Eat, Pray, Love

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I saw Eat, Pray, Love. I had thumbed through the book and found myself disturbed by the author telling her readers that every religion had their own version of the Holy Spirit and that we are all our own god, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt.
There was a part of me that was hoping this woman would actually find something and it might turn out to be more like Under the Tuscan Sun. I was sadly mistaken. Oh, I get it. She supposedly learned to love and be loved. The parts I find so ironic are the fact that none of the things she was seeking out seemed to work for her.  She fell asleep meditating and laughed as the medicine man told each person the same thing. It was a revelation that these things were not a cure. One man in the movie had been seeking healing at the ashram for a long time and was still left desperately hungry for it. The thing that seemed to help this woman learn to love was being confronted by others about her actions and fears. Mysticism did not heal her.
As a Christian watching the movie, it was overwhelming to see the humanity and desperation of these people worshipping false deities. We all learn and categorize false religions, but to see people with elephant statues and chanting day in and day out made me weep. We see deep emotion and pain looking to be healed in religions that can never offer healing. I am also not sure what her husband really did that made her divorce him. In real life, she was having an affair and she left. It was all very eye opening. You could easily hear the enemy whispering that all ways lead to "god" in this film.
I did receive some positives. We could all take a clue or two about learning to enjoy life and each other. We could all learn how to rest and make love. We can do this in life right where we are. We can devote ourselves to meditating on Christ and learning to be patient as He reveals Himself. We seem to even take this busy stance of trying to Bible study God to death. Maybe we should learn to rest in His presence. Perhaps, if we quit making religion about rules, people would want to find what they were looking for among us. What if they walked among us and found love? 
If you are looking to find yourself, try this instead: http://www.labri.org/
@stephaniecherry.com

Comments

maggie may said…
good job, girl. i find that as a Christian, movies about finding yourself and living life to its fullest fall flat. without Christ, it's not really life to the full.
9:09 PM
Unknown said…
I agree...I tried reading the book and was not at all successful. I was offended by the ending of her marriage and for the lack of reason and her definition of "god." But, I did take some similar things from it, such as yearning for a lasting experience with God. So sad that she couldn't find it. It just makes me feel very lucky to have Jesus!
1:49 PM
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