Exceptional posts worth reading

[Sightless Eyes]

A few people have mentioned and agreed that there are some posts made here and on other sub-forums that should be kept around for newcomers to read without having to dig through hundreds of pages of posts.. and here it is.

If you have a post you think should be in this list, or posts, please quote it (in it's own thread) then paste the given quote here, so that the post link is intact.

If you have multiple suggestions, please try to keep yourself to one post (With multiple quotes if necessary) per day.

Please do not post anything but suggestions in this thread, including discussions on another person's suggestions. You may suggest a previously suggested post that is not yet included, but please keep the number of overlaps reasonable.


Posts about improving your own existence after having seen Avatar:
From Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible.

Posted by Neytiri
Start living like Neytiri: in touch with nature, the environment, and not being greedy and wasteful.

Pass on the burger, for something more healthy for you and less cruel to animals. Spend your time on this forum, or volunteering in your free time, instead of getting high or drinking, twiddling your thumbs, being apathetic and complaining about how bad the world is.

Don't get swept away by the wave of negativity, live your dream. Your life has only two switches, to shine or not to shine. There is no "apathy" setting. If you're on apathy setting you might as well sign your world away to destruction.

When you get discouraged by everyone around you, be courageous like Jake, and jump on the leonopteryx. Be the change you want to see in your world. There are only so many people on this earth, the more of them that are doing positive things, the less of them that are out there doing negative things.

It's unfortunate that we live in a world where, just by pulling a trigger or making a corporate decision, one single greedy human being can wipe out the hard works of love of many people. But this is why we need to stop focusing on money and start focusing on our environment. Because we have the intelligence to kill ourselves, but not the wisdom to stop it. What will our money buy, when everything that is worth having is destroyed?

The only way you can fill the emptiness you feel after this movie, is to jump on the leonopteryx.
(Whitespace added for ease of reading)

Posted by PandoraOnEarth
How many of you would say that your Pandora-effect is like homesickness?

For the most part, that is exactly how I felt, on a visceral level, something beyond my consciousness and thus out of my control. The unpleasant part is that my emotional self was in conflict with my intellectual self. The intellectual self knows that wanting the impossible is a road leading to insanity but my emotional self did not want to let go of Pandora because it embodies everything that I consider "home".

In the end, to reconcile, I had to devise a plan for implementing Pandora on Earth; at least those parts of it that appeal to me and are probable. Now, even though I may not be directly involved in the implementation, I can track the technological trends and match them to my expectations. In this, I can have hope, instead of the hopelessness I felt just after the realisation that Pandora would never be real.

As human beings, we have the power to sculpt our world as we see fit; for good or bad. Just as Star Trek inspired a generation to seek out and replicate the technology on Earth, and with amazing success, I hope Avatar inspires the same type of people to seek out new ways for us to structure a technologically advanced existance (for that is what we are) to best fit our desire for a simple life, acceptance and recognition. The current social structure of city life and 6 degrees of separation are not working for us, we are coming apart at the seams.

From On making your own life a compelling adventure...

Posted by Jim (Not Jim Cameron)
I've had a chance to read through some of the threads here, and on other boards dealing with Avatar. I am humbled by the effect the film has had on some of you, I truly am. However, I am worried about how some of you are reacting to the film. Avatar first and foremost is a movie, a work of fiction. Yes, we have gone to every length imaginable to provide you with a realistic experience. I won't apologize for that, as that was always our intent.

A movie is no substitute for living your life. Maybe some of you are in a bad position. Maybe some of you are bored with your jobs, or what you are taking in school, or life is being unfair (as only life can be). Wanting to live in a virtual world isn't the answer, especially one you didn't create. If you want to live, and I mean really live, you have to try and make something out of the life you were given.

But what to make? Sure it's easy for me to come in here and preach, but this is a serious question, and deserves some serious thought from everyone. No one handed me the keys to this kingdom. I chose to make films, then I chose to devote everything I had to being good at making films. That took sacrifice. It took hard work. But look at the results.

