A couple of years ago, I decided to create a spiritual film group to watch feature-length, Hollywood-type films that I’ve been inspired by.  With local video stores and Netflix.com making films so accessible, it’s been very easy to find most of what I’m looking for. Our film group now meets every 4 to 6 weeks in Marin, just north of San Francisco. Different members offer to host the films in their homes each time, and we all bring drinks or snacks like popcorn to share. Sometimes members suggest new films none of us have seen, and we often brainstorm popular ones we’d like to see again together. A wonderful sense of community has developed from our gatherings.  You might want to organize a similar spiritual film group with your friends.

After the film, we talk about the spiritual message of the film, such as the importance of listening to your heart, staying present in the moment, appreciating the interconnection of all life, and learning from past karma and mistakes.  Especially potent is the portrayal of the indomitable human spirit triumphing over suffering and oppression—the spark of inner Divinity.  So many popular movies are really in essence about self-development and transformation—through the healing power of love. 

What films do we show?  Sometimes they’re stories about great spiritual teachers:  Jesus of Nazareth, directed by Zeffirelli, the best film ever made about Jesus; The Messenger, with Anthony Quinn, about the life of Mohammed; The Little Buddha, with Bridget Fonda; Brother Sun/Sister Moon, the life of St. Frances, by Zeffirelli, or the ancient priestesses of early Britain in The Mists of Avalon.  Recently we really enjoyed deeper metaphysics taught in The Celestine Prophecy, based on James Redfield’s internationally best selling novel.

We’ve also found profound teachings in humorous metaphysical films, such as the cult classics I Love Huckabees with Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, and Defending Your Life with Meryl Streep.  We’ve found many deeper spiritual teachings in so-called children’s films like A Wrinkle in Time and The Dark Crystal with Jim Henson’s puppets.   

Sometimes we’ve all met at a theater to see the first run of a new film that’s not out on DVD yet, films based on best-selling new consciousness books such as The Peaceful Warrior with Nick Nolte (written by Dan Millman); Conversations with God (by Neale Donald Walsch); or documentaries such as Words of My Perfect Teacher about Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche or An Inconvenient Truth with Al Gore.

Stephen Simon, producer of the mystical film, What Dreams May Come, co-founded a company called Spiritual Cinema created a membership club where independently produced films as well as shorts are mailed to members each month, which they can then keep.  This club has now grown to over 20,000 members in 70 countries around the world.  So many people are realizing the value of spiritual films. Certainly this is not news to Christian fundamentalist churches, as they discovered the popularity of showing “family films” with religious themes in their churches and creating a buzz about them.

For the first time in the 50 years since I’ve been watching the Oscars (my grandfather was a member of the Motion Picture Academy), all the films nominated for Best Picture made a strong political statement.  And all were produced by smaller independent film companies.  This is a truly amazing breakthrough. The growing recognition of message-based feature films is a most encouraging sign of the higher purpose of films.

The good news is that with the easy availability of downloading films on your computer, your cell phone, your iPod, or renting them from Netflix or Blockbuster—there’s a whole new universe of inspiration available!  And the market is of course more than happy to respond to the increasing popularity of any product.  So why not  help make high quality spiritual films more popular by introducing them to your friends in a spiritual film group.