"Every meeting in our lives happens for a higher purpose; every meeting is a chance for evolution. We should always ask ourselves how we can grow from our associations and friendships. This makes our connections and partnerships far more meaningful and empowering."
— James Wanless in
Little Stone

Being open to new teachers in our lives is an important spiritual practice. It challenges us to be vigilant and to set aside our preconceived notions about who can and cannot guide, help, or heal us. Sometimes the best teachers come in strange guises, as in K-PAX, a well-acted and spiritual science fiction drama based on a 1955 novel by Gene Brewer. For our review of the film and a plot synopsis, click here.

K-PAX, directed by Iain Softley from a screenplay by Charles Leavitt, offers plenty of avenues for discussion. The following Values & Visions Film Guide suggests a few of them: the spiritual practice of openness, the mysteries of the mind, extraterrestrials, the impact of spiritual teachers, light and dark, your hurting neighbor, and what goes around comes around.

The film is rated PG-13 for a sequence of violent images, brief language, and sensuality.

1. OPENNESS

"If you have an interest in people's suffering and conflicts, you have that openness constantly. And then you can develop some sense of trust and understanding, so that your openness becomes compassion," the Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa wrote.


  • What character qualities does Dr. Mark Powell have that make him an unusual psychiatrist? Do you agree or disagree with his superior's criticism of his loss of objectivity in regard to Prot?
  • Openness is an ability to go with the flow, as Taoism puts it, without expecting predetermined outcomes. It means treating each person with respect and truly being present as a listener. At its furthest reach, openness to the unknown, the exotic, and the bizarre is the mark of a free spirit. On a scale of one to five, how would you rank your sense of openness? Who has taught you this spiritual practice or encouraged you to develop it further? Discuss the link you have seen in your life between openness and compassion.

2. THE MYSTERIES OF THE MIND

In The Church and Modern Thought, James Gillis observes: "The deepest and strangest mysteries, the weirdest and most wonderful, the most shocking and most sublime, are those that even after all these aeons lie concealed in the dark and tortuous depths of the mind of man."


  • Dr. Powell declares that Prot is "the most convincing delusional I've ever met"? Share your responses to the treatments the doctor gives Prot in order to uncover a trauma he believes must lie behind his unusual behavior. Do you tend to think there has to be an explanation for why someone is weird?

  • Talk about how your religious or spiritual understanding of human beings deals with "the dark and torturous depths of the mind."

3. EXTRATERRESTRIALS

Jacques Bergier once admitted: "For me, having extraterrestrial beings intervene in our history is no more absurd than having microbes intervene in the state of our health. In both cases, it is a matter of interventions that are imperceptible to our senses but are revealed by deeper study to be confirmed by instrumental analysis."


  • What scenes in the film reveal that Prot may be telling the truth about his home on K-PAX? Compare and contrast this alien with the ones depicted in Star Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Brother from Another Planet, and other movies.
  • Discuss your feelings and beliefs about extraterrestrials. Assuming that Prot is from K-PAX, what new insights does he give you into human being, evolution, human nature, science, families, and cultures?

4. WALKING ON AIR

In an essay on extraordinary spiritual teachers, Sufi seer Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan stated: "In their presence I felt uplifted as if I were 'walking on air.' The effects of this realization upon others was palpable; their inner sovereignty was so great that they were able to help people gain their self-confidence."


  • Most of the staff at the Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan are amazed at the positive impact Prot has upon all the patients. In what ways does he lift their spirits and give them new self-confidence? What is your favorite scene in this regard?

  • Share a story about an encounter you've had with a spiritual teacher whose inner sovereignty made you feel like you were "walking on air." What else do you look for in spiritual teachers?

5. LIGHT AND DARK MINGLE

"In the midst of a depression," Parker Palmer writes in The Active Life, "I once asked my spiritual director how I could be feeling such despair when not long before the depression that I had been feeling so close to God. Simple, she said, the closer you get to the light, the closer you get to the darkness. The deepest things in life come not singly but in paradoxical pairs, where the light and the dark intermingle."


  • Prot arrives in a flash of light and awaits a beam of light to take him back to K-PAX. Share your response to the scenes and the references to light in this story. What do they signify to you?

  • What does the metaphor of light stand for in your religious or spiritual tradition?

6. YOUR HURTING NEIGHBOR

"Jesus is your hurting neighbor. He is your hurting child. He is your hurting enemy. He is anyone who is suffering from anything not of his or her own choosing. If you feel the hurt of any person who hurts, you are suffering with Jesus," Lewis B. Smedes says in How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong.


  • What scenes in the film show Dr. Powell's compassion? Pick one moment where you were deeply affected by the suffering of one of the characters. What did you feel?

  • Try on the idea of seeing Jesus in the suffering of Prot. Then see if you can envision this alien as a Jesus figure himself. Where does this take you?

7. YOUR GOOD WORK

"The present life is a training ground for the soul," John A. Sanford writes in Soul Journey. "Suffering is the result of karma accrued in other lives. Karma — there are necessary spiritual consequences to our thoughts and actions."


  • Prot says something similar: "Every mistake you make you will have to live through again and again. . . . So my advice is to get it right this time. It's all you have." How does Dr. Powell show that he's gotten the message?

  • Share a story from your life that proves the truth to the old adage "What goes around comes around." What spiritual practices would you put into motion in order to activate Prot's advice: "Stay here and be prepared for anything."?

This guide is one in a series of more than 200 Values & Visions Guides written by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Text copyright 2001 by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Photos by Suzanne Tenner courtesy Universal Studios. This guide is posted as a service to visitors to www.SpiritualityandPractice.com. It may not be photocopied, reprinted, or distributed electronically without permission from Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat -- except it may be duplicated for use by groups participating in the e-course “Going to the Movies as a Spiritual Practice.” For other uses and for a list of guides in the Values & Visions series and ordering information, email your name and mailing address to: brussat@spiritualrx.com.