Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

I didn’t watch much of the 2016 Summer Olympics this year. And to be honest, I haven’t watched much of any of the Olympics, winter or summer, since I was in high school. Life has sure changed since back then, as when I was growing up, sitting around the television and rooting on our home country in every single event, even with the ones I wasn’t interested in like synchronized swimming, was just the thing to do and we all were so excited about them. It was also the thing we all talked about in many of our conversations with each other. But now it seems like people aren’t excited about the Olympics anymore. So why is this?

Is it because each of the games always seem to be shadowed by all the doping accusations and scandals these days?

Or is it because there are countless other channels to watch on television now?

Or is it because there’s always talk about corruption in the cities where the games are held?

Or is it because many have lost faith in our country due to how it’s been run?

Or is it because so many are far more wrapped up in video games or social media than anything else nowadays?

Or is it a combination of all of the above or something else altogether?

I don’t truly now the answer to this but what I do know is that I honestly miss the good old days when I aspired to be like Mark Spitz who won a ton of gold medals in swimming a long time ago. I also miss playing basketball with a bunch of kids in my driveway, where each of us pretended to be someone from The Dream Team. And I miss goofing off in front of others with my silly attempts at doing gymnastics and laughing at how I’ll never be the next Mary Lou Retton.

But these days, you don’t hear most people talking about specific competitors in the Olympics and I would venture to say that if you mentioned one of the prominent athletes from any of the events to a random set of individuals in our country, there’s a good chance most wouldn’t even know who you were talking about. Sure they would probably know the names of Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, but that’s only because they’re constantly plastered all over the news due to the massive number of gold medals they each have accumulated over the years.

Unfortunately for the most part these days, the Olympics come and go and people seem to be far less interested in them or any of the athletes who compete there as compared to decades past. This makes me sad, maybe for nostalgia reasons. Or maybe it’s because our country often feels like it’s going in the opposite direction. One where everyone is pulling more into themselves and withdrawing from the comradery we all used to seem to have together, especially during times when the Olympics were on.

Nevertheless, I still hope for the day to return where this trend will reverse and things like the Olympics will be a time to get excited again. One where having pride in our country means something and one where we all seem to unite together during those few weeks while they’re going on. Until then, I think I’m going to just live with my nostalgia by remembering the good old days where I’d shoot a 3 pointer in my driveway while imagining I was Larry Bird playing in the Olympics…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

It seems like there are three major topics lately in the news that continue to keep people talking. They are gun violence, Donald Trump, and the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. I feel like I’ve written enough about the first two topics in recent weeks, but I have yet to comment on the third.

Beginning August 5^th, Rio, Brazil will be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics and many are concerned about the infrastructure there. There’s an economic crisis going on with massive inflation and unemployment. There’s a large amount of corruption in the political leadership with more than half in power facing serious charges against them. There are vast money problems going on that’s causing important cuts to be made with things like the amount of transportation available to athletes, seating for spectators, and even comforts such as air conditioning and television. Then of course there’s the Zika virus that’s continued to ravage the area, as well as the virus-soaked sewage problem in most of the waterways.

People are really angry because of all these issues in Rio, blaming this and that, talking about how the Olympics should just be cancelled. Unfortunately, all this unrest and all of this resentment is doing nothing more than creating more of the same.

I really have only one thought when it comes to all this 2016 Summer Olympic turmoil. PRAY. Ok, well maybe two. PRAY OFTEN.

The fact is, complaining, worrying, and stressing out about the mess that’s going on in Rio isn’t doing anyone any good. A far better action is to pray and send love, light, and positive energy over there. Pray for all the athletes and their families, the future spectators, and the local residents there as well to be safe and blessed by Higher Guidance. Instead of spending energy saying how bad the situation is over there, use it to pray. While you may not think it will do any good, think again, because it will.

I know that most of us don’t truly understand how prayer works and why they seem to be answered sometimes, while other times they don’t seem to be doing anything at all. I remain firm on my belief that they are always doing something good, it’s just beyond our understanding. With that being said, I encourage everyone to say a simple prayer every day from now until the end of the actual 2016 Summer Olympics. Because I ultimately believe that it will help, far more so than focusing on the current state of affairs over there. None of us have any idea of how great of an impact praying will make, but I’m sure you can agree, that if we don’t pray at all, the only thing that will result in that is more pointing of fingers at who’s at fault.

“God, I ask you to bless all of Rio. May you bless everyone there who’s working hard to prepare for the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics. May you bless all the athletes and their families who are planning on attending the games. And you may bless all the local residents and people who will be visiting as spectators as well. Please keep all of them safe and healthy and guide everyone who will be there for the Olympics to have a successful and blessed event. Amen.” 

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Can you imagine waking up every single day looking like someone different? That’s the premise of a 2015 Korean movie named “The Beauty Inside”, which I watched on Netflix the other day.

The film centers around a person named Woo-Jin, who up until the age of 18, was a young man living a normal life. But on the morning of his 18^th birthday, he wakes up in a different body and begins to experience this strange phenomenon every single day from there on. While he’s still the same person on the inside, on the outside it’s always different. Sometimes he’s a man, sometimes he’s a woman, sometimes he’s old, sometimes he’s young, and sometimes he’s even a foreigner. Life is hard for Woo-Jin living like this, but eventually he comes to acceptance of his bizarre condition, which only his mother and his best friend know the truth. But one day, many years later, he meets a girl that changes everything. Her name is Yi-soo and she is unlike anyone he’s ever met. Unfortunately, he also has no idea how to connect with her given that he’s someone else every time he wakes up.

I know the premise of this movie seems rather odd, but it really was a very amazing love story, especially for one specific reason. So often in our world these days, people focus their attraction to someone for what shows up on the outside, not on the inside. And once that person meet some specific attraction-based criteria, the rest of any type of courtship usually follows. But in this case, the movie is about a woman pursuing love beyond what sight can offer.

While normally, I’m not a big fan of subtitles because I think it takes away from being engrossed in a movie, it actually didn’t bother me with this film at all. Woo-Jin and Yi-Soo’s love for each other, their chemistry, and the delicate mix between the movie’s drama and comedy-based themes kept me so immersed that I found myself not even reading the subtitles at times.

I truly wish that love was like this in real life for all of us. Sadly, it hasn’t been for me for much of my life as I have succumbed far too often to looking only at the outside of people. But as I continue to spiritually evolve, surrendering my own will and desires, I’ve seen this begin to change. The good thing is that I know what’s most important is the soul that lies within each and every individual. It’s the soul that each of us are meant to love, rather than the outside of a person. And that’s precisely the struggle that Yi-Soo faces in this movie and one that I believe the vast majority of people on the planet do as well.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this movie as a great mind-opener to a spiritual principle that I hope will one day permeate each and every one of us. True love is not something that comes from the way one looks, it comes from “The Beauty Inside.”

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson