We Are Living In A 1985 Movie

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Welcome To Dystopia

It's 1985 in a darkened movie theater in San Francisco.

The silver screen flickers as shadows of light and dark play across the uplifted faces of moviegoers. Movie scenes pour into the theatre revealing a retro-futuristic world with clacking machines, commonplace bombings and a controlling government dominated by indeterminate rules, bureaucracy and rampant spying.

It's not easy to discern what's real and what isn't. Is this simply the strange life of a movie character reeling before our eyes or a director's distorted dystopia? Or both?

Welcome to the movie, Brazil. 

Brazil The Movie

Say hello to Sam Lowry. He lives in England in some unspecified future time. 

Sam works in a mind-numbing job and lives in a small apartment. It's set in a consumer-driven world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. One tiny mistake turns Sam's life inside-out and we watch as his world careens out of control. 

In 1985, Brazil was a fantastical movie with a sinister warning of what could befall us if we were not careful. With many scenes stretched to the edge of possibility, none of us thought that it could be a harbinger of what our lives might become.

And yet, here it is.

 
 

The Bombs Go Off

Terrorism is an ongoing problem in Sam's futuristic society. In one scene, the characters are dining in a restaurant. A bomb explodes right next to them. People are wounded and injured, parts of the room are destroyed and on fire.

But, don't fret, the waiters put up a screen to block the view of the carnage. Sam and his dinner guests, along with the other restaurant customers, carry on with their meals.

When I left the movie theatre, I remember saying to myself with the clarity of a cold, clear spring bursting forth from a mountain crevice after a spring thaw:

 
“Well, that could never happen. We would never allow terrorism and bombings to take place and carry on like nothing had happened, putting up a screen so we don’t have to see it.
That’s just not possible.”
 

My firm affirmation provided comfort and certitude that this sort of thing would not come to pass.

Fast forward in time.

Movie Scenes Become Reality

Quoted below is what one news anchor said on BBC after the bombing in Manchester, England in May 2017. 

 
“According to BBC Anchor Katty Kay, Europeans have to get used to terror attacks like the Manchester bombing.

Kay told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday that Europeans have no choice but to get used to terrorists murdering their families because “we are never going to be able to totally wipe this out.”

“Europe is getting used to attacks like this, Mika. They have to, because we are never going to be able to totally wipe this out,” Kay said.

“As ISIS gets squeezed in Syria and Iraq, we’re going to see more of these kinds of attacks taking place in Europe and Europe is starting to get used to that.””
— The Daily Caller
 

No. Just no.

I stand by my first thought back in 1985.

We will never "get used to it" and we must not accept that we have to live side-by-side with terrorism. 

Shoes As Hats

In the movie, Sam's mother makes a fashion statement by wearing an upside-down shoe as a hat when she goes out to dinner. Quite the exaggeration. Surely, this is over the top.

Then, Philip Traecy created a hat that was worn by Princess Beatrice at Kate and William's wedding in 2011. A shoe hat might have been considered tame in comparison. Not so absurd or over the top, after all.

The Traecy hat garnered a lot of attention and press coverage. Enough so, that Princess Beatrice donated the hat to be sold at auction on eBay. The final bid was £ 81,100.01 and the proceeds went to UNICEF and Children in Crisis.

A Bit Of A Complication

Sam's mother and her friends obsess over plastic surgery and debate which surgeon is the best. A singing telegram arrives at Sam's apartment with an invitation to his mother's party  "to celebrate the completion of her recent cosmetic surgery."

One of his mother's friends goes to a different surgeon who uses "acid surgery" and ends up with her face swaddled in bandages oozing bodily fluids. She proclaims in a high-pitched voice, "There's been a little complication with my complication."

In 1985, cosmetic surgery was much less prevalent than it is today. Now, it is ubiquitous and used by young and old alike. Botox, fillers and lifts are available for all parts of our bodies that inherently succumb to earth's gravitational pull. Another bit of foreshadowing in the movie.

 
 

A Carefully Crafted Movie

Filled with twist and turns veering up, down and around, there are delightful comedic moments that will leave you chuckling even after the credits roll past. 

Every vignette is a carefully crafted jewel. Terry Gilliam, the director, didn't compromise with throw-away scenes.

Dream sequences morph into real scenes and back again, except, wait, which parts are real and which are not?

The malfunctioning of omnipresent machines, the frustration of filling out forms and awkward personal interactions spill across the story line. Our lives are messy despite our best intentions to keep the ink from smearing all over our carefully written essay.

Perhaps the real existential battle lies within ourselves and the machinations of outer living are only there to serve as a frame on which to hang our inner struggles.

As the scenes spin past, you'll be surprised at the many parallels reflected in our lives today – in a movie from 1985.

 

All Shall Be Well

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Introduction To Julian Of Norwich

Julian of Norwich is recognized as one of England's most important mystics. 

Let's jump back in time to meet this remarkable woman.

 
“But all shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of thing
shall be well !”
— Julian of Norwich
 

A baby girl was born ln England in 1342. Because little was recorded for average folks during that time in history, we don't even know her given birth name.

Julian's name is taken from the Church of St. Julian in Norwich where she lived as an anchoress for most of her life.

Life In The 14th Century

Julian lived in England in the 14th century during the turbulent Middle Ages, a time fraught with plague, famine and war. 

  • In 1337, England and France started the Hundred Year's War for supremacy over Europe.

  • In 1347, the Black Death swept across all of Europe, including England, and wiped out nearly 40% to 50% of the entire population.

  • In 1399, Richard II became the new King of England.

 
 

A Book In English Written By A Woman

Many people write books today. They plop themselves down in front of a computer and start typing away. Books pop out with hardcovers and as paperbacks or, now-a-days, in a digital format. There is a plethora of books written in English. 

But, how would you go about writing a book in the 14th century? 

Julian of Norwich managed to do just that.

Her text is believed to be the earliest surviving book in the English language written by a woman. Known as Revelations of Divine Love, it's a combination of The Short Text and The Long Text and consists of 86 chapters and about 63,500 words.

During this time in English history, laywomen were usually not educated. They didn't read, much less write anything, and they certainly didn't write in the spoken language of the day. Written documents of the Church were predominatly in Latin.

Equally astonishing, it's possible that in the beginning, Julian taught herself to read and write in both Latin and English.

Life As An Anchoress

An anchorite, or anchoress (female), is "one who retires from the world."

A person withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic life. They would have a permanent enclosure in a cell attached to church. 

This goes beyond the tiny-house phenomena of today. These cells (called an anchorhold) were often no more than 12 to 15 ft square and once the anchorite entered the minuscule space, the only way they could leave would be upon their death. They were attended by a maid who would bring them food and dispose of their bodily waste by means of a chamber pot.

The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages and a large number of them were in England.

In the post Locked up forever in the wall of a church, we read:

 
“By Julian’s day, the retirement of an anchoress into her cell had become a formal rite in the church. An anchorhold was attached to a church, it had no doors and the inhabitant was formally enclosed by the bishop.

The rite actually involved receiving the sacraments of the dying and reading of the Office of the Dead over her as she was bricked up in her cell.

Some anchoresses were enclosed with open graves in their cells, so that they might meditate upon their mortality. When they died, the windows to their cells were simply closed and sealed.”
 

Anchorites would spend their days in prayer, viewing the altar, hearing Mass and receiving the Eucharist through a small, shuttered window in their cell. They would also provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors through the window.

Julian of Norwich became an anchoress around the age of 30, after the loss of her family and following a severe illness wherein she experienced spiritual visions.

Her writings created a lasting impression on Christian spirituality. Her mystic expression continues to touch people's lives, even 600 years later.

God Is Love And Love Is God

The prominent theme in Julian's writings was her experience that God is Love.

That she could write of a loving God was no small feat in this rough time of history. As a young child, Julian witnessed the death of numerous villagers and members of her natal family. Later, she would lose her own two children and her husband to the plague.

Even the Church tended to view God as a stern and implacable task master. God was easily displeased and only accessed through the intermediary person of a priest. God was viewed as being aloof as he sat on high peering down on us. 

To say God is Love, given her personal circumstances as well as the prevailing thought of her time is noteworthy. For Julian, God expressed in spirit as both our mother and father and she spoke of experiencing a deep and profound love, personally, without the need of an intermediary. She wrote of God's love in terms of joy and compassion.

 
“Would you know our Lord’s meaning in all this?
Learn it well.
Love was the meaning.
Who showed it you? Love.
What did God show you? Love.
Why did God show it to you? For love.
Hold fast to this and you shall learn and know more about love,
but you shall never learn anything except love from God.
So I was taught that love was our Lord’s meaning.
And I saw full surely that before ever God made us,
God loved us.”

For part of the time she resided in her cell, Julian had a cat as a companion and is often depicted in drawings with her feline friend.

In the Anglican and Lutheran churches, Julian's Feast Day is celebrated on May 8.

The Roman Catholic Church honors her on May 13.

And all of us can celebrate her life any day.

 

A Dementia Evaluation Tool

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Dementia and Alzheimer's

How do we know where someone is within the world of dementia? It's as varied as the people experiencing it. 

Some people can talk about it. Some can even say, "I have Alzheimer's."

Others don't really know they have it. Or, it's too shameful to say out loud. 

The Greatest Generation

Our younger generations think everyone can say anything about everything, at any time, wherever they want. There seems to be a serious lack of verbal filters now-a-days. 

In contrast, our older generation, often referred to as The Greatest Generation, is our World War II generation. These parents of the Baby Boomers – they don't really talk about things. 

Like when they returned from World War II.

They didn't talk about it. They came back and went to work. They used the GI Bill, pursued education, bought houses, started families and got busy creating the middle class in America.

But, they didn't talk about it. 

Most of them also don't talk about end-of-life processes and many don't admit dementia.

Dementia Ravages The Mind

Furthermore, if they are suffering with dementia, their ravaged minds often don't allow them to articulate the process. This disease strips away the very neurons they need to describe it to us.

We lack any lab tests that can tell us where we are in the wide ranges of dementia. No enzyme level or blood test can identify its degree of severity.

So, how do we evaluate where they are? How can we talk about it amongst family members and with healthcare providers?

The use of vague terms like "late stage dementia" versus "end stage dementia" are frustratingly unhelpful. How do you really define late stage or end stage?

How do you define moderate or severe cognitive disease? They are all nebulous descriptions at best, subject to each person's interpretation and qualitative view.

We need something quantitative, something we can all see and agree upon. 

The FAST scale is just that. 

FAST = Functional Assessment Scale Tool

It was exasperating when we met with my mother's neurologist and he told us, "Well, she is probably in late state dementia, but not yet in end stage."

Excuse me? And just what is going to tell us when she is in end stage?

He didn't have an answer.

We left his office and vowed never to go back. It was a waste of our time and money just to have him tell us she has dementia. Yeah, we already knew that.

The greatest help came when the Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner presented us with the FAST scale. Finally, something we could quantify.

Here was a way to make sense of this intangible, yet devastating, disease. We were grateful that we could see where our loved one fell on the scale. Family members could discuss it with clarity.

"Here's where we are. Here's where we're going."

We didn't know how fast or slowly we'd get to the various stages, but we could see the inevitable steps that were coming.

And we could see the end result.

Stages Of The FAST Assessment

As shown on the FAST scale, Stages 1 through 5 are simple numbers with a description. Once you get to Stage 6, it breaks down into categories of 6a through 6e. Then, at Stage 7, it is divided into 7a through 7f.

When someone enters Stage 6, Palliative Care might be an option. Once someone enters into Stage 7, it is usually considered appropriate to be in Hospice. 

If you know anyone with dementia, take a look at the FAST Scale. It clarifies where your loved one is with the disease process.

The FAST scale provides a useful tool when we communicate with healthcare providers. Better healthcare decisions are made when we are all on the same page and use the same terms.

FAST scale for Alzheimer's Disease

 

The Myth Of Not Aging

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Myths About Aging

Pick up any article about aging and you'll see that 50 is the new 30 and 70 is the new 50.

As Baby Boomers head into, dare I say, old age, they're approaching it like they've attacked everything in their lives: head on and with a determined, "We're gonna change this!"

Have a good attitude!

Do this exercise!

Drink that vegetable juice!

It will keep you young! You won't age!

How many other products and ideas can you name that you "should" be doing? One more face cream, one more lip filler or Botox treatment, one more yoga pose. If you could just do one more something, then maybe you won't die. 

The Baby Boomers' can-do attitude worked in the 1960s, many things did change. And it will even work now, 50 – 60 years later, but only up to a certain point.

 
 

The Card Of Death Is Still In Play

We will still experience aging. We will still die.

Perhaps Baby Boomers will promote changes that allow for better measures to prevent extended suffering. We hope they will add enough voices that aging people will have a better quality-of-life and have more end-of-life choices available to them.

With all of our advances in medicine, we are able today to force human bodies to stay on the planet, whether they should or not, long after our bodies would have naturally let go. Then, there's the added complication of dementia that strips away our ability to have a vote in the matter. 

So, we are left to ask the difficult questions. When is it simply too much?

When are we needlessly suffering? 

When do we say a last good-bye? 

Everyone Will Die

There is not one physical body that has not slipped off the mortal coil of old age and into death. There is not one "attitude" that stopped anyone from dying eventually.

Somehow, when we die earlier, we berate ourselves for not being able to muster up "enough right attitude" to prevent it, when in fact, it was the natural process of the break down of our bodies. Not due to our attitude at all.

I don't think we have to worry about sending old people off to their demise based on the criteria of age alone. However, we have to have some frank discussion about how we will define qualify-of-life.

 
 

We Are Mortal

Atul Gawande explores the many facets of aging and end-of-life decisions in his book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

This book was recommended to me by the eye specialist treating my mother for wet macular degeneration. In his specialty, the majority of his patients are in their last 10 years of life. His entire staff read the book to better help and understand their patients. 

Although trained as a surgeon, Gawande writes at a level that all of us can understand. He breaks down the aging process of our bodies so that it makes sense. No, we can't stop aging, but we can help. If we have an idea of what's coming, we can take steps to prepare for it.

He's not afraid to ask the question: how are we going to die? How do we die when so many interventions exist that can force us not to? 

Gawande explores this slippery slope that medicine finds itself on. His book is not about giving us an answer, but rather increasing awareness to better be able to make decisions for ourselves and our loved ones. 

Acute Care Versus End-of-Life

I'm a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and all my healthcare practice is about "fighting the good fight" – doing everything to fix and heal my patients and beating back death at every step.

As my mother experiences an extended end-of-life process, this book helped me to understand the breakdown happening in her body. It helped me to see the parts of aging that I can't fix.

Being Mortal even provided a sort of comfort that I wasn't failing in my mother's care. Gawande describes how the aging process profoundly effects each and every organ. No part of us is spared.

Being Mortal: A Must-Read Book

If you are aging, or if you know anyone who is aging, Being Mortal is a must-read.

And since we're all aging, no matter what we may think, we all need to read this book. 

It's worth more than one read.

 

Throw Open Wide Your Window

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Nature Beckons

It's March. The sky is filled with grey pillows, weighing down into the tops of tall firs that stretch heavenwards to touch the clouds.

Throw Open Your Window

It's still o-dark-hundred. I throw open the window for fresh air into the bedroom, then jump back under the covers on the bed to relax before the morning begins.

It's my idea of an ideal "camping out" situation. The comfort of my own bed with heavy, warm blankets accompanied by the fresh air and the sounds of nature.

 

The joy of listening to a Pileated Woodpecker drumming on the trees.
An owl, staying up late, chimes in with soft hooting.
It's Sunday – no construction guys to compete with unnatural noise.
Who needs a TV in times like these?

Outer And Inner Light

I close my eyes and drink in the light of spirit, the sounds of nature.

Cold air sneaks in the window and swirls above my covers, but I'm tucked in – safe and warm. 

What a grateful way to begin a morning. 

Pileated Woodpecker

Great Horned Owl

 

 

 

Calm Down

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There's a meme floating around that says how telling someone to calm down has never in the history of the planet actually helped anyone to calm down.

It's meant as a joke, but like most jokes, there's a kernel of truth to be found.

If you could just "be calm" – you'd probably already be calm, right? 

Isn't that true for most situations when someone tells you to "be" something different?

Be This, Be That

Be mindful. Be aware. Be thankful. We are constantly admonished to be a multitude of things, but it's difficult, if not impossible, to become a state-of-being on command.

Furthermore, once someone starts barking at you to be one thing or another, it's not uncommon to have the reaction, "Don't tell me what to do!"

So, what to do?

Do we just will ourselves to be something? That doesn't seem terribly effective either.

Perhaps we can support ourselves on the path of becoming if we take an action that leads us in the direction of what we desire.

To Be, Take An Action

For example, instead of saying "Calm down" or telling ourselves "Don't be upset" – how about if we say, "Breathe."

Focus on the breath. Slow it down. Take a long breath in through the nose, hold for just a second and then, slowly release it out of the mouth.

Just breathe. It's an action.

We often advise our medical patients to focus on their breathing when they are undergoing a procedure. We find that saying to them, "Don't be nervous," when faced with a fearful or painful procedure is not helpful. Furthermore, it dismisses their feelings of being nervous. Instead, we focus on the breath, in and out, to help get them through the procedure.

The action of focusing on the breath helps to decrease the grip of fear or pain.

Take An Action With Transcendental Meditation 

There are many dimensions inside of us. We have the inherent ability to move past one way of being into another state-of-being.

We don't have to let outer circumstances toss us about like choppy waves on the ocean, as if we were not in charge of ourselves.

Transcendental Meditation© as taught through the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi program opens a wonderful gateway for transcending into higher energy. Dipping into transcedental consciousness in the meditation, we come back into the outer world refreshed. Sometimes, even with a different perspective or a deeper awareness.

The next time someone tells you to "be something" – take a breath. Of even greater importance, when you say it to yourself ... do the same thing.

The wholeness that is already within you is ready to shine. 

 

Happy New Year

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Welcome 2017

Time races across the centuries and another year ticks past. A year doesn't meander anymore, it rushes past like an out-of-control wildfire. 

Say hello to 2017. 

You Are The Burning Flame

Many would say 2016 was a wild year. Ups, downs and inside-out. Wins and losses. Strong polarities that pulled people apart and gathered others together. 

Don't let the events of the outer world dim your inner fire. Stand steady in your heart. 

You are the spiral. You are the burning flame within the flower of your expression.

Sometimes, in our most difficult moments, all we can do is close our eyes and breathe. Breathing is good.

Keep Your Flame Burning Bright

 
“Your life spark fires from within your innermost temple
no one can reach there but you
it is your inner sacred sanctum…
you are your own master there
only you can reach and ignite your fire!”
— Osho
 

Happy New Year. Keep burning bright.