More than a feeling

The men who stared at goats. I wanted to watch this movie for a long time. And although it makes fun of so many concepts and idealogies, what it does is actually this:

It gives you faith in divine coincidences.

That's true. It does. And you may not want to believe in divine coincidences, and so you may think of the whole movie as just a funny story. Designed to make you laugh.

Here are some coincidences that are funny:

Lyn Cassidy is wearing a batch with his real name on it when he meets Bob and tells him that his name is "Skip." Bob happens to have heard Lyn's name in an interview with a guy (Jim Lacey) who claims to have super powers.

Bob draws a doodle with the illuminati all-seeing eye, and Lyn shows him that this is the sign of the Jedi, barring his chest to show him the tattoo, when Bob doubts that he's in a good situation in life after they're kidnapped. This is to prove to him that all seeming adversity is just you flowing through life and that everything is as it's meant to be. Destiny.

Here are some ironic coincidences:

When Lyn and Bob are about to die in the desert from thirst, a goat runs past them and towards a small oasis, literally leading them to it. It's almost as if the goat is trying to help Lyn stay alive, even though Lyn stared at a goat and made it die.

Here are some coincidences that are not obvious at the first look, but are important. Most divine coincidences that have transformed people and entire communities follow similar patterns:

Lyn sees an astral projection of Bill, and follows his intuition all the way to Al-Quiam, where he finds Bill at a psych-lab run by Larry. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew that he had to go somewhere close to Al-Quiam. By some strange coincidence, a helicopter from Larry's operation picks Bob and Lyn up after they're lost in the desert. One tries to fulfill one's mission and sometimes gives up hope midway, but divine help is sent to encourage one in the mission.

Bob meets Lyn just as Lyn is about to go find Bill, and is instrumental in helping Bill and Lyn fulfill their life mission of establishing truth, love, compassion, and peace in the place of the soul-selling, evil-minded uncompassionate thirst for power and prestige that Larry embodies.

Bob is the only one who lives to tell the story of Lyn and Bill, and his desire to write a real story as a Journalist is almost fulfilled. But no one believes him. Yet he finds that the almost fulfillment of this desire has led him to find his true nature - a compassionate living being who wants to fight for the cause of the truth and who gives up all fear, and I hope, pride as well - which is shown to be the cause of Lyn's falldown. This is a divine fulfillment of wishes is done in a way as to enlighten one instead of simply fulfilling desires.

So these coincidences are worth thinking about. This movie reflects some nice core values of human beings. For example, soldiers unwilling to shoot dogs in the legs. And a colonel cringing when he reads about cat-kitten telepathy experiments in the soviet.

Bill redeems himself with the help of Bob, and this is a classic student saves teacher moment. If a teacher has no student, except failed students, he feels useless and unfulfilled. So there is a nice inter-dependence shown, and Bob surrenders to Bill even though he had so many doubts about this whole thing. He learns everything in the Evolutionary Tactics manual from the writer himself. And even after his "guru" passes away, he keeps those teachings alive in himself and learns the tactics to perfection.

Anyway. Others will perceive it differently, but I love this movie for telling it like it is. The truth, and the way of compassion. The real fulfillment of life and destiny. The struggle to believe in something beyond what is apparent and "scientific". The search for truth. The search for a mission. Heartbreak and God's wisdom. Gentle war. Gentleness is the strength of a warrior. From suffering to enlightenment. Haribol!

Let's fight and have misunderstandings

In chapter 14 of Bhagavad Gita, it is explained how sometimes the mode of goodness defeats passion and ignorance, sometimes passion defeats the other two, and at other times ignorance wins over them.

This shows how the modes of material nature are constantly fighting for supremacy, and the result is that the people through which these modes are fighting, take it that the fight is between them.

Let's fight and have misunderstandings. That's not what anyone wants, and is yet the most invetiable thing that exists. It's impossible to prevent it from happening. It's as sure as death. It's just a matter of time before something like this happens.

And sometimes we lose sleep over it. We boil our own blood. We harm ourselves to no end, thinking, >>I've been misunderstood << and let the pain of that feeling turn into anger.

This is the story of life. We are pained when we are misunderstood and we suffer immeasurably in an ocean of such pain. And this happens again and again, and the trigger is outside our control.

Thankfully, the choice of whether to undergo such pain is with us. Suffering is optional. When someone doesn't understand us, misquotes or misjudges us, spreads rumors about us or fights with us, we can choose whether to accept the pain and suffer, or to understand the position of our opponent and forgive them for not being able to understand us. We can forgive their lack of perspective, lack of knowledge, and presumptuousness. We can appreciate that they are trying to do the best they can from the position they are in, and that we would behave the same way if we had the same amount of knowledge as them.

Ignorance is no reason to hate someone. It's just a reason to feel true compassion for them.
One who is wise talks less, because generally no one wants to hear the bitter truth from them and no one really likes to pass on the mic. People would rather talk and be heard by others than listen to someone dissecting their maladies for them.

Today, I want to promise to myself that when I am misunderstood, I shall simply take shelter of Krishna and pray for help and guidance. He is the only one who will never misunderstand me. I cannot change others or help them feel less angry with me beyond a certain point. That is their choice if they continue to misunderstand even after I try to explain my position. All I can do is accept their choice and remain humble. It definitely does not mean that I agree with them superficially to make them feel better or to stroke their ego. If I disagree with them, then I do, but without anger or any ill feeling. My opinion is not against any person, it's just an opinion, and it's out there and people can do what they like with it, react in any manner that they see fit.