The Battle Between the Living and the Dead
This post is part of a series called “The Spirit of the Movies” exploring how the big screen illuminates us, shows us deeper meaning, and lights our path toward living a truly heroic life.
The singular phenomenon that is Game of Thrones has captured many of us, sucked us into its trance with it’s magical and diverse characters, beautiful cinematography, stellar acting and movie-quality production value.
I’m late to the “Game”, so to speak, having not finished season six until this past week.
Every season, and this one is no exception, it’s easy (and pleasurable!) to get entranced by the sex, the gore, the beauty of the scenery (and the actors!) and also equally as easy to get lost in the various storylines, the battles being waged, who is fighting whom and why.
I found myself getting lost in it all, attempting feebly to follow the various developments throughout the six fabulous seasons — getting lost in the battles, trying to remember who is fighting whom and tracking motivating interests of each group vying for power.
Of course every faction wants the sit on the Iron Throne and rule the seven kingdoms but all along there’s one thing that looms in the background, one thing that everyone cannot avoid no matter how hard they try…
The Army of the Dead.
Mid-way through season six, three very key characters in the show, John Snow, Samsa Stark and Davos Seaworth stand pleading in front of a 14 year old who has the power to turn their fortunes around. They appeal to her good nature, to her sense of duty, to her family ties and her allegiance to their people.
Their pleas are not sinking in at all…until Davos steps forward, the man of the least stature among them all.
It hit me like an arrow between the eyes when he stated it very clearly and without any wavering or doubt:
“This isn’t someone else’s war, it’s our war…the real war isn’t between a few squabbling houses, it’s between the living and the dead, and make no mistake my lady, the dead are coming.”
Wham! Bullseye.
This is the ultimate lesson the show is teaching us:
We are all fighting our little battles everyday, so many some times that we get lost in them…but the ultimate battle that we must always keep our eyes on is the battle between the living and the dead, the battle of our own awakening.
Are we falling more and more asleep each day and becoming part of the army of the dead or are we waking up to our true nature and our true being into the full realization of who we really are?
Have you noticed how many zombie movies and TV shows are running across the airwaves nowadays?
Look, we HAVE TO fight these daily battles everyday just to survive, I get that. But let’s not forget that the ultimate battle is the battle of our own awakening, the lighting up of our consciousness so that we will all evolve and move forward, growing and developing as individuals and as a human race.
It’s challenging in today’s day and age with so many signals and indicators pointing to the destruction and degradation of our society. But we MUST keep in mind that this is a battle, it is a battle between the living and the dead, the awake and conscious parts of us and the asleep, dead parts of us.
It’s our battle, each and every one of us, to fight each and every day. And make no mistake, it is a battle, but it’s the ultimate battle that will either save us or destroy us.
Are you ready for battle?
