The Witness

Some of the most powerful, most wonderful, most touching movie minutes are the last five minutes of the documentary The Witness. The Witness is about the story of a New Yorker called Eddie Lama, who grows from a guy not caring very much at all about animals, to an animal activist. This change in itself is inspiring, but it's the ending of the documentary that really gives me hope and shows me that humans are not so bad after all. It's impossible to spoil the ending, so I'm going to say how it goes. In the move, we see Eddie driving around with a customized van, in which a television screen is put, on which he projects anti-fur imagery (rather graphic images of animals caught in steel traps and things like that, but you don't get to see too much of that). What you do get to see, however, are people's reactions to what they are witnessing. Reactions of anger, of sadness, of hurt, of disbelief. People walking in the street and then, all of a sudden, standing still, staring at the screen speechless. And you can see that perhaps, for some, it's a moment of small transformation, a moment in which they say: "this shouldn't be". And yes, perhaps most of them will have forgotten all about it by the day after, but there will always be those who won't, or those who will get the idea the second time they are confronted with similar images.
When watching The Witness, one could easily focus on the cruelty people inflict on animals, but that's not the movies idea. Try to find it, watch especially the last few minutes, watch the people's faces and listen to Sarah Mclaughlan's "Angel".
You can see a trailer here. A few seconds of what I'm talking about is at 1'50''.

And here's the chorus from the song:

in the arms of an angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort there

Ode to Ode

My first issue of Ode Magazine arrived! I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and took a subscription right away (in fact I share it with my two roommates). Ode Magazine was started by a Dutch couple and was originally published in Dutch, but they moved to San Francisco and now there's an English and a Dutch edition. I think it's the greatest magazine in the world. It brings you positive news about "the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better". And yes, when you read it, when you read about some of the great things people are doing everywhere in the world, you can't help but believing. Believing in us, in the world, in humanity, in the fact that we are going to make it. Check it out at www.odemagazine.com or www.ode.nl (for Dutch speaking people). One page of this every morning just makes your day...

Love, revisited

Someone - I don't know who - came up with the following thought: "the people who are hardest to love, need love the most". How does that make you feel? It sounds simple enough, but give it a few moments thought. Suppose it is actually true and suppose we actually acted as if it were true... Then it becomes a very radical concept. Because it would make us do the opposite of what we are now doing. We normally despise those who are hardest to love: I mean criminals, like rapists, murderers and the like. We deny them not only love, but even affection, care sometimes, good companionship... What if we started to act differently? Is this a naive notion, totally unworkable, insane? Is it stupid to see criminals rather as sick and in need of healing, than bad and in need of punishment?
At least there are people who put it into practice... There are numerous people who reach out to the poor and the starving, but there are few who find the courage to try to love the most unwanted. Mother Antonia, called the prison angel of Tijana, is one of them. No matter how you feel about religious callings, you can check out her story here. A longer article is here.

Running on Empty

Time for another one of my favorite movies. Running on empty (Sidney Lumet, 1988) is the story of a family on the run. Mom and dad are peace activists. They tried to destroy a napalm factory, but accidentally hurt the night guard, who was on duty. The FBI is behind them - obviously for the wrong reasons. The parents and their two kids have to move and start a new life every so often. This is mainly the story of the oldest kid, played by the late River Phoenix (a vegan, yeay :-) who falls in love, tries to apply to the Juilliard school of music, and generally is tired of being on the run. There are some wonderful moments in the is movie, notably the ending (which I won't spoil, obviously) and a birthday party in the kitchen, in which the whole family - and River's girlfriend - is dancing to James Taylor's Fire and Rain. It's a movie made with a lot of love and compassion and understanding for people who try to change the world, their mistakes and their demons of doubt. Just watch it...
Here's some sort of home-made teaser...

Love

For today, a quote. Well, not just a quote, but one of my favorite quotes (and I know a lot of great quotes, I'm a quote-lover). I collect, as you might have guessed, positive quotes :-)
This one is from Teilhard de Chardin, a fellow with some pretty far out theories. He was a jesuit priest slash philosopher slash paleontologist, who had his own ideas about evolution. Needless to say, present day scientists don't think very highly of him. This quote, however, has a great effect on me every time I read it. It's as if I get a glimpse of... the shape of things to come. And yes indeed, Love is the most undiscovered and untapped force in the universe. No doubt.

The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

Let's drink one to Teilhard. I'm sure he must've been a good guy.

Battlestar Galactica

I have to write something about Battlestar Galactica. I must. To those who've only heard of the series and don't know much more than that it's SF, it will seem an unlikely candidate for feel good stuff. But oh, there's so much more than this than just some battleships firing away at asteroids and humans clashing with aliens.

