Volume CLXI: The Tuesday Tell A Vision Edition; Fight Club, Part XVI, Conclusion

Hello every One and welcome to the Tuesday Tell a Vision Edition and the second Post for this Two’s day. I’m going to try to summarize this as quickly as I can but I also Wish to support My thesis well enough it is believable. So let’s start with that thesis; every [Good] Hero’s journey is a metaphoric retelling of the Christ Character from the Bible, including Fight Club.

This theory is True with V for Vendetta and the Matrix as well, though I chose to use Fight Club as My first example of this theory because it seems so unlikely; it is filled with violence, course language and some ‘sinful’ sex (out of wedlock). This Idea was not something I came up with on My own, it was introduced to Me by a teacher of an English Fantasy Writing course I took in high school (though technically it was a first year university credit or ‘Ontario Academic Credit’). The teacher suggested that consciously or subconsciously, the Story of Christ is an integral theme to every hero’s journey and generally makes for a Good Story.

It all begins with an immaculate conception. For Christ, it was the virgin birth of Mary. This is a deep philosophical Idea, too because back in the day, if a child was born without a father he or she would be considered a bastard and would be considered to have no inherent ‘birthright’. In the case of Christ, it was presumed that His Father was God.

The Word ‘Immaculate’ translates to mean perfect in every Way and You can click on the Word for the Google definition. In Fight Club, Our Hero is nameless at the beginning of the film and is having an identity crisis. Soon, he begins to have visions which escalate until the apparition of Tyler appears True to Life. Our Hero does not identify with anything except his Ikea furniture, so he creates a perfect Idea about who he could be in Tyler Durden. A concept is an Idea and now We have a ‘virgin birth’ and the Immaculate Conception of Tyler.

The next thing We need to draw a parallel to the Christ Character is a Christening which always involves water. This marks the beginning of the Spiritual quest. In Fight Club, shortly after meeting (in his Mind’s eye) Tyler Durden, Our nameless hero moves into a dilapidated old house that consistently fills with water when it rains. He comments on how the breaker had to be shut off every time it rains to avoid being electrocuted and We see him do this wading through roughly a foot of water. Visually, he appears to be walking on water. The symbolism of water represents washing away One’s sins.

In the Bible, the Christ Character ‘disappears’ for a number of years. I’ve heard People say that it is believed to be thirty-three years (and why the number is Sacred in Magic and numerology), though I can’t confirm that and I’m not sure the Bible ever specifically states the age of Christ when He begins his Ministry. What We do know is that Christ disappears for some time after his birth because the king of the day Wished to have Him executed as He was perceived to be a threat to the king’s dominion. He doesn’t appear again in the Story until He is a fully grown Man. He is Christened by John the Baptist and shortly thereafter disappears once again for forty days and forty nights into the dessert. (I’m still war King My Way through the Bible in its entirety for the first time so if I have those two events reversed I Will feel a little foolish, though it really doesn’t take away from the point I’m making.)

This is basically akin to Our nameless Hero experiencing Life with Tyler in the run down home, learning from Tyler as he grows into his new Character. This is the timeline in Our film between Our Hero moving in with Tyler and being ‘tested’ by Tyler, and the realization that Tyler is not everything Our Hero thought he was. The Tyler Durden Our Hero admires so much is in fact the temptation of sin, just as Christ was tempted while spending his forty days and nights in the dessert. This timeline concludes with Our Hero’s realization that Tyler is not who He thought he was which is the conversation He has with Tyler in the car before Tyler allows it to crash. Surviving the accident represents surviving the ‘test’ God (or Satan) had placed before Christ in the dessert.

This Idea is further supported by the fact that Tyler leaves the next day and is no longer ‘with’ Our nameless Hero, he has become Our Hero’s adversary! I could get into the Significance of Marla and how she represents Mary Magdalen but that’s not really an important element of the Characteristics of Christ; that’s really more about how Love is the True motivator behind the Hero’s Journey and with Christ that Love was for God though there are many references by the disciples as King of Christ why He favoured Mary. This is more about Christ resisting the temptation of the devil which represents the completion of His teaching. Now Christ was ready to begin His Ministry and lead the apostles. The same is True for Our Hero.

After the car crash and Tyler’s disappearance, Our nameless Hero (which also represents ego-less, self-less) sets out to undo everything Tyler has done and save Marla.

In the final scenes, Our Hero comes face to face with Tyler One last time, this time He is fearless. Although it may seem a bit of a stretch, this is akin to Christ facing the Romans who called Christ a false prophet and blasphemer. Our Hero knows enough about Tyler to know He can’t defeat him because he’s only a Vision in His Mind – yet he stays the course. He could have just abandoned his mission so Tyler would leave him alone but he doesn’t. He’d rather chance dying than let Tyler win.

This theory is of course proven True in the final scene of the film. Our Hero has only One choice left – to put the gun to his own head and risk killing him Self to put an end to Tyler. He would rather die than let evil win and pulls the trigger. The apparition of Tyler Durden disappears forever and Our Hero is Gifted with a Purpose full Life.

The other deeper, more psychological aspect of the film is the strength Our Hero gained by the Creation of Tyler. The ‘Immaculate Conception’ was a perfect Vision of Self but that is not the Character He Created. However, there were aspects of the ‘evil’ side of Tyler that were necessary for Our Hero to develop the strength of Character required to complete His Quest. Again, this is a much deeper concept but although We perceive Christ to be the embodiment of Love, compassion and brother/sisterhood, He was not soft. This is something that I feel deeply misunderstand about the Story of Christ. He was as tough as they come. Our Hero was not that at the beginning of the film.

If Jordan Peterson were analyzing Fight Club, he would probably refer to the Creation of Tyler Durden as the Shadow Self and how developing knowledge of Our Shadow Self can empower Us if We can learn to draw on those strengths for Higher purposes. That ‘darkness’ of Our Hero’s Character was necessary to do the Good Deeds that were eventually done. He does succeed in destroying all the credit card companies and their financial records which symbolically represents bringing People of the world out of bondage.

I hope You enjoyed this summary and My Fight Club Interpret A Sean. Believe it or not, I am going to continue on with V for Vendetta next week because it is something of a road map for where We are in the world now.

Love and Blessings,