bluegreen17 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegreen17) wrote2003-02-25 11:56 am
bluegreen17) wrote2003-02-25 11:56 am
the bardo
"The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. You burn them all away. They're not punishing you ... they're freeing your soul."
this reminds me of a book i once read about suicide,or the suicidal impulse. the basic premise was that when people feel suicidal,they don't want to kill themselves en toto...they want to kill PART of themselves...the ego,or whatever term you want to use...that is making them miserable. and if they could find a way to kill that part,they wouldn't have to take their entire life away with it.
i don't totally like this analogy because my idealist heart tells me that the only way to defeat anything is to surrender. yeah,that's a paradox. and it's some sort of aikido in the largest sense. they only way to eradicate evil is to love it. and this is an abstract concept. it doesn't mean that we should send saddam hussein a box of chocolates. unfortunately i'm not having enough clarity of mind to explain further,but there it is. i'm throwing out my imperfect composition for anyone to see. because it's more important to communicate this than it is to make it perfect.
the movie jacob's ladder haunts me. that's where the above quote comes from and it's the most important line in the entire movie,in my opinion. in searching for this quote today,i found it in the context of the review below:
Despite the often terrifying and unsettling visuals in Jacob's Ladder, the film is really about coming to peace with one's life or more appropriatly one's death. The underlying meaning of the film, is explained by Louis when he summarizes the philosophy of Meister Eckhart, a 13th-century German theologian: "The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. You burn them all away. They're not punishing you ... they're freeing your soul." What really happens during those last few moments of life? Jacob's Ladder is as original as movies come. I saw this film eleven years ago while I was still in high school. The film, at the time, influenced me much on how I look at life and how I look at films. Once in your head, Jacob's Ladder is there for good. Still, Jacob's Ladder is the kind of the film that must be watched numerous times to get even an idea of all it holds. Extremely underrated.
Review by Aaron Caldwell on movielists.net
this guy sees the movie the way i do. a lot of people see it as a horror movie. well,yes it is,but it's much more than that. it's about the journey through the bardo...and,are we in it now? and that's all i'm going to say about that for now.
i think of depression as hell..."it's not punishing you,it's freeing your soul". in that context it makes sense to me. depression is one of the toughest adversaries i could ever imagine. the strict teacher (saturn/depression) acts as adversary...and can potentially free your soul. there seems to be very few students who've completed the course though,and the teacher isn't always depression.
two instances of students 'getting it',though, are bill wilson who started alcoholics anonymous and eckhart tolle,who wrote the currently popular-in-some-circles book -the power of now-.
i don't know if you have to get to the very pit of suffering to 'get it'...i rather hope not...but that's what happened to them. i kind of hope there's another way.
this is all pretty damned serious stuff and as i write it i ponder whether to just keep it private. my concern is that it seems to be such a downer. and yet my intent was pretty much the opposite.
also,it is not very clear....it's rather muddled,but it's the best i can do for now.
i guess i will throw it out there,and trust if anyone is supposed to read it,they will and they'll get from it what they need.
so be it.
this reminds me of a book i once read about suicide,or the suicidal impulse. the basic premise was that when people feel suicidal,they don't want to kill themselves en toto...they want to kill PART of themselves...the ego,or whatever term you want to use...that is making them miserable. and if they could find a way to kill that part,they wouldn't have to take their entire life away with it.
i don't totally like this analogy because my idealist heart tells me that the only way to defeat anything is to surrender. yeah,that's a paradox. and it's some sort of aikido in the largest sense. they only way to eradicate evil is to love it. and this is an abstract concept. it doesn't mean that we should send saddam hussein a box of chocolates. unfortunately i'm not having enough clarity of mind to explain further,but there it is. i'm throwing out my imperfect composition for anyone to see. because it's more important to communicate this than it is to make it perfect.
the movie jacob's ladder haunts me. that's where the above quote comes from and it's the most important line in the entire movie,in my opinion. in searching for this quote today,i found it in the context of the review below:
Despite the often terrifying and unsettling visuals in Jacob's Ladder, the film is really about coming to peace with one's life or more appropriatly one's death. The underlying meaning of the film, is explained by Louis when he summarizes the philosophy of Meister Eckhart, a 13th-century German theologian: "The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. You burn them all away. They're not punishing you ... they're freeing your soul." What really happens during those last few moments of life? Jacob's Ladder is as original as movies come. I saw this film eleven years ago while I was still in high school. The film, at the time, influenced me much on how I look at life and how I look at films. Once in your head, Jacob's Ladder is there for good. Still, Jacob's Ladder is the kind of the film that must be watched numerous times to get even an idea of all it holds. Extremely underrated.
Review by Aaron Caldwell on movielists.net
this guy sees the movie the way i do. a lot of people see it as a horror movie. well,yes it is,but it's much more than that. it's about the journey through the bardo...and,are we in it now? and that's all i'm going to say about that for now.
i think of depression as hell..."it's not punishing you,it's freeing your soul". in that context it makes sense to me. depression is one of the toughest adversaries i could ever imagine. the strict teacher (saturn/depression) acts as adversary...and can potentially free your soul. there seems to be very few students who've completed the course though,and the teacher isn't always depression.
two instances of students 'getting it',though, are bill wilson who started alcoholics anonymous and eckhart tolle,who wrote the currently popular-in-some-circles book -the power of now-.
i don't know if you have to get to the very pit of suffering to 'get it'...i rather hope not...but that's what happened to them. i kind of hope there's another way.
this is all pretty damned serious stuff and as i write it i ponder whether to just keep it private. my concern is that it seems to be such a downer. and yet my intent was pretty much the opposite.
also,it is not very clear....it's rather muddled,but it's the best i can do for now.
i guess i will throw it out there,and trust if anyone is supposed to read it,they will and they'll get from it what they need.
so be it.
no subject
no subject
Yes, I agree, but can I do it? That's the hard part. We say so many things that are obvious in some way, but instinct or socialization or "?" fights against it. We flinch. Many times not even recognizing it. Idealism and pragmatism are constantly at odds in each of us I think. And depression might be seen as a cocoon, the problem is breaking free of it and spreading wing.