MadMup.com

Debi: You know what you need?

Martin: What?

Debi: Shakabuku

Martin: You wanna tell me what that means?

Debi: It’s a swift, spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever.

Martin: Oh, that’d be good. I think.

From Grosse Pointe Blank, one of my Top Ten movies.  Martin is an assassin who has lost the taste for his job and feels out of sorts and isn’t entirely sure where to go or what to do.  He’s back in his hometown, both for a job and for his 10-year high school reunion.  He finds his highschool girlfriend (that he stood up on Prom night to go join the Army), and she figures out pretty quickly what his deal is (other than him being a hitman, that is).

I love that phrase “swift, spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever,” though I take it differently than it’s meant here. I’ve come to learn that the word is Buddhist in origin, and I’m pretty far from being Buddhist. The version in the movie is more of a condensation of the thought, of the awakening meant, of being spurred on to something greater. To me it talks about being more, figuring out that thing that you’re meant to do. Like there’s this thing on your periphery that you can sense, but not quite make out, and you’re hoping to finally catch sight of it and go from there.

I often feel like I’m waiting for that spiritual kick to the head, and I’m curious to see where I’ll go from there.