Truman Show:
This was a Jim Carey movie and is the story of an insurance salesman, who discovers his entire life is actually a television show and that even members of his family are mere actors!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loTIzXAS7v4
I saw this movie more than two decades back and it resonated so well with my thoughts. I loved it. What a concept! The whole city was a set for this life long reality show. At one stage Truman (JC) finds out about the show and tries to escape but is unsuccessful. He then confronts the director, who tells him about his dream about this immense reality show. The whole world is glued to their TVs to see what will Truman do the next day.
He opens his front door as usual, comes out and says Good Morninggggg ππ
Life my friend, is a reality show only. I have no doubt in my mind. It is not real. But it is so well made that it looks very real. Oh the reality of unreality!!
Life is like a Movie
Life could also be compared to a movie. We know movies aren’t real. Movies are movies π But someone has produced it, directed it; edited it and we are watching it. In a way it is real. Life, like a movie, is real and unreal at the same time.
Our lives are a work in progress. Life events are happening and shall keep happening. At the same time whatever has to happen has already happened. It wouldn’t have happened, it couldn’t have happened if the Cosmic Creator Director hadn’t already created it in His thoughts. We are a finished product or WIP – All a perspective. Never real.
At some time or the other all of us have felt the unreality of life. The holiday we took a couple of years back looks like a dream. That surprise meeting with the person of your dreams; did it really happen? Does not the utter unreality and at times the utter uselessness of all action strike all of us at some time or the other?
We do keep getting glimpses of this play but are too scared to probe it further. We get scared of what life will be like if the life as we knew it is not real! The fear of the unknown keeps us trapped in this endless drama, this never ending cycle of pain and suffering; with some happiness and pleasure thrown in to keep the act going.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
If we start to become aware of this play, this drama, we start enjoying it. Worry and tension go out and we get filled with joy and laughter.
Ultimately good or bad; hero or villain, rich or poor, beautiful or uglyβ¦..it is all maya, an illusion, a play β¦.never realβ¦..
Paramahansa Yogananda had said,β When you die, you are going to say; Thank God it was a dream!β Same as we get up from a bad dream and say : Thank God it was a dream!! It has happened with me quite a few times during this lockdown period !!
“It doesnβt matter whether we scrub floors, or whether we are leaders of great nations; unless we know that we are merely playing a part on the stage of time, we will suffer from the dualities inherent in the consciousness of being identified with these different stations and conditions. Stage actors do not bemoan their particular parts, but enact their roles to the best of their ability, knowing they are temporary portrayals. Do you see? It is only when we take life too seriously that we suffer.” Paramahansa Yogananda
So many times I think I should walk away from all this : this dream, this show, this endless drama of life; and then I get up in the morning and like Jim Carey, say :
GOOD MORNING WORLD π
And the show goes on ….
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I am reposting some of my old posts as I feel they are relevant in current situation we are all in. It helps me in regaining my own perspective! You may like to read a more detailed post of last year : Life is a Reality Show
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Very true!!
Thank you so much Rupal. Once we know it is a Reality Show we start to enjoy it ππ€
Life really seems real and unreal.
Life was going great, who would have even dreamt of this pandemic and the great going life turned out to be difficult life.
Great post sir.
Life is Beautiful was an amazing movie. In a smaller way that is how we are going through this period at home just now.
Yes your take on Truman Show is another way of looking at reality and our lives π
Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Maybe when we begin to pierce through some of the illusions a deeper reality of love and joy opens up.. I read something about this in a book on Zen today.
Have you seen the the movie Life is Beautiful about the man in the concentration camp?.. He finds the reality of comedy and joy beneath the tragedy.. that’s not deny the real suffering and barbarism pf the Holocaust. but in many ways Hitler was caught up in a dream that became a nightmare for others…. I see the Truman Show as being more about the veneers we get buried underneath in trying to live a ‘perfect’ empty soulless life.. that’s just my take on it.. though its years since I watched it.
