I have loved watching the show Breaking Bad since the first episode aired here on ABC2 a couple of years back. At first it seemed a bizarre black comedy and I was cheering for Walter as he began acting with balls and intelligence to stick it to the world and more particularly to his annoying buffoon of a brother-in-law. If you don't know the show then perhaps best to google it.
Since the beginning of the show it has taken darker and darker turns and there are points where I've ceased to sympathise with Walt. That's fine..I still love the show and eagerly await seeing more. At the end of the last season it left me pondering ideas like karma and in time also things like ..of all things..the Jewish Law. These reflections were refreshed when I actually went to church (because my wife was preaching).
Following the lectionary readings for a couple of weeks left us thinking about the ideas expressed in old testament thought and then in Jesus rather Buddhist sounding teachings on the attitudes behind our attempts at following of the law.
What had occurred to me ,and no doubt to the shows producers, was the way in which Walter's "breaking bad", his willingness to do 'wrong' things, was increasingly though subtly turning his world into a worse place. The common idea of karma is about personal consequences but I wonder if we can think of doing wrong as allowing into the whole universe a greater level of disorder and chaos. A greater flowering of what is perceived by us as 'evil' is fertilised by our actions.
In contrast I can see how 'the law' (whichever law) is an attempt at defining conduct that will oppose this destructive disorder. In a sense allowing for a flowering of goodness. One can see that old testament law was harsh and restrictive by our modern understanding but was able to help civilise a largely ignorant and cruel universe. Jesus views are a development in the changing world he found himself and still obviuosly a model I find useful. He goes beyond the slavish following of rules as the Pharisees are portrayed as doing. Instead we are to operate at a higher level upon our attitudes. Not good enough to simply avoid adultery. Don't even lust after another woman! Well we aren't going to live up to that but that is maybe the point. It leaves no room for self-righteousness and points to the fact that laws are not about rules but for helping establish a way of being that brings goodness to the most number of people.
This way of viewing things also forms my understanding of Jesus actions on the cross. I haven't for years anymore found the equation that Jesus died on the cross for my sins equals God's forgiveness. It was useful for a while and many people still find some help in it. I can see now a broader picture and a more compelling understanding that calls me to act likewise. It is in the idea of "breaking good". All kinds of things in the world do evil and Jesus sacrifice is an example of where a person has decided to respond to bad being done without doing anything. Instead of responding to violence with more violence he has volunteered to 'soak some of it up'.
It is a revolutionary concept also mirrored by Ghandi in the last century. How different it would be if instead of war we organised a never ending line of volunteers to stand up and die without fight. Perhaps older people instead of young men. I doubt an enemy could remain evil enough to withstand such a force. People know instantly who is doing the wrong. It gets much more confused when both sides are shooting.
All in all BreaKING bAD is another example of how watching someone do what is wrong helps you know what is right. I am really looking forward to the 3rd season.
