Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

Would you like to live forever? Would you want to discover a fountain of youth? These are questions I’ve been pondering since I began watching this new television series on ABC starring Ioan Gruffudd, which is ironically titled the same, “Forever”.

The premise of this series is about a New York City medical examiner named Dr. Henry Morgan who has been trying to discover the reason for his immortality for over 200 years. What is even more interesting about this show is its science fiction spin with how Henry never ages and how if by some chance he dies by gunshot or some other random tragic event, he only wakes up in a body of water nearby, completely naked and looking exactly the same. While the science fiction of “Forever” may be a little far-fetched for anyone to believe it could ever happen in real life, the idea of discovering a fountain of youth someday probably does interest a large amount of the world’s population, except I must say I’m not one of them.

I can honestly admit that I wouldn’t want to go on to live forever, at least in this physical vessel. Of course I should state my belief that there’s a soul within me immortal already. But stepping aside from having that philosophical discussion about the existence of a soul, I truly can’t imagine what it would be like to remain 42 years old for centuries and millenniums to come. Would it be interesting to see how technologies evolved (or didn’t), whether equality grew (or not), or did the planet head towards world peace (or further war)? Sure, but there are so many things I wouldn’t want to see though.

Following the example of “Forever”, let’s pretend only I have this fountain of youth. The idea of watching my entire family and loved ones grow old and die doesn’t seem all too alluring. Neither does it seem that enticing to me to watch the person I’m in love with grow old and die while I’m left behind having only the option of restarting the process all over again. I think I’d also fear my immortality would get discovered just like Henry does in the show, because then I’d probably just become someone’s government lab rat if that were to happen. But let’s change the example for hypothetical purposes and say the entire world discovers this fountain of youth. Overcrowding would then occur, which most likely would only lead to higher governmental controls, and in turn that undoubtedly would just amplify everything exponentially we are already seeing happening in our world today.

Territorial wars, civil unrest, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and people becoming more selfish and self-centered, that’s what I believe would transpire if the fountain of youth were discovered one day. There are actually several great movies that have depicted this already with one of my personal favorites being “In Time”. Elysium is also another interesting one to check out as well.

The fact remains that I kind of like the spiritual changes I’ve been going through so far in life of being a kid and then growing into my teenage years, and of becoming a young adult and then maturing into full adulthood, which is where my spiritual journey has me right now. While the idea of growing old may scare me slightly, especially in a world so obsessed with beauty and good looks, I think it would scare me a whole heck of a lot more if I remained this age and then endured something tragic such as becoming paralyzed, losing my limbs, becoming blind or deaf, and having to live with any of those conditions for an eternity.

So I may not like the wrinkles that are developing, or the gray hair that’s spreading, or the aches and pains that are growing, but there is one thing I really do like about my mortality. It’s watching my spirituality grow as I continue to age and evolve and believing the immorality and fountain of youth already resides deep within me, simply waiting to return home to its loving Source. In the meantime, I’m going to continue enjoying watching television series like “Forever” knowing I too would be just like Dr. Henry Morgan, longing to end his repetitive cycle of life without death…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Let me say right off the bat that this article isn’t anything about what sometimes can happen to a person at the end of a massage. Hopefully you already knew that though with the latter part of the title. LOL. Quickly moving on, an attribute that’s very important to me in the shows I regularly watch on television is that they each have happy endings or are leading towards one. This is one of the main reasons why I can’t get myself to watch something like The Walking Dead.

So yes, I’m not one of the 15 to 18 million viewers who are regularly viewing this show, but that’s not because it’s not a good one, because I believe it actually is. It’s just not the kind of thing I want to spend my time following given the apocalyptic struggles for survival the show surrounds.

If you happen to be one who doesn’t even know what I’m talking about, this show is based on a comic book series of the same name and its premise is quite simple. It’s about a group of people trying to survive after a virus turns the majority of the population into zombies. And as Season 5 begins, the majority of the show so far has been nothing more than killing zombies and avoiding becoming one. I only know this because I follow the entertainment industry so avidly. But I have to admit something, as I did try to watch this series back in its inception. Unfortunately, it gave me such terrible nightmares in the first few episodes I had to stop tuning in to it. While it is well scripted, well acted, and well directed, it really is hard for me to tune into something like this that has no happy ending in each episode or is even leading towards one.

Life is tough enough already given the state of our world and the levels of darkness that still exist within it. So the idea of tuning into something like The Walking Dead, which most likely is only going to depress me, isn’t very alluring. Instead, I like to watch television shows that uplift me by the end of each episode or are always heading in that direction. And this of course is the happy ending I’m speaking of in my title. Shows such as Mom, Once Upon a Time, Arrow, The Flash (which is about to make its freshman debut on the CW) and a number of others are ones I regularly follow. While every episode might not end with a happy ending, the theme of those I do watch are always good triumphing over evil and trying to create more hope in this world for others.

