I recently saw the last Harry Potter movie (Deathly Halllows Part 2) with my boyfriend in the dollar theater here in Lynchburg VA and in the movie there was a very interesting statement that caught my attention. (I will forewarn you that I am about to share information about the movie that may spoil part of the plot line so you may not want to read on if you plan on watching this movie and have not seen it yet.) Harry Potter had just been killed and he was "in heaven." It looked like the train station he used to get to Hogwarts school except that it was clean, glowing, and there were no people around. He came into contact with the deceased headmaster of his school, Professor Dumbledore, and they began talking about the events that just occurred. Harry Potter had a way to return to the mortal world and right before he left "heaven" he asked Professor Dumbledore a very interesting question. He asked if what was happening to him was real, or was it all in his head. Professor Dumbledore responded with a statement about how just because it was in his head, did not make it any less real.
That statement really stuck out to me and it caused me to start thinking about material and immaterial aspects of the human. In Dr. Corsini's class we have discussed many aspects of the material and immaterial human and I have found that my focus has been primarily on having proof of the immaterial man. As a Christian I am very concerned about the immaterial aspects of man and I sometimes find myself discounting the importance of the material aspects. As we discussed the 5 different Biblical aspects of man (Heart, Mind, Conscience, Spirit, and Soul) in class, I noticed how intertwined the material and immaterial parts of those aspects were.
This brings me back to similar thinking from my previous blogpost (on September 22nd) about God using material aspects of man to help him understand the immaterial aspects of man. I realize that Harry Potter is not a real person, and that Dumbledore is not speaking "the Gospel Truth," but I started to realize that even material aspects of oneself can help us understand immaterial aspects. Just because the "heaven" Harry was envisioning may have been in his head (a material aspect of his mind), there may still be immaterial aspects to it that are very real. As a Christian who is concerned about proving the immaterial aspect of man, I must also remember that there is much to learn in the material aspect of man that can also point someone to God.
It is very interesting to read your post and notice this, as when I saw the movie, I had the same thought cross my mind during that part. The material and immaterial do seem to intertwine more than we are probably aware of, as you mentioned, and through this class I have definitely become more aware and understanding of these aspects.
ReplyDeleteI found your post to be very interesting, because you were discussing a topic ive been thinking about myself. Ive been trying to help define to myself what the immaterial man is and how our human selves play and connect with our immaterial selves. You bring an interesting point, why wouldn't God have it that our immaterial and material selves connect in some way. It wouldn't make sense for them not to. I don't know if you made this point or not but what i find interesting is our dreams, I truly believe that our dreams are where the two connect in some way. There are just too many unknowns about the origins of our dreams, and I think its something we should look into.
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