Chocolat

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Amy

Chocolat is a delicious movie! It’s also a really great movie to explore this month’s theme of love.

Yes, there’s a love story in it (Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp) but that’s a pretty minor strand in the over all narrative. What’s more interesting to explore, I think, is the aspect of love we’d call compassion.

Follow the story of Vianne, the central character. She shows great compassion and understanding throughout the whole movie. It’s through her compassion that everyone else in the village is released from their misery. Armande, Caroline’s mother, emerges from bitterness to flourish as a playful, passionate grandmother. Josephine finds her self-worth and the courage to break free from her abusive husband thanks to Vianne’s compassion and encouragement. Even the Count himself, is ultimately released from his self-denial and autocratic behaviour patterns by Vianne’s compassion when she finds him in her shop window. Notice how she parents her daughter too, at one point responding to her daughter’s “I hate you” with “you have every right to”, while firmly insisting on obedience.

There are many aspects of love to explore in Vianne’s story. The theme of the “clever North wind” calling her to move on is also interesting because we see she’s only released from being blown whichever way the wind blows when she finally lets go of her grief for her mother.

The main love theme which runs through this movie though, is tolerance and acceptance of others – especially others who are not like ourselves. There’s a great tendency to fear and to reject “incomers” and “travelers” not only in small towns, but even in large cities. How often are immigrants and those of “other” cultures rejected by the local populations?

The young priest, on Easter Sunday, makes the point of highlighting Jesus’ humanity, not his divinity. He’s referring to the human capacity for love and compassion.

So, push out your understanding of Valentine’s Day being for lovers, watch this movie, and see how you can extend your compassion way beyond the 14th of February.

Posted in February 2010 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Jerry Maguire

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Amy

We all need a good sense of autonomy, of the strength to cope with change. It doesn’t feel good to be blown this way and that by the will or determination of others all the time. We need some sense that we are choosing. Making choices is a good way to feel empowered. Feeling a helpless victim is never a good place to be.
In Jerry Maguire we encounter a world of power. Jerry is a sports agent representing and promoting the interests of sportsmen and women. Sport is about competition – competing against others and competing with past performances. It requires great strength, both physical and psychological.
Jerry has a crisis early on in the movie. It’s a crisis of authenticity. He profoundly reconsiders his values and decides he needs to change his focus towards the human beings he represents and away from the narrow pursuit of wealth which the industry pursues.
In the early part of this story we see a man who may be making good choices based on compassionate values, but whose power is disappearing very, very quickly. Watch the early scenes where he tries to reposition himself and his business. The loss of power is painful, humiliating and embarrassing to witness.
What do you think of Jerry’s early power? Is it real? If it is, then why doesn’t it fulfill him?
As the story unfolds we see a real maturation of a character. There are many themes in this movie, not least the importance of authenticity, the importance of relationships, and of love. But the theme I’d like you to consider is the one of power – autonomy, self-actualisation, strength, the capacity to cope with change and the ability to grasp what needs addressed and to become a consciously active player in your own life.
This is a story of how someone finds their true power and in the process grows a whole better life.
Take a look at two of the main characters – Jerry Maguire and Dorothy Boyd. What do you think about how they experience their losses of power, and how they gain it?

Posted in March 2010 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Images of Transcience

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Amy

Fallen Petals

Some photographers take reality… and impose the domination of their own thought and spirit. Others come before reality more tenderly and a photograph to them is an instrument of love and revelation.
~ Ansel Adams

Each month, we would like to invite you to join in a photography project to capture and share images of that month’s specific theme.  This month’s theme is of TRANSCIENCE, so grab your camera, set off out into the world and start looking around you for subjects which you feel express impermanence in all its forms.

You may want to take a photograph of the blossom, spring flowers (northern hemisphere), changing autumn leaves (southern hemisphere), or anything which you see as a representation of the passage of time.  Once you’ve taken your photos, upload them to your Flickr account, join our new Flickr group, and then add your images to the group for everyone in the View From Sirius community to share in their beauty and meaning.

Posted in April 2010 | 1 Comment

City of Angels

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Amy

Here’s a great movie to watch this month, the month of transience.

I’ve always thought that no matter what you believe about whether or not there’s a life after death, Life is incredibly special.

Let’s just assume for a moment that part of a human being (call it “soul”, “spirit”, or some other such term) exists after the death of the body. If a soul is eternal, then does that make the short few decades of the average life trivial? It doesn’t feel that way to me.

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, the average time a human being spends on Earth (any one time around! :) ) is around seven decades. In the context of eternity that’s a very short time. In many religions, believers emphasise how much there is to look forward to after death (if you believe), but it seems to me that whatever we believe, living, this short time we spend alive on the Earth, is a truly amazing, incredible and precious experience.

That thought is captured by this great story. I first came across this story as “Wings of Desire” by Wim Wenders (in German, with English subtitles) and the moment when the angel falls to Earth and becomes human transfixed me. As he becomes aware of the sensations of his new body, I felt totally overcome with the thrill, the uniqueness, the wonder and amazement of Life. The re-telling of the story as “City of Angels” captures all that equally well.

There are many great scenes in the movie, and it really merits a complete viewing, but my favourite scenes include the one where the angel falls to Earth and becomes human; the one where he stands on the beach with the other angels asking the patient if he can hear the sound the angels hear, and the man replies, “no, but you can’t feel this” as he runs into the surf; and the scene where the angel-become-human runs into the surf himself as his fellow angels look on; ah, many favourite scenes actually.

