Yogi Movie of June 2023: Everything Everywhere All At Once
“The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please. Be kind, especially when we don’t know what’s going on.”
— Waymond Wang
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 Powerful Scriptural Excerpts
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
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Director
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Genre
Science-fiction/Adventure
Language
English
Length
2 hr 21 minutes
Rating
Rated R for some violence, sexual material, and language.
Summary
💡 Everything Everywhere All At Once is a reality-bending sci-fi adventure that offers a poignant take on the purpose of life through the lens of an ordinary woman becoming an unlikely hero in an insane world.
Everything Everywhere All At Once follows Evelyn Quan Wang, a middle-aged Chinese American immigrant, whose life has been a series of setbacks, failures, and missed opportunities. Evelyn’s present circumstances have left her deeply unfulfilled: the laundromat which she co-owns with her husband is being audited by the IRS (because she keeps trying to write off purchases for hobbies she can’t find time to pursue); her husband keeps trying to serve her divorce papers (because she can’t find time to communicate with him); her relationship with her only daughter is on the rocks (because she won’t accept that her daughter has tattoos and is dating a non-Chinese woman). As it turns out, it is precisely all these troubles, disappointments, and failures in Evelyn’s life that make her a prime candidate, and perhaps the only candidate, for saving the multiverse. As Evelyn jumps through portals into lives she could have lived, she is given the rare opportunity to save the world, save herself, and rediscover the meaning of living.
It’s a realistic portrait of the polarities inherent in living in the world. Where there is pain, there is pleasure; also, where something falls apart, it can come (back) together. This movie is a great example of ‘yogic kintsugi’ — the yogi’s ability to see beyond good and bad, to learn from life experience to make for a better future, to fill the flaws or cracks in personality with the gold of wisdom (versus trying to paint over the ugly parts and pretending they never happened). The yogi’s life is about confronting and transcending, not escaping, and Evelyn’s most moving decisions are exemplary of that.
The movie will remind you that self-effort is king. The yogi lives by the laws of self-effort, understanding that karma is simply past action manifest. This enables the yogi to abandon the defeatist point of view in favor of embracing hope that is rooted in truth, not romanticism.
In a similar vein, the diversity of Evelyn’s many alternative lives offers a strong argument against the fatalist point of view. The decisions we make do matter; the law of karma states that for every action there is a reaction; the layperson’s idea of fate is the yogi’s understanding of past self-effort fructifying. Even the small decisions can ripple out to make big differences—and the idea is not to give up control but to surrender to the Universal Force by co-creating with it (versus against it).
This movie is a poignant portrait of the practice of Ahimsa (non-violence) and the many paths that can lead to its realization. It is a meditation on the virtues of love and kindness in a modern world that is chaotic, uncertain, and at times terrifying.
The movie’s exploration of family life is an examination of what the dharma of a householder may look like. It offers a path forward for the many of us that are struggling with personal and familial disconnect.
Joy’s quest is not unlike our own. Her desire to understand Reality turns into a quest to find someone who can accompany her in that Understanding; someone that she belongs with, someone that understands her. This reminds us that knowledge without heart is empty and leads to disconnect, recommending an examination of our own patterns of behavior and POVs to see where we may be depriving ourselves of the connection we need.
Evelyn’s quest is not unlike our own. As we progress on the path of yoga and the seat of our intuition is opened to the vastness of Reality, it is easy to default to fatalism, defeatism, to lose our sense of meaning, and to feel discouraged. It is the nature of life to take its toll. Evelyn’s inherent quality of heroism is a direct result of her so-called failures. Evelyn’s life trajectory, when examined in its entirety from our outsider POV, can be a great reassurance of hindsight being 20/20, the importance of surrender, and trust in divine timing. Evelyn’s quest reminds us of the power in the fine balancing act of accepting responsibility and leaving the rest in the hands of the Universe.
#1
EVELYN
You aren’t unlovable.
DEIRDRE (BAGEL)
The hell are you talking about?
Deirdre’s blade struggles against Evelyn’s foot.
EVELYN
There is always something to love. Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we’d all be very good with our feet!
Evelyn disarms Deirdre using nothing but her toes. She then uses her feet to swiftly Jiu Jitsu the Bagel Followers holding her back.
She pulls Deirdre in for a hug. Deirdre resists.
EVELYN (CONT'D)
And in a universe where we both agree that no one could love you, if we look hard enough, something will prove us wrong (hugs deeper) We are wrong.
#2
ACTION UNIVERSE: INT. IRS 9TH FLOOR ATRIUM
WAYMOND
I know you are all fighting because you are scared and confused.
Evelyn takes a small step back. The Alpha Jumpers begin to regain their positions.
WAYMOND (CONT'D)
I'm confused too. One moment I am here. The next moment I am there. I still haven't seen any raccoons. All day, I don't know what the heck is going on. But somehow it feels like this is my fault. I don’t know. The only thing I do know is we have to be kind. Be kind. Especially, when we don't know what's going on.
TAXES UNIVERSE: INT. LAUNDROMAT
CEO WAYMOND (VO)
When I choose to see the good side of things, I'm not being naive. It is strategic and necessary. It's how I've learned to survive through everything.
Waymond tries to cheer himself up by dancing and humming while he sweeps.
Evelyn sees the untouched Tupperware of cookies with a bow. She looks down at the baseball bat she is holding. There are two googly eyes stuck to it. It’s smiling at her.
CEO WAYMOND (VO, CONT'D)
I know you go through life with your fists held tight. You see yourself as a fighter. Well, I see myself as one too. This is how I fight.
#3
Evelyn's mind is going a mile a minute. She gasps.
EVELYN
It's you. It's been you this whole time. You are the reason my daughter doesn't call anymore. Why she dropped out of college, gets tattoos. You are why she thinks she's a gay.
JOBU
Hah! You're still hung up on the fact that I like girls in this world? The universe is so much bigger than you realize, Evelyn.