Leaving aside the question of whether a groundhog can predict the weather (six more weeks of winter? EEK! Have I mentioned I'm kind of over winter right now?), I'm going to dive off the usual path and do an existential review of the movie. You remember it, right? Bill Murray plays an overwhelmingly self-assured weatherman who finds himself stuck on the same day (with Sonny and Cher waking him up every morning) until....ta-da!...he makes some big changes. Not just playing the piano, or finding out what Andie McDowell's favorite drink is, but somewhere along the line, he starts doing good and having fun and enjoying other people...for the sake of doing good and having fun and the other people--not just whether it's going to get the girl. Only when he has a complete inner transformation, AND resigns himself to the circumstances (he's aware he's repeating the day), is the spell, curse, whatever, broken.
Classical magical fairy tale: transformation requires love, faith, and frequently a crap-load of pain, but it's only by going through it that we move beyond it and return to (or discover) our true selves.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Positive Thinking?
Actually, it’s the power of thought. Thought precedes formation, right? At least nine times out of ten? Of course, casual accidents happen too (those unconscious choices, perhaps). I’ve never been entirely convinced about this, though (for the next few sentences, please ignore Monday’s post). Where’s the evidence? No, more evidence than that. The born skeptic that I am, it’s not enough for me to hear that X created a million-dollar-empire (usually by preaching the power of positive thinking) simply because he envisioned it. Because never mind that he DID (there are some pretty good examples out there, by the way—it’s not that I’m being sarcastic), I’m just not sure it can happen for me.
Quantum physics playing a role? Who knows? I’m fascinated by the possibility (oh, boy, am I fascinated by the possibility), but a) I’m not a scientist, and b) well, I’m not a scientist. I simply don’t know. And I can’t seem to hold onto the thoughts long enough to see what happens. Except sometimes they do. But then there’s random occurrence, so how do I know that what happened this time wasn’t a fluke, a coincidence?
Yes, this is very open ended. I’m looking for…I don’t know what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for “The Secret” or one of its off-shoots. I guess I’m looking for hard evidence, not a sign, but a pattern, that thought can create physical reality in more than the inspired-inventions sense.
Ah, but there’s the catch (or a catch). See, inspired inventions are an excellent example of thought creating form. Not in the sense of “poof” (wouldn’t that be cool, though? THAT’S what I want!), but in the sense that someone thought “this could be” and found a way to make it happen. The first guy to think of an automobile. (Or maybe the guy who thought of the internal combustion engine.) Nicola Tesla. Albert Einstein. Thought creates form if we are willing for it to. If we have a vision so strong, it withstands hundreds of attempts (think Edison and light bulbs. I don’t recommend thinking Edison and electric chairs, though, because that’s just disturbing.).
Note to self: experiment with—silly as it sounds—cutting all negative thought off at the pass. Positive focus only. What might happen?
Quantum physics playing a role? Who knows? I’m fascinated by the possibility (oh, boy, am I fascinated by the possibility), but a) I’m not a scientist, and b) well, I’m not a scientist. I simply don’t know. And I can’t seem to hold onto the thoughts long enough to see what happens. Except sometimes they do. But then there’s random occurrence, so how do I know that what happened this time wasn’t a fluke, a coincidence?
Yes, this is very open ended. I’m looking for…I don’t know what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for “The Secret” or one of its off-shoots. I guess I’m looking for hard evidence, not a sign, but a pattern, that thought can create physical reality in more than the inspired-inventions sense.
Ah, but there’s the catch (or a catch). See, inspired inventions are an excellent example of thought creating form. Not in the sense of “poof” (wouldn’t that be cool, though? THAT’S what I want!), but in the sense that someone thought “this could be” and found a way to make it happen. The first guy to think of an automobile. (Or maybe the guy who thought of the internal combustion engine.) Nicola Tesla. Albert Einstein. Thought creates form if we are willing for it to. If we have a vision so strong, it withstands hundreds of attempts (think Edison and light bulbs. I don’t recommend thinking Edison and electric chairs, though, because that’s just disturbing.).
Note to self: experiment with—silly as it sounds—cutting all negative thought off at the pass. Positive focus only. What might happen?
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