Therapist’s Reaction: Disney’s Soul

‍Are you ready for my unfiltered reaction to the Disney movie Soul?

If you haven't watched the movie yet and want to experience it entirely through your own lens, I'd save this one for later. I won't walk you through the plot, but I am going to talk about what happens in the movie in order to share my reaction. You have been warned! So, here goes my take on the film, including all the feelings and thoughts I had while watching it (and afterwards, too).

Let’s start with the initial premise: a person’s passion is their purpose for living, AKA their spark. And they need to know what this is when they are just the proverbial “twinkle” in order to be sent down to earth (whenever that moment of first consciousness happens).

So, the story is about an unborn soul who is reluctantly on a quest with her newest mentor to find her spark. She’s been there a long time and has never been sent down. We are led to believe that a spark is an unborn soul’s purpose, and so her mentor tries to help her find her purpose by identifying what her passion is, as his is jazz. We see many other unborn souls find their spark this way, whether it is by throwing a basketball for the first time or painting a picture. This spark is needed to complete the all-access-pass that she holds to gain access to life on earth.

About 80 minutes later, us dumb adults are shocked at the revelation that the initial premise has been wrong all along: your spark is not your purpose!

I bet this was much less groundbreaking for the youngsters watching this film. And I will not lie, my initial reaction to this twist was a bit of mental pushback. I mean, I am a therapist by trade, which is something that I studied and trained very hard for because it was something my heart told me I was meant to do.

That sure sounds like some passionately purposeful stuff to me!

When I am in a session with a client and we are doing the thing—that therapist-client connecting thing, where we’ve entered a sacred space of exploring, unlocking, feeling, expressing, processing, and challenging the human psyche—well, to quote the movie: “that’s jazz” to me.

So, Disney, are you telling me therapy is not what I was put on this earth to do?!

I felt confused. Yet, I sensed there was a wisdom I was missing, and I knew it was related to mindfulness. So, I told myself I’d watch the movie again.

After my second watch, I jotted down this thought: passions spark up your life, but they don’t give you purpose.

If I wanted to be cheeky with my therapist jargon, I could say I was letting the dialectic settle in (self-high five)! However, the vehicle that really helped me wrap my brain around all this was the fish fable they share in the movie.

I looked into it, and it is actually from “The Little Fish” in The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello. This guy must have been buddies with Thich Nhat Hanh!

Anyway, in the movie they include the part of de Mello’s story where the little fish asks the older, wiser fish where the ocean is. When the little fish is told he (or she) is already swimming in it, the little fish exclaims: “This?! This is water. What I want is the ocean!”

The movie doesn’t include de Mello’s final line of his story. I guess they decided to continue on with the 30-minute climax and ending rather than give it all away then. However, if I may throw my hat into the movie-making business, I think it would have been a powerful homage to display this final line before rolling the credits:

“Stop searching, little fish. There isn’t anything to look for. All you have to do is look.”

—Anthony de Mello

Chills. #Mindfulness. #itshouldn’thavetakenmethislongtogetit.

Well, of course! They are saying finding the spark is all about being ready to live life—when we learn how to live in the moment. It is not a goal to strive for, and there is no search, either. It is a state of being.

You have a spark when you are fully participating in whatever it is you are doing; not halfway, or somewhat, or also while doing this other thing. For me, it is typing these words right now. For you, it is reading said words.

The spark is what we feel when we are fully engaged in life. Mindfulness is one way we learn to access it.

And maybe this is where the movie's distinction between purpose and passion becomes important. Our passions can bring us deeply into the present moment. They can make us feel alive, absorbed, and connected to something that matters to us. But passion isn't the same thing as purpose. In fact, as the movie shows us, even something we love can become a way of losing ourselves when we become attached to it in a way that pulls us out of the present moment.

So, is Disney telling me that my life’s purpose is not important?

Dear reader, I had the same question at first. The movie never spells out an answer exactly, but there are definitely some strong hints. And a lot of thematic pressure is put on the idea that passions are not the same as purpose (there goes my “I’m here to be a therapist” idea), so this forced me to look at things in a different light.

During the movie, those sparky, mindful moments are what held the most meaning for the characters. In fact, the film portrayed passions as something that can lead us astray.

This got me to wondering: what if our purpose isn't necessarily what we do, but how we participate in what we do?

You can do this by living mindfully—that is, by paying attention, without judgment, on purpose.

By this logic, perhaps we all share a universal purpose: to participate in our lives mindfully. Our individual passions and callings can give us meaningful ways to practice that purpose, but they don't replace it.

What about passions, then?

Well, I think passions are still very important. Furthermore, I think they teach us about mindfulness.

Think about when you are in the groove and feeling very passionate about something you are doing. Typically, you find your intentions, attention, and attitude are all aligning in a mindful way, right? You aren’t second-guessing yourself; you aren’t thinking about what other things you have to do that day. Rather, you are just really in it—read: the moment.

And so, passions can live alongside your purpose and your spark quite harmoniously. With that being said, these terms aren’t interchangeable, nor should they be mistaken for one another.

So, what is my hot take?

Your purpose is to access a much greater, vaster thing that is limitlessly available in every and any moment.

You are right, little fish; the water is not the ocean.

Open your eyes and look to see what you’ve already found.