Oh boy oh boy! I just watched this extraordinary documentary of two extraordinary people sharing an extraordinary friendship:
If that sounds like hyperbole, it doesn’t come close to how extraordinary the film really is.
This is a beautiful portrait of two compassionate human beings and inspiring spiritual leaders who have led their respective communities through great personal loss and struggle. I urge you to watch it, and if you don’t cry at least once, watch it again until you do. Let it move you and move through you — don’t waste it by watching it as if it were just another documentary. It is really a gift to humanity during troubled times, not just from His Holiness Dalai Lama (HHDL) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (ABDT), but from the entire crew that put this together. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
As always, things come to me at the right time in ways I cannot explain. They just do. And this film came to me today, two days after I spoke in my podcast about how I experience peace and have come to recognize that which is unbreakable, but there is not yet an expression of joy.
You can in fact overcome some of the most horrendous circumstances, and emerge on the other side not broken, with eagerness to spread goodness and compassion in the world.
– Desmond Tutu
The first half has come to pass for me — emerge on the other side not broken; but not yet the latter half — the eagerness to spread goodness and compassion in the world.
For some time now, I have been thinking I should just live more like a hermit, withdrawing from the world, being at peace in the stillness I have discovered. But today I stumbled upon the formula for the second part of that equation when ABDT tells HHDL about transmuting the suffering of the loss of his home country Tibet at a young age:
You did not say how can I be happy, you said how can I help spread compassion and love.
And from HHDL:
We should have wise selfish instead of foolish selfish. Foolish selfish means thinking only of yourself, not caring about others. Taking care of others’ wellbeing is ultimately the best way to fulfill a joyful life. That is wise selfishness.
Listening to them talk about compassion and kindness to others being the source of joy, against the background of the harsh realities of their life journeys, felt like two Yodas tossing wisdom at each other! Absolutely no disrespect intended there — if their eight-year-old mischeivousnes in the documentary is anything to go by, I guess they might see the humour if they ever get to hear someone called them a pair of Yodas.
There were so many learning moments in the movie, so many, but it is better you find them directly. There was one point where I found myself sobbing because it really hit home. It was a poignant moment where ABDP reflects on his relationship with his father. It hit the bullseye for me, both as a son and as a father.
The big takeaway for me is the reminder that joy is a consequence of living in service of others. Why does it sound like a reminder though and not something entirely new? Because … it is something I have known for some time — and I have been holding back what I could offer the world:
The key to joy is to find your own natural compassion and live from there.
-Thupten Jinpa, HHDL’s translator
So, there. I have been given the key to move from being at peace to also living with joy. Let’s see what particular shape that takes in the coming days. I have no idea what on earth (literally) I should do, but I suspect the universe will let me know. Just have to listen and move in the direction it asks me to.
Featured Image: Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash