Unicron, Science and Magic!
- Jul 19, 2017
- 6 min read
“Magic does exist. It was found long ago--inside a crashed alien ship.”
-Lord Edmund Burton, member of the Witwiccan Order
Picture from http://www.darkhorizons.com/transformers-the-last-knight-first-poster/
The Transformers movie series has long departed from its original comic narrative. As such, even Unicron's identity has evolved over time. In “Transformers-The Last Knight”, Unicron is now introduced as the planetary master of the earth—and living inside the earth.
My youngest brother, a Sci-Fi fan and and avid online gamer, cried foul at that one.
“In the first place, how can the planet eater end up inside the earth?” he almost yelled.
What is Unicron, really? He doesn't like to be touched?
Perhaps, the next Transformers installment will yield some answers in 2019.
One thing for sure, Unicron and Primus are siblings-turned-enemies, that is, “sibnemies”. Hopefully, they will patch up. Fingers crossed.
To keep us in suspense, Michael Bay has made sure that Unicron shows off some of its horns in this fifth installment. There are altogether seven horns distributed across the surface of the earth. Truth be told, I have not expected this plot twist. But I am going to muse over this idea.
Picture from http://www.bwtf.com/articles/14-takeaways-lastknight-trailer
To me, the "seven horns" in “Transformers-The Last Knight” sounds like a play on homographs, with some biblical nuances. Besides referring to the pointed projection on the head of various animals (and in this case, Unicron), the word has another meaning: trumpet.
In the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, the sounding of the seven trumpets portends the Closure of the Current Age.
What is the Current Age?
It begins from the time of the Great Flood that inundated the whole world and wiped out the global living population—saved eight people: Noah and his family. The entire stretch of the post-flood era up till now is the Current Age. That's a grand total of about more than 4000 years.
This entire breadth of human existence has been marked by significant, pivotal moments: the calling out of Abraham, the exodus of Jewish tribe to form the nation of Israel, the Giving of the Torah to Israel, the Birth-Crucifixion-Resurrection-Ascension of the Son of God—Lord Jesus, the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost, the Rise of the Church, the Advent of Islamic Empire, Industrial Revolution, the formation of Nation-States, Colonialism, World War One and Two, leading up to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. And that's just a short list for starters.
By the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, the seven vials of judgements (Revelation, Chapter 16, verses 1-21 ) will be poured forth onto earth. The destruction will be global catastrophe—far worse than Hiroshima and Holocaust combined. Therefore, the Closure of this Current Age, is signified by nothing less than world-wide natural disasters, famine, pestilences, wars and rumours of wars, pandemonium and deaths. In simpler terms, it means the Apocalypse, the End of the World, the End Time.
Sound too far-fetched?
Not really.
Thanks to the American Hollywood, we have been pretty much educated in this aspect of Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse. Numerous movies have been produced based on this notion. “The Book of Eli” (2010), “2012”, “World War Z” (2013), “The Maze Runner” (2014), “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) and “The Hunger Games” series, just to name a few in recent years. And, of course, the South Korean version “Train to Busan”(2016).
Picture from https://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=171667
A scene from "World War Z"
Picture from https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Z-Art-Film/dp/1781168857
A scene from "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Picture from http://theladiesfinger.com/bechdel-testing-mad-max-fury-road/
A scene from "Train to Busan"
Picture from http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/10-reasons-why-train-to-busan-is-the-best-zombie-movie-of-the-21st-century-so-far/
However, it is not all bad news. There is definitely Good News which, unfortunately, the Hollywood movies have missed telling much.
Besides signalling the Closure of the Current Age, the seven trumpets also announce the Beginning of Lord Jesus' Millennial Kingdom Reign. All human unrighteousness and injustice shall be destroyed. Instead, His Kingdom Righteousness and Justice and Peace shall be restored for eternity. Those who are with Him now shall be with Him for good.
Here is no room for theological discussion. For what is worth, the seven horns in “Transformers-The Last Knight” seem to suggest, no Hot Rod can hold back the looming apocalypse in his Time Blaster, for the ultimate planetary destruction is happening soon. Until then, Optimus Prime and his Autobots, as well as the Witwiccan Order have a job to do: protect Unicron from Cybertron.
