Cinema Scene
By Sister Anita

"Contact" is a science fiction movie about a determined, strong-willed scientist, Ellie Arroway, who devotes her whole life trying to make contact with other planets. With tremendous effort and against all odds, opposition, and obstacles, she contacts a planet named Vega that is twenty-six light-years away. Through this contact, she is sent many codes by which to build a transport to travel to the planet Vega.

Through trial and error, and with the collaboration of various countries, the transport is successfully built. Ellie then travels to Vega at the speed of light through what is called a "worm-hole." After making the trip, which never in her life could she have imagined, she cries in total bewilderment, "No.....no words.....no words can describe it! They should have sent a poet, it is so beautiful." Regrettably, however, when the scientist returned from her eighteen-hour journey, which lasted only a fraction of a second in Earth time, scientists and intellectuals did not believe her experiences because she lacked material proof to back up her story. Nevertheless, due to this experience, she became more enlightened in that she was given a new vision of humanity and of everything she had ever believed in as a scientist.

This is a movie to which all practitioners can relate. After viewing the movie, I believe that it is based on an inner experience of a spiritual practitioner. The worm hole that the scientist traveled through is similar to the tunnel of light experienced by many practitioners and those who have had near death experiences. Also, I believe that the scenes where the scientist saw the whole universe so magnificently with the surroundings seemingly in watercolor textures, and her departed father coming from nowhere into existence, are all true. I too have had a similar experience when meditating but cannot describe it or tell about it because it is indescribable. This is the reason that practitioners should keep their inner experiences to themselves. When described, others cannot perceive them in exactly the same way and the true beauty and essence are diminished.

However, when the scientist told of her experience, no one believed her. The problems that the scientist had with the unbelievers are understood and shared by all spiritual practitioners. This is because, through meditation, practitioners experience incredible experiences and visions beyond our capacity ever to imagine if we ourselves do not experience them as well. Also, these experiences are beyond this physical world. Thus, we cannot use physical means to prove them. Even the camera of the scientist could not record any of the events of her journey because the vibration of the surroundings at that moment was different, much higher. Therefore, unless we ourselves practice, all the inner experiences and realizations told by practitioners will seem like fairy tales. And it is such a pity that the whole world is looking for solutions and answers to all kinds of problems and suffering everywhere but within themselves, where lie all the answers.