Just finished watching Midnight Mass.

Spoiler

SPOILERS! (Possibly)

I thought Erin’s thoughts in the final episode might be of interest here.

Myself. My self. That’s the problem. That’s the whole problem with the whole thing. That word, “self.” Thats not the word. That’s not right, that isn’t…How did I forget that? When did I forget that? The body stops a cell at a time, but the brain keeps firing those neurons. Little lightning bolts, like fireworks inside and I thought I’d despair or feel afraid, but I don’t feel any of that. None of it. Because I’m too busy. I’m too busy in the moment. Remembering. Of course. I remember that every atom in my body was forged in a star. This matter, this body is mostly empty space after all, and solid matter? It’s just energy vibrating very slowly why there is no me. There never was.

The electrons of my body mingle and dance with the electrons of the ground below me and the air I’m no longer breathing. And I remember there is no point where any of that ends and I begin.

I remember I am energy. Not memory. Not self. My name, my personality, my choices, all came after me. I was before them and I will be after, and everything else is pictures, picked up along the way. Fleeting little dreamlets printed on the tissue of my dying brain. And I am the lightning that jumps between. I am the energy firing the neurons, and I’m returning. Just by remembering, I’m returning home. And it’s like a drop of water falling back into the ocean, of which it’s always been a part. All things… a part.

You, me and my little girl, and my mother and my father, everyone’s who’s ever been, every plant, every animal, every atom, every start, every galaxy, all of it. More galaxies in the universe than grains of sand on the beach. And that’s what we’re talking about when we say “God.” The cosmos and its infinite dreams. We are the cosmos dreaming of itself. It’s simply a dream that I think is my life, every time. But I’ll forget this. I always do. I always forget my dreams. But now, in this split-second, in the moment I remember, the instant I remember, I comprehend everything at once.

There is no time. There is no death. Life is a dream. It’s a wish. Made again and again and again and again and again and again and on into eternity. And I am all of it. I am everything. I am all.

I am that I am.

Posted Mar 24, 2022, 6:56 PM UTC · edited

310
Itu_Leona•

It’s been a while since I watched it, but with that monologue, I had to wonder if the writers were influenced by Alan Watts. “We are the universe dreaming of itself” was a big sentiment of his (borrowed a bit from Hinduism, I think).

2
Philliparthurdent•

And that’s what we’re talking about when we say “God.” The cosmos and its infinite dreams. We are the cosmos dreaming of itself.

That's not what I'm talking about when I say god, neither is it what some 5 billion + followers of Abrahamic religions mean either...

There is no time. There is no death. Life is a dream.

Yes, there is time, death, and, as Spock rightly noted, life... is not a dream.

1
Chef_FatsOP•

Yes, there is a lot of flowery language involved, but it is a TV show. I just enjoyed the way it expressed the process of recycling of matter without the need for dogma or cold detachment.

That’s also one of my favourite Spock moments.

Think of it like Spock rowing a boat through time and space.

3
Philliparthurdent•

Sure Carl Sagan said basically the same thing 40 years ago in cosmos, it's the "we call this god" which is nonsense. The rest is deepoties.

I fast forwarded this monologue in the show as it was very indulgent and boring. But I liked the show very much, apart from the monologues.

-2
MoarTacos•

Well aren't you just Mr fuckin' sophisticated fancy pants

1
Chef_FatsOP•

That it cribbed from a lot of my favourite thinkers is why I found it refreshing. I could have done with more of it.

When I realised in the last couple of episodes it was going to turn into a typical run from the baddy (though a well done one) type situation, I was a bit disappointed.

I don’t think your supposed to take what she says literally, I think she’s just describing how things come and go from the perspective of an anthropomorphised universe.

At least, that’s how I saw it.

1
missgnomer2772•

Within the context of the plot and dialogue as it leads up to Erin’s dying internal monologue here, all of this makes sense. She was a devout Catholic up until this night. She had already told another character a different version of what she thinks happens at death. As she’s dying, she has this epiphany that is much more like the other character’s version of what he thinks happens at death. He, Riley, an atheist, had talked about the brain’s final DMT dump and how he expects to experience the “dream to end all dreams,” and how then his body will return to the earth and to its base elements, and his body will therefore go on to exist in other things when his consciousness is over.

Erin is experiencing her moment of death and these ideas wash over her and give her peace outside her Catholic Christian framework. The way she speaks is not in absolutes and universal terms. She is speaking, in her own mind, for what she is experiencing in that moment.

ETA: I didn’t realize until I read your next reply that you did watch the show. My points stand, though.

2
MoarTacos•

The authors of this show are clearly agnostic or atheist or both, so it makes sense you don't agree with her monologue.

The whole show is pretty anti-religion and I love it lol.

1
ggregC•

Me too.

1

I think this movie illustrates how the Bible is used to control and manipulate people for evil and for good. I often wonder what life would be like without the Bible to confuse people. I don't know the truth about God, but I think the Bible does more harm than good and this movie makes that clear.

1