“The Tree of Life” #20 – An Experience of Enlightenment

August 21, 2011 in "The Tree of Life", Terrence Malick | Tags: "The Tree of Life", Beauty, Enlightenment, Terrence Malick

I am pretty sure I have said enough about Terrence Malick’s film “The Tree of Life” on this blog.

The only people who have had to suffer through more “Tree of Life” talk than readers of “In A Spacious Place,” are those who sit patiently listening to constant references to the film in my Sunday sermons. Yesterday I performed a wedding and Malick even found his way into the wedding sermon.

It is time to take a break from my most recent magnificent obsession. But, before I lay it down, I want to make one more attempt to explain what it is about this film that has had such an impact in my life.

This post is actually my wife’s fault. We were sitting outside on the deck yesterday. The sun was warm. We could hear birds in the yard and watch as they dipped their heads to drink from the birdbath. We were surrounded by trees blowing gently in the wind. Heather said, “You should write a blog about ‘The Tree of Life’ as an experience of enlightenment.”

She’s right. My experience watching Malick’s film was the experience of having my heart broken open. It started the moment Mrs. O’Brien collapsed on the floor in grief and it continued as Mr. O’Brien received the tragic news of his son’s death over the phone. In neither case did they utter a single word. There was nothing to say. Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt made the O’Briens’ sadness palpable. My rusty old heart began to break open on the anvil of their grief.

From this intimate moment of personal tragedy and the brokenness of all creation, “The Tree of Life” expanded out into the universe. I was catapulted into an instinctive awareness that the pain of a mother and a father losing a son is held in a much greater picture of cosmic power and energy than I often allow myself to contemplate.

It is not that the film sought in any way to diminish the sadness. It simply called me to open to the possibility that the tragedy of a child’s death might be part of a greater drama in which life is carried along by an invisible creative force that is oriented towards the full becoming of all creation.

Then “The Tree of Life” drops the viewer into 1950’s Texas and the daily little dramas, challenges, struggles, and joys of the O’Brien family.

Each moment of this intimate family story is filled with sparks of grace and goodness. Around every corner, there are intimations of a transcendent reality that Mrs. O’Brien calls simply “love.”

“The Tree of Life” opened my heart to the reality of eternity, not as a far away and distant place, but as an experience that is available in every moment and every event of every day. There is no need to wait for “heaven” in the future; heaven is available today, and tomorrow, and the next day. The challenge is simply to see.

“The Tree of Life” helped the eye of my heart to perceive the beauty of wind blowing in the grass, the stirring gift of cascading water, bird sounds, evening light filtering through the trees, the gentle touch of compassion, and the kindness of one person towards another.

Enlightenment in “The Tree of Life” is not some overwhelming emotional experience. It is a heart that is vulnerable to the beauty and tenderness of the present moment.

The power of this film is that, by some mysterious force, it caused my heart to soften. It allowed me to experience the invisible force of life that permeates all of existence.

“The Tree of Life” opened me to the place within myself where I perceive that all the disparate and apparently fragmented parts of life are held in a unified reality of love and light. This is the foundation of all existence; it is the experience of centuries of spiritual tradition have called “enlightenment”.

10 comments

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August 21, 2011 at 9:36 am

Tress

yes!

August 21, 2011 at 12:27 pm

Rob

What can I say , as a perceptive intelligent author and individual you have answered your own question. To give credit though it is your passion and we all have benefited.
The well can only run so deep. Now to cast blame on your wife, shame, as what you truly meant was to say the posts were inspired by Heather’s thoughts. So give thanks for her inspiration of a ‘few’ blogs that folks could read and enjoy and I gather including the Films author.

To quote you, ” There is no need to wait for “heaven” in the future; heaven is available today, and tomorrow, and the next day. The challenge is simply to see. ”
I translate that to ‘ a glimpse of heaven is alwavs available to us on earth as we live our daily live’s’ , we need only listen and practice. Mind you not always easy to do.

Rob’s muse for the day…

August 21, 2011 at 12:49 pm

jaqueline

““The Tree of Life” helped the eye of my heart to perceive the beauty of wind blowing in the grass, the stirring gift of cascading water, bird sounds, evening light filtering through the trees, the gentle touch of compassion, and the kindness of one person towards another.”

Yep, It certainly does that.

Liked the post a lot Christopher…it is an convincing apologetic for the necessity and purpose of art .

and it puts your enthusiasm into context and makes us more understanding about your ” magnificent obsession” 😉

August 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm

Carlos D.

For those of us who found ‘The Tree of Life’ a deeply meaningful experience your many posts have been a constant delight throughout these many weeks and a rich source of intellectual nourishment. I cannot thank you enough, Christopher. I’m sure there will be more to say in the future, but in the meantime let us engage our minds and hearts on our other tasks.

Do good to them. Wonder. Hope.

August 31, 2011 at 4:27 pm

jaqueline

Here is a quote describing the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC

“….it is Washington’s most-visited war memorial because it is moving in the complex and conflicted way good art is.”

I could not help think of Malick’s ‘Tree of Life’ …complex and conflicted as good art is.

September 3, 2011 at 7:44 pm

C.N.

“Grey, my friend, is every theory / And green is Life’s golden tree”.
(Said Mephistopheles to Faust, “Faust”, Goethe)

It is quite painful to see you insisting on these ideas about The Tree of Life. I will do the best I can. Just see the site Malick wrote in the end of 2006 about his film under the name of Ashley.

http://ashleywrites.org/

There are conversations between father and son, poems about trees and forbidden fruits, dinosaurs, the love for the ocean, a woman that suffers alone in silence beside her husband, about life, death, and everything else, as the author says. I choose to quote When I was Young:

Once when I was young
I went for a ride on a plane
And I stopped believing.
For where else can Heaven be
If not on the tops of clouds?
A kingdom that vast,
Cannot be invisible.
Angels are not cruel enough to hide.
Where did the castle made of clouds
And miracles go?
Was it ever even there?

RL: Tell us a story from before we can remember.
MOTHER: I went for a ride in a plane once. It was a graduation present.

For those less attentive spectators of The Tree of Life, there are two porcelain angels in the dead son’s room, by the window. In the architect’s dream, we see something filmed against the sky that could be called the disappeared house, but I believe it would also be properly named the castle made of clouds. It even has something in the front that remembers a drawbridge .

And then read this carefully:

http://reviewingtreeoflife.blogspot.com/

The sooner you understand what this film is about, the better for you. Because Ashley says: “I absolutely love finding the correct combination of words to manipulate and entertain readers…it’s breathtaking!”
You don’t know how.

September 18, 2011 at 10:03 am

The Mystical Christ