Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

I honestly can’t imagine what it must be like to be Stephen Hawking. To have one of the greatest minds throughout the history of the world but at the same time be severely disabled by a degenerative disorder that renders one’s muscular functions relatively useless, seems impossible to deal with, but somehow he’s done it for over 50 years. After watching a portrayal of his life in The Theory Of Everything, I’ve gained profound respect and compassion for Hawking, not because he’s a genius, but because he’s never given up.

The Theory Of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and begins during Hawking’s latter college years at Cambridge when his health started to rapidly deteriorate. By the age of 21, after repeated bouts of spontaneous clumsiness and slurred speech, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given 2 years left to live. Redmayne does such an incredibly realistic job portraying what Hawking faced from this point forward in life that I found myself actually believing I was watching Hawking himself go through his terrible ordeal. But even through the depression he initially battled, as well as the incredible suffering and debilitation he endured, Hawking found true love in Jane Wilde, who’s played by Felicity Jones in the film. It becomes quite obvious to the viewer that Jane’s love of Stephen becomes one of the greatest positive forces to preventing him from ever giving up. As the rest of the movie goes on to painfully show Hawking become the deformed wheelchair figure he is today using that computerized voice to speak, I was clearly reminded how there’s always someone out there worse off than me. But regardless of his life’s tragic circumstances, Hawking has defied his doctor’s odds many times over. And not only did he find true love (twice), he also went on to parent three children, gain his doctorate, and garner many awards, honors, and achievements for his work in theoretical physics and cosmology.

But what I found most interesting from the movie and the research I did on Hawking afterwards is my discovery that he’s a proclaimed atheist. While I’m sure Hawking would say that the two loves of his life were guiding forces for many of those times when he wanted to give up, I’m inclined to believe that he has more spiritual beliefs than he realizes. The power of love is something I tend to think comes from something greater than all of us and not something we can just create. After all, if we were able to just create it whenever we wanted, we’d probably be falling in love a lot more often in life. Regardless, Hawking received this precious gift twice in life where each would keep him going when he most needed it. Whether he ever chooses to acknowledge the possibility that his true loves may have come from a Higher Presence or not I don’t know. Either way, Hawking is unquestionably one of the greatest minds that have ever lived. But more importantly, The Theory Of Everything cleared showed how his ability to transcend his unfortunate life circumstances and never given up is something that can be a spiritual inspiration for many, like it undoubtedly has been for me.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

If you had to live in a television show as the lead character for the rest of your life, which one would it be? As you can see by today’s title, I wish I was Barry Allen, aka The Flash, which is a show currently airing weekly on the CW.

For those who aren’t superhero nuts like myself, Barry Allen was an average guy living an average life as a police chemist doing what he could to help fight crime. But one night he’s suddenly struck by lightning, which also shatters various vials of chemicals he’s working with all over him. After awaking from a coma, Allen becomes fully imbued with the power to move at nearly the speed of light. In time, he also discovers he has the ability to pass through objects and phase into other dimensions as well.

Why I’d choose to be Barry Allen in this CW TV show is how much the lead character has qualities that remind me so much of myself. In it, Barry, who’s played by actor Grant Gustin, is somewhat of a nerdy loner with a sarcastic and witty side to himself. That’s pretty close to how I see myself today and how I mostly was during my teenage years. But the trait I’ve always admired the most about Barry Allen is the same I liked with how the comic books originally portrayed him. Barry’s truest inner desire was always to be a hero and help others, which becomes totally apparent once he gains his superpower.

I’m not really sure why I’ve always gravitated the most towards The Flash though given the rest of the team he eventually becomes a part of, that being the Justice League. After all, his teammates include Green Lantern, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman, all of which are much stronger and endowed with more than just a single ability. Maybe that’s why though because just like I was when growing up, Barry Allen was that average skinny geek who was regularly picked on and bullied and never fast enough to get away from any of it. But when he gains the ability to run even faster than Superman, he doesn’t run away from any of that danger anymore. Instead, he runs right towards it finding plenty of ways to utilize his gift to help protect the greater good of mankind.

