Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

The story of Noah’s Ark was always one of the ones I found most inspirational when growing up. While the details are of were quite limited in the Bible to Genesis 5:32-10:1, there have been many who have speculated their version of what also might have transpired during Noah’s time. I recently saw one of those when I went to the theater and watched Darren Aronofsky’s version. The interesting thing I noticed within myself though was that I wasn’t feeling the inspiration I was hoping for when I left the theater that day after the movie had ended.

I really try to look for the good in everything and the movie Noah definitely had a lot of pluses. In fact, I do believe that Darren Aronofsky is an incredible writer and director. All of the films I’ve seen by him including The Fountain and Black Swan have been incredibly visionary on so many levels. The difficulty I have had though in watching any of his films is the darkness that is portrayed within each of them. Noah is no exception to that and while Aronofsky did bring his cinematic genius to the movie, my soul never once stirred with brightness during any point of the film.

I’m convinced that when I cry while watching any movie, whether it be tears of happiness and joy, or sadness and grief, that my soul is stirring within. Films such as Ghost, 42, The Notebook, Pretty Woman, Fruitvale Station, Gran Torino and so many others have done this very thing. I treasure those moments when a movie is able to make me cry, as I feel it connects me so much closer to the God of my understanding.

When I saw the preview of Noah a while back I was looking forward to seeing another movie that would most likely stir my soul again to tears. After all, the story of Noah in the Bible does that all by itself. Who wouldn’t be inspired if God appeared and called upon them for some great task that would not only save all the animals on the planet, but also be tasked to start the human race again? For me, the idea of floating out on sea in a huge ship of sorts, with all those animals, would have brought an incredible array of spiritual experiences. The movie Life of Pi is almost a small version of that on some level. Aronofsky chose to focus though on something entirely different in his portrayal of Noah.

Instead, his perceptive was centered more on a descendant of Cain and the evil left behind in his lineage that was said to have permeated the entire planet. Aronofsky chose to highlight the debauchery, fornication, and temptation of evil that came from that lineage throughout most of the entire film. He also brought in a fantasy element (the Watchers) that was reminiscent of something out of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. And he even portrayed Noah himself as an extremely controlling, and even somewhat of a homicidal man.

While I understand there wasn’t much source material to come up with a full-length movie, I had always pictured Noah as a peaceful man who loved all people and all creatures. On some level, I would have thought Noah was a complete pacifist who was opposed to any type of violence. But, I understand that’s my take on those few passages of Noah in the Bible while Aronofsky had his own idea of what took place back then.

It’s not my place to downplay the incredible work of art that the film Noah truly is, as much as it is for me to express my disappointment that I didn’t feel enriched by a movie that I truly thought would have stirred my soul. In a time and age where there is so much daily bloodshed, war, and violence, I treasure those brief moments in a dark movie theater where I can sniffle and wipe a tear away from my eye in peace. I welcome those moments where I get those God-bumps all over my body when I see something entirely uplifting on the screen. And I am entirely grateful for each of those movies that help me somehow to grow more spiritually after watching them. But sadly, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah wasn’t one of them as much as I wanted it to be.

I commend this writer and director though for beating to his own drum and developing his own work of art that spoke to him. On that level, he and I are no different. I just hope someday that someone will develop a movie about Noah that will portray a spiritual man in a much brighter light. Until then, I know there will be plenty of other movies that will continue to stir my soul and fill me with the love and light that I seek from God.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

I’m currently just a few weeks into this new television show entitled Resurrection. So far, the entire premise surrounds the strange return of several previously dead individuals to their families and loved ones. And no, this isn’t a new zombie television show, even though it may sound like it. In fact each of the people who have returned so far, are quite alive and healthy. But let me set something straight before you get the wrong impression, this entry is not specifically about that show or my theories behind it. Instead, it’s about a question that show has raised within me since I began to watch it.

What would I do if someone I once loved and cared about, who had previously died, suddenly returned from the grave, completely alive and well, as if not a single day had passed since their death?

A lot of thoughts cross my mind when I ponder this question. Of course the first people I think of are my father and mother, who both tragically died from their brief life on this planet. For those readers who are new to my writings, my father took his own life around the age of 51, while my mother died when she fell down the stairs in a drunken episode at the age of 61. To imagine either one of them suddenly showing up on my doorstep, alive and well, seems inconceivable. Realistically, I’m sure my ego would most likely be running through the same gambit of crazy questions the characters are doing now in that latest episode of Resurrection.

