The Na'vi, Eywa, and Religion

[ScottWashburn]

I've seen it posted elsewhere on this forum that the Na'vi are a deeply religious people. But is that really true? A religion, by definition, is an organized group of people who deeply believe in some deity or deities and their belief is based upon faith rather than direct evidence. For most religions faith is everything and they don't expect their god to directly show himself or interact with their day-to-day lives, except spiritually.

Things aren't really like that on Pandora.

Eywa is a real, physical 'being'. She was created by the life of the planet, itself. She exists as an electro-chemical phenomenon generated by that life. Her existence is not based on faith. She exists whether anyone believes in her or not. And the Na'vi do interact with her and their belief is based on observable evidence, not on faith. In this the Na'vi are far more rational than humans (also far luckier to have something like Eywa).

So I wouldn't say that the Na'vi are religious. They deeply revere Eywa and their planet's eco-system, but their reverence is based on fact, not faith.

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

i would not call the Na'vi religious either,Scott,and i agree with your post. i would call them a deeply spiritual people,yes,and i admire them and their culture,for that reason and others. i see the spirituality of Neytiri and her effect on Jake,and i'm drawn to this world,this people,this incredible woman. i would say that Mo'at is the spiritual side of the Na'vi,and Neytiri is the future of that spiritual aspect of this great people. she will make her mother proud...



* religion is a skypeople curse,war and hatred without end. just ask anyone in the middle east,lol *

[HufweMakto]

I would have to call it a living religion: it has it's rituals and it's practices, but all in all, Eywa isn't something in the past, she is alive and all around them, but unlike what we have preceived as religion, Eywa is not a judging god, she is a living and protective diety. I also have to stress that faith is more of strong belief, and conviction than just "belief". But for the humans, they probably do not have a strong belief in Eywa. What they see is just a bunch of trees nothing else. It would be the equivilent of a human telling a Na'vi what the Ark of the Covenant is; it's not going to be a cake walk.

I would have to go against the whole "there is evidence of Eywa's existance" because the evidence in question is highly speculative as well. Even if Selfridge was going to see the Tree of Souls, was he really going to say, "Oh my, Eywa exists afterall. I was so selfish and mean, you can have your planet back." No, it's never going to be that way. For the Na'vi, they believe in much as faith and seeing signs; like with Neytiri and the Woodsprite. If Neytiri had sincerily believed that it was just a woodsprite, we might not have the movie as it is, but instead it's her faith that this is a sign of Eywa that propells her actions. Had it not been for her faith in Eywa, she might not have believed that Jake should have been saved from those viper wolves.

So I have to disagree that it's not religion in the sense that the Na'vi have "proof" because the proof they have might as well be considered miracles by others. I think the seperation has to be that unlike religion as most posters in this forum have grown up with, the Na'vi's beliefs appear to not have what you would call "dogma". Instead, the whole basis, and that's explicity mentioned by Jake at one point is "giving back", it's like karma in a way.

Not to brag, but I did have to take two religion classes... I think I know what I'm talking about, but I hope I get some stuff clarified...

[_Omaticaya_]

Very interesting ScottwWashburn ^_^, well all you said is true, and right, but I still would call it a religion, I mean, even buddhists adore a damn fat statue, so I'd call religion anything that someone adores and praises, if it's something considered a higher entity. So with the Na'vi, I think it's a religion, and a 'nice' one too ^_^ it's all about respect, balance, love and nature about the faith, ye, probably christians like me and whoever, have a bigger mission in faith, becasue you said Eywa is present daily in the Na'vi life, yet if you're a christian, you just believe in God, and we've all experienced at least once 'proof' of God, how many times my prayers we're heard ^_^ So yeah, I'd call the Na'vi religious, I mean they too say, "Eywa will provide", that's devotion

[Aihwa]

* religion is a skypeople curse,war and hatred without end. just ask anyone in the middle east,lol *

Or any Christian. That is if we're going to point fingers at people. >_>


Let's not be bigoted shall we?