By far, I find this CW series to be the most accurate I’ve ever seen a comic book hero portrayed. For years I waited to see something like this manifest for my favorite fictional character and thankfully, it’s finally here. I really wish there was a way for me to magically transport myself into this series and live as Barry Allen. Alas, I’m pretty sure there’s not so I guess I’ll have to settle for living vicariously through watching actor Grant Gustin on my television screen each week. And in the meantime, while I continue to enjoy watching this new series, I patiently await the development of my own unique spiritual superpowers, as I’m totally convinced we all have them lying dormant within us, waiting to emerge when the time is right, solely for the sake of being a guardian of the Light.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Are you the type of individual who normally judges someone at face value? Normally I’m not these days, but when I think of Bill Murray as an actor, my first thoughts usually aren’t of someone who takes on an overly dramatic role in a movie. Oddly enough, that’s exactly the type of part he played in his latest venture, “St. Vincent”, which proved to be quite a rewarding departure from all the other iconic characters he’s played over the years. And ironically, this movie became a great reminder of why I should never judge someone at face value, because often there’s so much more depth hiding beneath every person’s surface.

My truth is that I used to judge most people at face value for years instead of looking for any depth beneath their surface. In Bill Murray’s case, I always pegged him as a hysterically humorous actor and not much more because of the roles he frequently played in movies such as Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, What About Bob, and Caddyshack, the first three of which are actually personal favorites. But like most actors and actresses attempt to do as their careers evolve, Murray slowly began taking on slightly more serious parts over the years. Maybe all of them have been leading up to his role in St. Vincent, as it’s this movie that truly portrays his depth is far deeper than just a comedian on screen, much like Tom Hanks and Robin Williams were able to demonstrate along the way in their own acting careers.

In Murray’s latest film, he plays a man named Vincent who by all appearances is a completely disheveled, selfish, conniving drunkard and nothing more. And that’s precisely what his new neighbors (Maggie, played by Melissa McCarthy, and Oliver, played by Jaeden Lieberher) see right off the bat when their moving company accidentally damages Vincent’s old convertible upon arrival. We soon learn after this that Maggie has to work long hours to support her son, which in turn leaves Oliver to figure out life much on his own. As fate normally seems to intertwine two people together who are meant to learn lessons from each other, Oliver is brought into Vincent’s life the very next day when a bully at school ends up stealing some of his possessions, which included the keys to his home. Forced to babysit someone who’s obviously not a baby at all, Vincent does his most dysfunctional best to take care of Oliver until his mother can come home from work. From the very moment Oliver walks into Vincent’s home that afternoon, he does as many children would regularly do. He starts looking for the best in Vincent regardless of the first impression he made the prior day. And while Maggie and the rest of the world throughout most of the movie fail to see Vincent for anything more than what he shows at face value, Oliver is the only one who takes the time to see the gold that truly lies beneath Vincent’s very surface.

Being in recovery from addiction, I frequently have come across a wide variety of personalities, some very much like Vincent himself. But through my spiritual work, I’ve come to embrace the childlike side of me enough so that I can look at others just like Oliver was able to do with Vincent in this film. This in turn has helped me to look beneath the surface time and time again with various individuals who are often passed over and ignored because of how they usually present themselves at face value. In every case when I have, I’ve always found the treasure of one’s heart and soul present in some fashion or another.

The real irony here though is that at one point in time, I was actually no different than Vincent in how the rest of the world perceived me. I was a selfish, self-centered, dry drunk who did everything possible to keep everyone as far away as I could from my heart. But God always saw fit to bring individuals with the personality of Oliver into my life exactly when I needed it, to show me the gold that was waiting to be seen just beneath my own surface.

So I want to offer my sincere gratitude to Bill Murray for starring in the movie St. Vincent, as he reminded me not once, but twice on why I should always look beneath the surface and never take anyone at face value. Not only did he show his incredible aptitude to handle an overly dramatic role such as this, his role as Vincent clearly demonstrated the depth that’s usually hiding beneath every person’s surface, including my own…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson