The way of nature, and the way of grace

The title of this blog post is taken from the main theme featured in the 2011 movie “The Tree of Life”. In the introductory scene, the mother, Mrs O’Brien narrates in somber tone that there are two ways through life – “the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow.” To elaborate, the notion that life is nature is a recognition that the world can be a harsh reality. Conversely, the notion that life is grace holds on to the belief that one should strife to make the world a more humane place, that there is value in the qualities like compassion and mercy.

The film gives a short depiction of the lives of a suburban American middle-class family, in particular, this two boys who transition from their birth to their early youth. It depicts the profoundness of the genesis of human life, the relative innocence and joy of childhood, as well as the horrors and sadness that life brings along with it. The warm and secure environment of a nurturing family is contrasted with the sickness, violence, and poverty that the boys witness as they followed their mother to the grocery. Later, there was a scene where the family was at a swimming pool, and where the boys witnessed another kid’s death from drowning.

The mother, Mrs’ O Brien is gentle and nurturing, presenting the world to her children as a place of wonder. The Dad, Mr O’Brien, is strict and authoritarian, and easily loses his temper as he struggles to reconcile his love for his sons with wanting to prepare them for a world he sees as corrupt and exploitative. There is a part in the movie in which the Dad was fetching the children home right after church, and he was giving them a lesson about life. He was telling them about a man he knows who got rich from humble beginnings, and who now thinks a whole world of himself, while there are people who still lived in poverty and die from hunger. He quips that the world is runned by trickery, and that one cannot be too good in order to succeed.

So which is the truth about the world? My belief is that the world can be a harsh place, where there can be suffering, and people can be mean and selfish. However, there is a place for the gentler virtues like compassion and mercy, and it is good that people strive to be as humane as possible, to cultivate a world where individuals are accorded dignity and respect, and to try to meet the needs of their fellow human beings.