What I do know is that if my mother or father were to reappear today, all conspiracies and alien theories aside, I would embrace them with all the love and light I could muster. Many years ago though, I couldn’t say the same. Back then I harbored fierce anger and resentment anytime I thought about them.

It took me a long time to find forgiveness in my heart for both of my parents because of what I went through with them my entire life, especially with how their lives ended. Before that happened, I used to talk about their alcoholism and mental illness to others with viciousness and spite in my words. And what I didn’t realize was how much that was holding me back from not only healing my own life, but also in seeing any of the good they did do while they were alive. Thankfully, that’s not the case anymore.

When I speak of my parents these days in any of the motivation talking I do with others, it’s never to put them down, as I love the both of them dearly now. The reality is that I have been freed from that poison I placed within myself all those years I carried anger towards them. I truly don’t feel that anymore, nor do I feel any hate, rage, frustration, or negative emotions towards either of them. It took me years of hard work in therapy, with many spiritual teachers, and with my recovery work, to get here. And this is the reason why I know if my parents were to be resurrected today for some strange reason, I would have only one desire, which is to show them as much unconditional love as I could.

I know this idea of people returning from the grave in a non zombie-like state is pretty far-fetched and hard to grasp. But in all truthfulness, that was never the point of this article. The only thing I had hoped all of you would see is how you might feel inside if loved ones suddenly started returning from the grave, alive and well.

If some part of you felt any ill-will or negative emotions when you pictured them coming back, then just know it’s an area of your life that you may want to spend some more time working on. Harboring any anger, negativity, or resentment towards anyone, dead or alive, is only going to prevent you from spiritually growing and becoming the beacon of light that you are meant to become.

I should know as I spent years being angry with my parents, well beyond the day they died. While my mother and father may have passed rather young and cut their lives short from what they could have achieved here, I’m thankful I’m not haunted anymore by any negative memories of them. But even more importantly, I am quite grateful for a television show like Resurrection. Watching its first few episodes have reminded me how much spiritual work I’ve done in my life to have the good memories that I do now of my parents.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

I once used to love playing with Legos. Ok, I’ll admit it, I still do when I get around them, as it always seems to bring the kid out in me. And that’s a good thing! But the thought of anyone going to the movies, especially me, and paying to see a full length version of them in action made me chuckle when I first saw the trailer for The Lego Movie. But when I saw that the film made $69 million in its opening weekend and how favorable of reviews it was getting, I caved in and decided to go see a 3D version of it. What I never imagined would have happened because of that decision was me having a good spiritual cry by the end of it.

Shedding tears at a romantic comedy or a sad drama is something I always expect to happen when I go to see one of them in the theater. But the idea that Legos could do the same thing to me seems unfathomable, but it did. The Lego Movie was truly unique and had all the right elements of humor, action, and drama. There was even a big twist at the end of it that I didn’t see coming. On some level the movie reminded me of a kids version of The Matrix and maybe that’s why I liked it so much. In both, the main character strives to find out who they are with the hopes of becoming something greater. And in the end, both discover that answer was always within themselves.

The Lego Movie’s main character is Emmet Brickowski, who plays an average Lego builder that aspires to be more than he is. He wants to have friends and be known for something more, but day to day, it’s always the same routine. But when one of his sets of directions, which he follows so diligently each and every day at work, flies out of his grasp, he quickly chases after it like it’s his best friend. Upon finding it, he notices a stranger in a black cloak wandering around a part of the construction site nearby. After informing them they’re not supposed to be there, the stranger drops their hood to reveal a woman who Emmet becomes completely tongue-tied over. When she suddenly disappears, he pursues her, only to fall down a very long pit. What he finds at the bottom of it, is what begins his journey of spiritual transformation to discover how important he is and always has been.

There are great parallels in the Lego Movie that I saw to my own life. Over the past few years, I’ve been on my own path of self-discovery, and it’s one that hasn’t been all that easy. There are many times I doubt myself and just want to give up, but there always seems to be something that comes along to keep me going. I often wonder if each of those things are somehow signs coming from God. Whether it was God urging me in my own soul to go see this movie or not, I can’t say. But what I can say is this.

The Lego Movie is a gem of a film that showed me just how important my own spiritual journey in life is. While I might have been questioning that journey a little on the day I saw it, I know I wasn’t when I left the theater. And if I could summarize one positive message for all of you that I took from it, it’s really that we all are unique and special in our own way.

So don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, you are important in so many ways. Whether you realize it yet or not, don’t fret. Just be open to your own spiritual journey and please never give up pursuing it. Emmet Brickowski didn’t and you don’t have to either.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson