And I'm Not Even Getting Graded on This...

As I believe we've more than adequately established, your humble blog-keeper is the sort of person who engages in ridiculously detailed and overanalytical examinations of television shows because, for some unfathomable reason, it's fun. Anyway, it's exactly what those English Department people always seemed to be doing when I was in school, except they were generally doing it with boring and over-rated novels, and they were a lot stodgier about it.

Anyway, in the course of my usual Obsessed SF TV Fan activities over the last week or two, I've found that one particular theme has kept cropping up over and over, and that's the issue of how religious beliefs are dealt with in various shows. First there was a mailing-list discussion -- which I didn't actually participate in, but did read with interest -- on religion (or the lack thereof) in Blake's 7. Then yesterday I happened to watch an episode of Deep Space 9 concerning a Bajoran prophecy, which brought up a whole host of religious issues. Tonight in the course of my websurfing I came upon a short post somewhere about religion in Farscape and the difficulties in making sense of the vague and sometimes contradictory ways it's dealt with religious matters. And then there's my friend Peter, who is absolutely obsessed with religious imagery and themes in film, and is always sending me articles on, say, the mystical elements in Star Wars, and with whom I've spent so much time corresponding that I've managed to become amazingly sensitized to this kind of thing myself.

The point is, all of this stuff got me to thinking. In particular, I got to thinking a lot about religion in Farscape, partly because it just happens to be my biggest obsession at the moment (at least until I get to see some more Buffy!) and partly because I, too, had noticed that the religious aspects of the show are a bit difficult to make sense of, and stuff like that niggles at me like a piece of popcorn caught between your teeth. Before I knew it, I pretty much had an entire essay on the subject in my head, and that being the case (especially considering that I'm still trying to kill time on the night shift), I thought I'd get the words out of my head and stick them up on here. Who knows, they might be of interest to somebody sometime. I mean, there are other obsessed fans out there.

A couple of notes. First, a Warning: there will likely be spoilers for pretty much the entire series thus far, 'cause it's hard to do that thing the ol' English teachers called "textual support" without, uh, talking about the "text." Second, while my own religious beliefs will doubtless bias my view (because they always do, for everybody), I really am pretty much setting them aside as irrelevant. The Farscape universe is not our universe, and, while I'm a hard-headed materialist when it comes to the real universe, I'm quite happy to concede that, in the Farscape universe, genuine mystical shit really does happen.

So. I thought I'd start out with a look at the individual characters and what we know of their religious beliefs or the beliefs of their people. Of the series regulars, I've left out D'Argo, Chiana, Jool, and Sikozu because (so far) I don't think we've learned anything about their religious standpoints at all (except to the extent that negative evidence counts as evidence). I've also skipped Crais, because I've covered the Sebaceans in general under Aeryn, and Crais does't reveal any personal opinions of his own. I'll do the easy ones first (even if mostly they're easy only because we have so very little information) and save the two really problematical characters for the end. After that, I'll try and tackle some of the more general issues.

John:

I get the impression that John is probably either an agnostic or that, like many Americans, he is inclined to believe in the existence of God (or some vaguely equivalent higher power) without subscribing to any specific religious doctrine or practice. In "The Flax," facing the prospect of an artificially-induced Near-Death Experience, he tells Aeryn, "Humans believe...well, some believe...that there's this bright light. And that you, uh, end up somewhere else along with your friends, family, relatives -- all the people who died before you," and he wonders whether that will happen to him or not. He sounds open to the possibility, but not convinced of it, which is why I tend to peg him as agnostic. He does mention God once or twice (notably in "Into the Lion's Den Pt. 2," when he tells Scorpius they are on "God's timetable"). And the palpable disgust in his voice when he asks Lorana "How in God's name do you call yourself a priest?" in "Rhapsody in Blue" would seem to indicate a respect for the Delvian religion and for Lorana's holy office, if not for Lorana herself, which in turn would seem to indicate that he holds a fairly positive view of religion, whatever his own beliefs might be. We never see him pray or engage in any religious expression of his own, however, despite frequently being in the kinds of situations that tend to make people turn to religion for comfort or a sense of meaning. He does, interestingly, frequently refer to Fate (most notably in "Dog with two Bones"), but it's unclear to what extent he believes in its literal existence.

Aeryn:

In "The Flax," Aeryn tells John, "Sebaceans believe when you die you die. You go nowhere; you see nothing." Which seems pretty definite, although it should be noted that Aeryn is probably only familiar with the beliefs of the Peacekeepers, and possibly shouldn't be taken as speaking for all Sebaceans everywhere. It's tempting to conclude from this that the Sebaceans (or at least the PKs) are atheistic, but that doesn't necessarily follow. We do hear them several times referring to what appears to be a deity named Cholak, in such phrases as "for the love of Cholak!" But whether that reflects a genuine belief or is merely a figure of speech (perhaps left over from a more religious past) it's impossible to say.

It's interesting to note that Aeryn's attempt to contact the dead Talyn-John's spirit in "The Choice" seems to be directly opposed to her statement that Sebaceans don't believe in an afterlife. Of course, there are many things which may have served to change her mind: the example of Zhaan's faith, John's own comments about his people's beliefs, Stark's assurances that such things are possible, her own experience with death. Doubtless grief, denial, and a desire to believe that John wasn't truly and irrevocably gone also had a great deal to do with it. (More about this epsiode later, because it actually has quite a number of interesting implications...)

