 You know what the best thing is about watching Avatar today compared to back in 2005? It just holds up so well as a show, even in 2020. Even though it was just a kid's show, it may be like the purest, smartest, most heartfelt portrayal of fighting fascism that's ever existed in TV history. Like ever. At its core, it tackles some pretty wild stuff like nationalism, racism, genocide and patriarchy and still manages to weave Eastern philosophy in there beautifully and discusses the illusion of separation, chakras, spirituality and even explores our relationship with going into the spirit world and astral projection. Oh, and before we go any further, I should probably give you a spoiler warning. This episode is for people who have seen this show already and if you haven't, please do yourself a favor and go and binge it right now, especially before watching this. You won't be disappointed, it's well worth it. Like so worth it. Now, arguably the biggest difference between watching the show now, as opposed to back then, is that life in our Western world today looks and feels a lot like life in the Fire Nation. If the current state of disharmony in the world is anything to go by, especially right now, our society is in a place, to quote an article by Salon, addicted to its increasingly hollow sense of greatness and superiority. One could even say that in general, we are being steered by leaders a lot like the Fire Lord, who are more concerned with their own glory and wealth than caring for their people. How do you expect them to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion? I don't. They'll be used as a destruction while we mount an attack from the rear. So while we would love to think of ourselves as a water tribe, living in harmony with the natural world or the peaceful air nomads being super vegetarian and pursuing enlightenment, we have to ask ourselves, are we actually the Fire Nation? At its heart, the world of Avatar is built around these four nations which take their names from the classical four elements. Well, okay, five if we count the spirits in the spirit world, but that isn't really a nation, at least until later with Korra, and that's a thing for another time. That amazing intro by Katara in every episode tells us that the nations once lived together in harmony. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. And that's the natural state of being for both their world and ours. After Aang's long ice nap though, he returns to a world at war with the Fire Nation bent on conquest, being ruled by none other than Mark Hamill. Sorry, sorry, Fire Lord Ozai, a guy who doesn't really care about the value of life, nature, or the balance of all things, and has no consideration for other indigenous cultures. This is Ozai, by the way, not Mark Hamill. We love you, Mark. During the headband episode, we see when Aang infiltrates a Fire Nation school sort of by accident and learns what life is like on the inside. And surprise, surprise, there are so many parallels to the American and European education system, it might as well be a mirror. Oh, is this a new mind ready for mulling? That's right. For example, the kids have to recite the national anthem every morning while pledging allegiance to Zuko's dad, while at the same time getting taught a propaganda-filled version of history that Zuko eventually described so well in an awesome confrontational moment with his dad. Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history, and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was! It's no different than the all-pervading propaganda that America is the greatest country in the world. And I mean, look, no disrespect to the states, but to really break down that statement, we have to say, in what? They have the world's greatest military, perhaps, but in terms of healthcare, education, and overall peace and happiness, I don't think that statement holds up so well. When Ang is in music class, he feels moved to dance and express his state of flow and enjoyment of the moment, a completely normal and freeing thing to do. But he is suppressed by his teacher and the other classmates, who are conditioned to think that things like expression, love, and dance are somehow weird, and not, you know, like, totally normal. Ultimately, the Fire Nation's propaganda, lies, and suppression of expression are all typical of a nation whose throat and sacral chakras are a little out of balance. I imagine that Fire Lord Ozai could really use a lesson or two from Guru Patik. I imagine Patik would also have some stuff to say about the current state of the world that we are currently in at the moment, too. The thing is, back when the war was first beginning, Fire Lord Sozin generally believed the war was bringing equality and greatness to the nations, and in this we can question what his real intentions were. I've been thinking, we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. However, in the context of balance, he's not wholly wrong, but before you jump on me for being a traitorous Fire Nation, hear me out. When we look at the daily life for most people in the Fire Nation, we find a multicultural society where both men and women can hold high-ranking positions and attain the same status, a complete reversal of the water tribes, which are heavily patriarchal, or the Earth Kingdom's classist and corrupt government. The Fire Nation is also incredibly wealthy, and as far as the society goes, the standard of living is fairly high. If Sozin genuinely wanted to share their technology, a war wouldn't exactly be needed, and that's where we disagree of course with his intentions and the way that he did it, but we can see that as far as balance goes, the Fire Nation did have a lot of value that they could have brought to the world. What's more, when Katara tells us that all four nations lived in harmony, we have to ask ourselves, is that really true? If you take a look at the map of Avatar, the air temples are stuck far out on the compass points, the water tribes live on tiny glaciers in the north and south poles, and the Fire Nation only has a string of tiny islands to the west. The Earth Kingdom though, has this huge expanse of territory that they barely use. Honestly, the Earth Kingdom seems a tad OP. Maybe the four nations living in harmony just meant everyone did their own thing and didn't worry about each other too much. But with all of that said, Sozin justifies the war in the exact same way that we in the west have tended to justify conflict, as bringing democracy and wealth to impoverished nations. We should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. In our hands is the most successful empire in history. It's time we expanded it. Even British imperialism in Africa took place because they believed they were bringing civilization to savages. Ideas of unity between nations and universal oneness, society and harmony are seemingly in line with spiritual discipline though, right? So, is the Fire Nation a form of spiritual society at heart? Well, it depends. Throughout their history, the Hotman acted on the belief that unity and centralism were the most important things to create an ordered, perfect and prosperous world. And under the right leadership, Zuko, this would definitely be true and could bring a sense of abundance and peace. But if such a society was headed by someone whose ego was at the forefront, then it could just as easily become corrupted and descend into fascism, which is of course what we see happen with Ozai. Ironically though, a lot of Season 3 is devoted to humanizing the Fire Nation. One of the best things about the spirituality of Avatar is that it shows conflict and war as something that affects everyone, even the people who we think of as enemies, ultimately telling us that everyone is experiencing a different aspect of the same universal oneness and it consistently makes the case of mercy and forgiveness over wrath and revenge. While somewhat of a risky topic, what if the only difference between the good guys and bad guys is who's telling the story? In the West, much of our media demonizes the Middle East and subtly talks about Orientalism that's loaded with racial notions of the other. But what Avatar teaches us so well is that everyone is fighting the same battle and are affected by its consequences in the same way. So, is the Western world akin to the Fire Nation in its current 2020 boss level state? Well, we certainly share many of its aspects, from imperialism and propaganda to our treatment of other indigenous cultures. While there is only one Avatar who can go into the Avatar state, which by the way comes from a Hindu concept of a vessel that a deity could incarnate into to help avoid some great disaster or guide the people, kind of like an ascended master, the Fire Nation world seems to rely on keeping its citizens in a lower vibrational state. The elite class lie to and deliberately mislead their citizens and make them believe they are isolated and better than everyone else. Ultimately, they foster a society where the ego grows and their spirit is troddened down. Hey, I mean even the Avatar, the guy who represents balance, order and all the good stuff like turtle ducks and love or whatever, is made out to be the enemy in the eyes of the Fire Nation. And not only that, his Avatar state, something clearly symbolic of enlightenment and the power of God is depicted as something destructive and dangerous to the people of the Fire Nation, something that threatens their way of life and their beliefs. In a way, enlightenment can be dangerous. It can shake the foundation of your order and what you believe in and lead to a more compassionate and soulful future, something that the Fire Nation actively wants to suppress. But what about the spirits though? Even the people of the Fire Nation still believe in and hold respect for spirits. Well, while they may talk about the spirits a lot, any notion that deals with the divine and sacred aspects of fire, namely the fire sages, has been more or less put on hold. Whereas during ancient times, the fire sages served the Avatar and helped keep balance and study the sacred aspects of the bending art, they now serve the Fire Lord and help in hunting the Avatar, except Shu, we love Shu. Fire Nation society may have a spiritual character and there may even be a place for it in spiritual and symbolic appreciation, but any actual notion of compassion and life with regard to fire is replaced with its purely physical and aggressive usage. Sound familiar? It's this disconnection from the spiritual aspect of their culture that I think causes the Fire Nation to act with such disharmony. Like us, there may be a place for spirituality in society, but they're so disconnected from it that their egos have come to the forefront, steering their decisions. This manifests in their bending a lot. Think about it, most firebenders see fire as a purely physical force that exists to burn stuff down. It's kind of the perfect match for an empire and they completely ignore the art form and spiritual meaning of their bending. This is why it's such a shock when Zuko finally meets the Sun Warriors, the ancient society who were the first firebenders learning the divine ways from the dragons themselves. His firebending came from rage and anger, none from a place of compassion and life. Once he finally understands the true meaning and integrates the physical aspect of bending with his spiritual philosophy, he regains his passion and can bend and flow stronger than ever. In other words, while the Fire Nation holds the space for the spiritual, it doesn't use it. So, what can we learn from all of this? What's the point of us exploring the spiritual journey avatar with such a depressing topic like this? Well, it's actually the most important aspect of all. The Fire Nation is a state where its people are filled with so much patriotism and propaganda that they believe everyone outside of it needs their help and influence. But the truth is, most of the normal day-to-day people haven't actually stepped outside its borders or if they have, it's only been to a colony. And yeah, their standards of life may have been highest in the world, but that's only because throughout history, the nation's leaders have plundered and stolen raw materials from the surrounding nations. Even when Zuko confronts Ozai, he realizes it isn't enough to just say, I'm not like other Fire Nation people, since his nation's ideology is what has caused so much suffering in the world. He recognizes it's not just their actions, but their way of thinking. That's the core problem, which leads to the destructive behavior. On top of that, it isn't enough for Zuko to just speak out against the regime. In order to be true to his highest self and restore balance, he has to join Team Avatar and work to dismantle the old order through focused action, a sentiment that is profoundly more powerful, given the current events around police brutality and civil rights. While it can be tempting to think in black and white and treat all Fire Nation people as the bad guys, it's important to remember that the normal people didn't have much knowledge of the war outside of what the military told them. If anything, Airbender shows us that a leader's action don't always represent or speak for the people. A lot of the Fire Nation's issues and their supremacy worldwide likely comes from their detachment to the natural and spiritual worlds. Where the Air Nomads detached themselves and found peace in nature, the Fire Nation destroys nature and uses it to fuel their war. I gotta say, there's gotta be a Tolkien reference in there somewhere. It goes to show the consequences of a world where the spiritual aspects of life and in art form are separated and manipulated by someone's ego. And in doing so, it shows us just how important understanding the perspective of others is and how important it is to combine materialistic living with spiritual philosophy in order to create a sense of balance and harmony in the world, which is, after all, the world's natural state. Given the beautiful ending in Season 3, we see Aang and Zuko walking out together to build a new world after a period of 100-year war and destruction. The sentiments of forgiveness, compassion, and the ability to rebuild after disorder are all things that I think we need to hold on to now more than ever. And with that, thank you so much for watching. Make sure to hit that notification bell for something new very soon. And please share your thoughts on what else you'd like to see in our Hidden Spirituality series. We're excited to join you on this journey. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.