I love a good movie as much as anyone else. But when I looked The Bourne series recently (twice) I recognized a spiritual meaning in the character of Jason Bourne (superbly played by Matt Damon). There is a very special depth of endurance and resourcefulness in this skilled CIA-trained assassin. His hunger does not stop until he reaches the source.
Anyone who has heard and read a bit of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) will know that it is about modeling the excellence of human behavior and the development of spiritual awareness. It is the rudiment of emotional intelligence. By uniting high-performance spirituality and NLP, we can gain great spiritual enhancement by modeling the person, Jason Bourne.
How is he out of the way?
Cool and calculated
Bourne only gets angry when it serves a good and objective purpose. For the rest, he is as cool as crystal and is able to calculate his actions decisively and precisely. Exude calm and unshakable confidence.
Sharp judgment
Bourne’s judgment is flawless. We could consider this to be just a movie, but anyway, he represents a genre of people that we all admire. It is that trait of timely judgment or decisions implemented just in time that gives us inspiration and clarity of purpose.
Careful use of resources
You don’t waste anything unless you no longer need it, and therefore you don’t accumulate anything. Travel light and innovate with the things you have without worrying about the things you don’t have.
Patience, poise and daring
How do we wait well? Answer: with a high degree of emotionally calm control. No matter the flurry of thoughts, wait, on the outside a seemingly calm person, yet fully operational on the inside. It is like a shaman.
Know when to change a plan
Most of us stick rigidly to our plans, too rigidly. Not Bourne. He anticipates movements and adjusts his plans accordingly, staying three steps ahead and always seems to have contingencies in place.
Moral courage
Bourne could kill at will, and in this movie series he often does. But you also exercise a lot of moral courage by taking the time to get it right, even at high personal cost. This is not just about emotional and mental self-control, but about pure moral courage to do what is necessary, but personally risky.
Physical resistance
How many can sprint for half a mile (800 meters) and still think clearly? Bourne can. It provides a balance of aerobic and anaerobic fitness and this only enhances your mental abilities.
Never give up
There is never a time when Bourne gives in to despondency. You always see a way out and, more importantly, not only negatively to get out of your current problem, but positively towards the source. He is impulsive and stubborn when things go wrong.
He may just be a movie character to us, but he represents an ideal, Jason Bourne does. The key is the transcend their situations and the labels that are put on them. In this way, he prepares his own unique identity for himself.
And so it is for us. We too can become whoever we want, but best of all:Ourselves. Time to design and build!
© 2009 SJ Wickham.