Rygel:

He uses the phrase "by the Hynerian gods!" in a moment of extreme startlement in "Out of Their Minds" and mentions a Hynerian afterlife ("the Hallowed Realm") in "That Old Black Magic," so the Hynerians do seem to have some belief or tradition involving gods and an afterlife. Also significant is the line from "PK Tech Girl": "I think I was meant to die here the first time. That's why the spirits have brought me back to the Zelbinion." Whether the "spirits" and the "gods" are the same entites or not, though, is unclear. That line does seem to be rather out of character for Rygel, and it seems likely that the awe and terror in his voice have a great deal more to do with his fear of Durka than of the "sprits." Except for that one utterance, Rygel mainly seems to be rather skeptical and dismissive of religion and mysticism in general. He has little time for Zhaan's chanting and prayer, is extremely skeptical of the graveyard curse in "Taking the Stone," has a low opinion of the mystics in "The Choice," and so on. One gets the feeling that, basically, Rygel believes in Rygel.

Pilot and Moya:

The Leviathans and their Pilots worship the Builders, the creators of the Leviathans, and give them the reverence due to gods. The Builders (like the Prophets of Deep Space 9) do in fact actually exist, and do seem to have many of the properties usually ascribed to gods. Certainly they appear to be extremely powerful entities. We don't see Pilot engaging in anything that looks like day-to-day worship of the Builders, though he does appear to be praying in "Natural Election." Moya's religious observances, if any, are of course known only to herself and Pilot. We do know that Leviathans have a sacred "burial" ground, and that being laid to rest there is very important to them. Whether they believe in an afterlife or not is unstated.

Noranti:

Noranti appears to have mystical abilities related to her "third eye," though exactly what they are and how they work is anybody's guess. Most of the weird stuff she accomplishes appears to be through the use of hallucinogenic drugs, but it's likely that she does have some genuine "spiritual" powers. As for her religious beliefs, many people have interpreted her vote for "the Divine Eternal" in "Natural Election" as a nomination for herself, but it seems far more likely to me that this actually refers to some deity or other, and that her intention was to vote for "leaving the Captaincy in God's hands" or some equivalent statement. Then again, with Noranti, who knows?

Zhaan:

All right, here's where it starts to get frustrating. Given that Zhaan was a major character for more than two seasons, that she was a highly-ranked priest of her religion, and that that religion was absolutely central to her life, we actually know amazingly little about that religion's tenets. I'll try to outline what we do know, and add what I hope are some reasonable conclusions and speculations. We know that Zhaan was a violent, troubled -- in her own word, "savage" -- person when she commited the crime for which she was arrested, and that she took up the path of the priesthood (the "Seek") in prison and became a greatly changed and highly spiritual person. We know that her religion centers around the worship of a goddess, whose name I've seen spelled about six hundred different ways, but which I'm inclined to transcribe as "Khylenn." Delvian priests ("P'au"s) progress through different levels (Zhaan is 9th when we meet her and progresses up to 10th in "Rhapsody in Blue"). They are capable of performing a variety of rather impressive mystical feats (we see Zhaan taking pain from others and melding minds in the practice of "Unity," among many other things). These abilities increase as the Pa'u increases in level, but such increases in power must not be pursued too recklessly. If the Pa'u's grasp of power exceeds his or her ability to control his or her own darker impulses, the result is insanity, as we see, again, in "Rhapsody in Blue." It seems most likely to me that these are natural Delvian psionic abilites, honed and harnessed by the mental discipline imposed by the Seek, but other intepretations are, of course, possible.

The religion, at least as practiced by Zhaan, seems to encourage and value serenity, compassion, love of one's fellow beings, non-violence, and the practice of the healing arts. It does not, however, appear to encourage passivity or to discourage sensuality. Religious practices include a great deal of meditation (often done unclothed), chanting and prayer. There appears to be more than one sect of the religion; Tahleen's group in "Rhapsody" seem to be decidedly out of the mainstream. And it is certainly not entirely free from politics and corruption, again, as seen in "Rhapsody." It does not appear to be an evangelical religion, as we never see Zhaan attempting to convert anyone (though see comments on Stark below).

The Delvian religion definitely includes a belief in an afterlife, though there is some contradiction on the question of just who ends up there. At Aeryn's funeral Zhann states that "the goddess graciously receives to her bosom all those who pass from this existence regardless of faith or belief," and she seems quite confident that the goddess will welcome the (presumably) atheistic Sebacean. And yet, in "Self-Inflicted Wounds Pt 2," she describes her doubts about her own fitness for the afterlife: "For the longest time I feared physical demise, because my spiritual essence was suspect, but now I know I'm worthy. Now I know the transgressions have melted from my soul. Now I know I shall meet my Goddess, and be accepted to her bosom." This need not neccessarily be viewed as a contradiction, though... It is possible that Zhaan's belief is that, while the Goddess does indeed welcome all to her bosom, only those who are spiritually worthy are accepted into a close, intimate relationship with the goddess after death. Or perhaps standards are higher for priests than for unbelievers, though that seems rather harsh on the priests. It may of course simply be that the apparent contradiction is merely a reflection of Zhaan's own doubts and uncertainties about her beliefs.


OK, this is getting really long, and I'm going to have to go soon, but this I'm enjoying this way too much not to finish, so we'll mark it To Be Continued. Tune in tomorrow for a look at the conundrum that is Stark, an examination of the empirical evidence for the existence of an afterlife in the Farscape universe, and a look at the intriguing question of just how many souls belonging to John Crichton there are in existence (one can make a compelling argument for any number from one to four!).

Hey, I have been told that I needed a hobby...