Movie Recommendations
Religulous
Bill Maher takes devilish glee in this
"documentary" look at the world's religions, as he highlights some of
the seemingly irrational dogma that comes along with many of them.
The topic may primarily act as a vehicle for his acidic wit, however it
does provide much food for thought.
I found it quite funny, and in some ways troubling, as he illustrated how one guy with a crackpot idea can form a belief system with a set of attractive rules, develop a group of followers, and thus sustain and grow a community of "believers."
He likens the selling of a religion to the selling of any commodity: if it has an appealing sales pitch, it has a better chance of attracting buyers. He noted that some religions offer virgins in the afterlife; a promise that is very hard to disprove.
After watching "Religulous," you have to ask yourself, did God actually speak to all of those men who started religions? If so, why did he say different things to all of them, in terms of the rules of behavior? My conclusion is that man made up religions. Not to say that there wasn't an actual guy we call "Jesus" who inspired several religions, but in my view, religions are just another manifestation of the ego. I am also not saying that religions can offer nothing in terms of spiritual insights or truth. However, in many cases quite a lot of effort must be expended to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The Matrix
I love "The Matrix" because it is a great sci-fi story, chillingly
told, with amazing special effects. Surprisingly, it has a spiritual
side. Consider this exchange between Morpheus (one of the heroes
from the "real" world), as he introduces Neo (one of the humans caught
in the Matrix, thinking it
was the real world):
Morpheus Talks to Neo. Here, Morpheus is breaking the news to Neo that the world he thought he
lived in, and the being he thought he was, is actually a figment of his
imagination. What Morpheus is saying is literally true: his "life" as a
body interacting in a "world" is all programmed, all a fabrication
designed to occupy the organism with vivid "experiences" to fill the
space of their lives.
Could it be true that the lives we appear to be living here on Earth are actually all in our own imaginations? Could it be that there is really only one consciousness here, appearing as many? Just as Morpheus shows Neo the fabricated world he once believed was real, occasionally spiritual seekers in our own world catch a glimpse of a far different reality, the view from the "awakened" state, in which the physical universe is revealed to be an illusion.