Some terrific entertainment is certainly one of the perks of incarnating on this planet. Isn't the ability to be creative one of the most wonderful things of being human? Creativity is the mere ability to create stuff; stuff of beauty, stuff that moves, that instructs, that entertains, that teaches... We take so much for granted, but it's good to now and then take a little pause and look at something an be amazed at the mere fact that we humans... are able to make that, whatever that is.

It's a feeling i've head more than once while watching Battlestar Galactica. The series is so moving and multi-layered, and I think that if they Cylons would have seen the story that we wrote, and how we wrote it, about the battle we are waging with them, they would be so moved that they would never have attacked us in the first place.

All this doesn't mean much to the ones who are not watching BSG, I'm sure, but well, let me just add one of the many thing it is, is an allegory about xenophobia and racism. And how brilliant: of course people in their right mind today won't discriminate any population group these days (at least not in theory), and vegetarians or vegans won't even discriminate against most other species. But what about the next frontier: a life form that... isn't really? The Cylons are supposedly machines, and yet they can feel. So what to do with them?
Other than that, we are confronted with the human struggle, in more meanings than one. Humanity bravely struggles for survival with only 50.000 people left, but even then every indivual has to struggle with his or her own demons and people are "fracking" each other over. Yet they seem to learn from their mistakes and they just never, never give up. It makes want to cheer for the human race time and time again.

BSG also features wonderful character development. Admiral Adama, with his stern and wise leadership, has become a personal role model. The following is a fragment from the episode "Unfinished Business", in which unfinished business is settled in "friendly" boxing matches. Two of the lead characters, Starbuck and Apollo, certainly have such business with each other... This is the ending of that great episode.
Well, series like these demand many hours of watching but... they're totally worth it. Imho.

The water bearer

Today, a sweet parable... :-)

The Water Bearer
A water bearer had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot always arrived only half full. For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, fulfilled in the design for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was unable to accomplish what it had been made to do.

After two years of enduring this bitter shame, the pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself and I apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and was cheered somewhat. But at the end of the trail, it still felt the old shame because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you not notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, and not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we've walked back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house." Each of us has flaws. We're all cracked pots. Don't be afraid of them, but acknowledge them, and you, too, can bring something beautiful.

Brother Sun

Yes I know, life is in the here and now. But once in a while we're allowed to dream of liberation and enlightenment, aren't we?
Here is Franco Zeffirelli's rendering of it in Brother Sun and Sister Moon and the story of Francis of Assisi.

The music is by Donovan. Here are the lyrics:

Brother Sun and Sister Moon
I seldom see you seldom hear your tune
Preoccupied with selfish misery

Brother Wind and Sister Air
Open my eyes to visions pure and fair
That I may see the glory around me.

I am God's creature, of Him I am part
I feel His love awakening my heart.

Brother Sun and Sister Moon
I now do see you, I can hear your tune
So much in love with all that I survey.

Patch Adams

Patch Adams is an incredibly powerful movie with Robin Williams, based on the real story of Hunter Patch Adams, a doctor trying to provide free health care and treating his patients with humour. This movie is all about the title of this blog: trying to make of your life a work of love. I think it shows that service to others doesn't have to be a sacrifice, but is, on the contrary, wonderfully rewarding for oneself too. If you haven't seen this movie, watch it, and let me know what you think. And don't give me that "oh it's way too cheesy" shit. Get over it and refuse to be cool, just for once. If you're not moved by this movie, perhaps you're heart-dead :-)
This fragment shows the ending. Only for those who have seen it already, or for the ones who absolutely refuse to watch it :-)

Tank Man

It's been seventeen years (how time flies) but you must remember him: Tank Man. The brave soul who made history by refusing to step aside and let the tanks pass. You can now find out what has become of him in a documentary you can freely watch online here.
I think we should never forget this guy.

Oscar the cat

It sounds like a tabloid tale or an urban legend, but this anecdote actually appeared in the New England Journal of Medecine: Oscar the cat, living in a rehabilitiation centre in Rhode Island, VS, predicts when one of the patients will die, and keeps them company. Read the entire story here.

Stories of love and compassion always give me a fuzzy feeling, but all the more in those extaordinary cases when it crosses species boundaries.

Real and fake

Someone pointed out this to me:



Yes, television can do a lot of fake things. It can play with our emotions and make us feel good with nothing more than eye- or heartcandy. The TV-industry may even be part of a conspiracy to keep us asleep, to keep us consuming, keep us quiet... by trying to keep us superficially happy.

Frankly, I was very moved by seeing this video. To see an audience united by their admiration of someone, to see them appreciate something beautiful together, to see someone having some success and being happy... it gave me a very warm feeling. And you know, even if the TV concocted this whole thing with the most evil intentions, that feeling I get... is real.

what do you want to see?

