(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

"Still" was Alanis Morissette's contribution to the soundtrack of the movie "Dogma," in which she also portrayed God. The lyrics bear an interesting parallel to the ancient Gnostic text "The Thunder, Perfect Mind": a series of declarative contradictory "I am" statements from a divine female point of view. In fact it's enough to make me wonder if Morissette wrote the song with this text in mind.

I am the harm which you inflict.
I am your brilliance and frustration.
I'm the nuclear bombs if they're to hit.
I am your immaturity and your indignance.
I am your misfits and your praised.
I am your doubt and your conviction.
I am your charity and your rape.
I am your grasping and expectation.

I see you averting your glances.
I see you cheering on the war.
I see you ignoring your children,
And I love you still.
And I love you still.

I am your joy and your regret.
I am your fury and your elation.
I am your yearning and your sweat.
I am your faithless and your religion.

I see you altering history.
I see you abusing the land.
I see you, your selective amnesia,
And I love you still.
And I love you still.

I am your tragedy and your fortune.
I am your crisis and delight.
I am your profits and your prophets.
I am your art, I am your vice.
I am your death and your decisions.
I am your passion and your plight.
I am your sickness and convalescence.
I am your weapons and your light.

I see you holding your grudges.
I see you gunning them down.
I see you silencing your sisters,
And I love you still.
And I love you still.
I see you lie to your country.
I see you forcing them out.
I see you blaming each other,
And I love you still.
And I love you still.

Comments

[iblis-kukl.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking of that movie over the past couple of days. I should really look at it again, it's been a while.

eliazar

[lassiter.livejournal.com]

It's too close both stylistically and thematically to be an accident.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Well... there's an interesting and significant difference. The song lyrics attribute human contradictions to the divine narrator. The Gnostic poem attributes only abstract or already-divine attributes. She also doesn't quote any of its actual lines.