The all time great, though, (in my opinion) is 'Groundhog Day' with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. This movie qualifies on so many levels of the requirements of love transcending time and space that it almost represents its own category. It also represents, in my opinion, one of the finest lessons on Buddhist teaching made available for mass audiences to 'get' (or not).
In a nutshell for anyone who may not be familiar with the story; the hapless hero so despises his life that he shows nothing but disdain for himself and others. He wants only what feels good immediately and has zero empathy or compassion for anything or anybody. So, life (that great equalizer) conspires to make him repeat the same day - ad nauseum - until he 'gets it right'.....
He gets to do the same day - the exact same things - over and over again until he learns to make the best of it all. Until he learns his lessons - compassion, loving-kindness, empathy, balance, joy.
In other words, he gets to relive that one day of his life until he learns to 'love' enough.
A movie-primer on reincarnation, the greatest of continuous loops.
I happen to believe in reincarnation and always have from probably my earliest thoughts on life and how we came to be here. I have never accepted the premise that we 'only go around once'. My mother always told a story of looking into my newborn eyes and marveling on the wisdom they contained those first precious days. She recited this poem to me often....
Baby
George Macdonald (1824 - 1905)
Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here.
Where did you get those eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.
What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand strok'd it as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
I saw something better than anyone knows.
Whence that three-corner'd smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into bonds and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherubs wings.
How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.
But, how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here.
How could I not believe that I had come from something and somewhere else? Continuous loops are just in my personal programming.
Some have told me that reincarnation is just an elegant and convenient way for us to 'get away' with (literally) murder - amongst other things - here and now and never really get 'caught'. They argue that if everyone believed they could just come back and get another chance at life as opposed to fearing an eternity of punishment, then we would be giving ourselves permission for all sorts of gratuitous and bad behavior - why would anyone live their lives with any decency or morals if there aren't immediate consequences to fear? Personally, I think that argument speaks more to individual feelings of repression than a true sense of human decency. And I know that argument has made most of the world's religions a lot of money over the centuries.
(I also happen to believe that reincarnation was an early accepted tenet in Christianity...... after all, we Christians have always talked about and continue to expect 'the second coming' of Christ and we are NOT referring to a different guy!)
But. The continuous loops that got me writing today are the ones we experience in this lifetime. Everyone has them. Call it karma, if you want, but it is dealing with the same nonsense over and over again; the same obnoxious boss or co-worker, getting stuck - again - in the slowest moving line, dealing with the same kind of relationships again and again. Basically, running into the same reoccurring storyline with different situations and people. Same stuff, different day. Over and over again.
For me there are a couple reoccurring story-lines that I just know are mine to figure out in this lifetime. (No, not sharing what mine are, just that they are....) Even though there was always a 'deja vu' quality to them, I was floored by them each and every time and they left me - often - devastated or flummoxed or both.
I recently heard a sermon on prayer that discussed the possibility that an answer to a prayer is not being given what we have prayed for, but being given instead the opportunity to be what we are praying for - to live into the prayer, if you will. If our prayer is for courage, the answer is being given the opportunity to be courageous. If my prayer is to be authentic, then maybe I am continuously being given the opportunity to choose authenticity.
To go back to the movie 'Happy Accidents', the character played by Ms. Tomei has a need to fix people - boyfriends in particular - and is seeing a therapist to try to break the legacy she has made for herself and feels she is making progress, repeating her self affirmations into the mirror day and night. Then she runs into Sam who seems healthy and normal, until he starts telling a story of being a time-traveler who has come back just for her and she just knows she is in her continuous loop. Again.
(Just in case anyone wants to see it, I won't be giving any spoiler information so keep reading.)
The therapist has convinced her that until she learns her lesson she will continue to doom herself with picking wrong men and ending up broken and alone every time. The solution to her reoccurring storyline is to learn her life's balance and to look for her joy without letting anyone invade her boundaries and upset that balance.
(Okay, one spoiler. All things aren't as they appear. There is another continuous loop playing out.... and there is a happy ending. I guess that really was three. So there.)
In my current love-through-space-and-time life story, the great good news is that I have started to see these story-lines for what they are as they are beginning. That doesn't mean I am always responding differently, but at least I am beginning to recognize them for what they are - one more opportunity to work on something that I still have to do in this lifetime that will make me stronger. The chance for me to - again and again - live my prayer for authenticity and truth. I think that when I figure out how to live consistently into the opportunity presented, maybe the deja vu of that loop will cease to be.
So, there may be Grace in continuous loops.
Who knew?
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