These cold, dark winter evenings seem to beg for movie night.. cozying in the little "movie fort" Eric and I have created in our tiny-home-on-wheels scenario in the woods. Hot Toddies, Moose Munch, and a Redbox DVD can make for a pretty sweet little date night at home. ;-) So... last night we watched a lovely, uncomfortable, rather bleak movie called "Time out of Mind". Haha... yeah, great date night movie. I seem to keep coming home with these kinds of movies, each time saying, "next time I'll get a comedy... I swear!" Either I'm a little warped or I just feel this pull to broaden and deepen my perspective on human existence. I'll go with the latter...... ;-)
Anyway, the movie starred Richard Gere, who gave an impressive, authentic performance as a homeless man. It was both enlightening and unsettling, to say the least, putting the audience right into his day-to-day life on the streets. We see him dissociate from himself, those around him, and his predicament and go into primitive survival mode. Ironically, it is when he is at his absolute lowest point, stripped of his worldly identity, eating from garbage cans and begging for change, that he comes to grips with his "reality" and has the epiphany that he had come to believe he was completely worthless... and then begins to challenge that belief a bit.
There was so much about the movie that was eye-opening, especially the bureaucracy involved in homelessness and how society deals with it... but that would be a whole other blog in and of itself. I don't want to minimize or simplify the plight of homelessness here, so I'll just stick with the more spiritual aspects I personally took from the movie. First and foremost, it really made me appreciate the littlest things we often take for granted... wow. Understatement, really. But it also got me thinking about the whole self-worth aspect... and connection... and what having a HOME really means.
So much of what shapes us and our experience of life is what we think and feel about ourselves and our lives, for sure. And... while I am so very grateful to have a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in, and food on the table... I know it is my connection to the spirit within me and to the spirits around me (my friends, family, community, and loved ones) that I believe to be HOME. The only real security. I am humbly aware that none of us are completely immune to the possibility of homelessness in the physical realm... being physically displaced or "reduced", as a character in the movie put it. That's where dependence on connection (interdependence) plays such an important role. It is in connection... to our deepest, highest selves and to "our tribe", so to speak... that we feel our true worth... and what gives us any kind of protection from worldly "set-backs", for lack of a better word.
A couple of years ago, at a time I was in a somewhat vulnerable place, a song (well, a chant, really) came to me and I just kept singing it to myself. It was both soothing and empowering... and felt like being cradled in a blanket of "homey comfort". I share it with you now... maybe it will feel good to you to sing it, too. No accompaniment... totally unproduced... raw. Recorded on my phone in my living room. :-)
Anyway, the movie starred Richard Gere, who gave an impressive, authentic performance as a homeless man. It was both enlightening and unsettling, to say the least, putting the audience right into his day-to-day life on the streets. We see him dissociate from himself, those around him, and his predicament and go into primitive survival mode. Ironically, it is when he is at his absolute lowest point, stripped of his worldly identity, eating from garbage cans and begging for change, that he comes to grips with his "reality" and has the epiphany that he had come to believe he was completely worthless... and then begins to challenge that belief a bit.
There was so much about the movie that was eye-opening, especially the bureaucracy involved in homelessness and how society deals with it... but that would be a whole other blog in and of itself. I don't want to minimize or simplify the plight of homelessness here, so I'll just stick with the more spiritual aspects I personally took from the movie. First and foremost, it really made me appreciate the littlest things we often take for granted... wow. Understatement, really. But it also got me thinking about the whole self-worth aspect... and connection... and what having a HOME really means.
So much of what shapes us and our experience of life is what we think and feel about ourselves and our lives, for sure. And... while I am so very grateful to have a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in, and food on the table... I know it is my connection to the spirit within me and to the spirits around me (my friends, family, community, and loved ones) that I believe to be HOME. The only real security. I am humbly aware that none of us are completely immune to the possibility of homelessness in the physical realm... being physically displaced or "reduced", as a character in the movie put it. That's where dependence on connection (interdependence) plays such an important role. It is in connection... to our deepest, highest selves and to "our tribe", so to speak... that we feel our true worth... and what gives us any kind of protection from worldly "set-backs", for lack of a better word.
A couple of years ago, at a time I was in a somewhat vulnerable place, a song (well, a chant, really) came to me and I just kept singing it to myself. It was both soothing and empowering... and felt like being cradled in a blanket of "homey comfort". I share it with you now... maybe it will feel good to you to sing it, too. No accompaniment... totally unproduced... raw. Recorded on my phone in my living room. :-)
What does home mean to you? Is there a feeling of home in your heart... family... community?
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