[ed note: I saw this article on another newsletter I receive and asked
permission to reprint it here. It’s a little different than the usual
fare I post here. But just as valid.]
I confess – I love movies, especially perception shifting ones. Actually I love what Del calls my "happy movies" and he keeps surprising me with a DVD to add to my collection.
When we visited my parents over Easter weekend I brought along his latest gift to me, a "happy movie" called "Enchanted" and we all watched it together. It was my second time through and once again I was enchanted.
But, since I had seen the story before I could look at it through my favorite lens, the perception shifting lens.
This is what brought me to examining what may seem like a strange
comparison between the movie "Enchanted" and the movie "The Matrix."
It’s not really as strange as it may seem at first because each movie
approaches and deals with the subject of "what is illusion and what is
reality." It is not a perfect analogy, but it is close enough to have
some fun with the idea.
Both movies allude to what I call the big R Reality, the Reality behind the façade that we accept as normal life.
The movie "Enchanted" begins with a fun montage of all the fairy tales
that in hearts we wish were actually true. There are beautiful scenes,
the princess in the tower, the animals and birds, nature as her friend,
the prince looking for her, true love, and "happily ever after."
Of course evil is also present represented in both movies, in "The
Matrix" by the machines and in "Enchanted" by the evil step-mother.
In "The Matrix" Neo consciously chooses the red pill knowing it will
lead him to the truth, but not realizing that he will discover another
world then the one he just left, a simulated reality, an illusion,
created by sentient machines in order to pacify the human population so
they could use them as a energy source.
In the movie "Enchanted" Giselle does not consciously choose, but is
tricked by her evil step- mother into a different reality, the world as
we know it today, a manufactured illusion, an agreed perception, where
there is no "happy ever after."
Unlike the characters in "The Matrix" she brings with her and never
leaves, her state of mind and point of view that love always prevails,
and that there is a "happy ever after." In fact another character in
"Enchanted" says, "She is not from anyplace I can find, it’s more like
she is from a state of mind."
In "The Matrix" although Neo wants to know the big R Reality behind
what appears as reality he never leaves the idea that it will be
complicated. The point of view and state of mind he accepts is that we
must suffer to find it, we need mentors and fight trainers, there is
one person who will save us all, and of course we need bullets.
In "Enchanted" the state of mind and point of view is simple. It is a
beautiful girl who knows only Love and sees everything through that
filter. She adapts her actions somewhat to the world she finds herself
with, but stays true to what she sees as Big R reality.
Her grace and love transforms everyone around her. That’s not her
intention, that’s not her mission, it happens because that is who she
is and what she does.
In the park she sings about Love and collects people as she celebrates
love and joy until a huge crowd joins her in a glorious song of
celebration. Her friend says, "Am I the only one who doesn’t know this
(love) song?" And that is the beginning of his transformation.
We don’t need to struggle to see Reality. We don’t have to fight with
weapons. It doesn’t have to be complicated. We don’t have to go back
and destroy. We don’t have to have a dark and dreary period of
wrestling with evil.
In the end of "Enchanted" the evil step-mother shows her true colors as
a huge monster, all the more easily destroyed. Actually she is self
destroyed because of ego. She is destroyed through the qualities of
loyalty, persistence, caring, love and courage appearing as a tiny
chipmunk who takes one simple step which causes evil to fall to its
destruction.
It’s a modern fairytale, but so is "The Matrix." Both are wonderful
movies, but since I get to choose which point of view and state of mind
I wish to stay in as we shift to a complete awareness of the Reality of
One Love, I choose "Enchanted."
“““““““““““““““““““`
©3/2008 Beca Lewis
Reprinted with Permission from:
*Article by Beca Lewis, MA, CFP and author of Living in Grace: The
Shift to Spiritual Perception. Visit http://www.theshift.com/ez.html
for more ideas to help Shift perception. Reprint permission granted
with this footer included.