Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi

A Hopi word meaning out of balance & a 1982 documentary

Koyaanisqatsi can be translated as:

1.”crazy life”

1. 2. “life in turmoil”3. “life out of balance”4. “life disintegrating”

5. “a state of life that calls for another way of living”

6. “life of moral corruption and turmoil”, referring to the life of a group

That certainly sounds like us – especially #6. Now you could just say: ‘so what? Life is just like that” – always out of balance– and you would be partially right. Life is never stable, in fact I like the metaphor that it is tippy – like a canoe. A canoe is always a bit tippy – like life – and shifting your weight around to adapt to the water’s movement is what living is all about. But if your canoe gets too tippy – often from too much weight in the canoe combined with larger waves and wind – well then you know what is going to happen: you tip so far to one side that your canoe flips right over. That scenario is what this film makes me think about: we are so filled with material baggage that our life canoe is not only about to tip from the large waves and wind but actually creating the waves and wind that are about to tip us over!

I watched this movie when I was young in 1980s and it made a huge impression on me. I am sure that somehow it helped set the stage where I left Engineering and became a rather poor and idealist teacher in an alternative school following the Waldorf philosophy – which attracts tree hugging organic crowd. Now a bit about the movie. In the movie the Director portrays the ugly truth behind human civilization with fantastic cinematography. If you have not seen it – now is the time – its on you tube. The Ugly Truth About Human Nature – Machiavelli Was Right  Your response could be anything, as the Director explains the various responses to the movie:

“It serves as an environmental video for some people. Some see it as a tribute to technology. Some folks think it’s a piece of crap. Or it profoundly affects people. Depends on who you talk to.”

However, in spite of all this I must admit that I did forget about the movie and its dramatic message until I came across it while searching for another movie on you tube and I gladly re-watched it. What surprised me was how such an old movie still spoke to our times and how it still hit me in the gut. And just in case you don’t watch it – I want to share its punchline, which are three Hopi prophecies sung near the end of the film:

• “If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster.”
• “Near the Day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky.”
• “A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans.”

Satellites Trails

So, what you & to do about this message and this prophecy?

Face the fact that we are living at time of prophecy where life or death hangs in the balance. I focus on the word “might”, as in “ a container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky.” In spite of everything we can still act. We can still choose. We can do our very best – because the ending of the story is not yet written and we get to write it.

Truly, for men nothing is written unless THEY write it.

– from Lawrence of Arabia