Turq, Busy with moving here -- can't do my usual hyperbabble. Thanks for the movie suggestion, and I think you're spot on about "freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose."
Not exactly enlightenment but a psychological enlightenment maybe -- I think that Byron Katie mixes this kind of freedom in with her mystic stuff. Well known to Fairfielders, Rob Robb, is a therapist (very good psychic too) who pounds one with one's own freedom to choose and to own whatever one attracts in life cuz whether one admits it or not, karma only comes when called (choosen.) As I refine my awareness of my operations, I see ever more clearly how I set up myself for karma to flow to me. I'd rather that this is mindful, and 'tain't almost neverly not, but on "a clear day" I can sometimes see forever, and yuck, I'm abusing myself and opting for "blame life" as my reaction -- way too frequently. The work, it's about the work. Speaking of which, gotta run -- I have 65 boxes filled already....Moving day, six days and counting. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Edg, > > I'm relaxin' at the end of a long workday by re-watching > one of my favorite spiritual movies. The movie is called > "Thief," directed by Michael Mann, and it's full of crime > and violence and bad guys doing bad things, so not every- > one would "get" my considering it a spiritual film. > > One of the reasons I think of it that way is that the > first time I saw this film I was in a theater in L.A. on > its opening night, sitting next to Rama, the spiritual > teacher I studied with at the time. We passed popcorn back > and forth as he added his psychic phwam! to an already- > powerful film, shifting the attention field of the 100 or > so students watching the movie with him. Another is that > the soundtrack is by Tangerine Dream, the same group whose > music we meditated to at Rama's weekly center meetings. > Yet another reason is that Rama used numerous quotes from > this film over the successive years to illustrate spiritual > principles or just interesting ways to approach life. > > In one of these quotes, Frank (James Caan), the top-flight > jewel thief of the title, is talking to Okla (Willie Nelson), > his mentor in prison, the only person in his life he trusts > fully. Frank is explaining his dilemma -- whether to tell > the woman he wants to propose to what he really does for a > living. Okla's response is a classic: "Lie to no one. If > they're somebody close to you, you're gonna ruin it with a > lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta > lie to them?" > > But it's another of the themes in the movie that made me > think of you, and your recent Advaita raps. Frank is an > interesting character, spiritually, because in prison his > self died. > > When he first hits Joliet, for stealing $40, he gets word > through the grapevine that when it comes to the systematic > gang rape of inmates by prison guards, he's next on the hit > list. And he knows what happens to those who resist; they die. > > So he resists anyway. > > In the process, he does permanent damage to some of his > attackers before the rest put him in the hospital ward for > six months or so. He gets 15 years added to his sentence for > this, but that's irrelevant because he knows that the moment > he is released from hospital and put back into the general > population, he's a dead man. And what happens? I'll let him > tell it: > > "So I hit the yard. So you know what happens? Nothing. I mean, > nothing happens. 'Cause I don't mean nothing to myself. I don't > care about me, I don't care about nothing. And I know from that > day that I'd survive, because I'd achieved that...that mental > attitude." > > It's an interesting moment. Caan is tremendous in conveying > the power of that realization for Frank, the *freedom* that he > felt at that moment. It was the most transformative moment of > his life. Watching the film again tonight, I related it to > some of your descriptions of the ego dying, of the loss of > identification with the self, and the sense of *freedom* > that accompanies that death. It's like watching Toshiro > Mifune embrace death before his final swordfight in "The > Samurai Trilogy." The samurai is dead to himself *before* > the battle starts, so if he survives, it's to a calm, > satori-like sense of *freedom*. Frank is *free* in exactly > this sense. > > He doesn't stay free for long. In a continuation of the above > scene, talking to the woman he wants to marry (Tuesday Weld, > in a performance that should have earned her an Oscar nomin- > ation), he shows her a collage that he put together in prison, > with photos of a great house and kids and a beautiful wife, > and he describes what it means to him: "Later, I worked > this out. That [the collage] is my life. And nothing and > nobody can stop me from making it happen." It's his dream, > the thing that he believes will make him happy. > > He achieves it, all of it. And it sucks. It's not that the > parts of his life that were pictured in the collage suck; > they're fine, and he loves them all. What sucks is the thing > he had to give up to realize his dream -- that sense of > *freedom* he'd achieved in prison. His attachment to the > dream has resulted in other people running his life. > > So what's a guy to do? Well, it wouldn't be much of a movie > if Frank forgets about that sense of *freedom* and submits > to its opposite, would it? Frank doesn't submit. Instead, he > sends his wife and kid away, blows up his house, and then > takes on the gangsters who weren't prison-savvy enough to > recognize that sense of *freedom* when they saw it, and mis- > takenly thought that they could intimidate and control him. > > And what's left after all of this? Nothing. The same nothing > he felt when he walked onto the ward that day so many years > ago, a dead man, egoless and selfless, and nothing happened > there, too. A nothing called *freedom*. > > Anyway, I just thought you might like the movie if you haven't > seen it, or enjoy being reminded of it if you have. It's got > some violence and shooting in it if you're averse to such > things, but if they get to you, you can close your eyes and > meditate to the music of Tangerine Dream, the way we used to. >
