A SIMPLE LESSON

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“Arrogance and fear still keep you

from learning the simplest and

most significant lesson of all.”

“Which is?”

“It's not about you.”

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I wasn’t very impressed with Doctor Strange when I first saw the movie. I remember leaving the theater with a lot of questions, curiously trying to piece together all of what I had just observed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting more complicated by the minute.

Recently my brother and I watched the movie again, simply because we like Marvel productions and Doctor Strange happened to be available on Netflix. Since then, I haven’t been able to get a particular scene out of my head.

(Teeny spoiler ahead for those who haven’t seen the movie.)

In the quietly captivating scene, time nearly stills; the snow hangs in mid-air while bolts of lightning slowly trickle from gloomy clouds. The Ancient One, a powerful and wise sorceress, shares her final words with Dr. Strange before she breathes her last. And in four words, she delivers a profound message, one that I can’t seem to forget.

“It’s not about you.”

To me, this is the simplest way to describe the essence of humility and the mentality of the saints. We are so little in comparison to the infinite and supreme God, the Creator of all things. In the weakness of our humanity, it can seem like we are bigger and more important than everything else. We end up heedlessly living in a fantasy kingdom, ruled by our own wants, passions, desires and feelings.

But the world is not a fishbowl. It’s an ocean.

We may choose to care about nothing but our own satisfaction. We may choose to spend a lifetime feeding our hungry hearts with the empty promises of happiness advertised by success, wealth, entertainment, intelligence, and beauty. But in doing so, we will starve ourselves of the most fulfilling part of life, the part that it’s really all about:

Love.

I don’t mean it in the romantic sense. The true nature of love is to will the good of another. It’s not a feeling that comes and goes, but the many decisions we make in our day-to-day lives to nurture the people around us rather than abuse or neglect them.

So how are you caring for others? What can you do for a neighbor, a friend, a parent, a sibling, or a stranger today? Because a life motivated by anything but compassion is just missing the whole point.

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love,

I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;

if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love,

I am nothing.

If I give away everything I own,

and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love,

I gain nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.

Film quotations in this work are taken from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment's “Doctor Strange,” directed by Scott Derrickson, published in 2017.