Spoiler Alert - The Amber Spyglass

If you haven't read The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, but plan to, then I recommend that you skip reading this entry. I plan on reflecting what struck me most about this book, and the deepest meanings, observations and questions come at the end of the book. So, unless you are prepared to have the mystery spoiled, then avert your eyes now. If you haven't read the books, this passage may be confusing. It is intended for people who have completed the trilogy.

The Amber Spyglass is the third book of Philip Pullman's trilogy entitled His Dark Materials. There is much that I didn't like about the book and namely how uncomfortable it feels through out the story. If this was Pullman's aim, then he did an amazing job. At times, the book feels sickly with its industrial descriptions and grotesque creations. Pullman takes on the Authority, not God as I know God, but God as an angel that took control and leads the church astray. He creates abnormalities which seem abominations to nature that created ill feelings within me.

I can see why church enthusiasts hate his books. It does seem that Pullman is out to kill God, but those of us who follow a different flow of the Creators, his books are masterful.

I'm not going to rehash the book. I don't even want to expand or unfold the story to explain the two points that stood out the most for me. I will try to expand my personal views without retelling the story, so this passage may seem a bit choppy.

Towards the end of the book one of the characters states: "...all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity...the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed...And for most of that time, wisdom has had to work in secret, whispering her words, moving like a spy through the humble places of the world while the courts and palaces are occupied by her enemies."

This describes the world now. The world is at a pivotal point. I feel exactly that her wisdom is whispered to us as feminine energies grow, reclaim and restore this Earth. I know now, more than ever, the importance of quietness and listening and trusting what is true in my heart which is restoring our Earth and celebrating an energy that has remained hidden, yet that has not been destroyed.

The second point which conjures curiosity is the concept of atoms. Two characters, at the end of the book, describe: "I will love you forever, whatever happens. Till I die and after I die, and when I find my way out of the land of the dead, I'll drift about forever, all my atoms, till I fond you again...And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you...And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won't just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight..."

After reading this passage, I immediately thought "nuclear" bombs and energy which derives its power from splitting atoms. What if the energy derived from splitting these atoms comes from love? We know that nuclear energy is dangerous. We know the horrific effects of a nuclear bomb. What if, in splitting atoms, we are splitting souls?

In Pullman's first book, The Golden Compass, the author addresses the energy derived by severing a human soul from its daemon (Spirit). In The Amber Spyglass the author painstakingly finds a means for humans to reunite with their Spirits after death...their atoms are able to reconnect. What if nuclear power is creating a new World of the Dead? Or does everlasting life still exist because after being severed through nuclear fission, we travel again through the World of the Dead?

To pass through the World of the Dead, we must tell true stories of our lives on Earth. If we have no stories, we remain in nothingness and are not reborn into paradise and reunited with all Oneness. If we successfully pass through the land of the dead, we are reborn, so to speak. Our atoms become one with all the World creating new life through nature. Nuclear fission, at this point, is derived from plutonium, which is a natural source and atom rich (I guess...is it the gold of rebirth?). Does nature have memory? When those atoms are split, is there memory of life as plutonium? Is there wisdom or knowledge? Is there a story to tell? Or is there nothing?

When plutonium runs out, what are scientists going to split next?

Yes, these thoughts arise from a fictional book, but as Pullman states through his characters, "...wisdom has had to work in secret, whispering her words, moving like a spy through the humble places of the world..."