Abstract

When the Avatar and his friends visit a mysterious and mystical swamp, they have visions that call into question the ordinary understanding of time and space. The Avatar must master the four elements and bring balance to the world, but he must also understand the illusion of time and the interconnection of all beings. The three human friends fight with a monster made of plants that turns out to be manipulated by a tribesman, Huu‐the wise man of the waterbender tribe who protects the swamp. Huu explains that this sacred place is one big tree, which expands itself and creates this “whole world,” where everything lives together as a unity. This includes the perception of time and space: “everything is connected.” Plotinus explains that time is not something extrinsic to every soul, but of everyone. In Neoplatonic metaphysics the multiplicity has an original cause, the One, which produces everything from its own nature by emanation.