The people who slapped down two Benjamin Franklin notes for the rare privilege of being inside the consciousness of the actor stood on lines dozens long for the short cerebral ride. To paraphrase an old maxim, the other man’s brain is always greener. The screenwriter is presenting a variation on reality, suggesting to us as movie goers that the world can be seen in very different ways than we typically experience it. So if you’re someone who aspires to a higher perception of Reality take your hat off to Charlie Kaufman for this film, and for his “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” as well.
How much more would the thrill-seeking Malkovich seekers have paid if they only knew the good news – nay, the delightful news – that they could be inside their own heads – and experience the bliss of their higher Self at any moment through deep meditation every day for the rest of their lives? It surprises me that people would pay $200 1999 dollars to “eat” a fish, as the Chinese proverb goes, rather than to learn how to fish through meditation?
The Malkovich customers ended their romp inside the actor’s noggin by being forcibly ejected and thrown onto the Jersey Turnpike.
This is a lot more violent than quietly getting up from their comfortable meditation chair when their inner journey to peace comes to a harmonious conclusion.
Of course, comparing fictional characters in a 20-year-old movie to real people in our time is a bit like comparing apples to Malkoviches.
So why would they be more fascinated with the oddity of a brain invasion of another than the evenness of their own mind’s inner peace? I think it has to do with curiosity for the obscure, rather than genuine interest in the familiarity of our own inner nature. To paraphrase an old maxim: the other man’s brain is always greener. As Lao-Tzu put it so brilliantly: “The great way is easy, but people prefer bypaths.” People seem more enamored with alternate realities than with the ultimate Reality.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with whom I studied closely and who taught me how to teach his Transcendental Meditation as I did for many hundreds of people, used to cite an analogy that helps explain this peculiarity. He said that when an invading army conquered an enemy’s fort – its central command post – it would win the war, and thus gain access to all the resources in the conquered territory. To the victor, as the proverb goes, go the spoils. Now suppose, Maharishi used to say, there existed in that land silver mines, gold mines, and diamond mines. One could take quite a lot of time and energy on one’s own trying to locate such sites, plus the additional time and energy mining the treasures contained therein. It was far easier, he went on, to find out where they were located and have others help you gain the silver, gold and diamonds there, once you’ve vanquished the realm in which they all were based.
Your inner potential is a lot like that. You have silver mines such as ESP, you have gold mines like channeling, and you have diamond mines such as the ability to talk with angels. But the real fort within you – that which controls access to all such extras – is your higher Self. Realization of that infinite consciousness brings Enlightenment, peace, and joy – and access to all other such goodies. As Christ said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all else shall be added unto you.”
I don’t think that Maharishi or Christ were thinking that one such thing that could be added was a short trip through the mind of a theatrical and movie actor, and I don’t think that Charlie Kaufman was thinking of Cosmic Consciousness, but neither matters. All that matters is how you answer the question: Which is more important to you – to explore a limited latent ability, or to gain the eternal freedom of your deepest inner nature that grants you access to that ability and many others? The choice, as always, is yours.