This is an abridged version of a review being published at www.seedsofunfolding.org
What if you sneezed, and God blessed you in your own voice?
This is the relationship with the Divine posited by Conversations with God (hereafter "CWG"), a new movie directed and produced by Stephen Simon and based on Neale Donald Walsch's well-loved series of books of the same name. Rather than focusing on kernels of divine wisdom that fans of the books might have expected, the film takes a biographical route. We follow Walsch's involuntary displacement from normal life, his descent into despair and the dark night of the soul and then his ultimate resurrection after he finds the inner voice he identifies as God.
Henry Czerny stars as Walsch, and there are few moments in the film in which he is not center stage. He is at his best when, recognizing just how far he has fallen, he desperately gulps a half-eaten hamburger he has rescued from a garbage dumpster. He just as easily slips into the persona of a slicker version of Walsch on the New Age talk circuit.
CWG takes a non-apologetic approach to the possibility that we each can find and depend upon a loving, guiding and nurturing inner voice. Just in case any member of the audience thinks that the movie is designed merely as a love-note to Neale Donald Walsch, in a brief coda following the closing credits the filmmakers ram home the point that we each can have these divine conversations on our own.
Some critics may quarrel that it is either arrogance or madness to claim that a person's inner voice is God. Yet even the staunchest atheist would have to admit some truth to the principle that problems cannot be resolved from the same state of consciousness in which they were created. This in turn implies that there exists a possibility, accessible to each of us, to find ever-expanding perspectives and states of consciousness from which we can express wisdom far beyond the limits of our ordinary lives. When someone is capable of reaching such a place, it hardly matters whether you call it "God," "Divine Mother," "myself" or "George Washington."
Some of the elements of the philosophy of Walsch's God may be difficult to swallow, even for card-carrying members of the New Age. For instance, the thought is expressed that when choosing how to make a living, the highest good is to do what you love. Contrast this with the fundamental message of love-what-you-do from Peaceful Warrior, another spiritually oriented film this year based on a semi-autobiographical bestseller.
There is certainly something to be said for CWG's approach of don't-do-it-if-it-doesn't-feel-good. However, one can imagine many who would rely on this value as justification for avoiding the commitment to confront and work through a difficulty and instead attempting to seek happiness by shifting from job to job and location to location and flitting from mate to mate.
Interestingly, the movie makes recurring reference to Walsch's own difficulties with love and commitment to the people for whom he cares. He acknowledges these problems and admits to his past and continuing mistakes. One wonders whether these recurring patterns in his life might have been influenced by responses he received from his inner voice that he wanted to hear, rather than what he needed to hear. This issue of wants versus needs means that anybody who seeks to embark on a path of developing such an inner dialogue must also develop the power to discern between which responses serve well and which responses are merely self-serving.
Another philosophical premise that the film presents with difficulty is a disquieting approach to the economics of spiritual life. With Neale Donald Walsch as the center of attention in this autobiographical film, we are witness not only to his wanderings through a life of poverty but also to his emergence into a world of economic plenty and riches which are awarded to him in direct response to his ability to express himself to an audience interested in spirituality. The implicit message is that spiritual pursuits bring, or can be converted into, material rewards.
While on the speaking circuit, Walsch comments to a friendly group, "Imagine a world where money was given to people who give us the biggest gifts." The problem is that most of us are taught, and believe, that a gift is given freely, with no strings, and not with a view towards measuring the return on investment. Walsch's statement conflicts with this basic understanding of what it means to give a gift. How can these two thingsthat we let go of gifts without control versus getting money for our giftsbe reconciled?
Contrast CWG's concept of being paid for gifts with the sense of offering presented in Peaceful Warrior. In that movie, protagonist Dan Millman questions the apparent lack of success of Socrates, the gasoline station attendant who becomes his mentor. "You know so much, how come you're working at a gas station?" Millman asks. Without an ounce of defensiveness, Socrates responds, "This is a service station. We offer service. There's no higher purpose."
In spite of doubts about some of the spiritual messages conveyed by CWG, viewers looking for inspiration will certainly be rewarded by a sprinkling of teachings in the film. For instance, God tells Walsch as he walks out of his bedroom, "To live your life without expectation, without the need for specific results, that is freedom." Perhaps this thought is the antidote for those who would seek to engage in spiritual pursuits for the hope of some reward.
Few can doubt the sincerity with which Walsch and director/producer Stephen Simon (producer of Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come and co-founder of the Spiritual Cinema Circle DVD subscription service) bring to their project. Yet as a film-going experience independent of its message, CWG is not entirely satisfactory.
