Julius S. Peyton

The Spirit World finally explored and begggining to be understood. For Aang, this episode, I think, was a spiritual enlightenment of the first level. I love the fact that these Spirits chose to incarnate themselves as simple coyfish, forever living in a binary in one pool at the top of the world- it seems so much more simple and appropriate to have spirits incarnate as, not allpowerful gods like we are used to in the west, but instead into nature.

Aangs meditation in the grove found it's focus on the two fish swimming- and in their binary he saw the Yin Yang symbol. When in the spirit world, Aang talked to Ko, the face stealer- who proportedly steals faces from those who cannot keep their calm in his presence. Upon entering the spirit world, Avatar Roku warns Aang to "show no fear, show no emotion" in front of Ko.

Ko is extremely interesting and I dont know enough about eastern culture to sieght any ancient texts that might indicate the characters creation, however I am aware enough about the basics of meditation-living to be able to point out some valuable attributes of Ko.

Ko steals faces, but he is only able to steal a face that shows emotion. The face is the center of identity for people- so Ko is not only a face stealer but an identity stealer. Emotion is a conduit from the ego, identity, and want for survival- which is why it is so easy for Ko to steal a fearful face. Ko is a ransacker and collector of egoes.

Having an ego comes along with a sense of morality, and so it is interesting that they are discussing the powers of Push and Pull.
"Twi and La, your moon and ocean have always circled eachother in an eternal dance; push and pull, life and death, good and evil, Yin and Yang."

In meditation you are supposed to let go of the ego and become like the air. This is why Aang was so adept at dealing with Ko, because he was raised by monks who taught him to detach himself from the material world by not investing emotion and finding humility- furthermmore Aang was primed for his encounter with the face-stealer by his meditation in the grove. It is important that he saw the fish as yin and yang rather than good and evil. The realization that there is no clear colored good and evil is the enlightenment that will enable you to detach yourself emotionally and be like the wind.

asks him about the spirits in the pool

Surrounded by fire navy ships and warriors,

Aang may have caught a glimpse of true enlightenment at the north pole, but it wasn't until this episode that he could put words and intellectual understanding to that raw principality of detachment and homogony that is a principle of both the Avatar and Air Nomads with whom he was raised.

"See this whole swamp is actually just one tree. Branches spread and take root and spread some more. One big living organism.

"I get how the tree is different, but, the whole world?" Aang replies.

"Sure. You think you are any different from me, or your friends, or this tree. If you listen hard enough you can hear everything living together."

"Time is an illusion, and so is death." Important because Toph, who Aang sees in the swamp lives and dies in old age in the swamp, meditating on the sounds of the earth through the vines just like the hippie under the tree described.

Back to the hallucinations! The Swamp is calling to the Avatar! "Bumi(the earthbending master) said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth." The swamp is a very visual modem for divining the main characters baggage. For Katara hat is her mother, for Sokka that is his failure to protect Yue.

"Just as the Imagination is limitless, so too are the possibilities of the sword"-This episode is awesome. Sokka's Sword training actually beats out both Aang and Katara's waterbending training as far as detail and sheer awesomeness. Even Aang's firebending instruction is not as detailed as Sokka's Sword training. This episode may even be better than when Aang trained to learn earthbending because the master Piando was more articulate than Toph.

I also love the fact that it was Sokka's humility that made Piando accept him.

The most important part of this episode is the end, when master Piando gives the group a white lotus tile. I love that the White Lotus is an underground society that transcends borders in this series; its a great idea, and the fact that I love the white lotus so much in The Last Airbender means I hate them in the Legend of Korra. In the legend of Korra they are no longer disciplined, nor are they underground.

Meanwhile in this episode we also get see the Grand Lotus Iroh use his imprisonment psychology mind control tricks on the guards by making himself appear to have gone insane. He is priming his enemies subconscious so they will not expect his escape. Iroh always wins.

In episode 3 I mentioned that Iroh was able to both defeat his enemies and drink their tea. I think that was a pun for the idea that Iroh is almost Machevelian- accept for the fact that he genuinely is peaceful, and so those who make themselves his enemies do not realize his power. He is forever making himself the surprising victor by defining the way they should see him. In this episode he is captured by earthbenders and says,
"I acknowledge my defeat at Ba-sing-say. After 600 days my men were tired and I was tired too. And Im still tired." he falls to the ground and leaves his sandal so zuko can track them down- at the end he uses his broken chains to break the rocks of the earthbender attack. This kind of resourcefulness and perception manipulation is present in all Iroh's interactions will come into play in season 3 in Iroh's second imprisonment scenario. Interestingly enough, the same sweaty sandal will be used in season three- when Zuko once agan needs to find his uncle.

SIDE NOTE "at the winter solstice the line between the spiritual and physical world"- Deepening the mythological significance of the series.