masterwordsmith-unplugged

We’ve all paid our dues–at some point–for the sake of our kids, muscling through the parental prerequisite ninety minutes of yet another disengaging children’s movie. Think “Lilo and Stitch” or “Curly Sue”…

On the other hand, we‘ve also experienced the moment, sitting in those same theater seats, when we realized we were watching a surprisingly great work of art–“The Lion King”, “Toy Story” and “Babe”—that makes it all worth while.

In “Finding Nemo”, the voices of our favorite actors brought to life a new underwater world, making us laugh and cry as our children’s eyes widened at the wonder of the big screen. As Nemo’s dad, Marlin, rode the EAC (East Australian Current) with Crush, the surfer Turtle, in search of his lost son, we could easily relate:

Crush: Okay. Squirt here will now give you a rundown of proper exiting technique.

Squirt: Good afternoon. We’re gonna have a great jump today. Okay, first crank a hard cutback as you hit the wall. There’s a screaming bottom curve, so watch out. Remember: rip it, roll it, and punch it.

Marlin: It’s like he’s trying to speak to me, I know it.

Marlin [to Squirt]: Look, you’re really cute, but I can’t understand what you’re saying. Say the first thing again.

One of the characteristics of a magnificent work of art is the non-verbal reference to the human condition. Who would have ever thought that surfing turtles and animated fish would give us such an exquisite lesson about riding the current of our own lives?

According ancient Taoist beliefs, there is, in fact, a current for each of us. This current is one we can choose to struggle against, trying to gain control, turning variables into fixtures…or one we can choose to succumb to, allowing ourselves to relax and let go, accepting that there is a universal energy meant to carry us along as our lives shape and form into the way they are meant to be.

English writer Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was considered a high ranking intellectual and leader of modern thought. He discussed the very idea of swimming against the current long before Nemo pixilated into our lives. He explained, “There is a Law of Reversed Effort. The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. Proficiency and the results of proficiency come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity, of letting go as a person in order that the immanent and transcendent Unknown Quantity may take hold. We cannot make ourselves understand; the most we can do is to foster a state of mind, in which understanding may come to us.”

We all have phases during which we’re at the mercy of the surge and swell of life, when we do not progress forward despite expending great amounts of energy to move our heavy legs through the strong, murky water…when the sound of our voice bubbles from our mouths like it did when we were ten, having a tea party through the caustic lighting of the water at the bottom of the pool.

But the sooner we realize the times when our exhausting struggle is not simply a wave—when we are actually moving against the natural flow of our life–the sooner we will discover the free flowing current—our very own EAC—right in front of us. And we will see how easy, upon surrendering, it is to submerge and be propelled forward in the direction of our own personal destinies.

And, like Marlin in Nemo, we will finally find what we have been looking for all along.

written by Wendy Brache

Published in The Broomfield Enterprise, 12/16/07