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

Or any Christian. That is if we're going to point fingers at people. >_>


Let's not be bigoted shall we?

the middle east IS everyone. if you care to come down off your high-horse,read up on the 1980's Lebanese civil war,there was every type of human contrived religion represented in that conflict,including christians,and they reduced Beirut,the Jewel of the MiddleEast,to a smoking pile of rubble,all in the name of their particular versions of 'god'. there is no difference between Druze,Phallanges,Chistians,Jews,and 20 other islamic/european sects that murdered each other in that war,all in the name of their each twisted ideology/religions...no difference at all. every religion in the history of humanity has murdered each other in the name of their 'god',end of story,so religion truly is the curse of humanity.

[HufweMakto]

the middle east IS everyone. if you care to come down off your high-horse,read up on the 1980's Lebanese civil war,there was every type of human contrived religion represented in that conflict,including christians,and they reduced Beirut,the Jewel of the MiddleEast,to a smoking pile of rubble,all in the name of their particular versions of 'god'. there is no difference between Druze,Phallanges,Chistians,Jews,and 20 other islamic/european sects that murdered each other in that war,all in the name of their each twisted ideology/religions...no difference at all. every religion in the history of humanity has murdered each other in the name of their 'god',end of story,so religion truly is the curse of humanity.

Really? Because the religions you've just listed are not EVERY religion. Namely, what about Daoist, or Buddhism (though people could argue that's a philosophy rather than a religion, but then again they would be excluding Tibetan Buddhism and Mahayana... a little too much since I would be writing a rant here), or any of the other non-Abrahamic religions out there!

[Scott]

I would not go so far to assume Eywa is merely living organism made up from bio electrical impulses from other living things. Several scenes displayed Eywa with an uncanny resemblance to sentient thought(and I am not just talking about the massive counter attack during the battle of Pandora). I think there is something much more to Eywa than what the naked eye can see.

Organized Religion is either the creator of human civilization, and not farming like we thought, or it came very soon after. Either way, the Na'vi are not civilized people, they are tribal. Spirituality for them is in a family setting, that is they get their guidance from someone who is not a complete stranger such as a priest in a robe on a temple mount that you will never see up close or touch. I'm not trying to shoot down Organized Religion or make it seem inferior, less passionate etc. Organized Religion quickly branched out from just providing spiritual guidance to encompass all facets of society. It became government, protection, markets and trade routes....everything. And the money tarnished as money dose.

When I look at organized Religion today, I am careful to look no further than the family and the preacher they seek guidance from. On that level, its a lot more pure, based on love, and in my opinion a lot more like the Na'vi get everyday from Mo'at.

[ScottWashburn]

I never suggested that Eywa wasn't sentient She is a self-aware intelligence just as humans and Na'vi are, except her intellect is contained within billions of organisms spread over an entire planet instead of being held inside a single brain. But there is a key difference between the Na'vi's relationship with Eywa and human religions. Human religions are all based upon the Word of...other humans All the great religious texts were written by people. They claim to be the Word of God, but in the end you are always taking the word of some other person as fact. Some humans will claim that they can 'talk to God' through prayer and there's no way to dispute them, but once again, you have to take their word for it. The Na'vi don't have to do that. They CAN talk to Eywa! Directly! At the Tree of Souls or the Tree of Voices, just link up their queues and have a chat. A major difference.

[Scott]

I believe Eywa is older than all life on Pandora. I believe Eywa is Pandora. Her spark wasn't biological but geological, and a certain mineral found on Pandora played a major role. A living planet from core to crust that at some point became inspired and used that inspiration to usher in many beautiful things. But what inspired Eywa to begin writing the genetic codes that would over the many millenia evolve into the life we see on pandora today? Could that inspiration be similar to those who wrote passages in holy books here on Earth? In order to see that you have try to seperate the greed and ambition of man from the inspired message because they are two different things.