Watch "I AM"

**AJL** · 11-27-2012 01:19 AM

**CSummer** · 11-29-2012 01:00 AM

Thanks much for posting this.

It's a really well done movie. Unfortunately, he (Tom Shadyac) didn't answer the questions he started with:

What's wrong with our world? What can we do about it?

Instead, he ends up with a "better" question: What's right with our world? Well, it's an easier question, but I also think it's evading the quest to find an in-depth answer - especially to the first question: What's wrong with our world? But of course - as he seems to realize - what's wrong, on one level at least, is the way we live in the world. Which should bring us to the next question: Why do we live the "modern, civilized" way of life - which, upon examination, seems rather sick? Even though many of us know this, why do we continue to live in ways that don't bring us happiness, peace or the sense of connectedness we seek?

Here is perhaps one of the best clues in the movie:

Coleman Barks says, "All of Rumi's poems were meant to open the heart - what does that mean? He (Rumi) says,

'What was said to the rose that made it open,
was said to me here in my chest.'"

What was said to the rose that made it open? I believe it was "the universe" (or the rose's physical environment) saying: All your needs are met, so the life energy can flow freely within and through you. Become and express that which you are as a celebration of life! There is no need to hide or protect any of who you are; you can allow your magnificent being to shine forth.

Both of the questions Shadyac started with are important if we want to make the world a better place and evolve as a social species. To change the world for the better, we need to have a real, in-depth understanding of why it is the way it is. We need to see clearly where we're starting from before we can begin the journey to where we want to go. Otherwise, we may (continue to) go in circles and end up back where we started.

CSummer