Cinema Thought Experiment

Mathematicians sometimes work by assuming something beautiful to be true and then they try to work out the details. Perhaps this post is in that spirit.

Einstein—He believed that all moments in time (past, present, and future) exist all at once. Time does not "pass". 

He says:

• Since there exists in this four dimensional structure [space-time] no longer any sections which represent "now" objectively, the concepts of happening and becoming are indeed not completely suspended, but yet complicated. It appears therefore more natural to think of physical reality as a four dimensional existence, instead of, as hitherto, the evolution of a three dimensional existence.
• ..for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one.

Einstein's opinion provides the premise for this post, namely: What if Reality is like a movie reel...a set of pre-existing photographs...which are then displayed in quick succession to produce the illusion of motion? In other words, what if our lives are media?

The Attraction of this Idea—Well...there are no real beings in a movie...no choices being made...only lights on a screen coming from a set of unchanging photographs that are totally lacking in consciousness. Nothing is even moving in a movie!
So if consciousness exists (and I think it does), then it must come from somewhere other than the world that we see and experience.
In short, it may be true that time does not pass. We do. We pass. And it must also be true that consciousness is non-local and existing in a domain that is outside the media.

The idea of a Soul—So many people use the words "soul" and "spirit" as synonyms, but Soul is making a comeback. Spirits (for me) are angelic, powerful, governing beings. They are the agents of God. Whereas Souls are those entities who feel and experience and suffer. Roughly, I imagine the Trinity and its functions as:

• 1st Person—The "Father": Mystery, Infinity, Transcendence.
• 3rd Person—"Holy Spirit": Intelligence, Structure, and especially Power.
• 2nd Person—"Christ": The Leader of Souls and Attractor from the future. (Omega for Chardin) But above all...Souls dare to enter the Creation...and to derive meaning from the journey, thereby Redeeming it. 

We do not have Souls.

Souls have us—The ego...our biography...is one of many for the Soul. 
Saint Francis of Assisi tells us, "What we are looking for is what is looking."
Ramana Maharshi would call this the witness(?). My biography...and all the specific traits of my gender, body, mind, political party, daily thoughts, or what-have-you...is media and is a subset of the Soul.

Incarnation—To redeem the Creation, the Soul must "Fall" into it to obtain first-hand experience...this is what Souls do. And certainly, one trip would not be enough. Yes...reincarnation...but I must stress that this is not the cheap, commercialized notion of having once been "an ordinary sailor in the crew of Christopher Columbus" or "one of Nero's concubines". No...the Soul's journey is long. 
The goal of Universal Redemption requires many Souls and many experiences as: electron, element, protozoa, Coelacanth, Megatherium, Australopithecus, and...yes...ordinary sailor on the Santa Maria.
Each Fall is perhaps more like a flight through the media to see existence with the eyes of a particular being and point of view.
(And I imagine that some of these flights might be at a mistaken angle and the Soul experiences something like madness or hallucination and confusion.)
(And I imagine that some Souls might specialize to deeply experience a particular class of beings...the Soul of Dog or the Soul of Rome or the Soul of Water. Whatever it is that draws a Soul to this type of experience is an expression of what is sometimes called the "deepest love" of that Soul.)

Evil—The Soul is on a quest for meaning...not morality. Only a juvenile mind would say that a Rabbit is "good" and a Rattlesnake is "evil". But to really know what it means, the Soul must dare to be a Rattlesnake or a Rabbit. And to really understand it, the Soul must dare to be both. 
(And I imagine a Soul daring to live as both the husband and the wife in entwined lives that involve a bitter divorce and then...and only then...the Soul can say, "Ah yes, I understand now".)
I once saw a video of an artist...a water-colorist...who was explaining the use of white and black. He already had most of the painting done (boating scene) and he took a photo of it and then added the black...shadows under the pier...the undersides of ropes and cables. And then he added the touches of white...glints and glares on a pile of wet fish sitting on the sunny dock and so on. And the painting was transformed. The photo, taken earlier, suddenly seemed dead and sterile in comparison with the finished work.

Isaiah 45:7, I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

A Jungian Dream—One of Jung's patients was telling him her dream. She dreamt that she was stuck in a trench full of muck and smelly filth. She saw Herr Doktor Jung standing above her on the edge of the trench. And she held out her hand and said "Please save me". But the dream psychologist replied, "Not out, but through."

Can we also hear in this, the words of another, and better, teacher? A teacher who is not only standing above and offering encouragement, but one who shows the way?

Be not afraid. I go before you always.