At one point in the movie, Lord Edmund Burton was dropping names of illustrious members such as Galileo, Shakespeare, Mozart and Stephen Hawking.
As I watched that particular scene, one book immediately came to my mind: “The Secret History of the World” (2010) written by Mark Booth aka Jonathan Black. In that book, the writer has spent more than one chapter to explore the development of secret orders throughout centuries such as “The Rosicrucian Age”, “Occult Catholicism”, “The Age of Freemasonry” and “The Illuminati and the Rise of Unreason”, dedicated to a secret (or not so secretive) global agenda.
Cover of “The Secret History of the World” written by Jonathan Black
For some Transformers viewers, stirring magic and occult and sci-fi into the same boiling cauldron seems to offend all scientific sensibility. It proves to be a potion too potent to partake.
If you happen to be one of them, may I recommend Jonathan Black's Chapter 23 “The Occult Roots of Science” for your reading pleasure?
The fact is, Science is not the hard-core Science that you think it is.
To shed some twinkling light, here's an extract from Chapter 23:
“When we peer into the hidden lives of the heroes of science, the people who forged the mechanical world-view and made the great leaps forward in technology that have made our lives so much safer, easier and more pleasant, we often find they are deeply immersed in esoteric thought—particularly alchemy.
We might also consider the lesser but related paradox that many of the world's most notorious occultists and outlandish visionaries were also in their own way practically minded men, often responsible for smaller but nevertheless significant inventions.
Looking at both groups together, it is difficult to see a clear distinction between scientists and occultists, even as we move into modern times. Rather there is a spectrum in which the individual is a bit of both, albeit to varying degree....
Looking for clues on how best to understand this strange vision of the occult and the scientific joined at the hip, we will return to the great genius behind scientific revolution, Francis Bacon....
Today's historians of science try to present Bacon as a thorough-going scientist, but this is wishful thinking...We know, for example, that he believed in what he called 'astrological sana', which is to say receiving the magical celestial influences into the spirit in the way the Renaissance magus Pico della Mirando had recommended.”
Any wonder why the 'History of Science' or the 'History of Scientific Greats' has never been included as part of the secondary level Physics or Chemistry curriculum? Well, like the Qatar-GCC conundrum, it's complicated.
However, by not acknowledging the occult roots of Science, it inevitably formulates an equally prevalent albeit mis-informed mindset: “Science is objective and rational and, therefore, reliable evidence is yielded from scientific studies.”
That mindset has already taken shape in the entire 20th century.
Just look at Communist China. Science is their absolute religion (pun intended) and legions of student scientists have been groomed. The Evolution Theory is placed left, right, centre to augment Atheism above Confucianism and every other religion.
However, if science advocates seeing is believing, then one should see beyond what his naked eyes can see, isn't it? As a matter of fact, our human eyes cannot distinguish all the “forbidden colours”, but these colours do exist. Like these colours, the spiritual realm cannot be examined by our naked eyes but it does exist in the universe.
Cover of “The Sacred History” written by Jonathan Black
Besides “The Secret History of the World” , I also recommend another book by the same author, entitled “The Sacred History: How Angels, Mystics and Higher Intelligence Made Our world” (2014). Could this alternative history have been another source of inspiration for “Transformers-The Last Knight”? After all, the storytellers behind the making of the movie seem to share the same penchant with Jonathan Black: bringing forth the unseen spiritual realm onto the big screen for all to see.
For young budding writers, if you are thinking of using a scientific idea (such as The Evolution Theory or Artificial Intelligence) or a mathematical topic (such as Geometry) as your next Creative Writing piece, I suggest that you be brave and sprinkle some “magic powder”! The more impossible it looks, the more you should make it sound plausible.
How?
Just think “Transformers-The Last Knight” and “War for the Planet of the Apes”.
War for the Planet of the Apes
Picture from http://www.empireonline.com/movies/war-planet-apes/review/
Happy Writing!
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