(More writing from Alex Caldon can be found in the book The Quest For Truth: On Finding The Grail, available from www.thequestfortruth.co.uk.  Some people may be able to obtain a FREE copy from there.  Happy Questing! ) 

The Spell is woven endlessly,

Pervading those with strength to see,

To release a hold on what should be,

To be all that they should…

Forrest Gump is the story of a man with the mind of a child who conquers the world.  How many of us went to see it at the cinema and missed out on the hidden spiritual message buried in the film?  It was a seemingly innocent fairy story which on the face of it appeared to have no resemblance to the real world.  It is curious how profound lessons may fail to have a mass effect because they appear to be trivial.  In every field Forrest becomes exceptional – running, business, the military, football.  How does he achieve such things when he has such a low intellect?  The answer is that Gump is an accomplished Taoist.  Taoism is the ancient Chinese way of living in sympathy with the forces of nature.  It is not a religion, or a philosophy; it is more a way of life.  In fact the most common translation of Tao is The Way.  Forrest Gump is a Master of Tao.  The Taoist master is characterised by having little or no ego; this is how Forrest excels in Taoism, since he isn’t “intelligent” enough to acquire an ego.  The only decision he makes throughout the story is to say “Okay” here and there, and everything else is given to him - given to him by fate, or by the Universe, or from the Tao, or from The Way, or from God.  It all amounts to the same thing.

There is a subtle clue embedded in the film which gives the secret away.  At the end of the story Forrest takes a seat on a public bench.  The camera pans down to a feather on the ground.  The wind picks the feather up and carries it higher and higher into the sky.  And any way the wind blows, so the feather follows.  This is the most powerful image of what following The Way is all about.  To follow The Way, we simply go with the flow, and allow the currents of nature to carry us along.  Following The Way, we surrender power to the Universe, and so gain power.  When we let the Universe control us in this way, it is not possible for our lives not to take off!  And it works.  It is ironic that in the film, Forrest inspires John Lennon to write Imagine;   At times, John was another follower of The Way, although he may not have known this.  Forrest represents the pinnacle of Taoist spiritual achievement, but funnily, when people look at him they just see a simpleton.

It is important to be cautious when using fictional stories as guides to life.  Yes, they often have vital messages to tell us about how things are, but emulating fictional characters has the risk of emulating something which is wrong in some way.  Nevertheless, in the example of Forrest Gump, the author is clearly illustrating spiritual truths which have been observed and used by many other people.