A Human Search: the Life Of Father Bede Griffiths

"The average speed of traffic in New York is 6 m.p.h.; I suggest they use ox-carts," said the late Father Bede Griffiths, a revered mystic and intellectual who was educated at Oxford, became a Benedictine monk, and then left the monastery for India where he became a beacon not only to locals but the religious world at large. a Human Search is a lovingly filmed tribute which captures the humor, wisdom, and sense of transcendence which seemed to emanate from the extremely well-rounded Griffiths. An avid fan of Wordsworth and D.H. Lawrence (surely not the first author of choice amongst men of the cloth), Father Griffiths spent his life searching for the similarities rather than the differences between the world's religions, and argued persuasively that "religion" itself is an organizational concept devised by man in order to try to manage the worship and study of the inexpressible. For Griffiths, this "inexpressible mystery" is the base which connects all religions (he uses a wonderful analogy of a hand where the fingers represent Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and the palm is the larger spiritual reality common to all). In a message that has particular relevance in our time, Griffiths suggests that we are often the prisoners of our own egos, and only through meditation and/or love can we get beyond those egos. Featuring beautifully filmed scenes of life in India and very stimulating conversation, a Human Search: The Life of Father Bede Griffiths is an excellent spiritual documentary where East meets West, the masculine joins the feminine, and harmony rather than strife is the winning result. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)