There has to be one thing, maybe even a few things, that can compel you to wake up and go in a direction. If you can create art, create lots of it. If you are of a scientific bent, devote yourself to mastering a discipline. If you are athletic, hone your body to perfection, compete. There is so much that needs to be done in the world, and so few people are willing to take the risks that are necessary to get it all done. Life IS risk. Choosing a path is risky business. You risk failing, you risk being embarrassed, you risk losing friends. If you choose to live a life of comfort, where you have a pretty good job but you are exerting 10% of the effort you can exert, do you honestly think that when you retire you'll feel good about this? Do you really feel good about doing this now?

Maybe you won't change the world, but think about what kind of place this would be if everyone was striving to be excellent. Not compromising themselves or settling for anything less than what they are capable of. Learning what you are capable of is the first step. Again, easier said than done, but it is a journey I guarantee is worth taking. Once you've taken it, all that remains is to pick a direction. What will you do with your life? What heights can you reach?

Now more than ever the world needs you. It needs your energy. Your drive. Your sacrifice. Even if you doubt Global Warming, there are a million other things we are doing to ourselves and the planet that are killing us. We are making this place like the Earth we depicted in Avatar. Rampant pollution. Poisoning the water supplies with waste. Killing ourselves with our own garbage, whether it be the fast foods we eat or the stuff we throw out. Global Warming is just ONE of the things people need to look at.

And people are suffering everywhere. Poverty is worse now than it's ever been, both here in the States and abroad. People can't afford to keep themselves healthy. They're losing their homes, their very lives.

When does it stop?

While volunteering can be a good first step, all of these problems need SOLUTIONS. They need people who can learn the "why", then come up with an answer. As an artist I can use my art to shed light on some of these things. Get people talking. Maybe cause some action to happen. But at the end of the day, what I do stops there. I didn't make Pandora so that you could have a place to run to when life isn't turning out the way you wanted. I made it to show you what OUR home could be like. To remind you that Earth was once like Pandora: lush, life-giving, beautiful. That Earth can STILL be like Pandora.

The virtual worlds I create are perfect for a vacation, but you cannot live there.

You live here. Now. And the clock is ticking.

The world is happening whether you choose to spend most of your life in virtual reality or not. Embrace it. What could you do, if you really decided to do something? What will you do?

James

[Sightless Eyes]

From Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible. Part 3

Posted by Hydro
First i wanna say Hi ok, i found out about this forum from some news website and i couldnt believe that so many ppl experienced depression after watching Avatar. Now i feel a relief knowing that im not a part of a small group having this symptoms, rather being a part of a community in which i can express my feelings along with the others.
Im gonna say a few words about my life in the past few years.
Over the past 3,4 years i literally had no life. I dedicated most of my time playing games on the computer, i became addicted of a very popular computer game. I start losing all my friends, and eventually almost every contact with the real world. I knew i had to escape from this hell and go back to the real life but it was too late, i tried so many times to get back on track but couldnt, i started to fear ppl and i barely was getting outside......but this thing was about to change... 2 days ago i went to saw Avatar. I didnt saw the trailers first, i just heard is a good move but that was all. After i saw the movie something strange and beautiful happened. Suddenly my eyes opened and i could see what i couldnt for 4 years, for the first time in 4 years i realized why im living for, the Splendid world of Pandora made me see the truth, made me see that that world is here on Earth, you just have to look for it. All the happiness, the divine world of Pandora is something that everyone can have...this is the meaning of life, this is the beauty of living...and from that day i started to leave again.
I feel like i was in chains for 4 years and now eventually the chains are broken.
Unfortunately the depression still remained but im sure it will fade in time...

My advice for you people is to keep fighting because whats out there is a lot more beautiful than what it seems and one day you will find the happiness your looking for.

From What Have We Done To Our Own Pandora?

Posted by Sik'Turi
I think it is safe to say that Avatar has affected millions of people worldwide in multiple ways, from the environmental message to the sheer homesickness it has implanted in so many individuals. Thinking about these things over the course of the past few days has brought me to the conclusion that many people simply aren't happy with the way the world is currently. However, that feeling is not just based on what they perceive with their feelings.

