cire perdue

Part of being spiritually healthy is to be in touch with one's feelings spontaneously, that is having appropriate feelings to anything that occurs as it occurs. The extremes of violence and sex in movies and TV create a false dichotomy where one cannot feel appropriately and be entertained. If one felt the repulsion and sadness appropriately from the act of murder or mayhem one would not be able to continue to watch the program or movie. We have been immersed in such extremes of violence etc. that we do not react to it. Some may be able to compartmentalize their lives and be somewhat spiritual, but I believe they are an exception and that they are not truly in touch.

Over fifteen years ago I loaned a tape to the elderly parents of the girl I was dating. It offended them early in the movie and they did not watch it. It was not a sex scene, but it was a scene that was extremely sensual and sexual in nature, erotic. Their reaction was actually healthy. I was numb to the reality of the effects of inappropriateness in the movie. Their age and different values gave them a different perspective.

The solution is not to ban, forbid, or destroy this media which would be impossible, the solution is to become more spiritual in order to be repulsed by inappropriate entertainment. A rote step to achieve this can be to avoid entertainment that is unspiritual, but real growth is obtained when one realizes that the feelings engendered by such material are not healthy emotionally or spiritually. This is the change that takes place when one is a true Baha'i. However one does not become prudish, one becomes detached and no longer interested in that subject matter.

This is action we can take to turn fully to the Word that our hearts may be changed.

cire perdue

Whoso hath been quickened by its vitalizing power, will find himself impelled to attain the court of the Beloved; and whoso hath deprived himself therefrom, will sink into irretrievable despondency.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 168)

arthra

Cire...

Interestiong post... YOu know I was thinking that you could look on the media we are exposed to as a kind of conditioning and today of a mostly negative kind of conditioning....so to balance this we could be sure that we have a positive conditioning to offset the conditioning of the negative sort.

We can do this by being sure we expose ourselves morning and evening to the Writings ...as we cleanse and bathe ourselves and in a sense inject some immunities to protect our spiritual life.

Fadl

Amen, CP!

"O COMPANION OF MY THRONE! Hear no evil, and see no evil, abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that thine own abasement be not exposed. Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified..."

(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, # 44)



"The company of the ungodly increaseth sorrow, whilst fellowship with the righteous cleanseth the rust from off the heart..." (Persian Hidden Words #56).

"O SON OF DUST! Beware! Walk not with the ungodly and seek not fellowship with him, for such companionship turneth the radiance of the heart into infernal fire." (Persian Hidden Words #57).


"Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly." (Persian Hidden Words #3).


As far as counter balancing the evil influences in the world through prayer and reading the writings, this in itself is not enough to innoculate us at leaves us exposed since it doesn't heed the counsels of Baha'u'llah, some of which I have cited above. Furhtermore, it is easy to gradually slip into evil since we become desensitized to it over time, just as your story about the movie illustrate.

There is a quote by the Indian writer and philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti which I really love:

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Even though it is not from our writings, I think it is certainly true and it really resonates with me.

May God protect us all from the sneaking whisperer who "whispers in the breasts of men."

Cheers

LordOfGoblins

GREAT!! I AM THEREFORE HERE TO ADD SOME CONTRAVARSY!!!!

THIS IS MY POST WHICH I MADE LAST NIGHT BUT DIDNT POST IT COS WELL NOT SURE. But I post it now in order to create contraversy!!
(:

Well yes and no IMO.
THe thing is, this is the world we live in. Also sex is a very real reality and there is nothing evil about it, its just that it stimulates mans lower nature and distracts him from the divine.
If a soul has strength, true strength then such things would bounce off him like water off rock. But if man is week then watching violence will affect him. This stuff has not affected my soul for a long time. And I dont say this with arrogance. People can say "oh yes you are being subtly influenced and you dont know". But of course, so what?
Its like my mum who blames every time I get sick on the fact that I eat fast food. But really thats a copout. If I totally went off fast food the alternative is to leed a life with less happiness eating cabbage and tofu.
And I dont want to eat cabbage and tofu. I want salt and pepper...
So anyway the state of the world is such that there are plenty of lower shows out there some are good some not so good but as long as we see things in the true perspective we should be okay.
The key is to stay within Baha'u'llahs covenant and read the readings and stay close to the revelation. Thats what I think...
THough I know we dont agree on this subject.
I saw snow white and the huntsman it was actually not as good as I thought it would be. The only way it made me feel dirty though was the fact that the queen was so hateful. Not the slight nudity of her back or the violence etc. Her hatefulness could melt stone and that is a lower trait and doesnt engender higher spiritual feelings..
Ok thats my 50c worth..
(:

Fadl

I'm living in a country now where they censor films with an "R" rating and clean them up a bit. When I went out with one of my friends, he informed me of this fact almost as if to appologize for it. This made me smile, and I said to him that it was a shame to me that Hollywood doesn't censor itself so that this wouldn't be necessary.

LOG, while I certainly agree with you that sex is not evil, I'm not sure I agree with you that it is healthy entertainment. You know, only 50 or so years ago, Hollywood stars did not even kiss on screen, and people still enjoyed films. To this day in Bollywood films stars don't kiss each other on screen, and their films are very successful and popular. In my opinion, even "wholesome" love scenes in a film have an inherrent unwholesomeness in them since they are essential voyeuristic. In other words, while a man and woman (fictional or not) who love each other may embrace and kiss with great passion and there is nothing evil about it, me watching that for my pleasure or entertainment is a different matter altogether.

There is a great deal of evidence that films do affect us. For example, the reason why we enjoy films is because we experience them. When we see violence or sex it is experiential for us and not benign. Our brain visuals the self in it, and that is how we experience it as stimulating. It is immersive, and not remote. Neurologist Andrew Newberg has written a great deal on the evidence of these if you are interested in the science behind it. We need science and religion, don't we?

Finally, these are about entertainment, bottom line. There are people in this world, and more than a few, who have never seen a movie ever, and possibly never will. Some of them aren't even assured of an education or a cup of rice to eat. Something to think about, when considering where to invest your idle time and pocket change. There is certainly "entertainment" out there that can elevate and inspire us rather than degredated us.


Cheers

LordOfGoblins

okay okay. I wont debate about it..

Essence of GOD

i agree,
instead of pointing the finger, get stronger.
i see them as a tool for me to make my soul stronger.
so iam kinda thankful for them.

BruceDLimber

Quote:

Originally Posted by cire perdue ...

Welcome back, Cire! :-)


Bruce

cire perdue

Immersive and experiential are excellent points what I wished I could have said. If we are spiritually healthy I think we will not want to expose ourselves to these things that really do affect us. It will be automatic.

light upon light

You are right -- that stuff is spiritually, morally and psychologically toxic, like eating food tainted with E coli.

mytmouse57

I think context can sometimes play a part.

"Saving Private Ryan" and "The Killing Fields" are films that unflinchingly depict war and genocide, respectively. And, in that respect, they are graphic and violent.

I thought it was important, to provide those depictions, to people who might not be able to grasp the suffering and enormity of what some other members of humanity went through.