JERRY MAGUIRE

 

THREE STARS – Thought-provoking

 

       At the point where a person awakens to find they no longer believe in what they do for a living, a spiritual breakthrough often begins.  But that awakening can be so unsettling and life-changing that it is often avoided, even after it has broken into our awareness.

        Set in the materialistic world of professional sports agents, “Jerry Maguire” is a powerful film about a successful agent who had what he ambivalently called a “breakdown” or a “break-through.” 

       On one lonely night when Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) had been partying too heavily, he suddenly realized that he “hated” himself, or as he corrected his description, he “hated his place in life.”

       What he had become in his striving for success was a person he no longer wanted to be.  This awareness was the beginning of an awakening.  

       His first step in this new journey was to compose a “Mission Statement” exposing his deeper desire to truly care for the athletes he represented and not just use them for financial gain.  “Who had I become?”, he asked in his statement.  “Just another shark in a suit.”  As he wrote into the night, “suddenly, I was my father’s son again, caring for the people I loved.”    Excited by the release that this statement gave him, he took it to an all night printer and distributed it to his co-workers mailboxes before dawn.

       Then he had second thoughts.  Embarrassed, he timidly returned to work and experienced the dual response of admiration of his co-workers and being fired by his jealous boss who saw his softening as a moment to move in and take over his lucrative business.

       This is an authentic description of the life of a person who attempts to take the spiritual path.

       The passion is inspiring.  Others look on and admire a person who is willing to lay everything on the line and give themselves in loving service to others.  But just as prevalent are those who respond in jealousy and see this change of heart as a moment of weakness.

       When Maguire realizes what is happening, he turns away from the call of his soul and throws himself back into the business, attempting to keep his predatory employer from stealing his clients. 

       This, too, is an authentic response.  When the real price which must be paid becomes clear, the person who experiences a spiritual awakening often frantically attempts to ignore their own soul’s call and go back to the way things were before.

       But you can’t go back. 

       Having once become aware that the life one is living is empty and shallow, the signs of such lacking can no longer be ignored.

       One such example is in Maguire’s new reaction to the person he has chosen for his fiance.   Having the eyes to see in a new way, he realizes he has chosen an ambitious, uncaring and insensitive woman to marry, who is as incapable of intimacy as he is.  Unable to continue the relationship due to his awakening, he breaks off his engagement with her.

       In a corollary experience, he is drawn to a young woman Dorothy  Boyd (Rene Zellwegger) whose own soul has been touched by his “Mission Statement.”  She follows him out of their old agency and joins him in starting his own competing agency, stating:  “I care about my job, but mostly I want to be inspired.”

       Starting a new company, though, is a tough road to take.  In Maguire’s case it provides the inspiration for growth that makes spiritual breakthroughs possible.

       The one client who sticks with him, Rod Tidwell, (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) goes through his own journey.  Striving first for money, Tidwell must also face his own weaknesses. 

       When Tidwell and his wife Marcee (Regina King) model a truly loving relationship in front of him, Maguire realizes, maybe for the first time, what is most important in his own life.

       Maguire is transformed as he remembers the words of Dickey Fox, his own mentor from years before:  “Unless you love everybody, you can’t sell anybody.”

       The path of love and intimacy is not an easy one.  It requires a vulnerability and an honesty which is neither easy or natural.  But as Maguire discovers, it is such a path which “completes” him.

       Although many people wrongly conclude that a person cannot change, “Jerry Maguire” demonstrates the way in which growth is possible:  It begins when we recognize the emptiness of our lives and allow our soul to awaken within us and communicate its true mission to us.

 

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