Colossus: Four or five moments - that's all it takes to become a hero. Everyone thinks it's a full-time job. Wake up a hero. Brush your teeth a hero. Go to work a hero. Not true. Over a lifetime there are only four or five moments that really matter. Moments when you're offered a choice to make a sacrifice, conquer a flaw, save a friend - spare an enemy. In these moments everything else falls away...
One of the great, Juicy, and purposeful experiences in my life is engaging a FRESH perspective on The Hero's Journey. Especially when it seems to touch a gateway or portal that connects with the cultural Zeitgeist and sets it afire. In my world of Visionary fulfillment, this kind of smoke often leads to soulful re-membrance. And THAT, my fellow New Age Nerds is magic and sparks the burning desire to do what I do.
So when the first weekend box office tally for the new ‘Merc with a Mouth’ movie DEADPOOL hit the Geekosphere, I knew something was brewing in Spiritland. It brought in more money its first three days (155 million) than any ‘R‘ rated movie in history! Granted, superhero movies have been a surefire bet in tinseltown for over a decade now, but the Deadpool character isn't exactly an A lister on many fan lists. And Ryan Reynolds already failed to connect with audiences in two prior caped crusader attempts. So I was super stoked to see what the BLEEP this movie was delivering that obviously deeply resonates with so many......
SPOILER ALERTS
Wade Wilson: Here's the thing. Life is an endless series of trainwrecks with only brief commercial-like breaks of happiness. This had been the ultimate commercial break. Which meant it was time to return to our regularly scheduled programming.
This movie is BRUTAL. It is in parts ultraviolent, profane, and punishing. And absolutely irreverent! It more than earns it's ‘R’ rating and is certainly not a movie for everyone. Just sayin’! But it is also hilarious and heartfelt and insightful. It's about the suffering life can dish out, and the power of LOVE to see us through the pain. And now I completely understand why it is connecting at a level deeper than pure entertainment.
What I find quite divinely interesting is that many of my recent conversations have involved the current barrage of daily life challenges that seem to affect SO many of us on this planet. I'm talking about tough stuff! Loneliness, heartache, mourning, loss of every kind. And is it me, or does it feel like UNCONSCIOUSNESS is running rampant?! (Just watch the next Republican debate if you aren't feeling me!) And what Deadpool does so brilliantly is mirror our current state of pain and confusion. But also our deep desire for soulful connection and personal transformation.
Wade Wilson- AKA Deadpool - has a tortured Spirit born from a plethora of lifetime abuse and loss. He is a Hero, and an asshole at the same time. There is no black and white in his world, it's painted with only grey hues. Deep down, he wants to be a ‘Better Version’ of himself. But his pain outweighs any catalyst for such a change to occur. UNTIL, he meets someone who has just as crazy a background as he does.
Wade Wilson: Listen, Ive been thinking.
Vanessa Carlysle: Really?
Wade Wilson: About why were so good together.
Vanessa Carlysle: Why is that?
Wade Wilson: Well, your crazy matches my crazy, big time.
Vanessa Carlysle: Mm.
Wade Wilson: And, uh, we are like two jigsaw pieces, you know, and we have curvy edges.
Vanessa Carlysle: But you fit them together and you see the picture on top.
Wade Wilson: Right.
And for the rest of the movie, Wade's Journey is mostly that of a Hero. Again, often like real life, his path is a complex process from absolute rock bottom! He puts himself through unimaginable torture from a secret agency that promises to cure his cancer, and turn him into a man with superpowers. HIS Journey, in numerous ways, is OURS. Once he is confronted with losing everything, he allows himself to enter the wonderful-albeit often painful-womb of rebirth. Where our former selves go to perish. So that the REAL you, the one that came here with something grand and wonderful to accomplish can emerge. It was always there in the first place, but this re-birthing process creates the flames of suffering that burn off anything that has dimmed your LIGHT. All of the EGO's bag of tricks to keep you small. The fear, self-judgement, and monkey mind chatter. Until, the mask you had been wearing to keep you safe can finally be removed. Once and for all!!
Deadpool: I should've come and found you sooner, but the guy under this mask, he ain't the same one that you remember.
Vanessa Carlysle: You mean this mask?
[takes off mask to reveal cheap paper mask of Wolverine]
Deadpool: And this one, in case the other fell off.
Funny, poignant, and painful to the point of giving up. Until..... wildly wonderful transformation occurs. Just ....like....LIFE!!
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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