impossible to describe the plot of SOLARIS and that's really the point of the story itself. The characters can't figure out what's happening to them either. All they know is that they are orbiting a fascinating and mysterious planet/world/presence? called SOLARIS and they encounter the people they have loved most dearly...the challenge is that the people with whom they reconnect died years before...."and death shall have no dominion" takes on a new and compelling meaning.

They are challenged just to FEEL...to go with their hearts, not their heads--and that's why I find the film so powerful and noteworthy. Over and over again recently, we are being confonted with situations along our spiritual paths that seem to be conflicting to our so-called logical minds. Inevitably, I believe that we are challenging ourselves to do what Obi-Wan Kenobee urges Luke Skywalker to do at the end of STAR WARS: "reach out with your feelings." That's why I chose "The Force is With You" as the main title of my book. When we accept that Force, we trust and have faith....in our own hearts.

SOLARIS creates and sustains an unsettling and hypnotic mood that stays with you. The film is not for everyone (see my note below) but, if it draws you to it--like SOLARIS itself draws people to it in the film--then maybe your own heart is compelling you to experience its own longing for expression.

A note here about the marketing of SOLARIS.

Those of you who have joined me in any of our events have heard me speak about Hollywood not understanding or trusting spiritual material and SOLARIS is a classic example. They tried selling it as science fiction...and as a George Clooney film..and then as a love story...and, in so doing, they have drawn in just the wrong audience. Truly, it is Spiritual Cinema. I know the manager of my local theater here and she told me that scores of people are asking for their money back because the film "isn't what they thought it was" (and a whole lot of people left the theater I attended yesterday).

To this, I quote that great philosopher Charlie Brown: "Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"

Of course, they're disappointed. They were lured by a marketing campaign that didn't understand or trust the audience for Spiritual Cinema so the marketers just figured, "Let's get as many people in as we can before they figure out what the movie is really about." They focus on the star, George Clooney, thinking he'll bring people in, ignoring the fact that his fans might or might not not enjoy this subject matter....but they don't address the people who would really find the story itself interesting. US!!

But, in a way, it's all great news. We are in the "swing between worlds" now. As my dear friend Neale Donald Walsch says: "when you declare yourself, everything unlike it comes into your space." I believe that experiencing and affecting all this is why we chose to be alive at this time.

We are watching the old paradigm die and are experiencing the birth pangs of the new paradigm. Sometimes, it's not a pretty sight in the moment. But the dawn has broken...and we are waking to the light.

With affection.

Stephen Simon

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