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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Ronald Dahl (1916 - 1990) was a British author who wrote 19 children‘s books over his decades-long writing career. His most popular works were James and the Giant Peach (1961) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964). He’s been called “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.” Adults have loved his work as well. In 1977, Dahl wrote a short story titled The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Now this fantasy has been made into a film written, co-produced, and directed by Wes Anderson who was also at the helm of an adaptation of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The new film is being presented on Netflix as one of a four-part series of shorts from Dahl’s stories, including The — Rat Catcher, The Swan, and Poison. (See summaries below.)
“Everything that happens is either a blessing which is also a lesson, or a lesson which is also a lesson.”
— Polly Berrien Berends
Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a wealthy man who inherited a fortune and has never worked a day of his life. We learn his story from Ronald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes), seen in his writing room.
Henry enjoys gambling and spends time in casinos. One day he comes across a book with a doctor’s report about Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), a gifted man who has the ability to see and interact without using his eyes. He performs in a traveling circus to make money.
It turns out that Imdad has learned his skills from a Great Yogi (Richard Ayoade); he has mastered the ability to meditate and to levitate his body. Henry, who has always been interested in magic, spends three years learning the Yogi’s meditation methods until he is able to see through the backs of playing cards and even predict the future.
“Everything’s got a moral, if you can only find it.”
— Lewis Carroll
Henry travels the world winning money from casinos. Although he still maintains his love of blackjack, he is unhappy with the greed of other gamblers. Suddenly, the thrill of winning begins to fade away. He comes up with a strange solution: tossing handfuls of money from his balcony to random people on the London streets below.
This surprising transformation changes his character and sets him on a new path. Here are some spiritual perspectives on the astonishing finale of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar:
"The fear of going too far keeps us from going far enough."
— Sam Keen
"The time is always right to do right."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
— St. Francis of Assisi
"The truth is, we’re all chosen, most of us just forget to RSVP."
— Sarah Ban Breathnach
"We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand . . . and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it’s too late."
— Marie Beynon Ray
Other Films in this Series:
The Rat Catcher: In an English village, a reporter (Richard Ayoade) and a mechanic (Rupert Friend) listen to a rat catcher (Ralph Fiennes) explain his clever plan to outwit his prey.
The Swan: A narrator (Rupert Friend) tells the story of a young boy, Peter Watson (Asa Jennings) who is harassed by two vicious, heartless, gun-armed bullies. Peter loves birds, and his torment is heightened when the bullies aim their gun at a beautiful swan (Rupert Friend).
Poison: When an Englishman (Benedict Cumberbatch) has a poisonous snake lying on his stomach, his associate (Dev Patel) and a doctor (Ben Kingsley) race to save him.
An adaptation of a Ronald Dahl story about changing your life and doing the impossible.
The Asking
We review very few books of poetry here, but we could not let this one go without making mention of it. Jane Hirshfield is one of our favorites and known to many of you. We gave one of her earlier poetry collections, Given Sugar, Given Salt, one of our “Book of the Year” awards.
Hirshfield is also a translator, an editor of inspired poetry compilations, and the acclaimed author of two collections of essays on the deep spiritual work that poetry can do in the world and in a life. One of her essay collections that we reviewed a quarter of a century ago, Nine Gates, remains a classic.
Hirshfield is a Buddhist poet (lay ordination in Soto Zen) with deep San Francisco Bay roots. She speaks for all of us, regardless of spiritual practice, pointing to openings in our lives.
This thick collection represents a lifetime of vocation to her craft and begins with a section of twenty-nine new one-to-two-page poems, previously unpublished. After that comes the poet’s selection of the best of all of her previous collections.
The first poem in the book begins with the lines: “My life, / you were a door I was given / to walk through.” This could just as easily begin an essay on the journey of a spiritual life.
Hirshfield’s Buddhism comes without trappings, only the wisdom remains, as in these lines from another new poem called “Tin”:
“I studied much and remembered little.
But the world is generous, it kept offering figs and cheeses.
