Kurosawa's "The Tunnel"

In Kurosawa’s film “Dreams” under “The Tunnel” section there is a man who counteracts with a former soldier of his who died in active war, the soldier does not believe his death and has to be reassure that the story that make him think he is alive was all a dream. Once he has realized that he is actually dead he return with the whole army where they are then told that they all died in war and that it is time for them to return back to a place where they could be at peace, the commander feels he sent them out to die and says “I honestly wish I would have died with you”. He realizes that he has dishonored his troops and should be punished for it by losing his life as well he feels as if he does not deserve to live. At the end of the scene a dog awkwardly reappears and frantically bark and hiss at him and it seems as if the commander wants the dog to take his life as he believe he did to his soldiers. I believe this part of the movie Dreams is related to different parts of the Shinto religion one of which is the Shinto creation myth. The myth tells about the separation of heaven and earth and how after separation Kami would flit in and out of existence, this relates to “the tunnel” by way that the soldier has died and has probably went to heaven for his good deed of fighting for his men but has return to earth hoping that the reality is that he never died. The whole scene itself can be related to the belief that everything is spiritual and humanity, nature, and the spirits or gods all interact. There is also a relation to two of the Shinto ethics, those actions that create harmonious relationships in home and society (soldiers fighting for their homeland) and that loyalty to the country is an action that is superior to many.  Though the scene was not very long at all it provided many aspects of the Shinto religion and gave you an idea of what it was a about in a simple way.

The Tao of "Pooh Way"

The Tao of Pooh was difficult for me to understand at times when references were being made to ancient Chinese and philosophers but it became much more simplistic when the context was referenced to Winnie-the-pooh. I am one who finds religion as a very hard concept to understand but I like the way this book goes into detail with the meanings of words and how it is viewed or analogized by the typical American and then by the scientist that thinks they have the answers to everything. Reading the book has made it easier for me to understand the concept of Taoism and how it is all basically about how you need to let life happen, that there are always going to be things that you don’t like about yourself but if you try to change them or get rid of them you will make the problem bigger whereas if you work on simply making that trait better and allowing it to be a part of you it will come in handy and be used at the perfect time. This will help you see that things do happen for a reason and if you work as hard as you do to eliminate certain characteristics that you don’t like about yourself as you do to make them work for you than life would be much easier and gratifying.

From now on I will call myself a busy backson; it’s not a hard title to gain being a college student. My ideal of a college student turned out to be not what I had hoped for. I am always on the go and when I do get time to myself it is often wasted on sleep. I feel as if I worry more than I should and that Just as I many Americans should give themselves this title because Americans like to hold on to time that can’t be held on to the reality is that time waits for no one and everyone knows that but they still try to put life on hold until they are ready to move forward. Life is a struggle and I feel it will always be hard to find a balance.

From the perspective of The Tao of Pooh the concept of Taoism is very understandable and could be a very good solution to the problem that our American culture face, but then it brings the question of “What would the world be like if everyone in the world had no care at all, they just let things happen”? Could Americans survive in this age with concepts of Wu Wei? Personally the idea of Taoism is the way I would like to live my life. Being stressed about things you have no control over, or working hard to avoid things that shouldn’t be avoided all begins to be too much and you waste time trying to make this perfect life whereas if you just allow yourself to experience life it would be so much better and gratifying to people, but how do you control your actions in a way that would allow you to do so. In the Tao of Pooh there was a lot of significant analysis that caught my attention. Sometimes you make sacrifices but in the American society those sacrifices that you choose the make will get you in trouble forget about it being the way of life for example “everything has its own place and function, stuck in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or wrong house. When you know and respect your inner nature, you know where you belong”. (pg.41) This statement suggest that if you feel that your job or marriage is not where you want to be then get out of it but what happens when you can’t afford a place to live that way of life is not going to be so great after all. So, how do you know or decide what’s best. Throughout the book Pooh is living the “way of pooh” living life just the way it is, not putting too much thought into the things he do or should I say not second guessing himself being clever and the other characteristics always doubt him or say his ideas are stupid when he always come out on top just living life the way it is, how does one find that point in their life where they are comfortable enough to drop everything and just live.