The Metaphysical & Spiritual Implications Of The Movie "SOUL" By Disney

[nicolasns96]

Hi everybody !

Throughout this discussion I invite us to dive deep into a piece of content that's rare in terms of higher spiritual talks since they generally provide very superficial material to be analyzed in terms of profound teachings for inner work and those rare subjects are: Disney Movies. Disney? Your might think, but hear me out...

I just finished watching the latest Pixar release, available since Dec 25 through their streaming platform Disney +, and I just have to say that I was baffled at not only the level of maturity and "life applicable" type of content it was exhibiting on the very first minutes, but also shocked at being ABLE to pinpoint higher levels of spiral dynamics' stages throughout the course of the story.

(Disclaimer: Get ready to encounter spoilers whether from what I reveal or other members). 

Deconstructions of certain aspects within the plot are tricky, since it revolves around the idea of a "soul (therefore missing a "non dual" essence..or no?), but definitely not in the dogmatic and blue stage aspects that are common in hollywood nowadays. (BTW, Tell me in the comments, do you think of Disney's MOVIES as Orange stage? Green? Other?). Certainly they have a creative aspect and the stories delivered tend to be of a "greenish" nature...when they resolve their plots in "inclusion", "life meaning" and so on type of messages, BUT... we may confuse them as such because they are directed towards children I believe. (In here I'm emphasizing on Disney's story-telling, not the company per se as it is just a business and in my opinion still one of the most predatory monopolistic conglomerates in the media rn and super Orange).

But anyways back to Soul. One part that I may find linked to a concept that's more kin towards the "organized religion/ideological" aspects of hinduism is this idea of animals with souls/reincarnations/and even "soul swapings", I'm curious to know your take on that part where Joe returns to earth in a different body, does that have any value in these non-dual discussions to you? What I WOULD say is that it got into the subject of "Near Death Experiences" undoubtedly and as it progressed it showed me the concept of "intuition over logic" (very common in Green stage mentality) and the idea of "knowing all the answers and everything you need to know being already inside of you" when Joe (protagonist) is talking her mom into she accepting his determination of doing Jazz professionally and that precisely THAT and not teaching is what he wanted to pursue. Aside that, we can hear a glimpse into the "altered states of consciousness" that yoga and meditation practices can provide when Joe and "22" are in the zone of "flow states" and they are driving this hippie boat with a couple of "passenger souls" that are chanelled there temporarily through meditatory states.

Furthermore, is worth mentioning this aspect at the end in which Joe is enlightened with the message that he actually wanted to go back there and live life to the fullest while he is able to and what I found fascinating is that the whole "I'm gonna make the best of every moment" type of message didn't seem to come from the #yolo culture type of empty and void messages we hear in media about "you only got one life to live"...but this, this seemed deeper and more "contemplatory". 

Anyways, to avoid extending myself I'm closing here.

Please provide me your insights, ending explanations, or any type of idea I missed. Let me know, is this like a renaissance in the way Disney is making future adult friendly material? Was Joe "Enlightened"? Who was 22 anyways? Who do you think are the beings that sort and count souls and give them their personalities? Do you see a resemblance between the previous and any form of DMT entities? What's "metaphysical" about it really? Perhaps, Disney's directors are starting to become Green. Consider giving this work of art a peek. Cheers 

Edited December 26, 2020 by nicolasns96

[blackchair]

i loved every minute of it, but biggest impact on me are couple of things, first idea od chasing your life purpose can be "wrong", you can be lost chasing the spiritual gold also and then there is fine line between spark and life purpose, and in the life review of main protagonist, his life was just ordinary and he had diffrent view of his life, there's beauty in ordinary as if directors wanted to tell, but main show steals the 22, she (because i love Tina Fay) has all the wisdom from hers teachers from otherside but childish nature, maybe we are all 22 sometimes on our journey,  the scene in barber shop is great, and there is deeper truth in her "conclusions" :"maybe im good at walking", "maybe im good at looking at the stars" , and there is great lession what happens if you fall in spirituality too fast, the scene is when main antagonist took soul of wrong person with cheetos, masterful.....i would put this movie at yellow at least.....

[nicolasns96]

@blackchair I felt the same with regards to all of us being 22 at times or having a part of her. And yeah, the barber scene is very well crafted. Beautiful movie indeed, thanks for your feedback !

[caspex]

I think 22 represents someone with all the knowledge but no experience. And that even after you get the experience for the first time, you easily can be talked out of it or fall into some sort of delusion. Joe is someone who has been deluded, but later realizes the beauty of life. He is shown to have the right amount of experience and knowledge to reach that realization. This movie is great way for someone to get into spirituality without even knowing it is spirituality or all the 'hippie' stuff. I bet this movie will get a lot of people into spirituality unknowingly or plant some seeds. And with enlightenment, it really depends on what you define it as. Realization of present, what there is, no self, true self, god self? In the movie it just seems like he has realized what a stage Green/Yellow mix would usually realize, and think is the highest way of looking at life. The present moment(Just imagine the green version of this, I know this realization runs wayyyy deeper). Who knows, maybe he realized no self and all that, I mean it'd certainly easy for him now if he atleast tried now. But I doubt he realized much more than shown in story, cannon. I'd put it somewhere like 75% on green and 25% on yellow. 

The main focus of this movie is to get your attention onto the beauty of the present moment(not the same as getting your attention on your direct experience) and realize that life is meaningless but is still AND that's why, is beautiful. So values tbh are a mix of Green and Yellow. Why I think it is much less Yellow tho is because much more focus is given to the first realization I mentioned than the second, in both scenes and the dialogue.