Control.

JADE PALACE GROUNDS - EVENING

Oogway stands under the peach tree, deep in thought. Shifu rushes in, emerging from the mist, extremely agitated.

SHIFU

Master! Master!

OOGWAY

Hmmm?

SHIFU(out of breath)

I have-- it's-- it's very bad news.

OOGWAY

Ah, Shifu. There is just news.

There is no good or bad.

SHIFU

Master, your vision...your vision was right. Tai Lung has broken out of prison. He's on his way!

OOGWAY

That is bad news...

He turns to face Shifu and stares at him, eyebrow raised.

OOGWAY (CONT'D)

...If you do not believe that the Dragon Warrior can stop him.

SHIFU

The panda? Master, that panda is not the Dragon Warrior.

SHIFU (CONT'D)

He wasn't even meant to be here --it was an accident!

OOGWAY

There are no accidents.

SHIFU

Yes, I know. You've said that already. Twice.

OOGWAY

Well, that was no accident either.

SHIFU

Thrice.

OOGWAY

My old friend, the panda will never fulfill his destiny, nor you yours, until you let go of the illusion of control.

SHIFU

Illusion?

OOGWAY

Yeah. Look at this tree, Shifu. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me, nor make it bear fruit before its time.

SHIFU

But there are things we can control.

Shifu kicks the tree and a peach falls to his feet.

SHIFU (CONT'D)

I can control when the fruit will fall.

A peach falls on his head and Oogway chuckles. Shifu tosses the peach in the air, leaps up, and splits it with a chop.

SHIFU (CONT'D)

And I can control--

Shifu punches the ground, creating a hole and places the seed in it.

SHIFU (CONT'D)

--where to plant the seed. That is no illusion, Master.

OOGWAY

Ah, yes. But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple, or an orange... but you will get a peach.

SHIFU

But a peach cannot defeat Tai Lung!

OOGWAY

Maybe it can. If you are willing to guide it, to nurture it. To believe in it.

Oogway covers the seed with dirt.

SHIFU

But how? How? I need your help, Master.

OOGWAY

No, you just need to believe.

Promise me, Shifu. Promise me you will believe.

SHIFU

I... I will try.

Oogway smiles, then glances up at the sky, then back down to Shifu.

OOGWAY

Good. My time has come. You must continue your journey without me.

He hands his staff to a confused Shifu.

SHIFU

What... what are you..?

Oogway backs away into the swirling fog.

SHIFU (CONT'D)

Master, you can't leave me!

The petals surround Oogway as he approaches the cliff's edge.

OOGWAY

You must believe.

SHIFU

Master!

Shifu runs after him. Oogway is engulfed by peach blossoms.

As the winds settle, Shifu is revealed standing at the edge of a cliff.

Oogway is gone.

(http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Kung-Fu-Panda.html)

An Eschatological Laundry List.

1. This is it!
2. There are no hidden meanings.
3. You can't get there from here, and besides there's no place else to go.
4. We are all already dying, and we will be dead for a long time.
5. Nothing lasts!
6. There is no way of getting all you want.
7. You can't have anything unless you let go of it.
8. You only get to keep what you give away.
9. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
10. The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.
11. You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
12. It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.
13. You don't really control anything.
14. You can't make anyone love you.
15. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
16. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.
17. There are no great men.
18. If you have a hero, look again; you have diminished yourself in some way.
19. Everyone lies, cheats, pretends (yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).
20. All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.
21. All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.
22. Progress is an illusion.
23. Evil can be displaced, but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
24. Yet it is necessary to keep on struggling toward solution.
25. Childhood is a nightmare.
26. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause- thereis-no-one-else-to-do-it- for-you grown-up.
27. Each of us is ultimately alone.
28. The most important things, each man must do for himself.
29. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
30. We have only ourselves, and one another. That may not be much, but that's all there is.
31. How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.
32. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power and partial knowledge.
33. All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
34. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
35. No excuses will be accepted.
36. You can run, but you can't hide.
37. It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
38. We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
39. The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
40. All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
41. You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
42. What do you know...for sure...anyway?
43. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again...

If You Meet a Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!, Dr. Sheldon B. Kopp.

Bondad y santidad.

"No hay dificultad alguna en ser bueno. Todo hombre y mujer es tan malo como puede o se atreve a ser. Las personas que tienen fama de buenas, son las menos capaces, las más cohibidas. Las personas menos capaces y más pusilánimes reciben el nombre de santas, y normalmente se dan ellas mismas este nombre."

Marco Polo, El Viajero, Gary Jennings.

Velociraptor.

Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. 

You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. 

He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. 

You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side, from the other two 'raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns and he is out in force today. And he slashes at you with this... a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the the middle toe. 

 

He doesn't bother to bite your jugular like a lion, say... no no. He slashes at you here... or here... or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is... you are alive when they start to eat you. So you know... try to show a little respect. 

Dr. Alan Grant,  Jurassic Park

La doble lucha contra el mal.

   Cuando un mal nos alcanza, puede ponérsele remedio o bien eliminando su causa o bien modificando el efecto que produce sobre nuestro sentimiento; es decir, reinterpretando el mal como un bien, cuyo provecho quizá sólo más tarde será visible. La religión y el arte (también la filosofía metafísica) se esfuerzan por modificar el sentimiento ora modificando nuestro juicio sobre las vivencias (por ejemplo, con ayuda de la tesis: "Dios castiga a quien ama" 1), bien suscitando un placer en el dolor, en la emoción en general (de donde toma su punto de partida el arte de lo trágico). Cuando más propende uno a reinterpretar y a justificar, tanto menos tendrá en cuenta y eliminará las causas del mal; el alivio y la narcotización momentáneos, tal como son corrientes, por ejemplo, cuando se siente un dolor de muelas, le bastan también cuando se trata de sufrimientos más serios. Cuando más declina el dominio de las religiones y de todo arte de la narcosis, tanto más  estrictamente se aplican los hombres a la eliminación real de los males, lo cual por supuesto les sale fatal a los poetas trágicos --pues cada vez se encuentran menos temas para la tragedia, dado que cada vez va estrechándose más el reino del inexorable, inexpugnable destino--, pero peor aún a los sacerdotes, pues éstos han vivido hasta ahora de la narcotización de males humanos.

1 Cf. San Pablo, Epístola a los hebreos, 12, 6: "...porque el Señor corrige a quien ama, y castiga a aquel que recibe por hijo."

Aforimso 108, Humano Demasiado Humano, Friedrich Nietzsche.