Sunseed

I first viewed this movie in perhaps 1974 at a "New Age Festival" on the University of Pennsylvania campus. I remember it as being a delightful, inspiring, beautiful film. I was so inspired by its content, its inclusive spirit, and the beauty and balance of its presentation that I tracked down the distributor and arranged to bring it to the campus of the university in my hometown. I sponsored the showing with my own funds, as a community service. No one purchased advance tickets, but after the two showings, the contributions box in the auditorium contained exactly the amount needed to reimburse my out-of-pocket costs -- to the penny! I'm not one to be overawed by apparent "magic", but even I couldn't ignore the amazing synchronicity of the timing and balance of those circumstances.

That was more than thirty years ago. I've learned not to trust overmuch my precise recall of "facts" across so long a time span, but I do trust my remembered feelings and impressions. I recall that Sunseed provided a window into the personalities and work of a range of spiritual seekers and teachers who were in the early 1970's just becoming known to a much broader audience outside their own smaller circle of "followers." Among these were Hazrat Inyat Khan and Pir Vilyat Khan (sp?), Richard Alpert/Ram Dass, Indries Shah, and several other "luminaries" from the budding alternative spirituality movement of the '70's.

I've occasionally wondered since that time whether or not SUNSEED would still play as a significant film with an important message to a contemporary audience. I wonder how it would seem to me today. If anyone reading this review has knowledge of a surviving viewable copy of SUNSEED, I for one would love to have another look at what I remember as a beautiful, unique, important contribution to our collective spiritual experience -- and to my own life.