There’s a lot going on in the US—thank you Pluto return! July has ushered in the 2nd hit of Pluto’s return on the US Sibly chart, the natal astrology chart for the US based on the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Delivering on the Pluto promise, we’re certainly getting lessons in right use of power and transformation/change to structures that we once took for granted as solid. Deep, intense, below surface Karmas and desires are being unearthed, revealed, examined, destroyed and created. Much is being demolished so that another structure can take its place. It’s up to us what the new US will look like when Pluto is finished transforming us. There are important, powerful decisions to make, and with every decision worlds are created.
That brings me to the multiverse and a movie I’d recently viewed that gave new feels to my feelings. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was like an Olympic event I can scarcely describe, but I’ll give it the old college try.
This movie dances in the multiverse and feels like an acid trip fueled by bizarre scenarios from the most imaginative cinematic minds. And yet, it reveals so simply and clearly what’s fundamental about life. Many events happen to us of which we have no control (Fate), but there are also many things that happen to us that we can control through our free will, through our decision making process. Every choice the lead character, Evelynn (Michelle Yeoh), has made has given her a different life in another universe.
Evelynn is a worn-out, disappointed Chinese immigrant who runs a laundromat with her highly dysfunctional family that includes: a grumpy, narrow-minded grandfather, a geeky but highly lovable husband (Ke Huy Quan), and a distant, rebellious daughter who desperately desires her mom’s support in coming out to her grandfather. Add to this, the financial ruin that is just around the corner when they can’t pay their IRS taxes.
Just when Evelynn’s world is about to collapse, the multiverse steps in to make her an antihero of incredulous proportions. Who’d ever think that downtrodden Evelyn could be “the one” to save the multiverse from ruin? A way cooler, Kung Fu fighting husband from another universe pops into the milk toast body of her husband and places the heavy mantle of saving the world on her shoulders. Evelyn basically replies she’s nobody, nothing. She can’t be the “Neo” of this realm. To my utter delight he responds, “You’re capable of everything because you’re so bad at everything.”
Evelynn is thrust into a martial arts journey defeating villains, while glimpsing other universes that appear enviable to her. She’s an opera singer, a glamorous movie star, a chef with a raccoon, and in one universe she has hot dogs for hands! I warned you it’s an acid trip.
“You’re capable of everything because you’re so bad at everything.”
Every decision shapes a different world, all of them supplying Evelyn with a larger perspective about what’s really important in life—her family. These glimpses allow her to appreciate and fight for the drab little life she’s already in with Waymond–“Short Round” from “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.” He’s no less adorable now, by the way. And then there’s her invisible made powerfully visible daughter, Joy, who turns out to be Evelyn’s greatest gift of all.
Here’s my takeaway: Like Evelynn, we may think we’re small, flawed, not the one, but each of us is a powerful creative force fashioning worlds through the choices we make. If you so choose, see “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The way you see life will change forever. Or… you’ll at least have a good laugh and enjoy some awesome Kung Fu.