The Never Ending Story, Creativity, and Finding Yourself (Buddhism)
I’m way too old to have watched The Never Ending Story for the first time.
Throughout the beginning of the story I made analogies between ‘the nothingness,’ a non-creative, factual, world full of responsibilities and tasks, and ‘Fantasia,’ a land of fantasy, hope, and playfulness, to a book I’m reading written by the Dalai Lama, ‘How to See Yourself as You Really Are.’ Since Never Ending Story is really a children’s movie all the symbolism is spelled out at the very end — like any true fairy tale with a happy ending and moral of story. The boring parental figure says at the very beginning, ‘keep your head out of the clouds and both feet on the ground,’ — well, this reality is the NOTHINGNESS (the black hole that destroys Fantasia land). The moral of the story is to stay imaginative, have high hopes, and be strong.
Falkor
I did see some relationship to the moral of the story and the thoughts of Buddhism. The characters in the story either represent our internal desire to stay alive, creative, and healthy, the Empress and the Warrior for example, and some others shadow the fear, anxiety, and the external influences that society places on individuals, the Turtle and the Wolf. The empress is the creative beauty, youth, our soul that we need to keep alive and healthy. In Buddhism, one is taught to look to one’s inner self to discover true happiness and peace. It is outside influences that cause stress, anxiety, competitiveness, and ultimately, unhappiness. The Wolf preys on those that can be controlled, those without hope — an unsound soul that is consumed by the emptiness of unhappiness. The Buddhists believe that happiness, compassion, and altruism will save the world (yes, just like the pink furry Love Dragon) and that battle will be the demise of life and everything beautiful. So if Tibet is Fantasia, then China is the Nothingness.
Now time to bring in an article with no reference to pink furry love animals. Just to remind you, I’m talking about Falkor. Check out this article from Fast Company: Iconographic of the Day: China’s Monstrous environmental Problems . Because of over population, a strong focus on growth, and not enough care for the country side and the people, China is in severe trouble. The country’s economy could be destroyed by environmental problems. China has air smog 2-3 times worse than LA, acid rains, and drought in large parts of the country. Hmmm… I’d rather live in Fantasia.
And so on with my quest to bring people a little bit of happiness through (re)discovery of self and their creative side, in this case art.
