Korra season finale

[Protector]

It's been shown this morning already but I just got over it... or did I?

 

Trying not to spoil it (I wont but someone else might) but I want to talk about my two favorites meditation techniques they've shown in the finale. They are kinda popular in movies that try to be spiritual and a lot of superhero stories.

 

This thing is kinda secret and is not discussed a lot, but I think I will be forgiven this one time

The thing I want to talk about is, "loosing the ego"

big secret, shhhhhhhhh

 

There is a lot of technical talk on how to finally loose it but the most obvious way is often shown in superhero movies movies, mostly heroes who use magic and such, the most recent movie with such thing I saw was Thor.

 

I mentioned that there were two things that made the season end happily, one is loosing the ego thing and another one needs explaining.

But simply, desperation makes things happen.

 

Chi follows the course of less resistance and so if it's possible, people would use their arms to lift things instead of their minds. There just needs to be less energy used, nature is efficient.

People don't naturally use their super powers because they would destroy their bodies, we even use only a small part of our muscle's power. In desperation people were able to lift giant boulders off themselves, but right after they would notice that their muscles would become destroyed.

 

You don't see people showing their powers left and right everyday, sometimes people die anyway.

Interesting thing I noticed in some people, they would throw their lives away to do something. To them their own life doesn't mean much... but

The life of someone else means a lot more then their own

 

Say, that reminds me, Aang didn't reach enlightenment and went to save Katara in the old series at one point.

 

Since universe doesn't judge, it doesn't care about what happens to a little speck of dust human somewhere.

Some people find it easier to sacrifice themselves for someone else.

Everything is possible, why would universe or anyone make priorities then.

 

Reminder, in my half-lineage thing chi is the energy that powers intention, keep that in mind for this to make more sense.

Chi follows the course of less resistance and at a big scale like the universe, nothing matters since chi can go anywhere.

On a small scale, in the world of humans, we notice the resistance and it becomes real to us. We make priorities and create chi pathways in our lives. Some things become important to us, some don't, and we have an ego that replaces the real world around us.

 

Knowing that, imagine this meditation

We can actually create paths for chi to follow, we can make something important enough to lift a rock off somebody. We can just let go of everything, one of the ways is to feel trapped. Like a bomb that is about to go off, there is no place to go and so the only way is to make your own way or make the way find itself.

If there's a hole in a dam, you will notice where it is by the water leaking from it.

 

These stories are about already powerful people, but there is someone more powerful who cannot be beaten with the old powers. That's where the dramatic letting go happens.

 

AAAAAAAAAAA THE NEXT SEASON IS CALLED ENERGY

I MUST SEE IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Maybe I could use my meditation powers to travel forwards in time hmmmmm

[Protector]

Know what, thinking about it a little, Amon is the perfect obstacle for Korra

Korra is very eager to bend things and likes fighting so much that she even joined the probending thing.

If Amon wasn't there, she would be having a lot of fun with the avatar thing and might keep having trouble with airbending for a very long time.

 

Then there's Amon, he is horrifying

Because of Amon's ability, Korra is having nightmares about him

After being beat by him, benders have their lives ruined and Korra is all about bending

Meeting him is a big challenge for Korra, bending stops being fun and now it's life or death

 

So, Amon shows how scary fighting is, previous show didn't have that

[Sloppy Zhang]

WARNING: Spoilers to follow.

 

 

 

Because of Amon's ability, Korra is having nightmares about him

 

Korra isn't having nightmares because of Amon's ability. She's having nightmares because she's afraid of losing her "specialness".

 

As nice as the whole "lose your ego" thing SOUNDS, what the series SHOWS is the exact opposite!

 

Korra doesn't want to be a "nobody". If she lost her bending, she wouldn't be special. She'd be just like everyone else. Even at the end, where she just had airbending, that's all she was- another airbender. And even then, there are 6 year olds who are better airbenders than her!

 

But there is only one avatar. Only one who can not only bend multiple elements, but, in fact, all four. Even though she doesn't have the skill to bend blood or bend metal, that's just a special form of ONE type of bending. No, she wants it all.

 

Instead of thanking her lucky stars that she got off with some bending at all, when others had NONE, no, she had a whiny little pouty fit. She ran away when people opened their feelings to her.

 

She didn't connect with her spirit at all. She didn't go into deep meditation. She didn't better herself as a person. No, she just cried about the whole situation. Then a thousand years of avatars showed up and gave her free shit. Wow.

 

Desperation doesn't get you anything. Wanting something doesn't get you anything.

 

Sure, intent, chi, whatever. But every day there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions(?) of people who want things. Desperately want things. Desperately pray and wish for and cry and sweat for and bleed for and fight for and live for and die for things. Things that don't happen. As much as they wish and intend for that rock to get lifted, no, that rock falls down and crushes them. Loved ones die right before each other's eyes while they are powerless to do anything.

