Can’t think of anyone who doesn’t love a good movie; there might be fewer in this day and age who love a good book, but it’s enough to mention you as well. There are some people who watch every movie that comes out, more or less. Others are in tune with how a movie or genre of movie can affect them, and they avoid certain types of movies/books. They wait until something comes out that they know they can trust and watch without being negatively affected.
There are many who would say “Movies/books don’t affect me”. I once tried to claim that as fact as well, although deep down I knew it was a lie. When visiting friends or relatives, I would stay up late watching things that I knew my concerned parents would not allow me to watch at such a young and impressionable age. Some of those scenes are seared into my mind and I cannot forget them, even if I tried. I might not think of them for a while, but come some dark night, alone in my home, the echoing memories return with a vengeance and I wish I had not watched such things. Each time I make the wrong decision about a movie or a book, I am sorry about it later, because the mind might be a sponge, but it’s not a washable one. The popular adage, “You are what you eat” applies every bit as much to things you take into your mind, not only your body—even more so because you can flush out your system and start a new diet and exercise regime, turning your life around, but memories remain for a lifetime.
I have a few wise friends; they state that they will not watch a video unless it has been recommended by someone they know. That way they won’t waste hours on some mindless “entertainment” and their spirits will not be detrimentally affected by something truly horrific. Makes sense to me.
For those who are spiritually attuned, even if they don’t realize it, certain movies can affect them more than that same movie will affect another. Spiritual movies are among my favorites, but when it has an undertone of a negative spirit, sometimes I am sorry that I watched it at all, or realize that I should have gone in with a bit more preparation, either on what to expect or how to take it in.
Have you ever noticed that you sometimes suddenly feel happy when hearing a certain type of song? Or how sometimes you can feel unexplainable depression for no apparent reason after viewing something? Well, more often than not, movies, books, and songs are mediums—vehicles—for a variety of spirits. Those spirits enter us and affect us when we partake of their mediums. Sometimes the most unexpected movie will take a spiritual turn, or will carry a spirit in it. Sometimes it is beautiful, deep and unforgettable; other times it is something I would rather not have let into my mind.
In response to a need I've always wanted filled, I will be posting occasional “spiritual reviews”, a spiritual critique of a movie, perhaps some insight I have gained, or an experience some of us have had, with a particular movie or book. Feel free to write in with suggestions or questions about any movie you have viewed, or books that you have read. I will be more than happy to hear from you and slowly this list will grow!
Hereafter
I was taken aback more by one thing in this movie than by anything else. It both surprised and saddened me. It also had a good effect: it made me all the more eager in searching out my destiny and enabling others to discover theirs.
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Hereafter
I was taken aback more by one thing in this movie than by anything else. It both surprised and saddened me. It also had a good effect: it made me all the more eager in searching out my destiny and enabling others to discover theirs. A woman who nearly died, actually had died, experienced what is known as an NDE—a near death experience. As a result, she knew that there was something more than just this life. She felt it. She saw it. She experienced it. She knew it.
The surprising part to me was the reaction she received when opening up to the man who was closer to her than anyone else. She asked him if he ever thought of what happens beyond this life, and if there is some sort of hereafter.
His reaction? He first said he had never really thought about it. Then he suggested she take time off of work to “get over it”.
I turned to my friend, who was watching the movie with me, and asked, can that be real? Can someone go through their entire life never thinking of what is to follow? I found that hard to believe, but my friend assured me, that is the case.
Why?
Is it that because there is no proof, no 'evidence' of a world beyond that we close our eyes and minds, our very hearts, to that which can give us greater joy and purpose than anything this life has to offer?
The beauty of the message in hereafter was to see those searching for something deeper, something greater than the sorrows that they felt and the difficulties that they faced. They might not have found every answer, but they found faith, and they found they were not alone, not here in this life, nor after in the next. In the world around us, there are many who also search, and perhaps one of them have found that exact puzzle piece for which you seek. Then there are those in the world beyond who whisper, beckon, encourage and guide us as we walk this path.
And those who never really thought of it, those who looked askance at the ones who believed, those who could not accept that such things exist or accept those with gifts they could not explain? Perhaps a seed was planted, an impression in their hearts, a thought, a question, a hope. And one day, when the things of this life fail them, they might just open their hearts and finally find the answers for which their souls were always searching, that there is a hereafter in which is love, hope, and the promise of eternal beauty and where we will never again have to say goodbye to those we love.
(From Wikipedia: Hereafter is a 2010 American drama fantasy film directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. The film tells three parallel stories about three people affected by death in different ways; Matt Damon plays American factory worker George, who is able to communicate with the dead; Cécile de France plays French television journalist Marie, who survives a near-death experience during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; and Frankie and George McLaren play Marcus, a British boy who wants to communicate with his dead older brother, Jason.)
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The Five People You Meet in Heaven
When I began the book, I liked it right away. I loved the style, where you know what is going to happen, only it hasn't happened yet.
As the book progressed, though, I wasn't so sure. The writing style was great, but some of the concepts didn't sit right with me or my perceived concepts of Heaven. It’s funny, isn’t it, that we could have such strong concepts of something we have never seen?
But still, a man who made it to heaven but was still cursed to have his skin a bluish hue because of things that had happened in his life on earth? And a man smoking in heaven? Those things just didn't seem to fit into my picture of heaven...until, of course, the story progressed, as stories do.
Then those things finally made sense, beautiful sense, sense of a deeper kind than a heaven where everything is just as you expect it to be.
And those things I wondered about as I read through the story? They end up being unexpected surprises that make life—not only this life but also the life beyond—beautiful.
The most beautiful though, is following the journey of one who followed the path he was led—and, as such, felt he amounted to nothing—finally realizing how much of a wonderful difference he made in the life of many. That's the greatest surprise of Heaven. Regardless of what other awesome wonders, amazements and surprises await us, that one will be the best of all.
It will meet each of us at the end of our road, that time when we finally understand, that time when it all makes sense, that time when we will have forever to enjoy with those we love, and to thank God for the rugged road that made us who we are.
Those interested in this book can: click right here
(From Wikipedia: The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a novel by Mitch Albom. It recounts the life and death of an old maintenance man named Eddie. After dying in an accident, Eddie finds himself in the five heavens of the five people he will meet in heaven, where he encounters five people who have significantly affected his life, whether he realized at the time or not. Mitch Albom dedicates the book to his uncle Edward Beitchman. He says that he wants people like his uncle who felt unimportant during their lives to realize how much they mattered and how they were loved. The Five People You Meet in Heaven was published in 2003 by Hyperion, and remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 95 weeks.)
