Spiritual Movies

Thinking about movies with a spiritual message at work for an upcoming meeting. It occurred to me that every movie (every story, every life) is essentially a search for truth and love. Since truth and love can only be attained by yielding to the law of a higher, spiritual power, every movie is really the telling of a spiritual journey. Either the characters are finding some spiritual transformation or we are seeing the conscequences of the lack of spiritual transformation. So which movies show this most poignantly? The first two that come to mind are "Closer" and "We Don't Live Here Anymore." Both were disturbing, even depressing. Why do people treat eachother so badly. How can they not see the errors of the choices they make? What we see in those movies is mainly the spiritual vacuum of searching for truth and love in the wrong places, the wrong ways, or in ways that ulitmately have no chance of success. OK, were there any movies with a more positive spiritual message? Why is it that the darker stories are more telling? Maybe because they seem more real, more believeable, and the stories which are too good, clean and pure don't have as much to say because the character has already achieved the spiritual transformation that would be so telling if we were to see the dark beginnings of the story.

The Ultimate Driving Machine

I bought this car about two years ago after owning a few newer, more "refined" and "comfortable" vehicles. So-called refinement is subjective -- somebody else's idea of refinement. And comfort is overrated and again, subjective. This car is a little wabi-sabi here and there. Worn leather seats and shifter knob. Faint smell of oil and gas -- none of that new car smell (which is really just a marketing term for plastic vapor). And I only get AM radio stations and it plays only cassette tapes. But you know what? This car delivers an authentic driving experience -- you feel the connection to the machine and to the road. Back in '86 when I was fresh out of college, this was the symbol that you had arrived. Sure it breaks down a little now and then, but I haven't loved a car this much since my parent's 1968 Dodge Dart which I drove in high school.