love and courage from the Abyss

Last night I watched the Abyss for the first time all the way through. There was one scene in particular that touched me very deeply, right down to the core of my palpitating little heart. My breath stuck in my throat. I was powerfully still.

The scene comes right after the two main characters, Bud and his wife Lindsey, have gone chasing the psychotic Navy SEAL to stop him from releasing the nuclear weapon to the ocean floor. They managed to incapacitate his sub and push him down into the trench, but their own sub was damaged and began to leak water.

Bud is wearing a diving suit and had oxygen, but Lindsey has neither. The water is leaking too fast to wait for help and Lindsey starts freezing because the water is only a few degrees above zero. Quickly, without many options, they decide on a plan. He would keep the suit and the oxygen, being the stronger swimmer, and she would drown. In the cold water she would enter a deep hypothermia and he could carry her back to the station and revive her. He is reluctant to accept this, but the sub has almost filled with water and there is no more time. He puts on the oxygen and waits.

As the water reaches the top of the sub, Lindsey starts to panic and cries out in fear. She goes underwater and looks him in the eyes, holding him as she convulses briefly, and then drowns.

He swims back with her, radioing ahead for his crew mates to meet him with medical supplies. They immediately set to work with CPR, defibrillator, warming pads, everything. After a few minutes with no success, the crew, fearing she has already died, reach out and put a hand on Bud to stop him.

Bud sobs for an instant, and then with a powerful defiant scream starts trying to revive her again. He shouts at Lindsay, does more CPR, smacks her face and then, slowly, the color returns to her cheeks and lips. She takes a breath, and returns.

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Now I ask: Would you trust your love that much? To die in their arms and trust that he/she could bring you back to life? Could you face death, and make the decision to drown as the only possible chance to live?

Could you watch your love die in your arms? Would you have the strength to bear that burden? Could you shout at them from across the divide, and by your voice guide them home to you?

Most of us live our whole lives without confronting such a terrible decision. And really that's a blessing. But each of us has at our core an iron determination that can accomplish miraculous things. That core is Love, the power to save a life or take one. The power to give your own life for another.

Fear, if you will, is simply the reluctance to love. Unraveling the limitations (or karma) which bind our hearts and minds is a delicate process. It is, you might say, our destiny. Each and every one. And when you surrender all that you have, all that you are, when you know your true nature (which possesses Nothing and Is Everything) then you also will find the power to accomplish the miraculous.

May all of you unravel your limitations and discover your true nature. So be it.