Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Sunday, April 16, 2017

The Shadow Effect - reflections


 "Everyone carries a Shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
   Carl Jung

"You must go into the dark in order to bring forth your light. When we suppress any feeling or impulse, we are also suppressing its polar opposite. If we deny our ugliness, we lessen our beauty. If we deny our fear, we minimize our courage. If we deny our greed, we also reduce our generosity. Our full magnitude is more than most of us can ever imagine.”   

  Debbie Ford

I was remembering "The Shadow Effect"  (see trailer  below about the movie), which was mostly narrated by, and based on, the work of psychologist Debbie Ford, who wrote "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers", a book I've liked since I discovered it in the late 90's.  I enjoyed the movie, particularly the appearances of Deepak Chopra and James Van PraaghI admire Debbie Ford's work, although I have to confess, all that hugging in the workshops would no doubt drive me up a wall.  I'm just not a hugger.  And sometimes I get annoyed by the "do these exercises, make this realization, and you'll fulfill your destiny and be all you can be" idea..........I don't really believe in destiny any more, and trying to "be all you can be" can have some serious setbacks, like exhaustion, arrogance, and self-delusion. Which is "shadow", now that I think about it.   Sometimes the prize is not about getting richer, more love, or a better job, not about "getting" anything - it's about deepening our souls, and in the end, that's all that matters.  But I'm a crank sometimes, and what this movie has to say is  nevertheless vital, pragmatically, personally, and collectively, because it's about the essence of integral consciousness.


"The well of your joy is as deep as the well of your sorrow" 

 Kalil Gibran

 I've often written about the importance of the The Dark Goddess, and the importance of the Dark Goddess to all of planetary life now.  In other words, it's urgent that we develop true compassion for ourselves, and thus, each other, holistic compassion.    As individuals, the scales of Maat tip when too much of ourselves are unconscious, hidden away in the so-called "shadow" aspects of psyche. That's the true meaning of balance.
 Perhaps I should begin with one of my own "shadow" aspects, the "victim" archetype. I felt like sharing the following quote from Carolyn Myss because I agree with some (not all)  of her observations about what she called "woundology".
"One day, in passing, I introduced a friend of mine to two gentlemen I was talking with.  Within two minutes, my friend managed to let these men know that she was an incest survivor. Her admission had nothing whatsoever to do with the conversation we'd been having, and what I realized was that she was using her wounds as leverage. She had defined herself by a negative experience.  In workshops and in daily life I saw that, rather than working to get beyond their wounds, people were using them as social currency.  They were confusing the therapeutic value of self-expression with permission to manipulate others or define themselves with their wounds. Who would want to leave that behind? Health never commands so much clout!"


Carolyn Myss,  Why People Don't Heal and How They Can
  I want to comment first, as she does, that actual victimization, and the psychic wounds that arise from these experiences, should not be negated, nor should the "blame the victim" phenomenon ever be allowed to occur  Further, a sense of victimhood can be learned from our parents, and can have roots that extend far back into family and cultural history.  Having said that, I also believe, from my own experience in therapy, that healing and self-understanding comes from being able to tell our painful stories, and by the telling we can integrate those stories into the larger story, developing compassion for ourselves and strength from those experiences.  We "fore-give", and move fore-ward.  The question of whether this role is a shadow issue arises when one lingers in the role of "victim" because it is familiar, and more importantly, it has great power because it  allows one to avoid responsibility for anything, and even provides a kind of social currency with others. To put it another way - you can't win with such  a "victim".

In the past few years,  entering my 60's and becoming a SAGA (no "crone" for me.  Saga is so much better, a Finnish derived word that means both "old woman"  and "long story") I've been noticing how much the "victim" or "wounded" archetype has big real estate in our world, as well as my own past persona.  It's a shadow aspect that is rarely spoken about, because, frankly, it has so much leverage and ambiguity attached to it.  I've also had to notice that there are individual interactions with people and groups that are about supporting each other's insecurities - and success, leadership, or individual accomplishments can be punishable by ostracism.  Believe me, I've been in circles with "victims" (myself included) that could deflate any natural leader or brilliant contributor in no time flat, and continually reduced the group to a comfy  "circle of mediocrity". 

Shadow Work is harsh.  I think a stubbornly internalized and unrealized  need to retain the role of  "victim" is on the same page as the unconscious need to dis-empower or denigrate the perceived gifts and strengths of others.  We cannot afford to genuinely victimize ourselves by clinging to the exhaustive role of  "victim" at a certain point in the quest for maturity - equally, we cannot afford to "make ourselves small" and hide our light so that others will "like" us, nor unconsciously coerce this tyranny on others so we won't feel "threatened".  Empowerment is like the symbol of the Tree of Life - as above, so below, as without, so within. The roots run deep, into dark waters.

 "He governs the flowing of all waters, and the ebbing, the courses of all rivers and the replenishment of springs, the distilling of all dews and rain in every land beneath the sky.  In the deep places, He gives thought to music great and terrible; and the echo of that music runs through all the veins of the world in sorrow and in joy; for if joyful is the fountain that rises in the sun, its springs are in the wells of sorrow unfathomed at the foundations of the Earth."   J.R.R. Tolkein, "The Silmarillion"



Monday, January 4, 2016

The True Cost - a very Important Movie


I will never again buy new clothing, not unless I know where it was made (and that must be local, or guaranteed fair trade by an ethical producer) and what it was made from as well.  Never.