 

Why do some people get away when others suffer and die? Do some people just "want" it more? Bullshit.

 

If there is something, it's something else.

 

It's not intent. It's not wanting it. It's not desperation. Because plenty of people have that, and nothing changes.

 

Isolate THAT, then you might have something. Might.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Sloppy Zhang

[RiverSnake]

Lol, i just started re-watching the series, today and then saw this post. I left off on the Book 3 of Fire. I really am enjoying it.

[Protector]

I said ability because I didn't want any spoilers, you're right Zhang that's what she's afraid of

 

But it's not nice trying to guilt people out of wanting to be something great

There have been a few threads about what makes meditation harder to do, and for Korra it was almost impossible

Being locked up helped a little but that wasn't intentional, she just had nothing else to do in there

After she left for the Republic city, she came under pressure from the society

An analogy would be a sage coming down a mountain, everything is great and perfect on the mountain but in a chaotic society the sage stops acting like an enlightened being

She wanted to learn airbending but Tenzin left back the Republic city, Korra didn't get what she wanted and so she followed him, kinda bratty but that's fine

Then she found out how scary the world is and for a while got distracted with probending

More confusion came with Mako/Asami thing and also THE THING HAPPENED (avoiding spoilers as hard as I can)

Her mind got even busy and then Tarlok with his responsibilities showed up and pressured Korra into helping him

Later Amon took away the probending distraction and as the story progressed, more things were added up to her mind

 

Korra might have the grand title of Teenager but she is still like a kid

She seen only the surface of things and she needs to learn how to see through that

She is also greedy and want's a new better toy because she sees only the appearances

We didn't see Aang being like that because right after he found out he was the AVATAR

he got crushed by his responsibilities

 

There's not much point of being on top without climbing there first and I do think she got there herself

Just wanting never get anything done, changing your outlook on the world doesn't change the world itself, it just leaves the door open

If you think something is impossible, it will stay impossible

If you think that impossible is possible, you give yourself a chance to prove that

 

These billions of praying crying people are pushed to do what they can to survive

Hungry eat the closest thing they see as edible, angry kill their enemy and start riots

If they decided not to feel anything, they would die hungry or get killed by their enemy

If Korra instead of crying herself into enlightenment, as you put it, went with her friends, she would have felt better and the struggle would stop

It won't matter that she's weaker now and she will accept that this is how it is

Ego would be gone and she would become a fully realized... normal person

 

There are actual times when people decide that there are things to die for

Korra is either the Avatar or she in nothing, that's what her ego taught her

She could have became a carpenter or a monk in some air temple

If she meditated enough, she would have seen that nothing actually matters

The world is so big and there are infinite possibilities and outcomes

Somewhere later in life she might see through all the illusions and become a Buddha

And only then she might unlock her Avatar powers

 

But she can't be nice and understandable, she is the only Avatar in this time and people need her

A lot of people lost their bending and you can't expect them to meditate on how it doesn't affect their life in general, they want help now and in the future something else might happen that will need her

 

There are still people in martial art clans and families and different lineages, where a person wears a vial of poison around their neck that they drink if they fail at something they aim to do

Some people who have their resolve set on reaching enlightenment or some other goal don't reach that goal because they have another way out

Unexpected things happen, maybe one day you will be walking down the street and then some punk will stab you and try to get your money, that would be it for you if you didn't reach your goals

or http://www.cracked.com/article_18810_the-5-most-epic-one-man-rampages-in-history-war.html

[Protector]

Oh and everyone got spoiled by nice masters who are eager to give a thousand different techniques to help everyone become enlightened super sayans

[Sloppy Zhang]

Haha, don't worry about spoilers, just talk about it. If people don't want spoilers, they shouldn't come into this thread

 

But it's not nice trying to guilt people out of wanting to be something great

 

Who's doing that? Just call it like it is.

 

If you want power because you want power because YOU want it, who cares? It's ego based, not spiritually enlightened. Whatever.

 

Problems happen when you SAY you're doing it for spirituality, when you aren't. That causes delusion and lies and problems of all sorts.

 

We didn't see Aang being like that because right after he found out he was the AVATAR

he got crushed by his responsibilities

 

At the same time, Aang had his own issues to overcome.

 

Earth bending was hard for him because it was opposite his personality.

Fire bending was also hard for him because of his experience hurting Katara.

 

Korra, on the other hand, was doing both easily since she was a child.

 

There's not much point of being on top without climbing there first and I do think she got there herself

 

Well it kind of helps that "she" just so happens to have thousands of years of avatars doing the work!

