Tree of Life is a meditation on God, family, growing, the meaning of life, a lot of things. I’m not going to review the film or go into my specific impressions of it as it is something you need to experience for yourself. The film is primarily a series of evocative visual scenes with little dialogue, so it would be like me describing Guernica when you ought to just go look at the painting.

During the pre-show, they showed clips from Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot.” One of his closing challenges was to examine the arrogance of claiming that the universe was created for humans or one particular religion or subgroup.

Asking “Is there a God?” is a very human-centric question that seems ridiculous in the context of a universe that is absolutely not human. Humanity comprises an incalculably tiny part of all existence. Why does it even make sense to ask such questions? We are part of something gigantic, not set above it.

From my point of view, belief or disbelief in God are both necessary. The impact of the belief in God is the equivalent of there being a God, just as the impact of disbelief in God is the equivalent of there being no God. The effects of these beliefs are real and measurable. The questions “Is there a God?” or “Is God real?” are irrelevant.