The Hobbit and Our Own Unexpected Journeys
I just can't get enough of The Hobbit. It's one movie I'd like to watch over and over again, and it's not only because of the beautiful lines I'd like to listen to again and capture better but also because of how it had stirred me in a deep way.
I see so much of myself in Bilbo and his unexpected journey. In fact, I think the film mirrors our common journey as human BEINGs. At certain junctures in our life journey, we are invited to leave the familiar and comfortable without fully understanding why we need to or what's ahead of us. Yet, we say yes because we feel a certain thug in the heart. So we leave the comfort of home and everything certain and familiar to face an adventure that may not initially make sense to us - a decision we make not so much with our head and all its logical means but with our heart and guts. And like Bilbo, we discover and gain from the journey treasures way beyond what we could have imagined, treasures we couldn't have found otherwise. It's a discovery that the greatest gifts gained are not just the ones we get from the outside world but those we discover from the innermost parts of the Self. We discover that while we have something to gain, we also have a gift to give - a gift no one else is able to give because the gift we offer is deeply connected to our "I am"-ness. I find it extremely moving that the very thing that made Bilbo extremely reluctant to take on the unexpected journey put before him by Gandalf - the warmth and comfort of his structured home - was the very gift of hearth he was to offer to the rowdy dwarves and their unpredictable journey.
Bilbo's unexpected journey affirms what I had always believed: there is no such thing as a wrong journey. There aren't even wrong turns as even in what seem to be deadends and detours, we discover and learn so much about life and ourselves. More importantly, I guess the film reminds me that the most beautiful and meaningful junctures of our life journey are the ones where we are asked to let go of what is familiar, where we are made to confront our fears, and where we are challenged to expand our awareness of who we are. For, these junctures of our journeys give birth to our true Self.
I see so much of myself in Bilbo and his unexpected journey. In fact, I think the film mirrors our common journey as human BEINGs. At certain junctures in our life journey, we are invited to leave the familiar and comfortable without fully understanding why we need to or what's ahead of us. Yet, we say yes because we feel a certain thug in the heart. So we leave the comfort of home and everything certain and familiar to face an adventure that may not initially make sense to us - a decision we make not so much with our head and all its logical means but with our heart and guts. And like Bilbo, we discover and gain from the journey treasures way beyond what we could have imagined, treasures we couldn't have found otherwise. It's a discovery that the greatest gifts gained are not just the ones we get from the outside world but those we discover from the innermost parts of the Self. We discover that while we have something to gain, we also have a gift to give - a gift no one else is able to give because the gift we offer is deeply connected to our "I am"-ness. I find it extremely moving that the very thing that made Bilbo extremely reluctant to take on the unexpected journey put before him by Gandalf - the warmth and comfort of his structured home - was the very gift of hearth he was to offer to the rowdy dwarves and their unpredictable journey.
Bilbo's unexpected journey affirms what I had always believed: there is no such thing as a wrong journey. There aren't even wrong turns as even in what seem to be deadends and detours, we discover and learn so much about life and ourselves. More importantly, I guess the film reminds me that the most beautiful and meaningful junctures of our life journey are the ones where we are asked to let go of what is familiar, where we are made to confront our fears, and where we are challenged to expand our awareness of who we are. For, these junctures of our journeys give birth to our true Self.
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth |
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