Whose the real Michael Jackson

Last night I was able to watch a few minutes of an NBC special on Michael Jackson in between failed attempts to make my three year old son stay in bed.  It was fascinating and a bit bizarre as the camera and reporter followed Michael into an upper end antique store where he purchased millions of dollars worth of furniture simply by pointing to it and saying “that one”.  I don’t think he ever stopped to look at the price tag which the reporter did stating that the vase or light set or whatever they were cost around $250 grand.  It was like following the emperor and the reporter made the remark that the stuff had the feel of royalty. 

There are many opinions and theories about the eccentric and iconic life of Michael Jackson.  What gets lost amidst the dehumanizing jokes and screams of sickeningly over adoring fans is the humanity of the person who lived like a king.  Behind the mask whether it was real or fake is a human being created in the image of God with the capacity to love and be loved. 

It’s hard to see Michael’s humanity amidst the crazy media circus and bizarre lifestyle.  Still it exists while at the same time being hidden by our attempts to latch on to and squeeze to death the very icon that we’ve created.  Michael and the Jackson family made their choices.  But, the choices were offered by us, the one’s who followed the stories, bought the albums and attended the concerts.  Even if we weren’t fans, I wasn’t, we participated in this demigod creation through the pop cultural system that most of us allow to speak for our ideals as much as we use it to smother ourselves in false identities to escape the pain of the real world. 

The icon of Michael Jackson became a false reality that hid the real man.  We might not like it, we might actually hate it, but Michael Jackson was more than a pop star, a wealthy artists, and all the other stuff; he was a human being.  One who allowed the fame and wealth of the pop cultural world to create a false person hiding the real one.  And still it was there.  But, there is not where we are in our screams of adoration and curses of hate for an icon of America’s desires to possess the hearts of the masses only to realize the more you have, the more you possess, the more your face is an icon of fame the more you die not knowing who you really are. 

Let us not continue to demonize but love even the wealthy and powerful among us so that the iconic demons of pop culture can be overthrown in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s not the pop culture that’s the problem but the worship of something that is a lie and distorts not only us the worshipper but dehumanizes the artists.  Artists are human beings too just like you and me.

Harry Potter and the soul

In the last two Harry Potter books we’re given the philosophy of the soul according to this fictional world.  In this intriguing piece of the epic story the dark wizard Voldemort has divided his soul to gain immortality.  Voldemort used a very dark and evil form of magic place the pieces of his soul in various objects that are called Horcruxes.  So long as his soul resides in these objects Voldemort achieves immortality, but at a price, the price of becoming less human though he gains immense power.  If all the objects with pieces of his oul would be destroyed then Voldemort would loose power and could be killed by a mortal wound. 

The writer of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, is raising intriguing questions about power, the soul, and evil.  These same questions were raised in by J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings where Sauron put all of his will and thought into the one ring so that if it were destroyed it would be his undoing.  But, Sauron was already an immortal being, analogous to angels, or in his case, fallen angels.  What would be the benefit of making himself vulnerable by putting his life force into a ring? 

The concept of putting one’s life force or soul into an object that is then hidden is not foreign to ancient myths.  Arabian folktales have genies which are human or human like beings whose life force is attached to an inanimate object, like a bottle.  Russian mythology has Koschei who are people that have hidden their soul in a needle allowing them to have great power so long as the needle is not destroyed which would be their death. 

In all of these stories the soul is connected with immortality in being that aspect, that part or essence of the physical beings life that continues in it’s existence after death.  Therefore, to control the soul is to control life and death, to have power over the greatest forces of the universe and to achieve immortality; the dream of humanity to live forever.  In all of these stories the soul must be removed from the physical body and hidden in some other object in order for the being to have power and achieve their goals.  Removing the soul and placing it in a container is a great metaphor on how we attempt to place life in a container where it can be manipulated and controlled for one’s own selfish ends. 

Attempts to control the soul are not born out of a desire to do good.  Neither do such attempts have peaceful or loving ends in the myths or fantasy stories as the  humanness of the being is destroyed in their self-centered search for power which corrupts them.  This is the lesson in Lord of the Rings, power corrupts even those who would use this mighty ring to do good, such as Gandalf who is unwilling to touch the ring for this reason.   

Lord Voldemort’s magic to split his soul and create the horcruxes is considered some of the darkest and most evil magic in this fictional world.  To be willing to extract one’s soul for the sake of immortality is evil no matter how justified it may be to the practitioner.  It goes against what is good and just in a society; it’s the opposite of love.  Love in Harry Potter and in real life is about giving oneself for another, sacrificing ourselves to give life, being open to and accepting the other without any strings attached.  Harry’s mother demonstrated this kind of love and it’s what saved his life.  Her willingness to die in the face of Voldemort’s killing spree saved Harry and protected him throughout his childhood.  The willingness of Jesus Christ to die for humanity unleashes the power of love that transforms those who are willing to receive it just like Harry Potter must accept the calling of love to face evil and give himself to conquering it. 

The question remains as to whether or not it’s possible to put one’s soul in a container such as Harry Potter or the ancient myths suggest being a possibility.  Can the soul be removed from the physical body even at death?  Does the soul live on in immortality even after death claims the body?  Many evangelical Christians have the view that the soul leaves the body upon death to live eternally in Heaven.  This has helped to foster the notion that Heaven is a bunch of disembodied souls floating around on clouds; what I think to be a very boring picture of the afterlife. 

After Jesus Christ rose from the grave he ate with his disciples.  There are several accounts of him appearing, mysteriously, in their midst or on the sea shore, or along the road, and eating with them.  His body seems different in its mysterious capabilities of being able to appear and disappear but it’s also very much flesh and blood in being able to eat.  When Jesus leaves his disciples to ascend into Heaven it’s a physical body that rises into the sky. 

Voldemort’s magic is all the more evil because it’s focus is on power that denies our humanness.  To be human is to be an interwoven reality of physical and spiritual that isn’t meant to be separated.  It’s to celebrate our humanity in eating together and have hope for life after death that includes the transformation of this life into something good that lives forever without being disembodied.  Voldemort disembodies himself in order to gain power but the power is empty because it must destroy what is good about being human, our flesh and blood existence that requires food to live.  It’s empty because it removes that part of humanity that gives it life, the soul, the heart, that part that loves and fills the body with love and hope in order to have power to dominate. 

How many of us attempt to do the same thing Voldemort has done?  We might be practicing evil magic to separate ourselves from our soul’s in order to gain immortality.  But, we destroy our souls with our self-centered greed and search for power in order to fulfill our selfish desires.  It’s too bad more of us haven’t discovered the love that Harry’s mom had, a love that is greater than any power Voldemort will ever posses.