The Tree of Life

 

 

It's after midnight, Jordan has already started softly snoring and my mind won't settle, it keeps playing images from The Tree of Life. As I was mulling over the many beautiful scenes and images Malick created, an article a friend once shared with me came to my mind. It was about how some language in poetry isn't necessarily meant to be disected and literally, logically understood but that a part of understanding poetry is feeling the vibe of the words chosen.

1) Smooth soft pearls dance delicately along her warm skin.

2) Cold diamond sparkles cut shards of light around the hard metal band.

Although the two sentences are both basically referring to a piece of jewelry, they have a different feeling - a different vibe.

With poetry and story telling, if you take away meaning, there is still something tangible left over - the taste that is left in your mouth after digesting them - be it bitter or sweet. Malick's film leaves me with a very sweet taste in my mouth and I don't know if I'll ever figure out the exact recipe of his most extrodinary dish - but delicious it was. And of course because it is past midnight and I'm in that state where you might give an extra laugh to something less funny, or extra thought to something less poignant...

I wonder if Malick was maybe leaving out story to force us to experience the vibe, the essence - the soul of his message.

I've often thought that God remains a mystery to mankind on purpose. If God exists and He wants us to know Him and He has the power at any time to end this messy earthly debate over whether or not He does exist - why not just show up on the scene. Why not show Himself to mankind right now and be done with it? My personal belief is that if He did so, then we would all know Him in our minds, we would know the text, the narrative, the ending but I think so many then might miss His vibe, His essence - the soul of His message because they wouldn't need to use their hearts to try to understand and know Him. Is that what Malick was trying to achieve? Who knows. It's time for me to go to sleep.