Today, February 2, is Groundhog Day. It's also Candlemas and Imbolc, the Christian and Celtic festivals which respectively celebrate the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the beginning of Spring.
We can already see the increase in physical light now; the extra length of the days is noticeable and very heartening. If we are sensitive, we intuit a subtle shift in cosmic energy as the Earth moves to a different part in her yearly orbit, away from the intense inwardness of the Winter Solstice and Christmas, and on towards the fresh energies of Spring.
Groundhog Day, celebrated in the USA, is the day when a groundhog is released from his lair and watchers determine whether the little rodent can see his shadow. If he can, it presages six more weeks of cold; if not, the weather will get milder.
But more than that, Groundhog Day is also a marvellous, Work-based film, which has been voted one of the most spiritual movies ever made. And for good reason. If you haven't seen it, do beg, buy or borrow a copy and watch it as soon as you can.
Chances are, though you probably already know the story. Obnoxious weatherman Paul is sent to cover the annual groundhog release for a television station. Embittered, angry, thoroughly resentful, he makes enemies wherever he goes. Everyone dislikes him, and he seems to have no chance of happiness.
And then something mysterious happens. Paul finds himself waking up to Groundhog Day over and over again. It's always the same day, always the same sequence of disastrous events, always the same people he meets. What can he do to change it? Will he be trapped forever in this particular day? In despair he even tries to kill himself, but to no avail - Groundhog Day recurs, ever the same morning, no matter what he's done the previous day.
Clearly inspired by the story "The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin" by P.D. Ouspensky, the film depicts the theory of recurrence, that we will have to go back over and over the same events until finally we begin to change. In daily life, those of us in the Work know that this is what actually happens. We don't - thank goodness - have to live through the same day recurring forever until we change. But we do encounter the same sort of situation, the same types of people, the same circumstances in our lives until we see that what needs to change is us.
And so Paul slowly begins to make little changes. He becomes more helpful, no longer punches someone he dislikes, shows a little patience with a child. And as the day goes on, as it recurs and his life changes, he eventually becomes completely transformed. He does find happiness. People start to like him. He enjoys his newfound popularity, and - in the end - gets just what he wants. I won't describe it any further in case you haven't seen the film, but suffice it to say it is a parable of the Work teaching on how to change.
It's not surprising that this film reflects the Work. Its star, actor Bill Murray, has been in the Work for many years, and a number of his films - The Razor's Edge and Lost in Translation, for example - embody spiritual values.
I once encountered Mr Murray, at a Work weekend in upstate New York, and was impressed by his modesty. I'd been asked to clean a room ready for a group meeting, and Murray walked in unexpectedly; he said very little, but what I noticed was the way that, unlike every other actor or actress I've ever met (and as a journalist I met quite a few), he was not concerned with my perception of him. Many celebrities look at you with brief, split-second glances, the purpose of which is not to notice you, for you are of no significance to these august beings, but to clock whether you're properly noticing them.
Murray, however, was fully present and showed no vanity, no concern over whether we knew who he was. He was there to work, as were we, and that was all that mattered.
The film's scriptwriter, Danny Rubin, denies any spiritual intention. Of course he does. To label a popular film as "spiritual" would be to give it the kiss of death and deny it the audience it deserves.
Yet in 2006 the film was granted cult classic status when it was added to the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". And audiences the world over have recognized it as a truly spiritual, uplifting, enlightening film which works on every level to entertain while conveying its deeply meaningful message.
It is, in the Work sense, an objective work of art.
British entrepreneur Paul Hannam has just published a book entitled "The Wisdom of Groundhog Day". Hannam says the film literally changed his life. He saw it when he was at his lowest ebb, his business failing, his marriage in ruins, and his own mental state one of great distress. Today, having assimilated the lessons of Groundhog Day, he's a happier, more fulfilled person, both in his private life and professionally. He now runs a business teaching "emotional intelligence", and wants to pass on the insights he gained from the film.
In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, Hannam is quoted as saying, "I want to notice what's going on around me, but to do so in the right frame of mind, by interrupting negative behaviour cycles". As a working description of self-remembering, this is a good start.
For this practice of "noticing ... in the right frame of mind" is exactly what we try to do when we work on ourselves. The film showed Hannam how it was possible to change one's life by changing one's being; that by making small, positive changes every day, working on our negative thoughts, negative emotions and destructive patterns of behaviour, we can in the end reach a higher state of consciousness.
The film shows that, "irrespective of our circumstances, we can create an amazing day," Hannam adds.
And by living more consciously day by day, we ultimately transform our entire being - and affect everyone around us.
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