Slumdog Millionaire Zen
"Unending, inseparable, unborn," said Danny Boyle in his acceptance speech for Best Director at this year’s Oscars when talking about Mumbai. If you’d blinked you may well have missed it.
You may not have even have understood the reference. But this is the unmistakable language of spiritual masters, from Shiva in Hinduism, from Krishna, the Buddha, and Zen masters throughout the ages, of ‘Big Mind’. It’s the description of the state of peace, of nirvana, and of something that is accessible to us at all times. Of things just as they are. It’s the state of Tiggers bouncing up and down, just being Tiggers.
The state of nirvana is completely uncomplicated, but what happens to us is also rather like Tiggers. Tiggers don’t get lost you see. But as we all know Tigers do get lost! So do we. We get caught up in our daily lives, in the daily workings of our minds.
It’d be difficult to argue that Danny Boyle isn’t doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing at this moment. Eight Oscars is an incredible haul for a British film, done on a budget, especially when you consider it touches upon poverty that couldn’t be further from the lives of those in Hollywood, or us in the UK.
What a film like Slumdog does is it touches all of us, it gives us, momentarily, with that feeling that we are not separate from our heroes on the screen. And it appeals to us very strongly, because somewhere within all of us we know that we are all connected.
Of course the road to Oscar glory isn’t without criticism. As the story of Slumdog has grown and grown, from a ‘straight to DVD release’ to the film of the year, there have been questions asked about the use of the word ‘slum dog’, of the payment of the stars, as to whether the film is taking advantage of the poor. The media love a story, they love a spin. In some ways they show us all the polarity of views. All of these points have their merits indeed, there is some truth in all of them.
What is undeniable coming out of the film is that the plight of those in Mumbai and others like them was in the consciousness of those who watched the film for 120 minutes. What every one of us does with that consciousness is up to us. Just to feel that for a while may be enough to change someone. We can never be sure what seeds have been sown.
So where does that leave us all in the City? In the financial world? What should we do next? Answer your email. Phone your client. Eat your lunch. Do whatever needs to be done right now, to the best of your ability. Allow yourself to flow with what is manifesting as your life, right now, in this moment, without judging it. That’s all.
http://life.hereisthecity.com/get_cultured/entertainment/cinema/879.cntns
The state of nirvana is completely uncomplicated, but what happens to us is also rather like Tiggers. Tiggers don’t get lost you see. But as we all know Tigers do get lost! So do we. We get caught up in our daily lives, in the daily workings of our minds.
It’d be difficult to argue that Danny Boyle isn’t doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing at this moment. Eight Oscars is an incredible haul for a British film, done on a budget, especially when you consider it touches upon poverty that couldn’t be further from the lives of those in Hollywood, or us in the UK.
What a film like Slumdog does is it touches all of us, it gives us, momentarily, with that feeling that we are not separate from our heroes on the screen. And it appeals to us very strongly, because somewhere within all of us we know that we are all connected.
Of course the road to Oscar glory isn’t without criticism. As the story of Slumdog has grown and grown, from a ‘straight to DVD release’ to the film of the year, there have been questions asked about the use of the word ‘slum dog’, of the payment of the stars, as to whether the film is taking advantage of the poor. The media love a story, they love a spin. In some ways they show us all the polarity of views. All of these points have their merits indeed, there is some truth in all of them.
What is undeniable coming out of the film is that the plight of those in Mumbai and others like them was in the consciousness of those who watched the film for 120 minutes. What every one of us does with that consciousness is up to us. Just to feel that for a while may be enough to change someone. We can never be sure what seeds have been sown.
So where does that leave us all in the City? In the financial world? What should we do next? Answer your email. Phone your client. Eat your lunch. Do whatever needs to be done right now, to the best of your ability. Allow yourself to flow with what is manifesting as your life, right now, in this moment, without judging it. That’s all.
http://life.hereisthecity.com/get_cultured/entertainment/cinema/879.cntns
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