Lao-Tzu & the New Age
The phrase the “new age”— when analyzing the work of Mike Cahill and other creative and philosophical minds — is a term used to describe a world that uses self-love, healing, forgiveness, and peace to live a life of true happiness. Machiavelli, a 16 century Italian philosopher, discusses how in order for a society to function well, a leader should be more of a pessimist rather than optimist, for example, “Since men are a sorry lot and will not keep their promises to you, you likewise need not keep yours to them” (230), this quote from Machiavelli suggests how having faith doesn’t lead to happiness, but betray, being deceived, lies, and the fall of the kingdom. Faith that a person’s happiness is ensured to happen because it’s destiny for one to be happy requires optimism while lack of faith that life is about justice, trust, and kindness requires a more pessimistic perceptive. Lao-tzu (sixth century B. C. E.) from China discusses how a society functions better when people are optimistic, for example, “Nothing is impossible for him because he has let go” (43.2) is a quote from Lao-tzu that shows how the world will always take care of itself and that all a person needs to do is embrace the changes that the world has to offer and recognize that there is a divine plan that will always lead mankind towards its desired outcome, even if a society cannot fully conceptualize that desired outcome. Current creative and philosophical minds follow the path of Lao-tzu rather than Machiavelli.
In the movie I Origins, that was written and directed by Mike Cahill, there is a scene where the lead character Ian seeks to buy cigarettes and a lottery ticket. The cashier tells him that the price comes to $11.11. Ian looks inside his wallet and finds exactly 11 dollars and looks inside his back pocket and finds exactly 11 cents. He finds this peculiar. Then while he stands outside the store experiencing a phenomenon many would call déjà vu, he looks down at his lottery ticket and notices that the time of purchase is 11:11pm. He then looks up at a clock that is inside the store but facing the outside and sees 11:11pm. A bus than pulls up next to him. He spontaneously decides to ride it. While on the bus, Ian looks around curious as if he is experiencing some kind of altered state of consciousness almost like he is sleep walking through this entire experience. A dog barks as if commanding for him to get off. Ian responds to the dog’s command and right as does, he see a Devonne advertisement billboard of a pair of eyes that are the exact pair of eyes he took photos of when at a Halloween party of a young women he fell instantly in love with. He’s been trying to find this mysterious young woman ever since that night when she walked away without giving him any information for him to contact her. This is what many new age thinkers would call the phenomenon of synchronicity. A synchronicity to many new age thinkers is a sign given from God, or a higher power that when followed leads a person to their ultimate life purpose and/or lover.
Another movie co-written and directed by Mike Cahill is Another Earth. This movie showcases the journey back to self-love, forgiving one’s self, and of deep healing. Lao-Tzu’s philosophy is about peace and letting things happen the way they should. Lao-Tzu very much believes in destiny because he sees life as fluid movement guiding people to their happiness almost by accident because it isn’t planned or manipulated by a person, but happens as if it is a part of a bigger divine plan that a person cannot see, but exists beyond their reality. This ties in directly with the phenomenon of synchronicity because a synchronicity is unplanned, uncontrolled, and happens as a sign reminding a person that their life is going as it should and that all is already working out for the better, even if things don’t appear in their reality to be working out for the greater good. The movie I Origins and Another Earth both express peace through finding one’s self and finding love. They both show how life carries a person like a floating leaf is being carried by a stream.
“Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself” (211), is a quote from Lao-Tzu that clearly states how there is an unseen force that guides each and every person towards its desired life. The movie I Origins clearly shows how Ian and Sofi [twin flames] will always find their way back to each other regardless if they are trying to control it to happen or have let it go. It is their souls’ desire to be together so the unseen force will make it happen without their needing to control it to happen. “If it is meant to happen it will happen”, is not my quote, but a quote many people say when they wish to let go of the anxiety of trying to control everything in their life.
The movie Another Earth follows the quote of “there is no greater misfortune than having an enemy” (Lao-Tzu 31.3). The main character, Rhoda, kills a man’s pregnant wife and little boy while driving under the influence. Years later after getting out of jail, Rhoda feels guided to find the man and apologize to him for her wrong doing. Instead of letting him know that she was his wife, unborn child, and child’s killer, she deceives him. Rhoda becomes his house cleaner so she can get close to him. The man who lost his family has become very lonely, lost, and sad, but starts to find comfort in Rhoda’s presence. Through their making love, without him knowing that Rhoda was the actual driver, who killed his wife, unborn child, and child, heals each other’s broken hearts. They part ways when she eventually tells him her purpose in being his friend, which is to try and make his life better in whatever way she can; For example, “Let me tell you a story, it’s about a girl. She does something unforgiveable. She goes to apologize but she loses her nerve. She lies to him. She thinks she might be able to make his life a little bit better. It was really just a way to survive what I have done” (Another Earth).
