Kong: Skull Island- Skull Perspective

You probably thought this post was about the latest Kong movie – Kong: Skull Island. If you thought this then you were 50 percent correct, as an element of this post is about the film. However, I want to share another element with you of which is the unexpected, untainted and hidden message of PERSPECTIVE – ‘the state of one’s idea, a mental view’ (Dictionary.com). Walk with me…

*** THIS IS NOT A SPOILER ALERT. THIS IS NOT A SPOILER ALERT ***… I hope!

Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is part of a team of select individuals (including soldiers, scientists and explorers), who venture into the uncharted island of a new found world in the Pacific, finding the domain of Kong and other creatures. When first approaching Kong, Packard and his men attacked him. Kong; obviously, fought back and killed many of Packard’s men. Packard wanted to avenge the deaths of his men by aiming to kill Kong, and also saw Kong as a threat because he was something new; never seen before.

Now this is where the film striked me the most for two reasons:

1. Packard did not acknowledge his own actions (he and his men FIRST attacked Kong, and then Kong responded).
2. Packard did not discern: assess, judge, and conclude (accurately) Kong; the something new.

It’s interesting how a fictional scene can be used to reflect reality, a person’s nature and habits. What I want to pose to you is: HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO SOMETHING NEW? What do you do?

• Do you seek wisdom from God and/ or wise counsel in order to discern: assess, judge and conclude accurately before making a decision that enables you to move in the right direction?
• Do you act dependant upon what you see, think and/ or feel?
• Do you act or maybe not act at all?
• Do you investigate to try and find out more information?
• Do you revert to your default nature and habits by trusting in yourself and what you know/ think you know? Your own judgements and opinions.

Going back to Kong, he’s a massive ape and if real we would probably run for the hills if we are honest with ourselves. Some however, would run to meet the challenge, but some won’t. Kong was something never to have been seen before and sometimes we as humans can be fearful, unsure, or even jealous of things that are new. This could be a specific person or group of people, a situation or circumstance; etc, anything pertaining to or revolving in or around ourselves and life. There may be other reasons amongst these but these are a few to be named. Our perspective of these things is VERY IMPORTANT. What we see and how we see is very key as it leads to how we respond; life or death to us in many ways.

What I love about Kong is that if Packard and his men waited for just a moment; paused and applied the two key points earlier mentioned and challenged their perspectives before responding, then they would have seen that Kong was not the bad guy. They would have seen and knew that this something new was good and would protect them.

Not all new things are good which is why we must discern: assess, judge, and conclude accurately. We must seek wise counsel, ask and walk in wisdom and understanding, and then move in direction. We need to stop and think, ask the questions and get answers before moving forward in our decisions (controlling our actions). Don’t lean on your own understanding – Proverbs 3:5-6.

Kong’s heart was good and was to protect the island and all living things on it, he was protecting them from the real monsters. However, Packard and his men failed to see this because of their perspective of something new. They failed to challenge their perspective and let go of what they knew/ wanted; a failure to see their own actions and to discern: assess, judge and conclude accurately.

Let us challenge our perspectives today to the people and things around us:

• What is good and what is not?
• What do we need to be open to?
• What do we not need to be open to?
• What do we need to reconsider?

Ask questions and get the answers you need. Ask for wisdom and gain understanding before discerning, assessing, judging and concluding. Packard and his men failed to do this and died because of their perspective. Many times we fall short because of what we see and what we think we know. Don’t be like one who walks around in the wilderness and dies as some of the people of Israel did in the Bible (Numbers 26:65, Joshua 5:6, Numbers 32:13, Exodus 16:3, Hebrews 3:7-19,) or die because of lack of understanding (Hosea 4:6).

Choose to follow the necessary process before making decisions. Challenge perspective and walk in a freedom that can be given to you if you need it; just ask (James 1:5, Matthew 7:7-8). Don’t miss out on what could be a blessing in your life.

 

 

 

Internally Shutter-boxed

Man can sometimes mirror machine. Not only has he the ability to function all day and night; sub-sectioning a vast intake whilst constantly re-charging but he also has the capacity to ‘break down’. Human nature has a way of dismissing that which it does not wish to face. Anything that causes internal conflict or outer uncomfortability can cause us to run like prey as if it were conscious of its predator.

Our life is the arena and we are the centre stage of it. All activity concerning us is present in the centre whilst spectators have their active or passive input. Our mind, will and emotions (soul), heart, spirit and physical being are all part of this centre which is affected by the activities of everyday life.

Situations and circumstances (activities of life) trailed alongside their outcomes form us as a people. Their affects shape and help build us into the people who we become and are today. These outcomes can have vibrant or fatal affects on us. We manifest the outcomes our situations and circumstances internally have on us. How we handle the outcomes begin to flow from us. They manifest behaviours and attitudes.

