yesterday, i finally made time to watch the film "Up In The Air" and, though this post is in no way a pure critique of the movie, i felt that that's where it left me: up in the air. i actually don't have any problems with this sort of film if there is a purpose in it's ending that way. not all film is supposed to be "fluffy" and it felt that the intent of storyteller may have been to leave the audience with a sure empathy for the main character.

anyway, enough of possible major spoilers. i found this story to hold some very interesting philosophies within it. very real human ideas that effect the way our culture is today. it got me thinking a lot about my current situation, etc.
(now what's next, shouldn't spoil the film for you, but if you're worried about it, watch the film first... i won't reveal major plot or anything, just concepts from the film.)
a major theme of the story is the idea of baggage. things you carry with you that you may not even think about. things that you put on others around you that you may not even think about. this is brought up by the use of a backpack. it starts empty, and you 're asked to fill it up with the stuff in your life: computer, dishes, tv, cell phone, guitars, car, etc. all of the things that you own. once you get your couches and your house (if you own one) in there, you begin to realize this backpack must be something Mary Poppins would have used, and more importantly, there's no way that you can carry it with you. anywhere. so you're stuck.
you are then asked what would happen is you were to incinerate the full backpack.

another time, we start with the empty backpack and are asked to put in it all our relationships: co-workers, acquaintances, friends, relatives, family. all the secrets, the problems, the trials, etc. confided in them and those of theirs confided in you. that bag gets heavy really quickly, too. and so much of the weight is self-inflicted.
there was no burning of this backpack, but there is the fact that some of the things in it are superfluous and should be removed from the backpack.

now these ideas of ridding yourself of all connection to be highly mobile sounds pretty inciting when you really think about it. but you think more, and the relationships that you miss out on are the best ones to have. what can be said (and is in the story) is that a person living with these super-light backpacks are quite isolated. truly, it's possible for that to happen obviously, even if the person travels a lot and is consistently surrounded by people. there's no investment in those people. investment equals more weight. and it adds up quickly.
i can say with confidence, that most rational people would agree that the fist backpack can afford to be much lighter. my friend recently up and left for Japan and is making his life there and traveling around as he pleases. he's very much the minimalist. both of his backpacks are light and part of me has always been jealous of that. in those moments of jealousy, i wish that i was a much stronger acoustic guitarist. but i digress.
biblically, Christs teachings lead toward this very similar minimalist idea: "if you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give them to the poor..." (Mt. 19:21), "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Lk. 12:15). there are more instances but i'd be cross-referenced for some time... but you get the point. Christianity isn't the only faith that teaches this, hence why there are monks of almost every faith that go to the extreme: they don't even have backpacks at all.

the point that really hit me in the story and i think that anyone can really take away from this idea of cleansing, is that humans tend to collect things. many things are meaningless, but we're told that they're important. i read something from actor Simon Pegg ("Shawn of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", "Run, Fat Boy, Run") along the lines of: 'It was 1966 so not everyone had cameras so don't tell me that i need pictures to prove [this event] happened!' this is brought up in the film, too. humans have an uncanny phenomena about our brains that allow us to remember many things that are important to us. we don't need everything that we keep to remind us of them. emptying the backpack (rather than burning it) and only replacing what you truly need is something that must happen every once in a while. it's like a hard drive defrag. the more you do it, the less time it takes and the lighter your life will probably feel. this can even mean (as some of my friends have done) getting rid of those "friends" on the social networking sites that you are just stalking. you don't have a meaningful relationship with them, or never did at least. that's just useless baggage... usually in the form of time-wasting.

i've already decided that this process sucks but it may be one of the most necessary things for me to do right now. before i can't carry any more in my Mary Poppins backpack. until then---