During my last post Christi and I dialogued a little on The Matrix and it reminded me of how inspirational certain movies and t.v. shows have been in my life. I imagine others have posted on this in the past but I was curious what our active communities favorites are. I’ll start off by sharing a few, I’m sure many more will come to me.
The Matrix
Groundhog Day
The leftovers (an underappreciated somewhat dark exploration of deeply existential matters on HBO)
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement
I really like Samsara. Another one I recently watched was Agniyogana. Currently I’m watching the Ramayana by Ramandand Sagar (Series) with english subtitle. It is fun to watch, especially when you have read the Ramayana before.
(Keeping it related to yoga for now)
lightandlove, I did have the pleasure of watching Samsara a few months ago and agree. I’ll check out your other recommendations.
Being There with Peter Sellers.
I was recently thinking that the Matrix has a great one liner which can be used to understand direct experience (probably has more than one!). The part where Neo says to Morpheus “you mean I can dodge bullets?” And Morpheus replies with “I’m telling you that when you are ready, you won’t have too.” I thought this aptly portrays the part “faith” plays in a persons spiritual development. Basically he’s saying, I’m not asking you to believe me, but with faith and these practices (or downloads in Neos case! - if only it were that easy!)! you will prove it to yourself directly.
I think of this line whenever I read something I don’t really understand in the AYP books, I know I’ll find out for myself one way or the other if I keep up practicing, there’s no point sitting here constantly confused!!!
Drystone, I agree, it does resonate with my experience and Yogani’s promise.
The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky is defacto my favorite movie, but I haven’t seen it in years. I was in high school when it came out and remember going to the theater by myself a couple times to watch it. Critics hated it, but I thought it was soul-shatteringly beautiful. If you watch it, I’d suggest to just experience it and not to try to make sense of it right away.
Other favorites include Contact and Arrival. Both are great for their tension between “rational scientific inquiry” and “faith.”
The Matrix is also super solid
The Fall (Film by Tarsem Singh)
Undone (TV series)
and for anybody liking Samsara, watch also Baraka.
Thanks for the additional suggestions