Shaitaan and X

11:18 PM Mallikarjun 1 Comments

Excess of anything is bad. That is true for our feelings as well – fear, anger, hatred, pain and love. It hinders rationale when it goes beyond control. The strongest of these emotions is love. Love can be of any kind, for things (food, money, power), or people (parents or other persons). The most natural love is between a mother and child. The most passionate form is based on desire. But to obsess over anything will impair our ability to think and reason, even the purest one love, which we cannot find fault with.

This weekend I watched two movies – “X-Men First Class” and “Shaitaan”. Magneto and Amy both have strong bonds with their mothers as children. Their mothers die tragically when they are young, and that memory affects their psyche. It is their love that drives them, but it clouds their rational thinking. They can’t shut out the haunting memory of their mothers’ deaths, and the longing to be with them. It’s the love turned to immense mental agony that distorts their being. To shut out that pain, they resort to means they believe will help. Magneto plots a revenge against her mom’s killer, while Amy just detaches herself from her family, and revels in the shocking and reckless. Magneto has greater focus and resolve, and so he is able to set a definite path for his life, although it does not conform to what we term virtuous. On the other hand, Amy meanders along, with nightmares and day dreams of her mom, and goes on a downward spiral, with her vagrant friends, where wrong turn leads to another. Eventually Magneto rises up to gain immense power, and a desire to transcend humanity by obliterating it, while Amy knocks on the doors of insanity. Passion is a dangerous weapon, it provides you with unbounded energy, but is very difficult to harness. And even if controlled, if implemented in the wrong motive, it can lead to catastrophe.

When we are down we always think about the low points in our life. But when happy or euphoric, we don’t think of anything. Our most painful memories are the strongest, even more than the most fond ones. Fear and mental pain are etched on our brains. A defense mechanism kicks in to remind us what causes us hurt. However, we never forget to love. We are always fond of certain people or things. Given the choice of love or hatred we will always choose the former. So, the only way to rid ourselves of the negativity is to share the joys of life, to share the spoils of love.

Amy wasn’t able to get out of her degeneration, because her mind was fixated upon the horrific memories, she forgot about how much her mother cared for her and would have wanted to see her happy. Or how concerned and caring her father was. She never got over her mother’s death. On the other hand, Magneto used that pain and anger as wrath. He learned to control his strength with the help of a true friend who gave him the magic potion – “The extent of our powers lies between serenity and rage”.

I have been reading Watchmen comics too. Very dark indeed. A couple of quotes from it, which I liked:

Rorschach: “Existence is random - has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose.”

“Battle not the monster, lest ye become a monster.
And if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you”
---- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, German philosopher.

Nothing Matters!