What if you sneezed, and God blessed you in your own voice?
This is the relationship with the Divine posited by Conversations with God (hereafter "CWG"), a new movie directed and produced by Stephen Simon and based on Neale Donald Walsch's well-loved series of books of the same name. Rather than focusing on kernels of divine wisdom that fans of the books might have expected, the film takes a biographical route. We follow Walsch's involuntary displacement from normal life, his descent into despair and the dark night of the soul and then his ultimate resurrection after he finds the inner voice he identifies as God.
Henry Czerny stars as Walsch, and there are few moments in the film in which he is not center stage. He is at his best when, recognizing just how far he has fallen, he desperately gulps a half-eaten hamburger he has rescued from a garbage dumpster. He just as easily slips into the persona of a slicker version of Walsch on the New Age talk circuit.
CWG takes a non-apologetic approach to the possibility that we each can find and depend upon a loving, guiding and nurturing inner voice. Just in case any member of the audience thinks that the movie is designed merely as a love-note to Neale Donald Walsch, in a brief coda following the closing credits the filmmakers ram home the point that we each can have these divine conversations on our own.
Some critics may quarrel that it is either arrogance or madness to claim that a person's inner voice is God. Yet even the staunchest atheist would have to admit some truth to the principle that problems cannot be resolved from the same state of consciousness in which they were created. This in turn implies that there exists a possibility, accessible to each of us, to find ever-expanding perspectives and states of consciousness from which we can express wisdom far beyond the limits of our ordinary lives. When someone is capable of reaching such a place, it hardly matters whether you call it "God," "Divine Mother," "myself" or "George Washington."
Some of the elements of the philosophy of Walsch's God may be difficult to swallow, even for card-carrying members of the New Age. For instance, the thought is expressed that when choosing how to make a living, the highest good is to do what you love. Contrast this with the fundamental message of love-what-you-do from Peaceful Warrior, another spiritually oriented film this year based on a semi-autobiographical bestseller.
There is certainly something to be said for CWG's approach of don't-do-it-if-it-doesn't-feel-good. However, one can imagine many who would rely on this value as justification for avoiding the commitment to confront and work through a difficulty and instead attempting to seek happiness by shifting from job to job and location to location and flitting from mate to mate.
Interestingly, the movie makes recurring reference to Walsch's own difficulties with love and commitment to the people for whom he cares. He acknowledges these problems and admits to his past and continuing mistakes. One wonders whether these recurring patterns in his life might have been influenced by responses he received from his inner voice that he wanted to hear, rather than what he needed to hear. This issue of wants versus needs means that anybody who seeks to embark on a path of developing such an inner dialogue must also develop the power to discern between which responses serve well and which responses are merely self-serving.
Another philosophical premise that the film presents with difficulty is a disquieting approach to the economics of spiritual life. With Neale Donald Walsch as the center of attention in this autobiographical film, we are witness not only to his wanderings through a life of poverty but also to his emergence into a world of economic plenty and riches which are awarded to him in direct response to his ability to express himself to an audience interested in spirituality. The implicit message is that spiritual pursuits bring, or can be converted into, material rewards.
While on the speaking circuit, Walsch comments to a friendly group, "Imagine a world where money was given to people who give us the biggest gifts." The problem is that most of us are taught, and believe, that a gift is given freely, with no strings, and not with a view towards measuring the return on investment. Walsch's statement conflicts with this basic understanding of what it means to give a gift. How can these two thingsthat we let go of gifts without control versus getting money for our giftsbe reconciled?
Contrast CWG's concept of being paid for gifts with the sense of offering presented in Peaceful Warrior. In that movie, protagonist Dan Millman questions the apparent lack of success of Socrates, the gasoline station attendant who becomes his mentor. "You know so much, how come you're working at a gas station?" Millman asks. Without an ounce of defensiveness, Socrates responds, "This is a service station. We offer service. There's no higher purpose."
In spite of doubts about some of the spiritual messages conveyed by CWG, viewers looking for inspiration will certainly be rewarded by a sprinkling of teachings in the film. For instance, God tells Walsch as he walks out of his bedroom, "To live your life without expectation, without the need for specific results, that is freedom." Perhaps this thought is the antidote for those who would seek to engage in spiritual pursuits for the hope of some reward.
Few can doubt the sincerity with which Walsch and director/producer Stephen Simon (producer of Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come and co-founder of the Spiritual Cinema Circle DVD subscription service) bring to their project. Yet as a film-going experience independent of its message, CWG is not entirely satisfactory.