Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Reincarnation, aliens and fantasy

There is a movie named, "The search for Bridie Murphy" It's all about reincarnation and based upon a true story. Of course, "based upon" coupled with literary license can become so far removed from the original story that it is almost unrecognizable. From what I understand the case of Bridie Murphy remains one of the strongest arguments for some or all of us having lived before. The comedy team Laurel and Hardy starred in an hilarious movie about airplanes, crashes, death and being reincarnated as a horse. I don't know whether it was "based upon" a true story or not. But, it made me laugh out loud and the movie, "The search for Bridie Murphy" didn't. It is my understanding that some religious beliefs are very strong concerning reincarnation, some regarding becoming another person and some regarding coming back as an animal. I have no real education in those beliefs or the history behind them. There are a lot of interesting beliefs in this world I am not familiar with and more are appearing as time goes on. It's impossible to keep up. Reincarnation is not new though and I found the movie about it quite riveting.

A psychologist or psychiatrist hypnotizes a woman as part of her treatment for psychological problems. While under hypnosis the woman slowly unravels the story of who she was in a former life. The doctor does some checking and finds out it was a real person and the woman he is treating has no way of knowing anything about her. Spooky! I wondered how she knew. I wondered if it was all a hoax like the Cardiff Giant, gargoyles or tax relief. But still, she was so convincing and looked so innocent, someone that looked like that could not possibly lie about such a thing. And, it was all based upon a true story. When I left the theatre I knew I had a lot of thinking to do. Up to that time I didn't believe reincarnation was something to be taken seriously. The next weekend I saw a movie called, "The Thing" It was all about an alien frozen in the arctic somewhere and when some well meaning scientists thawed it out they got way more than they bargained for. This alien creature, instead of wanting to make friends with earthlings, simply wanted to kill them and eat them and their dogs in a vicious manner. I can remember leaving the theatre wondering if this movie too was loosely "based upon" a true story. At school the following week I discovered that I wasn't the only pre-teen guy that wondered if it was true. It made for some lively discussion but eventually we decided, one of us at a time that "The Thing" was fantasy. But the spectre of alien life (especially on cold snowy, frozen, windy nights) always remained. The same regarding reincarnation.

Reincarnation and Alien life forms are not the same subject at all are they? I do wonder if the answer lies in hypnotizing an alien? Yeah, I do wonder that sometimes. Fantasy movies and stories based upon a true story do that to a person.

No comments:

 
Authors Blogs Literature Blogs - Blog Top Sites Literature Blogs - Blog Top  Sites