Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness we birth our future. ~Cloud Atlas
Just saw this great movie. Best movie I've seen this year.
Processing.
It's a LOT to think about.
The movie portrays karma consequences.
Kindnesses return to people and so do crimes.
The quote "our lives are not our own" illustrates why kindness is so important.
"Multitude" is a strange word to use there, instead of "myriad" or "collection" or "interconnection" ...
Glad you finally saw it! Would love to hear more of your thoughts.
Will write them as I have them; created a Cloud Atlas stash to collect them over time.
It reminds me of this quote, that has long been a favorite:
Not one day in anyone’s life…is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s-syndrome child. Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness–even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile–reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise, each small meanness, each thoughtless expression of hatred, each envious and bitter act, regardless of how petty, can inspire others, and is therefore the seed that ultimately produces evil fruit, poisoning people whom you have never met and never will. All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined–those dead, those living, those generations yet to come–that the fate of all is the fate of each, and the hope of humanity rests in every heart and in every pair of hands. Therefore, after every failure, we are obliged to strive again for success, and when faced with the end of one thing, we must build something new and better in the ashes, just as from pain and grief, we must weave hope, for each of us is a thread critical to the strength–to the very survival–of the human tapestry. Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days for which we, in our dissatisfaction, so often yearn are already with us; all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in this momentous day.
From the Corner of His Eye
Dean Koontz
Kindness does seem to be a central theme in the movie.
When people help each other, good things happen to them.
In each of the six stories are significant examples of people being unkind to each other.
Kindness strengthens the bonds that help those characters -- and their values -- endure.
"We are bound to others."
Watched it last week, couldn't stop thinking about it. Bought the book, probably going to watch it again today.
Agreed, best movie of the year.
I'll be sure to let you know. I'm 100 pages in and it's definitely great.
It doesn't seem to focus on the idea of souls repeating again and again (obviously much harder to do this when you don't have actors that you can cast in duplicate roles) so I wonder if the movie exaggerated this aspect to make it easier for the audience to understand the central theme - that our actions, however small, having a grand effect on our future.
This was the key moment of the movie for me: http://bit.ly/YtQDrC (liked it so much I recorded it the second time around)
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