Never mind that soon I’ll have to give it all back,
the world, the figs.
To be a train station of existence is no small matter.”
The poet is attentive to life’s vicissitudes and the task of creating meaning through our lives without sure answers to ultimate questions.
In a pandemic poem she writes, “Today, when I could do nothing, / I saved an ant.” And another new poem’s title says it all: “Each Morning Calls Us to Praise this World that Is Fleeting.”
We recommend “The Little Soul Poems” (eight short, connected verses) from her 2020 collection, included here; and “A Hand Is Shaped for What it Holds or Makes” from her 2011 collection, also here; among many others. See also “The Heart as Origami,” in the excerpt accompanying this review.
We cannot praise this book highly enough. Jane Hirshfield is our poet of wonder and compassion.
A thick collection from a poet of wonder and compassion.
Utmost Charity: A Call to Deeper Love
“As we confront the crisis of civilization culminating in the specter of humanicide, is there an alternative to the present plunge of humanity toward the abyss of utmost violence?
“There is an alternative. It is the commitment to the practice of charity. . . . Charity, as a way of life, has never been tried on a national, let alone worldwide scale. . . . The only fully adequate alternative to utmost violence is utmost charity. This is the practice of mutual love in personal relationships and among nations, even to the point of dying for the sake of the survival, enhancement, and transformation of the whole human family, past, present, and to come.”
— Thomas Keating, Contemplative Outreach News, December 2008
Special leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and others have long been calling for nonviolence, compassion, and equality on a worldwide scale. Thomas Keating was unique in his appeal for “utmost charity” in his teachings, urging us to move beyond our normal ideas of charity into a deeper and more radical expression of God’s love in our relationships and circumstances, especially as the crises of the world multiply exponentially. He also frequently referred to the fruit of a dedicated Centering Prayer practice as the capacity to “live ordinary life with extraordinary love.”
This e-course will explore how we live out the movement of the indwelling Spirit in everyday life, living an an inside-out life rooted and grounded in Love and for Love. Drawing heavily on the teachings of Thomas Keating, we will also include contemplative wisdom from Bernadette Roberts, David Hawkins, Howard Thurman, and others, weaving together themes that explore:
Utmost charity as the fruit and gift of the Spirit
Utmost charity flowing from the state of transforming union as selfless service
The practice of utmost charity
Utmost charity as a way of being and as a relational social contract
This e-course will encourage a deeper engagement with contemplative practices such as Centering Prayer (or your silent prayer practice), Lectio Divina and Visio Divina. This is a 12-session e-course. It was designed to be received on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with an essay by Contemplative Outreach. As it is "On-Demand," you choose your own start date and frequency for delivery of the emails to your inbox. There will also be replays of the original prayer Zoom chapels.
Join our global community to offer the transforming energy of utmost charity to our struggling and suffering world.
Scholarships available through Contemplative Outreach; please apply here.
On Demand: An exploration of how we can live an inside-out life rooted and grounded in Love and for Love.
Edward Hays, The Gospel of Gabriel
It seems you still have much to learn about family and generous love. Open your heart . . . Like the women disciples, you must first have great openness to receive a gift, whose real source is God. Once you have an open heart, the greater the gift received, the greater will be the gift given in response. The women have not ceased to be generous; they have supported us, some from their meager means, others from their wealth."
You must first have great openness to receive a gift
Oscar Romero, Peace Prayers
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all
to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
Peace is dynamism.
Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart
The grasping temperament, when transformed, gives rise to beauty and abundance. . . . We take whatever situation we find ourselves in and bring beauty to it. We highlight the goodness and generosity of the people around us and we make our home and community places of harmony.
Grasping temperament gives rise to beauty
Daphne Rose Kingma, 101 Ways to Have True Love in Your Life
The spiritual relationship is gracious, easy, considerate, and kind. Because it has stepped off the merry-go-round of ego concerns, it can be generous and patient, can behold the beloved not just as a person doing this or that, but as a soul on a journey. A great spiritual love does not exclude the psychological and physical — partners will always support each other in these realms with healing and attention — but when you love in the spirit, your love will also be a reminder of the infinite context, the true destination. Remembering this will give your love an exalted, crystalline, and truly luminous quality. For if your emotional relationship is a jewel, your spiritual relationship is the light that shines through it.