We humans are, beyond doubt, the species that is capable of the biggest atrocities on the planet. Our ignorance, stupidity and blindness must be legendary in the cosmos, and if there is an intergalactic encyclopaedia, I have no doubt that under ‘callousness' you will find ‘see: humans'. We have waged horrendous wars for thousands of years. The most powerful man on Earth thinks he can solve things by retaliating violence with more violence, fear with more fear. We are spoiling our own habitat, cutting forests and soiling rivers. Most of us will sell out for little money. We kill animals by the billions every year. And worst of all, we never seem to learn.

All this is what the blind man sees. But for those who want to look beyond the cruelty, the short-sightedness, the fear, the terror: aaaaah, what a world! What an era! And what an incredible species we are. We are doing things today that no other species, nor our own, ever did in the history of our planet (as far as we know). Think about it! Millions of people helping, teaching, healing, nursing other people. Millions of people searching their soul to become better, kinder, more compassionate through all kinds of courses, meditation, learning, truth seeking. People making the most beautiful music, writing the most beautiful stories. People being heroes. People loving, people caring. People even practising random acts of kindness.

There never was a species that killed so many of his own. But there never was one randomly being kind to others either. It all depends: where do you want to look? What do you want to see?

Restlessness

I want to describe the feeling of restlessness, or aspects of it. There may be a certain restlessness that is not immediately solvable, and that is perhaps, for the time being, not even meant to be removed. This restlessness might actually be necessary for us, as a motivator for our seeking. As long as we are not home, or perhaps not even on the right road home, it would be almost “inappropriate” for us to feel comfortable and at ease (although at the same time of course we should be in peace while seeking, but that is another matter. Or perhaps the same).

But I wanted to write about some other aspects of restlessness, which might be a little less basic, and seem less necessary or useful. These aspects are more like neurotic.

First of all there is the fretfulness, nervousness about not knowing what to do first. There seems to be so much to do on the spiritual path, so much to purify, in so many possible ways, that I don’t know where to start. I can be reading a book, then stop to think and consider that I better read another one, or sit down to meditate, do that and get up again after a few minutes. There is no peace at all when I’m in this kind of mood.

There is also restlessness involved in appreciating all the good and beautiful things in this world. For one thing, there are so many things I would like to try, so many places I’d like to see, so many people I’d like to communicate with… that there seems no time for everything, and again this makes me restless.
Then, when I find something beautiful, experience beauty, meet a beautiful person… I seem to feel frustrated at the impossibility to express my entire appreciation of this beauty, or my happiness, joy, whatever. It seems negative experiences and emotions are easier to express (you cry, you break things). Perhaps our hearts are not ready yet to really experience the most wonderful emotions, being as we are so used to thinking negatively.

It is clear from this that often my inner peace is entirely absent. I do not doubt that the motivation to look, the drive to search, is very much present in me, but I guess it is also necessary to develop an attitude of acceptance (the latter sounds like a paradox, but whatever, it won’t be the first, nor will it be the last).

why search?

Often, people cannot understand what the spiritual quest is about. They wonder why one would spend so much time searching for something so ephemeral and elusive.

In a way, their concern is quite right, and we should, of course, be in the here and now. Yet to say we should not search is too easy. In any case, there is something to find.

Why do I search and what am I looking for?

Because I feel that there is more. I feel that there may be an explanation for the world, for life, for all that is happening. I feel the world is more than "a tale told by an idiot". I feel there are unfathomable mysteries that we may yet uncover, that there are answers to questions. I also believe that we can be a lot happier than we are right now. I believe we can be a lot wiser, a lot better. I believe we can learn to know ourselves. I believe that we can be more loving people. And I believe we can do all this, if we really want to, if we really try.

Does this mean I am not content with myself as I am, with the world as it is? Being satisfied and searching for more do not have to exclude each other. They can coexist. I can be happy with who I am and with what I know, while striving to be better and to know more. There is no contradiction.
But yes, there is a kind of unrest, most of the time. A lack of peace, that drives me to keep searching, till I find what I know is out there. I am sure that this search is, or can be, the most joyful, fascinating, brilliant thing we can ever hope to endeavour.

And no matter wether we believe we have to search or not, we are... We have been searching since the day we were born. Only most people are not aware that it is searching we are doing... Most people are not aware of the goal, yet it is there.

what is spirituality

Spirituality for me is about two things:

1. improving oneself, to become as good and loving a person as possible
2. the belief that there is more than what we see, that there are hidden forces, energies, creatures...

1 without 2 could be just self-help or psychotherapy. 2 without 1 could be just a fascination with the paranormal. It is the combination of both that defines spirituality.

In this blog I write about my spiritual quest, the aim of which is to become as good and loving as possible and to understand as much as possible about the world around me, hidden or not.