In recent years, a genre called "Spiritual Cinema" has emerged as filmmakers and audiences seek to express themselves in ways not commonly recognized within mainstream film. Genres themselves are continuously evolving as cultural attitudes and economic imperatives influence society and the film industry. Spiritual Cinema is an excellent example of this and is a direct result of a movement in American society toward new-age spirituality, holistic health, quantum science, expanded definitions of self, and other discoveries.

So what exactly is Spiritual Cinema? Rather than give a formal definition, I think it's more helpful to look at four recent examples of spiritual movies and look for themes, characters, and techniques that commonly arise in them. These films are:

• What Dreams May Come
• What the Bleep Do We Know?
• Waking Life
• I Heart Huckabees

Common Themes

Some common themes that arise in Spiritual Cinema are:

• We are creating our own reality.
• We are connected to each other and to all things.
• Our essence is consciousness.
• All that we seek lies within ourselves.
• The physical world is an illusion and time does not exist.

These topics will be covered in more detail below:

We are creating our own reality.

One of the most important themes of Spiritual Cinema is: We are creating our own reality. Many believe that we are experiencing the results of an objective physical reality and are passive recipients of our experience. In contrast, Spiritual Cinema teaches that we are the creators of our reality, and have the power to manifest our experience through the power of our minds.

One of the most powerful examples of this appeared in "What Dreams May Come," released in 1998 and starring Robin Williams who played Chris in the movie. Chris had died and was in the afterlife where he was confused and disoriented. The world he was in was beautiful, with bright vivid colors, mountains, streams and lovely nature scenes. His spirit guide, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. explained to him: "You're making all of this. You're creating an entire world from your imagination, from paintings you love. Anything you want!" As Chris changed his thoughts, his world changed. He changed the color of a bird and made it fly. He changed the nature and appearance of the world around him and indeed, could have made it all disappear with a single thought. This movie provides a fundamental metaphor for all of life: with our thoughts, we create our world.

"What the Bleep" expanded on this same idea when one of its interview subjects said "I create my own reality." "What the Bleep" caused a sensation within the new-age community. Funded privately and initially released in only a handful of theaters, the film was picked up by a studio for national distribution after it proved its commercial potential. It is an innovative film that combines a fictional narrative, with numerous documentary-style interviews, and cutting-edge computer animation. Many of the interviews are with quantum physicists and scientists who are well versed in both mainstream science and emerging metaphysical thought. One of the subjects said: "We create reality. We are reality-creating machines." This is one of the main themes of the film and "What the Bleep", with its clear explanation of difficult quantum concepts, makes a convincing argument that there is no objective reality outside of our minds. Our minds are creating our reality.

"What Dreams May Come" completely supports this idea when Chris's spirit guide says: "We see what we choose to see" and "Everyone here has their own private universe." This brings us to another important element of Spiritual Cinema: The Universe exists in our minds. There is no such thing as objective reality.

"Waking Life" expanded upon this subject. While lying in bed with a woman, the character played by Ethan Hawke says to her: "Maybe I just exist in your mind. I'll still be as real as anything else." "Waking Life," released in 2001 and directed by Richard Linklater, is a deeply philosophical film that delves into many topics that fall into the Spiritual Cinema genre. The lead character of "Waking Life" kept waking up from a dream only to find himself in another dream. These were called "false awakenings" and were frustrating and confusing to him. Ultimately, the character realizes there is no difference between our waking lives and our dreams. Essentially, our lives are vivid dreams. One character said: "Dreams are real only as long as they last. Couldn't we say the same thing about Life?"

We are connected to each other and to all things.

Another important element of Spiritual Cinema is: We are connected to each other and to all things. In "I Heart Huckabees", the lead character Albert hired two "existential detectives" to follow him around and watch his every move. Albert was going through a crisis and felt like he was losing grip of his life. One of the investigators, played by Dustin Hoffman, starts training Albert to transcend his "perception of reality" and see all things as being united. He said: "our mind thinks everything is separate, but we are connected. . . we need to see this truth all the time in the everyday stuff." The detectives tirelessly attempt to shift Albert's perception away from separation and duality toward a perception of unity and connectedness. This, they believed, was the key to solving Albert's existential crisis. Later in the movie, the detective played by Hoffman used his nose as an example: "You can't tell where my nose ends and the air begins. We're unified." He also said that "identity is an illusion" and the key to finding happiness and fulfillment is to transcend our individual identities and realize our interconnectedness with everything.

