Looking For Joy in All the Wrong Places

I just watched the movie, Sunset Limited with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel Jackson. The premise of the play/movie is that a “Black” ex con turned preacher saves a “White” atheist professor from jumping in front of an oncoming train. The entire play is set in Black’s apartment where they engage in a lengthy conversation about belief in god verses belief in nothing.  Sure we all like a good religious debate once in a while but at the end of this movie we are only left with a choice of lucid suicide or hope that an invisible all powerful being will talk to us one day if we listen closely enough?  It’s not that the writing and acting are not impeccable but the writer Cormac McCarthy leaves us, after an hour long debate and a man’s life on the line without offering an answer to both their problems when there most definitely is one.  The answer in my opinion could have and should have been the entire reason for this play and movie. But I can’t reveal the answer without a look at the questions first.

Their cultural differences and these two men laboring under the assumption that one view is right and the other is wrong is really just a distraction from the issue at hand though the author wrote them into a mentality where they could not seem to see through those illusions. Right and wrong are subjective. It is suggested by Black that White is too educated for his own good and White basically confirms this by referencing the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis where their “Fall” is due to eating of the tree of knowledge. Neither of them appears to see that it was the specific knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil that caused problems for humanity and not knowledge alone. The discriminating mind managed by ego is what brings us to such lows. It is suggested that the more we know the more painful life is; that ignorance is bliss; that faith is bliss. But that is not true. Having faith in something does not keep one from suffering. To suffer or not to suffer is the most important question anyone can ask because life comes down to being at peace or not.  When we learn how to let go of emotional attachment to things, thoughts and beliefs we can express them freely without conflict. Though they successfully managed to express their opinions without coming to blows, thanks to the author they could not let go of their own beliefs long enough to release from the suffering it was causing for them both. If only they were awake enough to know they have a choice.  They can keep their beliefs without being so attached to them that they have to convince others to believe the same.

In Whites situation he was not seeking happiness or a reason to live or trying to convince Black that god does not exist, an impossible task.  He was just uninspired. He just wanted the sweet sound of eternal silence and to leave the worldly experience behind for good. There is nothing wrong with that despite the religious view that suicide is a sin. It is only a sin according to the scriptures because if we choose to die while in despair our mind could trap us in a hellish realm of consciousness.  We absolutely have a choice to leave the body.  No one else has the authority to stop us. But it’s not something I recommend because it is not easy to navigate the layers of consciousness from a place this deeply embedded in the material reality of fear and ignorance.  We all leave the body but our awareness does go on in many different ways through transformation and reincarnation.  Life is eternal because consciousness has no boundaries and the living being is either aware or not.  What the White’s of the world or his “constituents” as they say in the movie may or may not be aware of is that when we choose to leave the body there is a high probability according to quantum physics and Buddhism is that we will take our mental faculties into another world for better or worse depending upon what we are holding onto at the moment of death. If he is truly dreaming of the abyss then that is what he will experience. But beware the subconscious mind. We may believe we have our fears and doubts under control but they are hidden under layers and layers of life experiences. So when we do finally decide to leave this existence remember that not only life but death is like a box of chocolates and some are very, very bitter.  

And as for life; now there’s the rub. You never know what you are going to get but you can rest assured that  it won’t last, if you eat too much you will get a tummy ache; life is better when you share. And just like making bunnies out of chocolate there is no particular point to life other than experiencing life. There doesn’t have to be a purpose to life unless we create a purpose. Life is a work of art not a job. It will go on without you.  We don’t need a purpose to be happy yet to have a purpose is a blessing.  White in all his education and experience is not wise enough to know he has all the power when it comes to being happy. The irony is that White actually says in so many words that if there were a religion that believed I in nothingness he would sign up, and this is a fundamental teaching of Buddhism; the “non religion” religion.  While the knowledge of the true nature of reality for him is too awful to bear the preacher revels in his misery because he believes in the promise of eternal life. Why? For the same reason the atheist chooses to end it all; because the prospect that life is meaningless is awful to bear.  They just choose different ways of dealing with their misery. If only they or the author, had taken a course in Buddhism right? 

Black who has his own baggage to deal with chose faith in god as his salvation from his flawed existence. Black is on a mission to convince White that he has a reason to live, or at least find out why he wants so desperately to end his life. Black’s real struggle is trying to figure out why he was “chosen” to save White once and yet he can’t seem to do it again. What it really boils down to for Black is that he is facing the fact that he has no control over anyone or anything. Many Christians tout their obedience to God, “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it”, “All I need is God’s love and everything is gonna be alright” never realizing that there is nothing outside of them. They are the ones making the choices. They are the ones with all the power. Be responsible for your actions. But once you have acted, guilt and shame are no longer useful. What is done is done. Keep moving forward. You can give up if you want to but why would you when you know that the soul will keep coming back until it achieves what seems to be impossible; experiencing bliss in the face of adversity; liberation from the illusion. We are the ones with all the power. The only “God” that matters in the big picture is not a personified god that punishes and rewards through the lower ego mind but the unbiased all powerful force of creation that shapes us all. The Creator doesn't speak to us it speaks through us. If you hear a voice telling you to do something it could be a number of things from aliens to men in black or you might need some medication.

The real creator is pure consciousness and its medium is life. Life is a force and not a thing.  It is a wave that only sustains a continuum because of equilibrium. When we are out of balance we suffer because life cannot be sustained unless there is balance.  If you are looking for happiness it is not hidden in any object or dependent upon any situation.  You are made in the image of the creator. The image of the creator is the universal template but we are all each unique designs shaped by intention. The only reason you exist is because love is a wave that found a way to dance around itself eternally and in that dance of life is where all the joy in the universe is found. The real you is . . .the YOUniverse and yet as a human being in this worldly experience you are expressly unique. We create purpose with our minds. We choose bliss. That is our free will. That is our power.  That is the answer that I was looking for in this movie but it never came.