The spiritual relationship is
The Intelligent Heart
Dzigar Kongrul grew up in a monastic environment and received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In 1990, he began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He also founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, his own teaching organization. His previous books includeLight Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence and It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on The Buddhist Path is Pema Chodron's teacher and friend.
In this profoundly insightful work, he spells out ways to advance tonglen, an essential Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice of giving and taking, coordinated with the breath, for transforming the mind. It can lead to "the freedom, peace and joy we all seek in our lives."
Kongrul affirms altruism (defined as "holding others as important and dear") and goes on to salute the love of the Bodhisattvas as the means whereby we can turn any situation in life into a chance to practice. For example, if we give our place on a bus to someone else who needs it more, we will experience the delight in being kind, loving, and generous. Here the motivation is to step out of the small self and turn any activity into bodhisattva activity. So the intention each day is to use every interaction with others as an opportunity to benefit them.
Kongrul notes that practitioners can also work with the lojong slogans, short teachings that were developed to help us diminish self-importance and discover how to enhance the happiness and well-being of others. He recommends that we train wholeheartedly. Some of the best and most insightful commentaries are on these slogans:
Abstain from toxic food.
Do not wait in ambush.
Do not be competitive.
Practice impartiality toward everything.
Always meditate on what is most challenging.
Do not feel the world owes you.
Do not be reactive.
This is a substantive guide to the compassionate life with wise and practical steps toward putting others before yourself and seeking in all things to benefit them.
Wise and practical steps toward putting others ahead of yourself and seeking in all things to benefit them.
Churchill's Tale of Tails
Churchill the pig is a happy camper who cherishes many things in his life: smelling beautiful flowers, painting self-portraits, playing classical music, reading good books, and having tea with his friends Billy and Guff. But when he loses the one thing he treasured above everything else — his tail — he is distraught.
His buddies round up other animals — a zebra, a peacock, a tiger, and others — who are willing to lend him their spare tails. Only trouble is that Churchhill spends so much time on this self-improvement project that he has no time left for his friends anymore. Will he find his own wonderful tail? What will happen to him if he loses his friends who care about him so much?
This is writer and illustrator AncaSandu's first children's picture book, and it is a gem filled with interesting animal illustrations. Its involving story has a universal message about the importance of friendship and the things we can learn about ourselves when we embark on personal quests. Churchill's Tale of Tails is designed for children from 4 through 8 years of age.
A touching tale about the importance of friendship and things you can learn while on a quest.
Spiritual Advice for Buddhists and Christians by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
In 1996 Buddhist and Christian monks and lay practitioners met at the Abbey of Gethsemane to dialogue about the nature of the mind, overcoming anger, the dynamics of grace and blessing, unity, and much more. This substantive paperback contains the talks given at that bridge-building meeting by the Dalai Lama. Some of the subjects covered include the inner journey of meditation, the process of reaching "calm abiding," the nature of wisdom, and the Buddhist goals of overcoming ignorance, finding the mind of clear light, and attaining Nirvana.
According to the Dalai Lama, the world's religions — despite different philosophies and viewpoints — all seek to provide the medicine to cure human suffering. He states further: "I would like to point out that the purpose of religion is not to build beautiful churches or temples; it is to cultivate positive human qualities such as tolerance, generosity, and love." The Dalai Lama suggests that Western Christian nations take on the challenge of initiating "a new appreciation of the value of human life."
Readers will find the author's spiritual advice to be soul-stirring, especially when he talks about teachers, rules, and ways to develop love and compassion. Those who are interested in other talks given at this meeting are directed to our review of The Gethsemane Encounter: A Dialogue on the Spiritual Life by Buddhist and Christian Monastics edited by Donald W. Mitchell and James Wiseman.
Soul-stirring and bridge-building talks.