An alternate state of mind needs an alternate reality doesnt it?

“When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.”

-          Buddha

What was the lever out of hell for Elizabeth? Did she find it, achieve it, create it, or was it given to her by Sello (God)? With her memory erased how did she know what she was trying to achieve? And although she had the presence of Shorty and Tom, why didn’t she kill herself?

These were just some of the questions I had while finishing up a question of power, but all were answered in seconds of being asked. She’s given that lever, by Sello (God), the lever was her resiliency to Dan’s torments, and although her memory was erased by Dan, a blank mind in the midst of chaos and dismay wouldn’t how to get rid of the images. And finally she doesn’t kill herself because Shorty is too big a presence for her to leave behind without any care.

Ironically this book came in coincidence with some movies I have had in mind lately or watched over the last couple of days. Bare with me, I really do find a connection between the book and these films, and her lever out of hell.

On pg. 202, bottom paragraph, she describes that the suffering she went through sealed her “Achille’s heel.” That although Dan had thrown everything, including the kitchen sink at her, she soldiered through it. “But Dan had blasted her to a height far above Buddha;” and “he was one of the greatest teachers she’d worked with, but he taught by default – he taught iron and steel self-control through sheer, wild, abandoned debauchery…”. By passing Dan’s test she proved herself. Now in the movie “Constantine”, with Keanu Reeves, the plot is the son of the devil is trying to pass into the human world to create chaos. But to do so he needs divine intervention, which isn’t possible because God would never help the devil right? But through a double-cross the archangel Gabriel played by (Tilda Swinton) decides to help the devil with divine intervention because he feels human beings are not worthy of God’s love and are not ready unless proving themselves in the face of evil and horror. The line “and you can be so noble” said by Swinton describes her belief that humans are great they it just needs to be brought out of them.

Dan taught Liz the “extremes of love and tenderness through the extremes of hate”.  

My second example is on pg. 192 when Tom comes to tell Liz that he has to leave and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. He poses the question for liz to find a husband because he knows and even says to her “you’re attacked because you are too alone.” Now my connection with that has to do with Guy Ritchie’s film Revolver, in which a conman Jake(Jason Statham) is out of jail trying to get even with his rival Macha (Ray Liotta). It isn’t so much the movie that connects with the book but the concept of the movie that connects with the book. There is no external evil; it’s all within the mind. The ego identifies an external evil to protect itself. In the film Statham battles with Macha but realizes his real enemy is his ego.

While Liz might not be necessarily battling her ego, she is battling the images within herself, Dan and Sello. Butis you refer back to tom’s remark saying Liz is attacked because she is so alone makes sense seeing as her biggest battles come from the solitude within her home.

I know that’s a really rough point I made seeing as she is attacked because she is really a prophet but still try and see a connection.

My final point, and most likely my strongest, comes from the revelation of Sello to Liz about why she suffered through all that. Because Sello had to watch Dan and see how he was working. And although the trickeries and carnage Dan used were almost unbearable for Liz, she still “bared” them, meaning she didn’t kill herself. (Even though she almost did).

That’s my connection though, the film Southland Tales has to do with time and dimensions, although it’s too zany and almost too hectic within the plot there’s still one overall theme and a line used in the movie that connects. Dwayne Johnson and Sean William Scott were two individuals who passed through a rift in time duplicating another image of theirs. Johnson’s double dies but Scott’s doesn’t. So the plot is what happens if both meet? They’re from different time dimensions so what happens? It’s said throughout the whole movie that “that’s how the world ends.”

But the line used “I’m a pimp, and pimps don’t commit suicide,” by Scott at the end of the film imply a more divine tone. Substitute the word prophet for pimp, “I’m a prophet, and prophets don’t commit suicide,” true prophets anyways. The film later revelas Scott is the new messiah, but the connection is true prophets don’t succumb to the demons inside, they transcend and Liz transcends her enlightenment.

I don’t really know if any of that answers the question as to where she got her lever out of hell, but I think it tries to explain the purpose of soul suffering, the gradual patience in repairing her broken spirit, and also pointing out her resiliency to such dismay.

The book had probably one of the best endings I’ve ever read…thank god. (No pun intended).