What's wrong with our world, and what we can do to make it better?
These two questions Director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, etc) asked luminaries including: David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lynne McTaggart, Ray Anderson, John Francis, Coleman Barks, and Marc Ian Barasch in the new documentary I AM. I was fortunate to catch the show in Portland, Oregon, the first city on its tour around the U.S., and even to talk in person with Tom, following a standing ovation.
I AM is packed with fascinating interviews including one about Quantum Mechanics and an experiment measuring the electronic impulses of yogurt bacteria empathizing with Tom. I came away from this passion project feeling inspired by the main message of I AM — We Are One.
WE ARE ONE
We Are One. These three words take my thoughts down pathways of my own personal experience as an SGI Buddhist and of living in the Andes with Quechua and Aymara peoples.
Buddhism has been based for thousands of years on the concept of "Dependent Origination". One Buddhist parable illustrating this point is "The Two Bundles of Reeds". If the two bundles lean against each other, they both can stand. If one falls, so does the other.
In the Andes, for thousands of years, Quechua and Aymara peoples have lived the concepts "Ayni" and "Pachamama"; expressing aspects of our mystic interconnection with everything. Ayni can be translated as, "Reciprocity, cause and effect, dependent origination". Pachamama has been translated as, "Mother Nature" and "space/time continuum".
In Bolivia, Evo Morales, the first indigenous president in the Americas, is bringing indigenous wisdom into the global arena. For example, on December 7, 2010 Bolivia enacted a law acknowledging the Rights of Mother Earth as if she were a person, and declared her to be "sacred".
WE WHITE FOLKS ARE MENTALLY ILL
As a descendant of European immigrants to the Americas, as well as of Native Americans, one scene in I AM especially resonated with me. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Native populations had few incidences of profound mental illness or dysfunction. Native American Jack D. Forbes observed that the European conquerers appear to have been infected with the mental illness of cannibalism. "Cannibalism, as I define it, is the consuming of another's life for one's own private purpose or profit."
Another part of I AM that I enjoyed was the rebuttal of Social Darwinism. The luminaries interviewed were in agreement with one of my favorite books, "Mutual Aid". Instead of competition, it is mutual aid and cooperation which guarantee the survival of the species.
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Article comments
1 - Wayne
It is seldom that a movie review actually makes me want to see it. This was great.
2 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Thank you, Wayne, for reading the review and taking the time to post your comments. I appreciate you very much.
3 - Maya
Thank you, Lynette! It's nice to see a review of a film that is truly positive about human nature and the future of humanity. It seems such films are few and far between.
4 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Thank you, Maya. Yes, it is good to connect with like-minded people as we move together towards the light.
5 - Richard Weekley
"Have little you will have enough, to have abundance is to be troubled," wrote Lao Tzu. We know that living "The Middle Way" and "The Golden Mean" brings balance and harmony to our lives and the world. Thank you for your insights about this intriguing documentary, I AM. (An thanks again for your excellent presentation in North Hills.)
6 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Thank you, Richard. It was a pleasure to do an author reading of "Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace" in North Hills. And it was a pleasure to encounter this documentary by Tom Shadyac, "I AM".
7 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
A reader just sent me these comments to pass along, so I am sharing them with you:
"I read your review. I'd like to see this documentary . It seems interesting. I only saw the trailer in the official site of I AM. First, thinking about your review, your comment about the europeans conquerers infected with a mental illness fits with the book I'm reading right now: Political Ponerology written by Andrew M.Lobaczewski. According to this book evil is a disease. The conquerers arrived to these lands and destroyed a healthy system to impose a sick one. And now the world is suffering Macrosocial Evil. I reccomend you to read that book."
8 - Siva
I liked the review--well written; it made me interested in watching the documentary.
9 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Hello Siva,
After you watch the documentary "I AM", I invite you to come back and post your thoughts about it here.
Peace,
Lynette
10 - Diana Carrington
Really good review, it peaks your interest to see the documentary. He is a real Bodhisattva.
11 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Hello Diana,
I agree. Tom Shadyac is a real Bodhisattva.
12 - Margarita
Wonderful review, dear Lynette! I can't wait to see the film when it comes to DC! (I checked but it isn't showing here yet.)
Your words resonate with what I believe and truly *feel* in my heart. I'll write you after I see the movie!
I Am that I Am. We are all One. :)
Love and Light!
13 - Lynette Yetter, author of the novel, Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace
Thank you, Margarita, for sharing your voice and the beliefs and feelings of your heart. I look forward to reading your opinions after seeing I AM.