You might say, "No crap, that was obvious way before Avatar," but I mean, how many of you got up every day, went about your daily business, maybe heard about a shooting, bombing, wreck, oil spill, raging fire, etc, and came back home and went to sleep without a thought about the bigger picture? I know that I was in such a routine that I never really noticed, nor cared, about how the Earth was being affected by the actions of me, myself, and I. I was, on the other hand, noticing the actions of other people out there blowing things up, emitting Co2 into the air, industrializing the most precious lands on our Earth, etc. It caused me to think that I am putting the blame on the 5.999 billion other people on this planet and not taking any responsibility myself.

I was invited to the Environmentalist group on this website by Neytiri, which I gladly joined, and I came across a link she had posted about the world's rainforests. Keep in mind that I grew up learning about how we're losing X amount of rainforest everyday, Y number of species everyday, and Z number of opportunities for plants that could help evolve medicine, but the unfathomable amount of life we are losing in the Amazon and around the world is absolutely pathetic. Remember the fruit that Jake ate when he first piloted his Avatar? The one that so many people have thought looked so juicy and delicious? Take this fact and chew on it: At least 3000 fruits are found in the rainforests; of these only 200 are now in use in the Western World. The Indians of the rainforest use over 2,000.

What have we done to our own Pandora? I can not speak for anyone else on these forums or in this world, but I consider it an absolute shame, a pure irresponsibility by our own race's dominance, that there are such treasures in this world that have yet to be discovered that we are destroying.

Let's take another point from that website: There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000. This one hits closer to home for many people. Sounds a lot like Avatar, doesn't it? Isn't this extremely close to what RDA was attempting in the movie? Sure, you may say they were only after the mineral, but "When people are sitting on **** you want, you make them your enemy, so your justified in taking it." Right? 10 million to 200,000, many of whom were elders who died taking medicinal recipes of the native plants we are destroying with them.

Something else that has intrigued me as I put more thought into it. One of the many symptoms of the "Pandora Effect" has been homesickness. Luckily, it is the only one of the symptoms I have experienced, as I absolutely do not want to be depressed over such a thing. That being said, I can completely understand where those feelings come from. Homesick is defined by Dictionary.com as being "sad or depressed from a longing for home or family while away from them for a long time." No one here has ever been to Pandora, except in our dreams. Everyone here has been to Earth, and everyone here had ancestors at one point in their tree who lived according to Earth's rules, not human's rules. Who lived with an absolute respect for the land, whether they were religious (like me) or nonreligious. An ancestor who did say a prayer to whatever deity they worshiped that the animal they had just hunted would provide energy for The People and return to the mother afterward, who did respect what their deity had bestowed upon them, and who did take one glance at a mountain, rainforest, or ocean and utter a translation of "Oe kllkxem hì'i," or "I stand small," instead of "Oe kllkxem apxa," or "I stand large." Our generation today is homesick because we have no home. Our ancestral homes are being destroyed as I sit here and write this if they haven't already. In my religion, my great-to-the-8th-power grandfather is sitting in Heaven and looking down at what used to be his grounds, which are now probably the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, GA. We see Avatar's nature, though manmade in the movie the images are still taken from what God gave us, and I like to think that maybe our homesickness is coming from our inherent, instinctual desire to be a part of what was first given to us. If you're religious, the Garden of Eden? I wish not to go off on a huge tangent, though I actually already have, but it is my way of nurturing the seed that's been growing since I saw Avatar.

So I'm asking each and every one of you, look around you, look at the sky, the trees in your yard, the ocean, the mountains and realize what we are doing to them. Remember how small we should be compared to them, and scoff at how we have tried to make ourselves larger than our own habitat, our own mother. Take a look at yourself and utter, "Oe kllkxem hì'i" while realizing that while the other 5.999 billion Sky People out there may not understand what is happening to our own Pandora, you...a Na'vi, you do.

[Sightless Eyes]

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[Sightless Eyes]

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