Ambiguous Adventure

Unity

• Bahá'u'lláh taught that humanity is one single race and that the age has come for its unification in a global society. He taught that "there is only one God, that all of the world’s religions are from God, and that now is the time for humanity to recognize its oneness and unite.

The Setting

• Story of Samba Diallo
• Strict Muslim upbringing by his instructor Thierno
• Being trained to be the next spiritual leader of the village
• Often beaten for not grasping the Koran

The Location

• Village recently conquered by the French
• Strong Islamic belief in the village
• Near Senegal
• Early to Mid 1800's

The Story

• Spiritual leader who is weary of the Western world
• Plan to send Samba to the Western schools to learn and to be able to battle the West's influence
• It is thought that Samba's strong Islamic morals and understanding can fight the West's influence on his mind
• Does religion outweigh education?

Is Greed Good?

• "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind."
• Gordon Gekko's speech from Wall Street

Critical Thoughts

• Is Samba doomed due to his upbringing?
• Is forcing religion on children a good or bad mechanism of faith?

The Dilemma

• Spiritual and intellectual gap growing
• Philosophy and science having a huge effect on Samba's mind
• Grows an understanding that the Western world is part of the future
• Both worlds have to and will come together for a better world
• Can you live a religious life to near perfection and attain a high level of intuition?

The Fear

• "The school in which I would place our children will kill in them what today we love and rightly conserve with care. Perhaps the very memory of us will die in them. When they return from the school, there may be those who will not recognize us." -Most Royal Lady

The Most Important Character

• The Most Royal Lady
• “It is well that this young man should replace the teacher. He has not, he never will have that preference of the old man for traditional values, even those that are condemned and moribund, over the triumphant values that are assailing us. This young man is bold. He is not paralyzed by the sense of what is sacred. He has no feeling for background. He will know better than anyone else how to welcome the new world.”

The Most Royal Lady

• Is she an innovator or a defector?
• Would she have been the most suited to be the religious leader?
• Religion to her is seen as a crutch to those or hold tradition too close...is religion as a whole a crutch to true innovation and creativity?

Women in Religion

• Are women thought of as being potential Religious leaders?
• Pope Francis, said there would not be female cardinals in the Catholic Church because women must be “valued” and not “clericalised.”
• “The configuration of the priest to Christ the head – namely, as the principal source of grace – does not imply an exaltation which would set him above others.”

Final Thoughts

• Could women in high religious positions help ease the tensions between the major religions of the world?

P.S.

• The end of Amb. Adv. allows a choice to be made on the ending
• You can make a choice that Samba found religion and his highest form of spirituality or he lost his faith and his mind (i.e. Life Pi)