"Waking Life" also alludes to this concept in one of the segments where a character is talking about how people in different parts of the world have the same idea simultaneously and independently. He said "we're all telepathically sharing our experiences" and that we are connected to a global mind that contains collective human experiences.

Our essence is consciousness.

Currently, people have been trained to strongly identify themselves with their bodies and the physical manifestations of their being. In contrast, Spiritual Cinema teaches that who we are transcends the physical and is in fact consciousness itself. Chris's spirit guide in "What Dreams May Come" said "If you're aware that you exist then you do." Thus, it is our awareness that makes us who we are. A character in "Waking Life", speaking to a friend in a coffee shop, said "Our cells are completely regenerating every 7 years. We've already become completely different people several times over. And yet we always remain what's essentially ourselves." This statement is guiding the audience to look beyond the physical to find themselves. Spiritual Cinema teaches that people are not their physical bodies, which arise and pass away in the blink of an eye, but something far vaster and infinite such as the intelligent consciousness that pervades the Universe. This is certainly a radical teaching.

All that we seek lies within ourselves.

Most people spend their lives seeking happiness outside of themselves. Whether it be money, fame, recognition, or true love, many of us are on a mad scramble to find that elusive "thing" that will finally make us happy. But often, once worldly achievements are gained, we are disappointed to learn that we are the same person we've always been. At this point, many people give up on life or resort to self-destructive behavior. But a few turn inwards and realize that true, lasting happiness lies inside of us. These people stop looking to the world to make them happy and create their own happiness. This is one of the most fundamental teachings of the spiritual path.

The physical world is an illusion and time does not exist.

These are some of the most radical teachings of Spiritual Cinema and probably the most difficult for audiences to accept. And yet, as "What the Bleep" points out, our modern scientists are telling us exactly that. Quantum mechanics teaches that "Matter does not exist. Only ideas, concepts, information." As they learn more about atoms, quarks and the building blocks of the Universe, physicists are starting to realize that solidity is an illusion. Most of the Universe is empty space, and even what appears to be solid is a probability wave of energy. "What the Bleep" quotes a famous quantum physicist as saying: "Atoms are not things, only tendencies." In "What Dreams May Come" the spirit guide also said to Chris that "Thought is real. Physical is the illusion."

While the idea that the physical world is an illusion is hard for many to accept, the idea that time does not exist is even harder. It seems to contradict our everyday, living experience and thus our minds recoil at the idea. Yet, one of the goals of the existential detectives in "I Heart Huckabees" was to lead Albert beyond time, saying to him: "have you ever transcended space and time?" And the spirit guide in "What Dreams May Come" said "Time does not exist here."

What does it mean for time to be an illusion? A character in "Waking Life" expressed it nicely when he said that "There is only one instant. And it's right now. And it's eternity." What this means is that the only moment we have ever experienced in our lives is the present moment. The past and future exist as concepts only.

Common Characters in Spiritual Cinema

In addition to themes and ideas that arise in Spiritual Cinema, there are many characters that seem to arise again and again.

The Seeker

One of the stock characters in Spiritual Cinema is "the seeker", someone who is on a mission to find something of value and importance. This a common character in movies but what distinguishes Spiritual Cinema from other genres is that the character is guided to go within to find answers. She realizes that what she is lacking or missing lies inside her own heart, not outside of herself in the material world. Thus, the journey is an inner journey and the victory is a deeper and more fulfilling connection with the Self.

The Spirit Guide

Another stock character in Spiritual Cinema could be called "the spirit guide". This is a person or group of people who give spiritual guidance to the lead character, or seeker, as he or she progresses on the journey. Invariably, the guides tell the seeker to look deeply into his own heart and to eradicate fear. The guides know that all truth, wisdom and happiness lie within oneself and provide invaluable advice and instructions to the seeker. The spirit guides are often older and wiser, but not always, and radiate wisdom, compassion and peace.

The Shadow Self

As a counter balance to the spirit guide, there is often a character that thwarts the seeker's progress. This character could be called "the shadow self" or "the other". Symbolically, this character represents the seeker's deepest and most harrowing fears. The seeker uses this person as a tool to overcome her internal fears, thus becoming a whole person once again. The conflict between the seeker and the shadow self provide the filmmaker with a way to visually represent the inner battle of the seeker. This is a very useful tool to express many of the abstract concepts found in Spiritual Cinema.

