy", the background music is solemn and beautiful sacred music and people's roars and cries. The camera is shot from above, like the vision of God, overlooking the people on the ground. If the universe was really created by God, would he feel the slightest sadness at this time? Human justice and benevolence are relative and belong to the category of morality; while God's justice and benevolence, like the universe, are transcendent. God is a circle, and man, at best, is a fan, and the only difference is the size of the fan. When man (the Pope Cyril in the film) sees himself as God rather than a bridge to God, religion begins to fall and disaster strikes.
two. Human knowledge (natural sciences and philosophy)
is in the film, and the struggle within natural sciences (astronomy) is manifested between Ptolemy's geocentric theory and Aristarchus' heliocentric theory. Both theories, for the heroine, have their imperfections and seem to contradict her research. The paradox is: what the first two have in common is that the trajectories of planetary motions are circular, because a circle is the most perfect figure. And Hypatia's observations found that the volume and temperature of the sun in the four seasons are different, so it can be deduced that the distance between the sun and the earth is not a fixed value. She admits heliocentrism, but does not resolve the contradiction. Lying on the bed with the starry sky above her head, "If I can get closer to the answer," she stretched out her slender fingers and stroked the stars above her head, "Then I will die without regrets." But this question was easy for Christians at that time. According to the Bible, God created the universe, and the sky is the cover and the earth is the bottom. We can't understand God's purpose, don't explore WHY, but love.
People always endow nature with too many emotional and moral factors, but this often becomes a barrier for people to lead to the truth. In fact, as Hypatia later discovered, the orbits were elliptical. The so-called perfection is just the meaning attached by man, and the universe is always "just". Human beings are extremely limited, so exploration is human instinct, stretching out and going deep in are never-ending directions. Sometimes the deeper you go, the more confused you are. You can even smell the truth, but you just can't see it. When the tipping point is finally reached, new truths are revealed, and on this basis, new paradigms are established. Just as "there is only one history, but the written history is endless", there is only one truth, and the paradigm is only a "temporary stable standard" reached by people, which can be broken. Many top scientists have religious beliefs, perhaps because the more they know, the more revered they are.
three. Philosophers' Beliefs and the Beliefs of Some Religious Believers
In the film, the heroine said: "I believe in philosophy. Only it can make me happy, it is more important than my life." In general, in our opinion, a The closer a person is to "religion" (not a particular narrow religion here, but a religious spirit in a broad sense, which might be called a sense of religion), the more "good" he manifests. Much, of course, this is from a human point of view. Regardless of religion, its purpose is to teach people to look away from their limited self and to connect with the whole, or to set their sights on God, which is essentially transmoral. From a "completely objective" point of view, "religion" itself should be all-inclusive, there is no two-level distinction, it is all-inclusive. For philosophers, it is this "complete and objective truth" that they pursue, which, as an absolute existence, also transcends the human moral system. This absolute existence (truth) is the belief of the philosopher.
Of course, we cannot doubt believers' dedication and loyalty to the religion they believe in, but in fact, for some religious believers, religion is not an end, but only a means. In fact, this is no longer the category of religion. Just like the Admiral in this film, rather than saying that he believes in Christianity, it is better to say that he submits to the Christian church organization. In another situation, people are only influenced by the majority of people around them and have temporary impulses to become believers, but they do not have the kind of Pascal-style conversion experience. This kind of belief may be fragile. One of the male protagonists in this film, Hypatia's slave, was influenced by others to join Christianity, wearing a black robe and actively participating in "jihad", but in his heart, he never stopped doubting his beliefs with the struggle. Has God spoken to you? What did he say? Are we doing it right? Tolstoy said: "I have been educated in the Orthodox Church since childhood, but when I was eighteen I stopped believing in all this. I found out later that I never really believed, I only believed But there is an attitude of trust in the preaching of adults. There are many so-called believers like me around me, but religion is only religion, which is superficial and has nothing to do with life.” (As for his conversion to religion again, that later). It can be seen that the belief in the above two situations is very weak. Faith is just the relationship between the individual and God, it has nothing to do with other people. Everyone has to experience their own faith and have a personal relationship with God.
In the film, Christians in black robes smash open the temple of polytheism like locusts with chicken blood, in order to destroy the spiritual treasure house of polytheism. Statues were torn down, books were torn up and burned, astronomical models and sculptures were smashed... The camera flipped, and the humans who were originally underground stood in the place of God instead, and heaven seemed to have turned into hell. Ramakrishna said: "People divide their lands by boundaries, but no one can divide the sky that covers everything over there. The indivisible sky encloses everything and contains everything. The ignorant will Say: 'My religion is the only one, and my religion is the best'. But when a heart is enlightened with the knowledge that beyond the stories of these sects and believers is that indivisible, eternal , the bliss of omniscience." This is a beautiful and moving religious emotion. There is no religious struggle, only human struggle, and the same is true for truth.
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