The main theme of this story, which is most appropriate to our theme this month, is transience, or impermanence, without which there could be no Life.

There’s another theme in this story, however, which I think is also worth highlighting. Before he becomes human, the angel walks, invisibly amongst people. He hears their thoughts, and sitting silently beside them, he soothes their troubles with his presence, but once he becomes human he can experience dialogue, and, so, relationship. We touch each other with our words and with our actions, neither of which last forever. How special does that make today?

What do you think? Watch the movie, and then come back and share your thoughts.

Posted in April 2010 | Tagged | 2 Comments

April

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Amy

April is the month of the tree blossoms. In Japan, it’s the month of the annual appearance of the Cherry Blossom. This is a such a celebration that photographs of cherry blossom make the front pages of the newspapers, and stories of people flocking to see, and photograph, the beautiful trees appear in prime time news programmes.

The reason for this is that this time of glorious blossom is brief, even though it comes around every year. The brevity reminds us of transience. This month is a month to celebrate that.

Why should you celebrate transience? Often we desperately try to hold onto what can’t be held onto. We strive to maintain the status quo, facing inevitable change the way King Canute faced the waves. To recognise the fundamental reality of transience can provide a healthy counter to that attitude.

However, more than that, we can begin to appreciate our life experiences even more profoundly in the full knowledge of their impermanence. This is a time to celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of transient blossoms, to be aware of the transience of everything in life, and not to fear that.

Instead it’s a time to celebrate and enjoy what we have for just a short time, intensifying our enjoyment of the present by accepting it as it is, fully, here and now.

Over the coming month we will be discuss transcience and its implications on a wide variety of issues ranging from nature, science, health, society, culture and art.  This month’s film club is already up and running as is our April photo project.  Please do join in, share your thoughts, your images, your words.

Let the conversation begin!

Posted in April 2010 | Leave a comment

March

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Amy

March is named after Mars, the God of War. Maybe this makes you think this is the time to fight, or to make war! However, let’s consider this theme from a more positive perspective. Mars is also the God of strength and power. We all need to have a certain amount of power. In particular, we need to know we have the strength to cope with what we need to cope with and the vitality to be able to engage with life positively, so that we grow and experience full, satisfying lives. This would be a good month to pay attention to your personal autonomy and your strengths. Are you sufficiently assertive? Can you say “no” where you should say “no”, and “yes’ where you wholeheartedly want to say “yes”? What are your strengths? Strengths are our positive qualities, our skills, behaviours and abilities which we rate most highly. Knowing what these strengths are allow us to work on them to develop the best in ourselves. This would be a good time to to pay attention to both your positive qualities and your assertiveness.

Posted in March 2010 | Leave a comment

February

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Amy

February has Valentine’s Day right in the middle. Valentine’s Day is a festival of love. It’s a time to reveal, or to reaffirm your love for someone. Love might be something you feel every day, but on Valentine’s Day, you have the opportunity to remember that love is also a verb. It’s a time to take an action – a loving action, an action which reveals or reaffirms your love. But why restrict this loving theme to only one day? Why not raise loving up the agenda this month? Why not see how you can actively show and share your love every day? In fact, why not expand this theme out from the romantic notion of loving a partner and make February the month of acts of loving kindness? You can commit acts of loving kindness every day. You don’t need a love partner to do that.

Posted in February 2010 | Leave a comment

January

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Amy

January is the start of the new calendar year. It’s named after Janus, the god with two face,  one of which faced forwards and one backwards. This is a good month to look forwards and make plans, decisions and changes, based on what happened last year. It’s traditionally a time to make resolutions. If you take time to reflect on the previous year, and on the basis of that consideration make decisions about what you would like to do differently, then the changes you hope for are much more likely to be both achieved and sustained. January can also be symbolically represented by a gate. At a gate, we stand on a threshold, about to step from one place to another. January is like this. The old year is only just over and the new year is beginning. You are on the threshold of the new year. The old saying about turning over a new leaf is appropriate here. On the threshold, you are about to step from the past and into the future. The threshold, the gate, is where you are standing now. Today’s the day which lies between the past and the future. It’s the time of taking an overview of the year, of starting a new calendar, a new diary, a new journal. A threshold, or gate, has another potential meaning, because on the other side of the gate, may lie some new territory. In stepping through the gate, you are entering a new place, stepping onto new ground. There’s something exciting about this, but for many people, there’s also something a bit scary about it. We don’t know what the future might hold, but at least realising we can play an active part in creating it, gives us the potential to step into it positively.

Posted in January 2010 | Leave a comment

View from Sirius

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Amy

Voltaire’s short story, Micromegas, tells of an explorer from Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star we can see with our naked eye in our sky.
The phrase “view from Sirius” has been taken up by a number of French writers and is used to mean both taking an overview, as in “le regard en haut”, or the “view from on high”, and an exercise in awareness involving viewing the ordinary as extraordinary, but especially it’s an exercise in changing perspectives by extension, following a line of flight to a far from equilibrium point. By pushing the dimensions of size and qualities, he throws the reader into perspectives previously unconsidered and in so doing enables us to think about ourselves differently.
The view from Sirius is the different view, the whole view, and the way of revealing the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Posted in January 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment