I decided it would be a nice idea to start a series of blogs concerning films that revolve around advances states of consciousness, dynamic levels of spirituality and reality, as well as philosophical introspections into the human unconscious. I have not found any website as of yet that deals with the spiritually-themed films I am going to write about, since many of them are relatively-unknown to most people. However, I will include those that are known by most people, since they are very spiritually-focused. Let me decipher what exactly I mean my “spiritually-themed”.
A film with a spiritual theme can be many things. It can be psychedelic, esoteric, mystical, consciousness-expanding, about enlightenment, as well as transcending physical reality, among other things. Instead of trying to box a certain film into this category or that category, I feel that leaving the theme quite open in this manner would be best. As you will see in the films I have selected, these themes are permeating throughout them. A film may have one, or several. However, they all have an intrinsic spiritual element to them. With that said, let us delve into the first film of this series of reviews…Alice in Wonderland.
Although the film may seem geared towards children because of the artistic expression that is has been created in (a cartoon format), let this not fool you. Anyone who has read the Alice in Wonderland books will know that there is much esoteric, spiritual, and consciousness-shifting musings in them, besides being very philosophical.
Alice is a little girl that is in the middle of a history lesson with her school teacher that she rather wishes she would not be in the middle of. She then goes on to muse about what her world is like and how everything would be nonsensical in her reality. Alice basically creates her own reality and makes it come to life. The notion of consciousness creating reality is very old, and has been around ever since human beings have been attaining mystical states and higher levels of consciousness. Alice did precisely this and she showed how creating our own realities can make perfect sense, but only in the eye of the beholder, since this parallel reality is made in the image and consciousness of the individual creating it. That is why something that may seem highly bizarre and not possible, such as the dog with a broom for a mouth clearing away a path, but in the self-created reality of the individual, this seems like perfect sense, since it is fairly obvious that a dog with a broom for a mouth can become very useful in clearing away paths.
The definition given in this film about reality is excellent. Alice, while talking to her cat in her waking reality, says that “Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” This fundamental principle of reality essentially is saying that All that Is, is simply Nothing that Is not, since all is One, and nothing is not. There is no such thing as duality. Nonduality means all reality combined, comprises the Ultimate Reality, and therefore, it is not nonsense to have a world of non-sense.
At another point, Alice makes the statement to one of the anthropomorphic creatures in Wonderland saying that “I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, because I’m not myself you see.” Alice says she is not who she is. This can be seen as representing a false sense of one reality being more real than another reality. There is no quantitative measure with respect to how real one reality is over another parallel and seemingly as-real reality. This can also be seen as an ego issue. If Alice had no ego at all, which is what Wonderland can make her realize about her Self, she would understand that there is no “her” and that she just “is”. She has an attachment so some false sense of self in another reality, which she believes is the true reality. However, as Alice ventures through Wonderland, she comes in contact with many other creatures that believe quite the opposite.
Besides these themes centered around what reality is, there is also the caterpillar that smokes a hookah while asking the fundamental questions of life, such as “Who are you?”to which Alice replies “Who am I?” and although she seems to be asking it in a state of shock rather than introspection, it can be read both of these ways, since many things in the film have a double meaning, just like many spiritual paths. They have simple-sounding principles on the top but once you go inward and get to the esoteric nature of things, you realize nothing is what it seems and everything is much more elegant, intricate, and beautiful in reality. This is a highly recommended film to see, whether you are 1 or 100. Watch it with a mind open to all possibilities in reality and you may find something that you never thought about in your waking life.
