“JOKER” and Ishwarapranidhana

18 Oct “JOKER” and Ishwarapranidhana

The film “Joker” is a vivid reminder that part of being human is a need or desire for connection.

The author Johann Hari notes that for most of our history we have lived in tribes. When asked “where is your home?” a member of a tribe would point to the village where their tribe lives as they considered the whole village to be “home”.

In our modern world “home” usually means a building or part of a building in which we often live alone.

Many people in large cities feel a deep sense of separation. They struggle to connect with the world around them and their life starts to lose all meaning and purpose. In some cases this leads people down the path to nihilism. This is exactly what happens to Arthur Fleck, the main character in the film “Joker”.

Ishwarapranidhana is the exact opposite of separation. When in a deep state of meditation we may experience our sense of Self melting away. It’s as if our consciousnesses is water and our sense of Self is the glass containing the water. When the glass is broken we experience a literal sense of being one with everything. All feeling of separation is gone. We experience the ultimate form of connection.