Shift Issue #02: Consciousness and the Media • March 2004

Spiritual Cinema

Stephen Simon | Shift | Shift Issue #02: Consciousness and the Media |

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"As we evolve as a species, we hit certain key moments when old ways are discarded and new maps of behavior are forged. Movies are the most electrifying communications medium ever devised and the natural conduit for inspiring ourselves to look into the eternal issues of who we are and why we are here."

I believe certain movies contain spiritual messages through which we communicate with ourselves about the eternal mysteries of what it may mean to be human. I have always been deeply affected by the inspiration of these mystical movie messages. One day, I realized that these films all had a spiritual focus, and indeed constituted a whole category of film that has not yet been recognized as a specific genre. I now call this genre "Spiritual Cinema." So a couple of years ago, I wrote The Force is with You: Mystical Movie Messages that Inspire Our Lives. The films I discuss in the book all have empowering and inspirational messages about this experience we call life.

These movies appeal to the most integrated and majestic aspects of our nature, and illuminate for us models of behavior of who and what we can be when we are operating at our very best. These messages, when taken as a whole, provide road maps for us as we evolve as a species. Spiritual Cinema essentially focuses on the empowerment of the God within each individual, rather than religious films that focus on God as an external power.

These kinds of films consistently outperform most other genres. There is a huge, passionate, and hungry audience that wants more of these films to be made every year. As things are, we have numerous action movies, comedies, horror, and love stories produced each year because their audiences have been previously quantified. With the recognition of Spiritual Cinema as a genre, more funding will flow, and more films on these themes will be made and marketed.

I believe that Spiritual Cinema exists to empower and inspire audiences, not to denigrate or discourage them. This is not to say that some films in the genre are not powerful and even disturbing. The dark shadow side of human nature is evidenced in many of these movies, but the underlying messages about our humanity are ultimately positive and life-affirming. I think we already have enough doom and gloom in entertainment for Armageddon enthusiasts. I simply want to illuminate another side of the human experience--especially in this age of uncertainty where humanity is on the brink of a positive evolution of the human spirit.

Films in this genre are generally passed off as flukes, or incorrectly categorized as comedies or love stories. Right now, the entire notion of spirituality is anathema in the halls of power in Hollywood. They don't want to be bothered because they don't yet see the viability of this market. The movie business has always been behind the curve when it comes to social phenomena. Films tend to reflect the major social advances of society after the fact, rather than before or even during such changes. This is neither bad nor wrong. It just is. Eventually, the film industry will see what embracing spirituality has done for book publishing, television, and the music industry, and will jump on the bandwagon. For some in Hollywood, the dignity of the individual in Spiritual Cinema is in contrast to the social ethics of the business itself.

Join the Spiritual Cinema Circle at SpiritualCinemaCircle.com

STEPHEN SIMON is a film producer and co-founder of The Institute for Spiritual Entertainment, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of intellectual properties focused on the rediscovery of inner wisdom and divine power. His movies include Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come, and his latest, Indigo. Find more information online at www.mysticalmovies.com