Thank you so much my friend. That is how life is – just a show π€
Ah, The Truman Show. That one really takes me back. It was like a pretty big movie back then. Quite different from Jim Carrey’s previous comedies. He showed his skill in acting indeed. Thanks for the memory. Have a great weekend!
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Yes! The show goes on! Bring in the clown or clowns.
Thank you so much my dear friend π
excellent, very interesting
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Interesting
Welcome Ashok I will watch it on YouTube.ππππ
Thank you so much for your encouraging thoughts Cheryl – and I do believe it is a dream and shall be over soon. That is the trick Cheryl to look at it like fun as a child would and let the games people are playing alone. I can bet after an year or two when we look back at this time it would look like a dream only π
Thank you so much and stay safe my friend.
I think full movie is available on YouTube Kamal.
Thank you so much for your wise words. Much appreciated
There are many ways of perceiving what life is, and this is one of the more intriguing to me.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Pandemic and the unrest and the dirty politics swirling around us were just a nightmare we could wake from? I fear that it is all too real, and a lot of effort on our part will be required to recover from these nightmares.
Thank you, Ashok for a very thought-provoking post. I hope you are well. Cheryl
I must see the Truman series again after what you have just said so truthfully and divinely, Ashok. I too had seen it many years back and LIFE IS A STAGE and we are all ACTORS acting our movies and HE is the greatest ACTOR who has created HIS WORLD and we are all in this gross world of Unreality that sustains the Reality. Too good post, Ashok.
Let’s!
Yes Betul. Let us play our part well π€
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
Shakespeare
You too my friend- stay safe. Stay happy π
Do it Medhaji π There is no better way to live π
Thank you so much
Thank you so much Amy and so good to hear from you after a long time. I do think of you of and on.
I can well imagine you leading that kind of life. And it is people like you who help the world go on and evolve.
God be with you and may you learn all the lessons without much pain and heartburn. Love
Definitely seems that way!
Hope you are well – stay safe βοΈ
It will be interesting to come out and greet the real world with a “good morning”!:)
Thank you, Ashok, for this post that I understand explicitly. I have chosen for many years to make my own “movie” and to not be effected by the world at large. I view what is happening now, see the “truth” behind the smokescreen, and walk away from it refusing to allow that “movie” to effect my life. We who have done the “work” get this concept. We all are here to learn specific lessons we ourselves have chosen, and believe me, many lessons I have learned throughout this time and they have nothing to do with the “world’s movie” that is currently playing. God bless you!! xo
You are most welcome π
Thank you so much my friend from Brittany. I actually believe in it π
An interesting, thoughtful piece!
Thank you so much Lynette. I do believe it to be true π
An interesting, thought-provoking post.
Thank you so much Sujata for your reading and comments. I appreciate your taking out time to read and comment on all the posts π
Thank you so much my friend. I do believe that is what life really is π just a Reality Show π
Yes indeed this existence which we call as life is a reality show, an illusion, a dream/nightmare..
“The Cosmic Director has written His own plays and has summoned the tremendous casts for the pageant of the centuries ” (from Autobiography of a Yogi). During meditation with Master’s blessings and the practice of his techniques, at least momentarily He gives us a glimpse of this drama and our role as “actors as well as audience in this planetary theatre”
That movie resonated with me too! Good movie! Funny… life does feel that way sometimes.
Hoping you’ve entered your mail in the pop-up box. Would like to be in touch with you π
Yes, I realised this when I visited your new site
You’re welcome Ashok.
FYI –
Iβve migrated my WP site & have published a few poems. If you havenβt received any notification, please visit “navinspoems.com” -> Enter your email in the widget under POETRY UPDATES -> Click on SIGN UP. This way notification will be activated. If it says you’re already a subscriber, then pls check your notification settings whether it’s enabled or not when I publish a post. Thanks a million for your help & ongoing support! π
Thanks Navin π
Interesting….