2001: a space odyssey
The greatest story ever told about the Visitors
For me the greatest movie ever made about human beings and their interaction with non-human intelligence has been 2001: a space odyssey. When I have stated this publicly in the past while giving lectures at conferences I got a lot of blank looks. People seemed mystified by this statement and still are to this day. Simply put the film was not well understood.
As humans we always seem to see the complex rather than the simply and overall nature and the Cosmos tend to take the simple and yet easy path of resistance. As they say, “Keep it simple stupid”, or KISS.
The explanations I heard at the time the film was released and even today is interesting at best because it wide and variable. Everyone seems to be looking for the story to be more complex. When I first saw the film at age 16 it blew my mind. I knew exactly what was being said by the film and it spoke to be personally. It still does today. We aren’t alone and we never have been.
When the Australopithecus in the “Dawn of Man” sequence saw the monolith I felt a chill run through my body. At the time I didn’t really know what was happening to me but on a subconscious level I did. Something connected at that moment and I was spell bound for the next 2 hours. More than that for days, weeks, months and years I remained enthralled but the film, it’s writer and filmmaker and as a result it set me on the path of choosing a life long career as a filmmaker.
For me it was a simple story. As it is. The Visitors who ever they are were at the heart of our evolutionary steps. Beginning with the first tool “the bone” for defense and survival. Many people never realized that when Moon-Watcher through the bone into the air at the end of the “Dawn of Man” sequence that what it became was not a space craft but an orbiting nuclear bomb. How poetic and human. It has been our nature since those early times to weaponize every new technology and tool. And this the non-human intelligence knew it was a problem.
They knew if we ventured into space beyond our Earth we would eventually reach our moon. And there they placed another monolith buried beneath the moons surface for 4 million years. They knew if we were smart enough we would reach the moon and detect it. Little did we know if we exposed it to the surface once the sunlight reached it it would be activated and send a very power radio signal to Jupiter. Another words, “Lets see what these humans have”.
So off we went to Jupiter in the USS Discovery to follow the signal and see where it ends up. Now HAL is his own story within the story. Moral is never create and innocent sentient life form and then teach it to lie. Very bad. And what do we do? The same. We have taught our children to lie and be deceitful and look where it got us. But I digress. The monolith was waiting for us there.
So we get to Jupiter and there begins the next step in human evolution. Our being raised to a higher frequency. Dave Bowman is full through time in space through a wormhole where he arrives at his destination. Their realm, the middle ground between worlds. There Dave lives, ages, and the transitions into the next step in our evolution. The Star Child at the end. And with that we will evolve and continuing surviving without war and greater intelligence.
Is that not what so many of us are seeking now? Is this not the change so many of us connected to the Visitors are hoping to bring about? If it’s true we are star speeds or something else related to such a story then we have a lot to do. We are in fact a movement for change.
In order to survive and evolve we have to end war, greed, and hate. We need to focus on the stars from where we came and get other humans to look up at them at night. We are being kept in a box by our culture who have clipped our wings. We need to fly the universe again.
Here is Adam with the Star Child I made for him.
Thanks for your explanation of 2001 Steve. I was just confused by the psychedelic trip at the end, your explanation makes a lot of sense.
I never thought of the bone thrown in the air as a weapon but it works. (I always thought it turned into a spaceship signifying progress)
But - We turn everything into a weapon if we can.
The song If I Ever Lose My Faith in You by Sting expresses this idea as well.
The bible tells us we will beat swords into ploughshares. I want to know when humanity might be ready to do that. I’m certainly ready for peace.
The saddest part is that it’s our choice and we keep choosing war.
Thank you Steve for this enlightening interpretation.