This is a film recently released that's so well done, and so moving, I believe everyone should see it.  It is about the incredible wake of destruction in today's "fast fashion" - to the virtually enslaved workers who make those endlessly disposible, and ever "cheaper" clothes, the horrific waste and decimation of the environment (they present good figures that the clothing industry is second only to the oil industry in environmental impact), and the decimation of our own Western economies, as everyone becomes poorer as a small corporate elite gleans unheard of profits, and yet is fed the illusion that because we can "afford" cheap clothing, we are not.

If we cannot find ways to understand, in every way possible, that we are all connected to each other, that the clothing we wear, the air we breath, the food we eat is all part of the the common good....if we cannot arrive at a true vision and theology of interdependency, truly we are doomed.

My great appreciation for this important, eloquent, disturbing documentary.

http://truecostmovie.com/

https://youtu.be/OaGp5_Sfbss



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*** Below, just because I remembered, I share some photos of garments I saw at the Renaissance Faire last year, all "upcycled" from old sweaters or socks.  Now that is not only creative reuse, but sheer art.





Sunday, March 16, 2014

"Resurrection", Ellen Burstyn, and Roselyn Bruyere

http://images.moviepostershop.com/resurrection-movie-poster-1020248595.jpg
For some reason I remembered a movie from the past that I loved, "Ressurection" starring Ellen Burstyn, and in trying to find it, which is very difficult, it brought to mind the groundbreaking work of Roselyn Bruyere and the Healing Light Center in Glendale, California. 

Resurrection is a 1980 film which tells the story of a woman who survives the car accident which kills her husband, but she awakes to discover that she has the power to heal other people. She becomes an unwitting celebrity, the hope of those in desperate need of healing, and a lightning rod for religious beliefs and skeptics. The film stars Ellen Burstyn and Sam Shepard, and was written by Lewis John Carlino.  It was nominated for two Academy Awards; one for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ellen Burstyn).

I remember hearing that the film was loosely based on the life of acclaimed healer Rosalyn Bruyere. While I can't confirm this, I do know that Bruyere was a consultant while the movie was being filmed, that Ellen Burstyn studied with her, and she and Burstyn remain life long friends.

http://www.saradavidson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/roslyn.gif
Roslyn Bruyere, circa 1978
Rosalyn L. Bruyere is a clairvoyant and medical intuitive. Dual involvement in research and healing has provided a primary inspiration for Rosalyn's work. Using her skills in perceiving and interpreting auric phenomenon, she was instrumental in research conducted at UCLA with Dr. Valerie Hunt in which the existence and significance of the human aura was first proven and measured. It was here Rosalyn's capacity to "read" the human energy field was first noted. Her ability to see patterns of disease and behavior in  detail and to energetically transform tissue at a cellular level has brought her worldwide attention and a reputation as one of the nation's most successful healers.

So I was delighted to discover that the entire movie, a true classic, was to be found on UTube (hooray for UTube!).  And here it is, well worth watching if one has the inclination or time. 



 http://youtu.be/kXC1kHIo_TQ


Monday, April 22, 2013

Shirley Valentine


"Dreams. They are never in the place you expect them to be."

"I've led such a little life. I have allowed myself to lead this little life, when inside me there was so much more. And it's all gone unused.  Why do we get all this life if we don't ever use it? Why do we get all these feelings and dreams and hopes if we don't ever use them? That's where Shirley Valentine disappeared to. She got lost in all this unused life."

 "I've fallen in love with the idea of living. Because we don't do what we want to do, do we? We do what we have to do and pretend that it's what we want to do.  And what I want is to stay here and be Shirley Valentine. " 

Recently I saw Pauline Collins, who I remember so well for her role as Shirley  Valentine in 1989, in Quartet with Maggie Smith.  It was a tad difficult to see her 23 years later as an opera singer with dementia.  Well, she's always a great actress, and inspired, I went to some trouble to locate a rare copy of the out of print film -  Shirley Valentine ,  one of my favorite movies of all time.

I watched it again last night, and as  always, came away from it feeling uplifted – time hasn’t dated the movie at all, perhaps because it’s about something that’s  timeless. On its surface, the movie (and the award-winning play from which the movie was adapted) is about Shirley Bradshaw, a middle-aged housewife living a stagnant, loveless life, and the choices and chances she makes and takes during a chance two-week vacation in Greece.  But at its core, it’s about remembering the place our joy comes from.  The place where we're each of us, woman or man, "Shirley Valentine".

I was amazed to discover that, with the great generosity of UTube,  the whole movie is available!  Who would have thought I could just see it again on my computer.........

https://youtu.be/5ak0n7_LN3k (the Whole Movie!)


Sunday, October 10, 2010

Wake Up - New Movie



"Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you."


Jelalu'ddin Rumi (1207 - 1273)



My friend Fahrusha is a fountain of information. Here is a trailor for a new documentory about extra sensory perception. The film is about Jonas Elrod, a New York based film maker who began "seeing things" inexplicably 10 years ago, and his personal quest to understand his experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wakeupthefilm?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/9qSGjKVY9Sw

http://wakeupthefilm.com/tag/angels/




It sounds fascinating, and I'm also looking forward to the premiere of the new Matt Damon movie, "Hereafter".