Like Chopra himself, Ayurveda was after my time in the
TM movement. I learned nothing about it, and because of
its tendency to try to fit round people into neat little
square-shaped boxes, I probably never will. But I do find
it entertaining when people who obviously have invested
heavily *in* its little square-shaped boxes analyze
people here on this forum, in the media, or even in
movies as some Ayurvedic type or another.
Me, when I get into such analysis -- purely for fun --
I tend to make up my own little boxes, and they rarely
are square-shaped. I'm about to do it below, riffing on
some of the characters from American Beauty, using them
as examples of archetypes I see often in the spiritual
marketplace, and in spirituality, period. If those who
see things in terms of some *other* little boxes -- be
they Ayurvedic or eneagrams or Freudian -- feel like it,
please chime in on the same characters and what they
symbolize or represent to you.
I guess you've all figured out that I watched American
Beauty again last night. I do not apologize for doing so;
I consider it one of the four or five best films made in
the last fifty years. And, as always, I learned new stuff
by watching it.
In this viewing, I found myself relating six characters in
the film to their archetypal counterparts I had encountered
in my spiritual travels. Caveat emptor: some here are *not*
going to be able to get into this. They have such an enormous
moralistic stick up their butts that they are as stuck on the
surface of the movie as they are on the surface of life, and
will be forever. They see a mention of drugs and they shut
down. Or they see a mention of an older guy lusting after
a teenage cheerleader and they *really* shut down. This
rap is not *for* them; it's for those here who are actual
spiritual seekers, or who have managed to remove the sticks
from their cinematic butts. Or the perverts. Your call.
Basically, I think you can divide the main American Beauty
characters into two sets of spiritual archetypes -- the
Pretenders and the Seekers.
THE PRETENDERS
Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening) -- The very personification
of the TM movement. Everything is about pretense -- having
the perfect sofa, wearing the perfect clothes, growing the
perfect roses, putting on a big show of being a confident
real estate salesperson and then breaking down in private
to hide it from the world. In the TM movement, she would be
on Mother Divine, smiling and beaming beatifically at TMO
celebrations but slipping away during the ceremony to
gulp down four Xanax.
Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) -- Again, pure pretense, but of
another kind. Like Carolyn, Angela poses as something she
isn't -- she is a fearful virgin posing as a worldly slut
because the latter is more socially acceptable in her tiny
world. In the TM movement or on FFL she would be the counter-
part of those who claim not to be TBs but who really are.
Col. Frank Fitts, USMC (Chris Cooper) -- This archetype is
the most heartbreaking. Col. Fitts is a closeted gay guy hiding
behind a veneer of gay-bashing and homophobia. In the original
script but cut out of the film it is revealed that he named
his son Ricky after his own gay lover that he secretly screwed
while in the Marines. Again, his act is pure pretense, but
what that pretense has *done* to him is more evident to anyone
who looks closer. In the TM movement, he would be the counter-
part of TM movement doctor and Maharishi-darling-for-a-time
Harold Bloomfield, later convicted of drugging his patients
and having sex with them. Or any of the other numerous TMO
bigwigs later convicted of fraud or actual crimes. The thing
about this archetype is that it doesn't really *surprise* you
when you find out the truth about them, just as no one here
would be surprised if the person who calls others predators
were found to be one himself. Their twisted reality is always
closer to the surface, no matter how hard they try to hide it.
THE SEEKERS
Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) -- Your classic seeker who has not
yet discovered what she is seeking, or even *that* she is
seeking. All that Jane knows is that the world of Pretenders
around her is a crock of shit, and that she wants no part of
it. Her life has not yet revealed to her an alternative, but
she craves that alternative desperately. Her counterpart in
spirituality would be the person who has discovered that a
*lot* of so-called gurus and spiritual teachers are charlatans,
but still retains hope that there are real ones out there.
Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) -- Sure, he smokes dope, and sells
it, but Ricky *knows* stuff. He is when we first encounter him
the only character in the film who has evolved enough to Just
Not Give A Shit What Others Think Of Him. He is what he is,
and is content with that. And when other Seekers like Jane
and Lester see that in him, they respond to it. Jane falls in
love with him. Lester watches him Not Give A Shit and responds
with, I think you just became my personal
