It has taken James Cameron a long time to develop "Avatar," and it's easy to see why. The special effects technology for what he was trying to accomplish did not exist in 1997 when I first heard of the film while touring the animation studio in Venice, California. Creating a realistic and believable alien world was no small feat, and the Na'vi move, express, and react in very human ways. It's easy to forget that they are animations, and that is amazing.

Note:  Spoilers below!

As reviewers have noted, the film's story does remind you of "Dances with Wolves" in the stars. We have the human who is trying to heal himself spiritually and physically, searching for something he can't even define. As he begins to spend half his time in a Na'vi body, he regains his lost physical prowess and rediscovers his spirit as he learns to live among them. This process of self discovery is the best part of the movie, inevitably resulting in his own confusion as to which world is "real:"  the world in which he occupies his human body, or the one in which he lives in an alien body?

The spiritual core of the film is not just the Na'vi's connection with and understanding of all life on their planet—which is important, undoubtedly. The real spiritual core is the understanding that we are ALL avatars in the game of life. We are occupying bodies that are created, break down, get sick, and die, and then we get a new one, and we do it all again. Our bodies don't matter, but our spirits do. Our real selves exist elsewhere, projecting a piece of our consciousness into the holographic world that we created to have fun and to wrestle with these questions:  Is this the real world? Or is the real world somewhere else? What is real? Who am I, really?

"Avatar" is a Hollywood film, however, and James Cameron needed to recover his investment in it, so the inevitable conflict is provided by the humans who "just don't get it," and who are willing to destroy the Na'vi way of life in order to make a profit. The less technologically advanced Na'vi fight back, of course, and the last part of the film chronicles this particular version of the Battle Between Light and Darkness.

There can be no doubt that all or nearly all of our stories, myths, and legends describe this ancient battle, whether it plays out between nations or within the heart of a single human being. In this context, there are no new stories, only the same story told and retold in new ways. "Avatar" fits neatly into this ancient narrative, but therein lies a missed opportunity.

The story of the Battle Between Light and Darkness is one of duality. While we were here to experience that duality to its fullest, this narrative was necessary and important. But duality is ending, and we are in the process as a species of waking up to the Oneness of all that we are. In this understanding, we know that there is no difference at all between Light and Darkness; it's all just one being, fighting itself in an illusion:  a reality that isn't real at all. Spiritual warriors today no longer take up arms against a so-called enemy. They know they don't have to. When the Light shines brightly, it resonates within the Darkness, too, and nothing more needs to be done.

I am hopeful that one day a great movie like "Avatar" will end differently. How wonderful it would have been if the humans' bombs had fallen like roses, harming nothing. The Na'vi as depicted in the film understood the power of the One, and when you walk in your power, you know that nothing is impossible. Peter could walk on water, too, but only as long as he believed that he could. There are so many ways in which both the Na'vi and their planet could have responded to the challenge, without engaging in yet another war.

Of course, some will say that to believe that war is unnecessary is to live in fairy land. Their belief in the need for war keeps it alive. But there are those of us who also believe that there are other options, and they are no less fantastical than the thoughts that led to the nuclear bomb. Peter could walk on water. So can we all. We just have to decide to do it.

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• Light and dark:  The spectrum of God