Prolifically Raw: I can�t believe...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

I can�t believe...

I�d say I actually like a Disney movie about a princess. But hold on.

Ms. Josephine and I watched Pocahontas II this morning, Pop Tarts and tea. On the sidelines, Jo narrates how John Smith didn�t really die but there is a new man that Pocahontas loves now, all while drawing her pictures of rainbows and girls who hold bouquets of daisies.

I�m on the sofa, jaded eyes. There is no historical accuracy in this story, those tribal people will be smeared off the map soon enough and no hunky man named John is going to save the day.

But once again, hold on, Pocahontas has a tree she likes to talk to. She calls it Grandmother Willow and the tree tells her to listen to the voice of guidance that resides within.

This part of the story seems to hold Ms. Josephine captive and she looks at me, as if I can confirm this to be true.

�Yes,� I say, �always listen to that voice within your own heart. Even when it disagrees with me!�

Jo seems impressed and looks at the movie again. Poor Pocahontas�s tries to listen to her inner voice but finds she is distracted by the noises around her.

Now I am paying attention. There is damn good advice buried in this Disney version of history. Is Hollywood bringing us the possibility of enlightenment?

I sit for the full ninety minutes and the story moves on beyond the willow and the advice.

Near the end, our princess has been seduced by the sights, tastes, variety and abundance of London. Trying on domestication--she tucks herself into a corset, shoves her feet into a pair of tight shoes and allows her native skin to be powdered away. When it all falls apart (and it always does) she�s at the edge of a river, listening to the voice within.

I�m going into retreat for a week. I�ll sit with eighty men and women who are part of a program called Path of Engagement. We will all try to find the way to inner wisdom and then will hopefully share that truth with one another. These people, like me, dedicate their lives to making peace in the world and they all know that peace begins within first.

They are my tribe, even though I still don�t know all their names.

I couldn�t even begin to describe where I am going to Ms. Rainbow Pop Tart Daisy over there. I�m already loading up with a heavy dose of mother guilt over leaving my children to do this spiritual work on myself. But this movie, this surprising story of an Indian princess gives me hope. It�s like my very own river teacher found her way out of the mountains and is here, in animation, saying: yes, my child, you are going the right way!