The enemy was not the man whose life she ruined, but the enemy was herself for what she did to him. That hatred towards herself caused her suffering and caused her to turn away from her peace because she felt she didn’t deserve to have peace. She began to love herself and forgive herself when she became his friend. Lao-Tzu’s philosophy is distantly about being content with one’s life. The best way to be content according to him is to have “simplicity, patience, and compassion” (Lao-Tzu 57.2), which is all things Rhoda experiences on her journey back to self-love, forgiveness for herself, and deep healing.
According to Doreen Virtue the new age is about society moving away from Machiavelli’s philosophy of hoarding money, greed, distrusting others, competition over money and territory, violence, and living more in “simplicity, patience compassion” (Lao-Tzu 57.2). For example, in an interview Doreen Virtue says that: “The new energy is about manifestation and corporation: the more that we learn manifestation the more peace we will all bring to Earth. We will stop making meaningless objects that we spend money on because we feel empty inside”,
This state’s how the society in which Machiavelli describes in his philosophy cannot provide true happiness. Doreen Virtue believes the new age is about letting go of the need to accumulated wealth
Analyzing the American capitalist current society from a sociologist’s perspective, a person can see that there is a lot of competition and accumulation of wealth taking place. Machiavelli in his philosophy shows a society where a prince accumulates much wealth in order to spend it on potential war to ensure that he doesn’t need to raise taxes on his subjects during war time. Doreen Virtue’s idea on letting go of the need to accumulate wealth follows the teaching of Lao-tzu, for example, “The teachings of Lao-Tzu are the opposite of the materialist quest for power, dominance, authority, and wealth” (Lao-Tzu 204).
Edger Cayce, an American mystic, during the early 1900’s was a well known channeler and made many predictions on future events. One of his channeled messages has to do with life being a healing journey for everyone. He believed life to be about self-love and connecting with one’s soul. This follows the path of Lao-tzu because in his philosophy he believes that life is about discovering one’s self through self-reflection. For example, “It constantly urges us to look beyond ourselves” (203), this quote from Lao-Tzu expresses that a person’s true nature is to become wiser each and every day and not about having a superficial life.
Many current philosophers such as Jim Carrey have speeches on how a person can become more enlightened. For example, “your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world”, is a quote from Jim Carrey that is about not letting fear of being different keep a person from believing in themselves and that those that are perceived as different, odd, and/or other worldly are the enlightenment ones that will be paving the way for the “new age”. The word Tao that is associated with Lao-Tzu is “The way to enlightenment” (Lao-Tzu 203). The correlation between Jim Carrey’s speech and Lao-Tzu is quote suggests how many people today are leaning more towards enlightenment rather than Machiavelli’s philosophy of fear and distrusting others.
A few final examples of how many current creative and philosophical minds are leaning more towards Lao-tzu teachings rather than Machiavelli’s philosophy are: “Let go and flow instead of trying to control everything and expecting things to go as you wish them to, when you relax and let go a little then you will find things begin to flow in the right way and at the right time, with freedom comes movement to expand and grow”, written by Wendy Murphy on February 19, 2016 on her facebook page, and In a Will Smith interview he says, “Being realistic is the commonly used road to mediocrity…What is the point in being realistic?” Both examples are philosophical minds expressing that life is infinite and it is a person’s destiny to create a life that is magical. Magic is about receiving opportunities that appear to arrive unexpectedly, uncontrolled, spontaneously, but are not unplanned in a higher perspective, but orchestrated by a hidden force many would call God, or a higher power. “Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world” (Lao-Tzu 57.9), this quote compared to Murphy and Smith’s statements clearly shows how the current society wants to embody more compassion and peace through letting go and believing that life is magical. Those things that a person wishes for is possible as long as those things are centered in the Tao, which can be translated to centered in the heart and not in the ego. The ego being a term associated with Machiavelli’s teaching of fear, distrust, greed, and deception.
Another Earth, Dir. Mike Cahill. Perf. Brit Marling and William Mapother. Twentieth Century Fox, 2011. Film.
Danasosa78. “Why would you be Realistic? Nothing is unrealistic.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
I Origins. Dir. Mike Cahill. Perf. Brit Marling, Michael Pitt, and Astrid Berges-Frisbey. Twentieth Century Fox, 2014. Film.
Jacobus, Lee A., ed. A World of ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2013. Print.
Maharishi University of Management. “Full Speech: Jim Carrey’s Commencement Address at the 2014 MNM Curaouation (En, Fr, Es).” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 30 May. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
New Earth TV. “Interview- Doreen Virtue.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 29 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
