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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.zen,alt.consciousness.4th-way,talk.religion.buddhism,alt.philosophy.buddhism,alt.mythology
From: i@no.self (!)
Subject: oz dualities
Date: 24 Jul 1999 02:51:11 -0700

a correspondent wrote:
| Does anyone (else) here see the nondual theme running 
| through the movie "The Wizard of Oz?"

good witch/bad witch; home (Kansas)/Oz; sleep/dreams; colour/black-white
 
# Upon return to the wizard, the travelers discover that he is a 
# fraud (OR SO THEY THINK), and is not able to confer those 
# qualities they desire upon them, not realizing that those 
# qualities were already seen as present in the process of the 
# defeat of the wicked witch.  The wizard ends up simply
# making them aware (through symbolism) that *they had these 
# qualities all along*, and it was only ignorance of the fact 
# that had to be lifted.  It turns out that the wizard/guru was 
# not a fraud after all.

the heart is mechanical; the diploma and medal are not given by
 the proper authorities; the qualities do not reside in the body,
 this film says, but in the spirit, and symbols can remind us of
 this. the wizard does not supply brain or heart, however, only
 a recognition (personal) that these qualities already exist in
 the people themselves

the tin woodsman has compassion, which is not found in a heart,
 only symbolized by it; the scarecrow has creative genius, which
 is not found in a brain, only symbolized by a diploma; the
 lion has courage, which is not found in a medal, only symbolized
 by the recognition through its reward 
 
# Dorothy... wants to go home.  Home here represents the true Self, 
# the eternal "home" which all of us long for.  Yet the wizard fails 
# in taking her there....

in truth he never attempts it, having left her behind by accident
 (Toto foils the balloon journey, if memory serves); perhaps this
 is a further symbol of a journey she must take to realize her desire

# Upon meeting again with the "Good witch Glinda (Grace)," she 
# discovers that she has had the power to "go home" all along, 
# inherent in the ruby slippers which Glinda (Grace) gave her 
# BEFORE she began her sadhana.  It was the same with her.  
# It was only ignorance  preventing her from going home.
# With great sadness she says goodbye to her traveling 
# companions and the rest of samsara, and takes the final step.

ignorance did not prevent the woodsman, scarecrow or lion from
 exhibiting the qualities that they desired; it merely kept
 them from knowing that they had these qualities. ignorance 
 DOES keep Dorothy from being at home, however. we should ask
 why Glinda did not inform Dorothy at the outset that she had
 the ability to use the slippers to return to her world; is
 Glinda sadistic? was she using Dorothy to benefit Oz as a 
 price for the information about the function of the slippers?

# Upon return (and upon waking up - such a powerful symbol, 
# especially in Buddhism - WAKING UP), Dorothy realizes that 
# "there's no place like home." She has Realized the search 
# she started at the beginning of the movie; that 
# what she desired (escape from samsara) had been with her 
# ALL ALONG.  She wanted to run away, but was ignorant of the 
# fact that everything was already perfect, and that indeed 
# it is the searching that is false, that is imperfect.  What 
# she wanted at the beginning of the movie she has found,
# and at the end, she's once again in the same place, but with 
# a greatly changed outlook on things - a shift in 
# consciousness, if you will.

now she has insights into the familiar faces of home -- their
 alter-egos, perhaps. now she recognizes that she could have
 been in a coma/fantasy-land forever and has been released to
 experience what she had thought was a hellish life for which
 she longed when separated from it

the message: be thankful for what you have; if you wish too
 strongly for its evaporation you may find that you really
 wanted it once it disappears -- that is, things can always
 be worse than you imagine so be thankful that they aren't;
 accept the status quo because if you set too much change
 into motion by bucking the system you may find yourself
 in greater jeopardy due to your folly; journies beyond
 samsara may prove entertaining, but it is best to remain
 in the Wheel, for greater dangers await those who explore
 beyond it and you may never get back

but her journey is not yet ended. this is not the realization
 of the no-self. she hasn't taken the lesson of Oz and applied
 it in her waking life by casting a bucket of water upon the
 Wicked Witch (expressing her emotions to her mean neighbor),
 taking an INTENTIONAL journey to find the Good Witch (making
 the choice to discover the divine) or the Wizard (accepting
 instruction from an all-too-human guide), or discovering
 the potency of the ruby slippers (finding a way to identify
 and engage her inner power to FUNDAMENTALLY wake up -- bodhi)

# Amazing nondual parallels, in my opinion.

we are speaking of the film

was she a little girl dreaming she was a witch or a witch
 dreaming that she was a little girl? what happened to the
 people and place of Oz when she 'went home' (awoke)? why 
 was the Land of Oz in colour, and home, ESPECIALLY AFTER 
 SHE AWOKE, always in black and white?
-- 
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