 

She didn't get there herself. She didn't change. She didn't grow. She didn't have to grapple with the fact that she was a "nobody." She didn't have to live with the humiliation of being the Avatar in name only. Imagine if she went back to republic city and people found out she essentially lost to Amon. She didn't reach a point where she was herself regardless of her circumstances (which would have been MUCH closer to losing her ego).

 

Nope. Instead, she cried about how sucky her life was and got free shit.

 

If Korra instead of crying herself into enlightenment, as you put it

 

Nope. She didn't cry herself into anything except a helping hand. She's not enlightened. She's exactly who she was before.

 

went with her friends, she would have felt better and the struggle would stop

It won't matter that she's weaker now and she will accept that this is how it is

Ego would be gone and she would become a fully realized... normal person

 

Now here's something! How do you become realized whether you have powers or not? Whether you're with your friends or you're alone in the Northern Water Tribe? THAT would have been a compelling story. For her to say "fuck it, I don't care if I can only airbend, I'm going to keep doing my thing." But no. She cries. She rejects her friends and those close to her.

 

There are actual times when people decide that there are things to die for

Korra is either the Avatar or she in nothing, that's what her ego taught her

She could have became a carpenter or a monk in some air temple

If she meditated enough, she would have seen that nothing actually matters

The world is so big and there are infinite possibilities and outcomes

Somewhere later in life she might see through all the illusions and become a Buddha

And only then she might unlock her Avatar powers

 

Maybe.

 

A lot of people lost their bending and you can't expect them to meditate on how it doesn't affect their life in general,

 

Yeah, it does. In fact, that's actually a GREAT time to meditate- when shit starts to happen. It's one thing to be spiritual and meditate and calm when things are going your way. But when your very sense of identity is shaken to its core?

 

Uh, that's EXACTLY when you should be meditating.

 

Not saying it's easy. But hey.

[Aaron]

Shoot. I just got done watching Avatar, had no idea that Korra existed. Is it as good as the first series? Are the episodes available online? Hmm... well this is something to look forward to. Please, no spoilers. I'll have to search for the series now. Currently watching Sgt Frog, so it'll have to wait til I'm done with that, but at least I have a follow up.

 

Aaron

[Fū Yue]

Is it as good as the first series?

 

The fight scenes are extremely well-done like the first, but the hamfisted romance brought it down a few pegs... not that the first didn't have hamfisted romance, but it's like honey smoked vs. sandwich meat you know? Worth a watch, definitely. The darker tone was an interesting take on the avatar universe, even if some aspects of it didn't quite make the cut.

[Sloppy Zhang]

Shoot. I just got done watching Avatar, had no idea that Korra existed. Is it as good as the first series? Are the episodes available online? Hmm... well this is something to look forward to. Please, no spoilers. I'll have to search for the series now. Currently watching Sgt Frog, so it'll have to wait til I'm done with that, but at least I have a follow up.

 

Aaron

 

The series is excellent.

 

Great fight scene choreography. The bending has definitely evolved and changed over time, while retaining their original quality.

 

The story is very good too.

 

Only one season has happened so far. Book of air, 12 episodes, which just aired recently.

 

Highly recommended. I was skeptical when I heard it because The Last Airbender had a good close. I'm glad I watched Korra.

[Protector]

It's gooooooooood

 

 

 

I guess we will have to see in the second season if she improved or something

Would be kinda weird if she was walking around like super avatar person instead of herself

Also, ummmmm how to put it into nonspoilerific way, in the end I think instead of boo-hoo no more fun stuff, she was contemplating letting go

[Aaron]

thanks for the input. I'll be avoiding this thread til I watch the series. I found all the episodes at Nickelodeon.

 

Aaron

Edited June 29, 2012 by Twinner

[Sloppy Zhang]

Would be kinda weird if she was walking around like super avatar person instead of herself

 

She wouldn't have to do that.

 

But you know, losing her powers was a HUGE potential plot point that could have led to a lot of character development (into the next season).

 

For instance, she could have explored air bending to see how her spirit connects to the air, so that she could learn to rebuild those connections herself with the other elements. She might have to train with other bending masters/users to see how different people connect in different ways.

 

We could see her use air bending to refine other aspects of bending (like how in the last series we saw Iroh use principles of water bending to counter electricity).

 

We could see her learn to solve problems without bending, possibly uniting benders and non-benders (the Avatar represents everyone, regardless of their bending status).

 

We could see how someone can have a strong spirit and still connect with the world and create balance WITHOUT tearing up the terrain.

[Protector]

But we won't have a happy ending to the season that way

 

Also that would make the second season predictable, and now, it's a mystery

I wonder if this was the whole story they had planned at the beginning when they only had one season

I wonder if they moves some stuff from first season into second when they got that extension

Some characters didn't even do anything, yet

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5zizS4WzU

[Protector]