These three stock characters are well represented in the films included in this article. For example, in "What the Bleep" the lead character angrily confronted herself in the mirror screaming "I hate you!" to herself. She was battling her inner "shadow self" and was able to overcome it, reconciling with herself and conquering her inner fears. At the end of the scene, she was serene and tranquil and wrote "I Love You" across her body. She was victorious.

Throughout "I Heart Huckabees," Albert was locked in battle with his shadow self, Brad. The existential investigators placed Albert in a body bag where sensory stimuli was removed and he could observe his inner thoughts and feelings. Eventually, Albert connected with himself and transcended his anger and hatred for his arch-nemesis, who is in fact an aspect of his own fears.

Special Techniques in Spiritual Cinema

Even with the stock characters to use as tools, filmmakers working in this genre quickly realize how difficult it is to visually represent concepts and ideas that are inherently non-physical. To overcome these barriers, the filmmakers commonly use animation, graphics and advanced CGI technologies to transcend ordinary physical limitations. "What Dreams May Come" won an Oscar for "Best Visual Effects" for its use of CGI (computer generated imagery) in the afterlife sequences. To create a visual metaphor for a world that is controlled by thought, Chris's afterlife was like an oil painting that transformed itself as quickly as Chris changed his thoughts. These beautiful sequences contributed substantially to the final budget of over $80 million.

"What the Bleep" also had many 3-D graphics in its scenes such as a wedding sequence in which animated characters represented people's inner realities of fear, lust, gluttony and others. The movie also had an extended animated sequence that took the audience into the inner world of atoms and sub-atomic particles, demonstrating how solid matter is an illusion.

The entire film "Waking Life" was animated. It was first shot as a live-action DV feature that was then animated with a computer program. The director did this in order to create a dreamy, surreal world for his characters. His use of animation supported his idea that life itself is much like a vivid dream.

Finally, "I Heart Huckabees" used simpler animations to demonstrate unity and conflict throughout the story.

Conclusion

Genres are constantly evolving as society evolves. Spiritual Cinema has recently emerged as a distinct genre with ideas that could truly revolutionize our planet. As a developing genre, there are no absolute boundaries between Spiritual Cinema and other well-established genres, but there are many characteristics that set it apart as being unique. Spiritual Cinema turns its attention more toward human consciousness and the creative powers of the mind to manifest reality. In contrast, one of modern society's main assumptions is that we can arrive at the truth by using deterministic and materialistic physical laws.

The themes of Spiritual Cinema are a radical departure from the materialistic, deterministic paradigm that is currently believed. And while it is challenging for audiences to grasp them, it is even more challenging for filmmakers to express them visually using film as the medium. Time is an essential component of film, which places events on a linear timeline in sequential order. Yet Spiritual Cinema teaches that time does not exist. Film itself is a physical medium that records light's interaction with the physical world. Yet Spiritual Cinema teaches that the physical is an illusion. What this means is that spiritual filmmakers must work within the illusion of time and space, while creating visual metaphors that lead audiences beyond the illusion. This is certainly a challenge and Spiritual Cinema has used many innovations and techniques to accomplish this.

In conclusion, a vast segment of the population is dissatisfied with the mainstream offerings of Hollywood and are hungry for new messages. Spiritual Cinema fills this gap and has proven that it can be profitable and capture an audience. It empowers people by telling them they are creators, not victims or passive recipients. The elements in this article are hardly exhaustive of the elements in Spiritual Cinema but do provide a good starting point for beginning to characterize this emerging genre. As the genre matures, this list is sure to become longer.

The future is bright for Spiritual Cinema and it is sure to become more influential as it gains more recognition and connects with audiences around the globe.

If you have any comment or questions about this article, please contact the author directly at navin@devistudios.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Altman, Rick, "A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre", Cinema Journal, 23:3, pp. 6-18., 1984

Berry, Sarah, "Genre", chapter from A Companion to Film Theory, edited by Toby Miller and Robert Stam, 1999

Schatz, Thomas, "Film Genre and the Genre Film", chapter from Hollywood Genres, 1981, McGraw-Hill Companies.

Wood, Robin, "Ideology, Genre, Auteur", Film Comment, Volume 13, Number 1, 1977

FILMOGRAPHY

"I Heart Huckabees," 2004, directed by David O. Russell

"Waking Life," 2001, directed by Richard Linklater

"What Dreams May Come," 1998, directed by Vincent Ward

"What the Bleep Do We Know?," 2003, directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente.