Yogi Movie of August 2023: The Portable Door
“Who closes the door, keeps the door.”
— Humphrey Wells
Why Yogi Movie of the Month?
Yogi Movie of the Month was born in the hopes of making Jnana Yoga (the Path of Knowledge) more accessible.
Few of us have the luxury of access to living gurus or the attention span/ability to unpack the dense yogic scriptures on our own. Thankfully, gurus are many, gurus do not have to (necessarily) be alive, and knowledge that leads to sincere contemplation and self-realization can be found in stories and movies imbued with profound meanings. Here at 7YGH, we endeavor to present you with various sources of such knowledge on a monthly basis.
To provide some instruction on how to best digest this source of knowledge, you will find a general explanation of Jnana Yoga in Jnana Yoga 101 followed by tips on how to apply Jnana Yoga while you watch in How to Watch This Movie. If you are informed and/or would like to skip to the meat of the movie review itself, use the Table of Contents below to navigate to your desired section.
Table of Contents
i. Jnana Yoga 101
ii. How to Watch This Movie
iii. About This Movie
iv. Why You Should Watch This Movie
v. 3 Movie-Inspired Exercises for Reflection and Inner Wisdom
The Path of Knowledge
Traditionally, the path of Jnana Yoga refers to 3 processes. The main goal of these 3 processes is to answer the Big Question: Who Am I? By answering this question, smaller critical questions such as “Why Am I Here?” and “What Do I Do With What I Have Been Given?” are automatically answered.
These 3 processes are as follows:
(1) Sravana, or wholeheartedly (open mind, open heart) listening to yogic scriptures (Sruti) from the mouth of a verifiable source (Guru)
(2) Manana, or constant reflection upon what was heard, application of that which was heard to one’s own life and lived experiences, as well as the integration of that knowledge into daily action
(3) Nididhyasana, otherwise known as the culmination of sravana and manana, is a type of meditative and transcendent awareness that happens spontaneously on its own accord. It is a deep understanding and subsequent embodiment of the Truth gleaned from the process of listening deeply with one’s heart, contemplating, and living the knowledge.
Why Should You Practice Jnana Yoga?
The systematic processes of Jnana Yoga should be undertaken frequently to nurture the soul, put things in perspective, and loosen the bonds of strong attachments. Jnana Yoga directly nourishes our inner world by teaching us the skill of maintaining distance, of separating the “I am” from what follows. At its subtlest levels, the practice of Jnana Yoga allows us to mold reality with our right perception.
By regularly analyzing the nature of life, existence and the identity of the “I am” through the practice of Jnana Yoga, we are able to maintain peace of mind and more quickly come back to a place of balance during emotional upheaval, crisis, and the inevitable stresses of the world.
In its early stages, the practice helps us build endurance to the pain of opposites—heat, cold, love, loss, thirst, hunger, desire, repulsion, etc.
In later stages, the practice culminates in a transcendence of the pain of opposites, a state wherein we are able to truly bear witness to our bodies and minds, as well as the bodies and minds of others, without attachment or judgment. In so doing, Jnana Yoga allows us to live our lives to the utmost; by helping us understand the true nature of reality, Jnana Yoga results in the loss of attachments, and in the loss of attachments we are relieved of expectations. Freed of the bondage of expectations, we can truly and fully enjoy the world.
Keep an open mind before, during, and after watching the movie. If you aren’t open to learning, if you aren’t striving for betterment, and if you aren’t willing to be wrong (!), even the highest knowledge won’t be effective/can’t help you. Half the work of self-realization comes from effort on our parts to retain open minds and open hearts with a complete awareness of our nature’s tendency to do the opposite (to judge, close off, guard). The goal is not to stop these processes of judgment, etc., but to always be aware of them and to persevere to push past them when they flare up.
Treat this movie as you would a more traditional transmission of knowledge (i.e. a living Guru or Teacher). Treat the movie with reverence and respect; this is the first step to taking the knowledge contained within seriously, and the most important step to opening up your heart to receive and understand this knowledge. Make sure you can watch the movie uninterrupted; mute or silence your phone. Give your full attention to the movie during the entirety of its duration; avoid snacking and other unconscious behaviors.
Take time after the end of the movie to digest the knowledge. Journal, record your immediate reflections on an audio note, or simply sit and ponder. We recommend setting a timer for at least 15-30+ minutes post-movie for this process. Set a calendar reminder for a couple days or a week later to spend another 15-30+ minutes returning to your reflections/adding to them.
Outline the lessons learned and apply them to your daily life. Make a list of the lessons learned from the movie. Try to distill the lessons to a couple of words/a sentence for each lesson, e.g. “Lesson #1: Be kind”. Put this list somewhere visible—on your fridge, taped to your bathroom mirror, or anywhere you will see it daily. Go the extra mile by checking in with yourself at night to go through the day’s events and mentally (or via journal) noting down where you (for example) were kind, where you weren’t, where you could’ve or should’ve been kinder.
Title
The Portable Door
Director
Jeffrey Walker
Genre
Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy
Language
English
Length
1 hr 56 minutes
Rating
Not rated.
Summary
💡 The Portable Door explores a reality in which coincidences are orchestrated, corporate strategy dictates the use of magic, and confused interns must become heroes to save what’s left of free will in our modern world.
It’s a feel-good movie that makes you think. A lot of feel-good movies leave you entertained, brain-dead, and with the uncomfortable feeling that you wasted your time. While The Portable Door has all the hallmarks of a feel-good movie — the success of an unlikely romance, the rise of an underdog — the mind-twisting complexities of skillful conceptual fantasy tinged with mystery keep you on your toes and ruminating for many hours post-ending credits.
A lesson in appearances being deceiving. It’s an age-old adage we have heard before: don’t make assumptions; things aren’t what they seem. It’s the sort of golden rule that escapes quite readily as we go about our daily activities, making judgements in the quick without realizing it. The Portable Door sometimes addresses this lesson literally (staplers aren’t always staplers) and sometimes more subtly. Perhaps most importantly, The Portable Door brings to the forefront the notion that appearances are always deceiving for a reason… even though that reason is beyond our present comprehension, it exists!
An examination of coincidences and synchronicity—in the world of The Portable Door, coincidences are orchestrated. This kind of world-building will feel familiar to the yogi; yogic philosophy proposes (under the law of karma) that all actions lead to reactions and anything close to a coincidence is simply a reaction from a past action that you are not familiar with/aware of. The Portable Door’s exploration of coincidences is a stealthy invite for us to examine the events that we have written off in our own lives as mere coincidences, “bad luck”, or “good luck”. The point isn’t, of course, to fall down hundreds of mental rabbit-holes by trying to entertain the rhyme or reason behind perceived coincidences. The point is more subtle than that, bringing up the idea of faith and divine timing. There are lots of possible gains in examining coincidences from the far past—which we may realize, with applied hindsight, to have led us fortuitously to the place we needed (maybe even wanted, unknowingly) to go.
A reminder of how much we identify with our likes (and dislikes). One of the main character arc deals with the sudden liking of things previously disliked. This presents us with a good opportunity to consider how the things we like and dislike not only shape us but at times limit us (as they limit the character in question) from living our lives to the fullest. Also, the arc is a show of how much power is in the hands of those that control what we like (and what we don’t like). This diving deep into the psychology of the like/dislike dichotomy (raga/dvesha in yogic philosophy) will feel familiar to the yogi, as yoga is very much about the process of taking back control over our likes and dislikes (or in the very least being able to be aware when we are being swayed by them).
A call for faith in reasoning and planning that’s beyond our grasp—for the reasons listed above; The Portable Door’s world of orchestrated coincidences is an invitation to trust in the knowledge that something is going on behind the scenes, we just don’t know what. Also, the main character’s arc has a lot to do with having faith in your abilities. In fact, the story told here is that you NEED to have faith in your abilities, because if you don’t, no one else will; and 9 out of 10 times, you need to have faith independent of others, because it’s part and parcel of the human experience to have others doubt, be cynical, and diminish the potentiality of the light of your being.
The importance of dharma; doing what you are called to do, without the attached coloring of good or bad, wrong or right. Paul Carpenter, the main character, does his assigned duty at the company in spite of the numerous warnings he gets in regards to his actions. The moral champions in many of us may jump to argue that the “right” thing for Paul to do was to listen to those warnings and forego his duty. Yet, if that had been the case, there wouldn’t have been a story, and, most importantly, there wouldn’t have been the whole lot of good that came as a result of his decision to pursue his duty. It’s important to remember that the human experience is similar; it’s a story. Sometimes we are asked to do things and our intuition tells us that we should do them, even while our conditioned minds are screaming the opposite. Ultimately it’s good to listen to intuition and to fulfill one’s duty, assuaging any unnecessary guilt by remembering that it is impossible to predict the outcome 100% and that paralysis over action is dangerous. Also, action is beyond good and bad; good and bad are the labels our human minds ascribe to action.
To find something, you have to go looking for it. This statement is the sort that one might say, “that goes without saying”; yet, still, many of us misunderstand the law of karma for the trappings of fate, especially in the view of defeatism and fatalism. A more subtle understanding of karma begets the opposite of such submissive outlooks. Your destiny is in your hands by the efforts of your present actions; therefore, if you wish to find something, don’t just wish or hope that the stars will align; maybe build a watch tower so that you know when the stars will align and in the meantime go out looking. Work with the universe, not against it; don’t back-seat drive, co-create instead.
Identify 3 coincidences from your past. Ask yourself: if these coincidences didn’t happen, how would my life be different that day, that week, that year, today?
Make a list of likes and dislikes. Pick 1 of each and examine where you have been limited by your like/dislike and where you have been empowered by it. And/or as an experiment, actively go out of your way to do what you dislike (and avoid what you like). And, don’t do it begrudgingly but with full awareness and even, if you can muster it, enjoyment for the act of doing itself. For example, if you really don’t like strawberry ice cream and you choose to have strawberry ice cream, don’t eat it quickly so as to get the task over with; savor the taste, eat the ice cream slowly and observe the state of your mind.
Identify 3 times when you have (metaphorically) opened doors in your life. This could have been because you were proactive, seeking solutions, because you took advantage of circumstances, seized the opportunity, or said yes to an invitation. The why and how of it doesn’t really matter — what matters is cultivating the awareness of your ability to open and find doors that aren’t readily visible. After doing this exercise, give yourself two thumbs up and a big hug. You’re a champion!