The Jacob’s Ladder reboot is out this week and it clearly lacks the power to move audiences as the original dark, psychological horror-thriller did 30 years ago and the movie still holds the same emotionally poignant wallop at the movie’s ending. The actor Danny Aiello does a great job as his chiropractor dispensing profound advice to Jacob. He paraphrases a quote by the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart.
Aiello says to Jacob about his horrible nightmares, “The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won’t let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away, but they’re not punishing you, they’re freeing your soul. If you’re frightened of dying and you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. If you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.” I was out for a long run the other day and heard the beautiful song Drift Away by writer Mentor Williams.
I imagine a river. The original brings in Dobie Gray’s rich jangly intro and follows with heavy chords that make Mentor’s song sublime. Mentor said,” It was a song where it suddenly was okay for me to write about being hurt and let people know that I had been hurt and I wasn’t afraid to expose my feelings.” No doubt many of us after seeing this movie or hearing this song think about how depressing life is at times and how fearful we might be about death or something. We most investigate to find out the source of our pain or fear and see where it carries us. Jacob seeks to hold onto the life that seems to be ebbing away at the triage, and Dobie seems to want to let it all go perhaps not literally but emotionally; each situation would transform any of us in a deeply affecting and meaningful way. We have all been there where we must let it go and sometimes we must hold on.
In each of these stories I do not see gloom I see beauty in the darkness and for some odd reason think of philosopher Heraclitus quote and I am hopeful because I’m faced with the idea that change is inevitable and also that change can be good. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Don’t be fearful of change.
*The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Spotter Up Magazine, the administrative staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.