How to Train Your Dragon

On Saturday, I took a carload of second and third graders to see How to Train Your Dragon. The title sounds like a title of an esoteric zen text. And maybe the movie could have been called Zen and the Art of Dragon Maintenance. Or The Tao of Dragon Training.



Either way, this was a brilliant movie based on the books by Cressida Cowell.



The movie making was state of the art -- technology, animation, 3D. The several flying scenes made me feel like I was saddled to the dragon.



While it won't make as much money nor will it receive as many accolades, How to Train Your Dragon is every bit as creative and enlightening -- and I dare say more so -- than Avatar.



The storyline tracked the relationship between a boy and his father. The father happens to be the leader of a community, and the son is a misfit. The plot explores friendship, integrity, the hero's journey, love, fear, courage, the human-nature relationship, death, loss, generational tension, and transformation.



All of this -- and more -- deserves to be discussed, and I'm sure it is. But I'd like to make just one observation. Early on Hiccup (the protagonist) desires to be a dragon slayer. But when confronted the the opportunity to kill a dragon, he is unable to plunge his knife into Toothless. The dragon is anything but literally toothless. However in good Jungian fashion, Hiccup (another appropriate name) knows the dragon in toothless in what really matters.



Hiccup and Toothless become friends after a period of learning how to trust one another. Hiccup must keep the secret, but eventually it is discovered by Astrid.



At one point, Astrid asks why Hiccup couldn't kill Toothless. Hiccup at first replies, "I couldn't." Astrid presses Hiccup for a more concrete answer. Exacerbated, Hiccup says, "I wouldn't." Why wouldn't he? He confesses that he saw himself in the dragon.



It's shocking becuase who admits that they can see themselves in the eyes of those who they believe to be their enemies? Hiccup pauses long enough to recognize himself in the Other. This is the embodiment of "Thou art That." Call it interconnection or Interbeing.



This is a revelatory moment in the movie -- for Astrid, Hiccup, and the audience. True self-awareness.



Can we see ourselves in the eyes of our enemies? Those who fear us? Those who are trying to kill us? Those whom we are trying to kill?



With this, Hiccup and Astrid have another revelation. They realize why Hiccup is such a misfit in his family and community. He is the first to see this way. No one had ever envisioned the possibility of vikings and dragons coexisting -- that they share one another's being that they are one. Hiccup is the first not to kill a dragon, and Astrid points out that he is the first to ride one too.



If we couldn't see the shared interbeing early on, we see it at the end of the movie when Hiccup gets a prosthesis that matches the one he made for Toothless. And if we look closely, we'll see an interesting perspective on the traditional Christian story -- the Toothless dragon sacrifices himself to save Hiccup and the community.



Hiccup is a misfit becuase he has a new consciousness. Neither his father nor the society understands this new way of seeing -- until they experience the dragon-viking synergy that is their only hope for salvation.



A new consciousness emerges, and the one through whom is comes doesn't understand it until it unfolds and evolves. Perspective is needed to appreciate what is happening. The old consciousness is failing, and no one can see it initially. But when they do, they create a new world.



Hiccup learns to train his dragon(s) by facing them, by being present with them and with himself. Killing them only generates strife. Hiding, shame, and fear instill ignorance and illusion. Demonizing and scapegoating propels the community (and each individual) into war, killing, suffering, and death. A new consciousness emerges by embracing the fears that we project onto our dragons.



May we all learn how to train our own dragons. Yes, it takes courage and fortitude and persistence and doing something different than you've done before. It calls for a new way of seeing and approaching everything. It opens up a new way of being.



A beautiful and hopeful parable. He who has ears, let him hear.

Reference: http://transmillennial.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-train-your-dragon.html