Our local guardian is back.

Or rather a different guardian is back. Here's the original (and note how his vermilion shrine responds to the different lights):



He disappeared, a number of months ago. I have no idea where, or why.

No matter, it's good to see the tree shrine occupied again.

This is, I believe, the Tudi Gong, who is "the tutelary god of a defined location".

He sits there, among his tree roots, by the roadside, next to a little eatery. He forms part of everyday life. Someone tends him, provides incense, and offerings, and flowers. I love that simple expression of spirituality.

This week we watched The Force Awakens. It's the usual grandiose Star Wars scenario. But two things stand out.

There's a lot of journeying. From stark deserts to lush forests, right out to the Finisterre where a monk-like Skywalker portentously waits, we encounter landscape. Anthony Lane, in an excellent review, points to the film's "genuine cinematic texture" that allows it, "however briefly, to be felt, rather than merely enjoyed or endured as a thunderous volley of sensations".

And -- as there always has been -- there's a lot of emphasis on light and dark, and movement between them.

Back in the days of the first movie, I remember conservative Christians worrying that this light-and-dark-side movie could distract people from the "real" authority on light-and-dark, which is religion. Apparently, this worry has not gone away, but it's refreshing to see various pieces of commentary pushing back. And here is a convoluted but thought-provoking exposition that draws parallels between the movie's self-referencing and circuitous tale, and a theological reality that also simultaneously "both repeats itself and moves the story forward".

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan, in our epic New Year's Eve Bollywood, Dilwale, also moves from dark to light, amid stories recreating themselves across the generations. But in totally non-contemplative and unselfconscious mode... Which is what I love about Bollywood: it's just not designed to inspire weighty self-examination. (And I can't understand why this movie got such bad reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it.)

On this last day of 2015, this all feels kind of meaningful. So much of our lives involves rehashing old plots, after all, and sometimes it feels like we're never getting anywhere. But we are. Choosing the light, honouring our Tudi Gong (and not taking ourselves too seriously), we move forward. The journey continues.



UPDATE: 5 March 2016.
Someone has smashed this little figure. He's not just missing, he's been smashed, and the roof has been ripped off his shrine. I feel infinitely saddened by this. I hope those who worship here will find the grace to forgive; I hope those who broke him will learn to see the world in a different way.