Our arenas; education, religion, work, economy and finance, politics, relationships- love/ family/ friends, culture and other avenues become infected . The exterior gives insight into the interior. How we handle decisions and choices, confusion, beliefs and doubts, unmet desires, frustrations and anger, discouragement, violence and abuse, etc is key to our internal selves.

At any given time or age these impacts on our heart, soul and physical selves still make us prone to the ability to shut ‘ones-self’ down. Today’s society is no better than the ancestors that have lived  before us and those yet to be birthed in a distant future. Even Adam and Eve hid once they had disobeyed God’s instructions (Genesis 3). Life and its hand dealings still have their impact on us.

The problem occurs when we internalise the problems by not handling them well or maybe not at all. We section off the parts we do not want to face. They become little stacker boxes or locked up crates with keys that can only be found in a treasure hunt. Some shut whilst others open. Internally we can hide in every corner or dark valley available to us that allows us to find shade rather than the light we need. We become masters of masquerading rather than transparent beings.

When we begin to shut down internally rather than be honest and face our Goliath’s (giants or mountains) we have a major problem. Not only will we become distant from our real selves but we begin to die inside.

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee” (King James Version).

Regardless of religion or culture the above scriptural principle applies. Whatever you think you are, you become. The only way of outgrowing what we become is in changing our thoughts and emotions through our decisions from the impacts of life. We become better or worse people based on the internal attitude and what we have been told of who we are and who we internally choose to be, leading to our external manifested self.

Life is different for every person, some worse than others but all still damaging in a way to that particular individual, which I think we all can agree on. The best advice is that regardless of what has happened, seek help. Whether it be through religion or counsel; never internally shut down or get addicted to something that will numb the pain of an internal bleed. Do not internally box yourself up into compartments and write on them the wounds of what happened. Dealing with every box is beneficial, hard but beneficial to you being ALIVE internally.

We think that because everything looks ok on the outside that all is fine but if the inside of a man is not living then he is walking dead.

Proverbs 4:23 reading from the New Living Translation version of the Bible reads “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”.

Your heart is central to who you are. When you stop living from it you begin to feel its affects. Life throws some wicked curve balls at us but we can choose to face them and their percussions or internally shutter box; functioning with the lights off. Find a way to not shut down internally but face who you are becoming or have become internally.

 

 

Is My World Real?

The realm of reality and fantasy are very tainted in today’s world. What is real we cannot or do not want to accept and what is fictional feels so real that we sometimes become greatly entangled and lost in its false reality.

Recently at work I was able to assess the film ‘Shutter Island‘. I have watched this film several times and thoroughly enjoyed it but after assessing it at work it created a new line of mental thought processing for me.  I saw the film in a new light, the truth about DECEPTION.

Due to a traumatic past event, Teddy Daniels (played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio), created an alternative reality in which acted as a coping mechanism to help him suppress what had really happened. He had a new identity and story (life), both of which completely overshadowed what really was. Without giving too much away and to keep focus, this fantasy lasted for two years; his own personal lie became his reality.

If we pause for a minute and really digest those last two sentences we would really see how dangerous deception really is. It took several psychiatrists, doctors and nurses to break the deception Teddy had built for himself in his mind. Everything he once knew had become nothing but a caged memory. The fortress of deception mentally told Teddy that his lie was real because Teddy was unable to come to terms and deal with the truth. Can you imagine that, an event traumatises you so severely that you create a lie so real that you really believe it? I must admit that I find that really scary. The line between reality and fantasy completely disappearing is a scary thought.

Shutter Island is just a film but the story it portrays is very real. We can sometimes get so caught up in a lie, in make-believe that we lose sight of what is real. Living in a lie is so much easier than facing the truth. The longer we stay asleep in the lie the harder it becomes to wake up to the truth. However as the film progresses we see that those who helped Teddy were able to ‘wake him up’. Just a side thought here, Teddy was dreaming for two years, imagine how it would be if it were longer?

Neo from ‘The Matrix‘ woke up because the world he was living in was not real to him anymore; there was something more. However when faced with the truth even he had to make choice to stay awake (reality) or go back to sleep (the lie).

The Matrix- Blue pill or Red pill

In order to stay awake we must choose to accept the truth; not part of it but all of it. Once we have accepted the truth we must face it; the situations, person(s), emotions or circumstances in order to find healing and freedom. The most important part that most of us forget is that we must fill the hole in our hearts and minds where the lie once lived. There not only has to be truth accepted and renewed on a daily basis in our lives but there must also be hope; a hope of something new or better than that which previously was.

The journey and fight to stay in truth is a constant battle. The lie will always try to creep back in; especially when we are progressing or in the middle of the process of recovery. We must find genuine hope, strength, vision as well as want, face and accept truth on a daily basis during this process.

If we do not face and walk through what we need to on this recovery journey then we will be in danger of returning to the lie that once captivated and moulded us into that which is not real.