- the understanding of the "Ten Commandments" episode 1 "Only the true God" "The
Ten Commandments" (Dekalog 1989) The first episode tells a tragic story. The root cause of the death of the little boy Poway was that his father violated the first commandment of the "Ten Commandments" - Only God. Of course, I don't say this because I want to see it as a religious propaganda film, and I also believe that the writers and directors of this film didn't mean it. Although I have not studied the Bible, in my opinion, the first commandment, whether from a religious or secular perspective, can be interpreted in at least two ways: first, human beings must not be arrogant, and second, beliefs must be pure. It is because of the violation of these two points that Poway's father is inescapably responsible for his son's death.
The advancement of science and technology has caused human arrogance, which is clearly reflected in the father of science and technology worker Poway. He believed in science, and even if he had doubts about unknown phenomena that science could not explain, he would not admit it. As far as the current level of human cognition is concerned, people's understanding of any cultural phenomenon is like peeking into a leopard. "Translation Capital", which can make human languages disturbed by God interpret each other; rely on "artificial intelligence" to create a "smart thing" with thinking and willpower that only God can create. It is because of this arrogance, this arrogance of scientific achievements, that he rejects religion and its guidance to children, which deprives him of his last chance to save the child. Because although he deduced the bearing capacity of the lake's ice layer through computer calculations, he also went to the lake to inspect it himself, but he failed to lead his children to the new church to participate in the religious activities before Christmas and New Year like other religious believers. Such activity, as shown in the final shot, he should be able to deduce from the melting ice in the tank in front of the Madonna that the local temperature has reached a point where the ice on the lake is melting. However, when he finally grabbed the ice that was about to melt, it was too late.... Although this can also be explained as the reason for not believing in religion that led to the tragedy, the root cause is human arrogance.
Although the commandment of "Only the True God" is a requirement of purity of belief for religion, this requirement of purity also applies to beliefs in other fields, such as science. It was on the road of scientific belief that Poway's father violated the requirements of "purity" and lost his beloved son. The purity of belief first of all requires believers to be single-minded towards the "God" they believe in, and to doubt the belief itself violates this commandment; secondly, it also requires believers to act in accordance with the laws of the things they believe in. Poway's father is obviously not completely out of the influence of religion. After all, he was born in a Catholic family. Therefore, when he sees the broken ink bottle, he will think that bad things will happen. After the accident, he blamed the Virgin Mary. Of course, the most important thing is that he did not act according to the laws of science, which is the main reason for Poway's accident. The outstanding manifestation of "doing things not according to scientific laws" is that he does not have a scientific attitude when dealing with problems. For example, when playing chess masters, he was superstitious about authority; when the computer turned on inexplicably, he turned off the computer without looking for any reason. Obviously, this is not a manifestation of good scientific literacy.
In addition, science is logical, and rigorous logical reasoning needs to exclude all uncertainties. When Poway's father and Poway calculated the bearing capacity of the lake's ice layer, it took into account many factors, including the ground temperature. The calculation of the ground temperature was based on the temperature of the previous days provided by the Bureau of Meteorology. After getting reliable data, he was still worried and went to the lake to see it himself, which showed that he had doubts about what he believed in. Since he had doubts, as a scientist, he should find out the factors that led to his doubts, but he let his doubts go. In fact, it was the reliability of the ground temperature that led him to doubt. If it is under normal circumstances, the ground temperature will not change much, but it is Christmas Eve, and the number of citizens lighting candles at night will surge, which should lead to a large change in the temperature of the city; in addition, it may be the most important factor , that mysterious man has been burning fire by the lake for several days and nights, which should directly raise the temperature of the ground. However, he ignores these factors, and ignores these uncertain factors that can lead to the safety of children's lives, which is not a mistake that a scientific believer should make. Therefore, whether he is unintentional negligence or intentional fluke, treating his own "doubt" in this way is not a scientific attitude.
Historically, religion has arrogantly treated science, but in contemporary times, science seems to be arrogantly underestimating religion. What kind of ethics should human beings adopt in order to coexist peacefully with each other, this may be a question that requires us to think further beyond this story. (Text/Slate Planting Flowers Thursday, August 11, 2016)
View more about Dekalog reviews