The Walking Dead isn’t so much about creating hope though, as it’s more about struggling to find any of it left and that to me is a very bleak thing indeed. I see enough situations going on in the world today that parallel this such as the wars happening oversees. Sometimes I just want to tune all of that out and create a little hope within myself by watching something that will uplift me and provide that happy ending.

I know that life won’t necessarily have happy endings like this all the time, but I realize in my spiritual journey that I want to have as much positivity in my life as possible. Thus the idea of watching something that will only depress me because it reminds me of the sad state of our world doesn’t attract me. It’s my hope to be a vessel on this planet that spreads more love and light and watching something on television that somehow seems to snuff some of that out is definitely going in the opposite direction of where I want to be heading.

So while The Walking Dead may be a good quality show in regards to its entertainment elements, it’s ultimately just not for me. The closer I draw to my Higher Power, the more I find myself wanting to be uplifted in what I watch, so I look for programs that have happy endings or are heading towards one. Hopefully at some point, the writers of The Walking Dead may end the series in a positive note by finding a cure and saving the world, as then and only then, might I tune into watching it. Until then, I’m going to continue viewing the ones that are helping me remain focused on why I’m here, which is to create more hope and be a greater vessel of love and light for everyone.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

There is such a divisive line being drawn right now in our country between those who are for gay marriage and those who are not. While I may be biased being in a gay relationship myself, watching the documentary movie titled Bridegroom the other day was a sad reminder of why it really is that important for our entire country to legalize same-sex marriage as soon as possible.

Bridegroom is a movie that came out in 2013 that chronicles the same-sex relationship of Shane Bitney Crone and Thomas “Tom” Lee Bridegroom. The two moved to Los Angeles to escape their individual small hometowns where being gay was never widely accepted. Shane came from Kalispell, Montana, while Tom was from Knox, IN and the two would eventually meet through mutual friends. It didn’t take them long to become an item and fall deeply in love with each other. They were very happy together, which was much to the dismay of Tom’s parents who initially threatened violence against Shane for believing he turned their son gay. Shane’s family on the other hand was far more accepting of their relationship and embraced them with a lot more tenderness.

The two would go on to spend their entire years together traveling much of the globe while filming each of their trips to some of the greatest wonders of the world. It was their goal to see all of them, but sadly they never got to because Tom accidentally fell one day from the top of their apartment building six years into their devoted relationship. As Tom lay in a hospital bed living his final moments in life, Shane was denied access to see his partner because he wasn’t family. When Tom’s mother came after his death, she would go through Shane and Tom’s home taking things without any regard to how Shane might feel. But the hardest of all for Shane was when he was denied the ability to attend Tom’s funeral in Knox and was even threatened all over again with physical violence if he attempted to. Even worse, neither Tom’s obituary nor his funeral would make any mention of Shane at all.

As part of his healing process, Shane decided to document all of these experiences in a YouTube video titled “It Could Happen To You” that garnered so many views it became the catalyst to making the actual movie. And through a Kickstarter campaign that went on to raise $384,375 from over 6,000 people, the film was actually able to come to fruition.

Bridegroom truly stirred my heart because I have known of others who have gone through similar experiences just like Shane and Tom. One friend of mine lost his partner after many loving years together, only to watch his deceased partner’s family take his house and most of his belongings away, which left him almost completely empty-handed and homeless. The two had not been able to marry because it wasn’t legal for them to do so, but if they had been, this would have never been able to happen.

I have to admit that I’ve been fearful at times living here with my partner because my relationship with his family has not been as close as I wish it to be. While they embraced his sexuality long ago, I haven’t fully felt the same of our partnership as of yet. I often wonder what would happen if he lay dying one day in a hospital. Would I be allowed to visit him? And if he were to actually pass away, would I even be allowed to attend his funeral and be listed in his obituary? I also think quite a bit about the home I live in given that it’s in my partner’s name. Would the family try to kick me out of it and even take some of our mutual belongings away if he were to die before me? I can’t answer any of these questions, but I honestly pray that they would be fully supportive of me if a tragedy like that should ever happen to my partner, unlike how Tom Bridegroom’s family was with Shane.

I sincerely hope that my partner and I will live for many more years together so that I never have to find out the answers to any of those questions. In the meantime, I will continue to have faith that gay marriage will one day be legalized everywhere in our country. But until then, my heart goes out to all the same-sex couples of the world that have had to endure discrimination and lack of unconditional love from others just like it was shown so tragically in the story of Shane and Tom in Bridegroom.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson