The meaning of life

As plausible as it is for the agnostic or atheist to adopt the mockery that "religion is the opiate of the masses", we're less enthused about admitting the insinuation of pagan or secular mystery.  There are those for whom the modern religion is cinema.  It arguably bridges the gap between biblical tradition and heathen account.  Interestingly the word heathen derives from the Old English of Germanic origin "haēthen" meaning "inhabiting open country".  The cinematic appeal of Indiana Jones regularly features the symbolic spaces of canyons and deserts.

It initially appears odd that the vacant resources of human existence should provide the fodder and foundation for elevated deduction.  But it is only natural that the very lack of interruption should nurture one's imagination - what other choice is there?  It isn't too intellectually demanding to accept that the human mind has an appetite for justification; and the more liberal the venue, the greater the possibilities.

It helps to root the exploration of antiquity in a moderately quaint historic scene in order to promote its authenticity and enflame its reasonableness. Sometimes only a short distance from reality is all that is required to stimulate the imagination. Nor is it an accident that the university scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark was the independent Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England (never mind that it was originally instituted in 1788 with the aim of maintaining the daughters of indigent Freemasons unable through death, illness or incapacity to support their families). The profound family theme continues to perpetuate popular ideological cinema.

The cinematic projections rapidly become energized with ornaments which compete with the pageantry of Roman Catholicism. The persuasion of paraphernalia is nothing new, those bits and pieces which are the trappings of an institution. Sometimes the more fundamental the tackle the more convincing the gear. Discovery requires a broad mind (and in open spaces a cooperative and willing body).