 Happy Valentine's Day! 33-year-old spoiler warning here, but I guess that goes without saying. Now, to start it off, the Princess Bride is a story within a story. And if we go deep enough, it's a story within a story within a story within a story. Inviting us to look deeper at our own lives and to break free of the attachments to the life stories we live out on a day-to-day basis. And learning to identify at a higher level. But the main focus of the Princess Bride is two main points. A story of true love and all of the ways that true love manifests. And a story of sovereignty. On its surface, the Princess Bride appears like a fun take on the traditional damsel in distress narrative. Girls in trouble, guys gotta rescue her. In fact, we have an almost 95% male cast in the movie. And yet, Buttercup's role here is foundational to the deep spiritual themes underlying this tale. When the story begins, we see Buttercup in a state of sovereign freedom. She can do what she wants, live as she pleases. As so many movies often depict the female character needing a man to be fulfilled, here we see Buttercup as already fulfilled in her life. This is a fundamental lesson right off the bat. That true love happens when two people are content with themselves first, and already in a good relationship with themselves. If they're attached and needing someone else to fulfill them and make them feel okay, true love doesn't have the opportunity to blossom naturally. Fortunately, in the story we are presented with, it does. As Buttercup makes requests of her farm boy, Wesley, he responds simply, as you wish, which she comes to realize means, I love you. Wesley doesn't push himself on her, and she slowly begins to realize that she loves him too. The way that this movie opens sets the stage for the rest of the film, because without true love, there is no story. I also wish to draw attention to the higher story outside of the book for a moment. The boy at one point interrupts the father reading and remarks about their being kissing in this book, not something he's really into. It's curious because of the transformation of the boy by the end of the story, but let us continue with the main journey for now. In addition to the main ideas of true love being the benevolent force in the film, so too do we see the antagonist force soon coming into play, which is the patriarchal energy of masculine dominance. This energy is made manifest personally in Prince Humperdink and Count Rugen, and in a way, it also manifests in Wesley. We see shortly after we're introduced to these characters, Wesley goes off into the world to seek his fortune so that he can provide a good life for Buttercup and himself. While this appears to be a noble cause on the surface that drives the plot, we also must ask, why couldn't they do that together? From Wesley leaving, it sets the stage for Buttercup to be thrust into this same masculine dominant world as she discovers that Wesley was killed by the dread pirate Roberts, and several years later, ends up soon to be married to Prince Humperdink. A man who does not value her as a person, seeks to control her, manipulate her, and even kill her, all in the name of his own personal gain. This is why sovereignty is actually at the heart of this story. As we see the plot focus on and spiral around, various masculine forces attempting to capture or dominate the feminine, and the masculine. On the other hand, as Wesley seeks to rescue his damsel, what he is fighting for is not her specifically, but her right to choose, her freedom, and her sovereignty. Buttercup herself also represents a more active participant in this. While she does seem powerless against the might of Humperdink's forces, she is not silent and accepting of the fate that is thrust upon her, but is brave, courageously speaking up for the truth, and what she really wants. A continued thing that is brought to our attention throughout the entirety of the film, is that in his heart, Wesley loves Buttercup, and it's this love in his heart that keeps him motivated and able to overcome any obstacle, whether it's fencing with Inigo, surviving the terrors of the fire swamp, or being tortured to maximum limit break-over drive. In all of these circumstances, the love in his heart never goes out, even when he dies. We see this spiritual lesson here because even if it's romanticized in the movie, many traditions teach us the virtues of love, and that love itself is one of, if not the greatest force in the universe. If we have love in our hearts, we will steer our lives straight and true, and this movie can help to remind us to connect with that inner love, so that we too may overcome the obstacles we face in our daily lives. In addition to the true love that blossoms between Wesley and Buttercup, we also see love manifesting throughout the film in another way, in the form of brotherly bonding. This is also important to discuss, especially for Valentine's Day, because many of us in the world have not found that perfect partner yet, and what's more, not everyone even wants that to begin with. So the thing here is that both Wesley, Inigo and Phezik are all brought together through various circumstances, and at first, Inigo and Phezik are Wesley's enemies. Nevertheless, the enemies become friends, and they set off to right some wrongs together. It's through their shared companionship that they are able to accomplish things that would have been much more difficult to do on their own. Without Inigo and Phezik, how would Wesley have come back to life? Without Wesley, how would Inigo have found the six-fingered man? Through scenes like these, we are reminded of the spirit of human connection, and that when we band together for a noble cause, great challenges become even easier. There is a phrase that goes, faster alone, perfect together, and when we learn to embrace each other, share the load, work together, we can accomplish much more than if we try to do everything ourselves. While the first half of the film was more of a solo journey, the second half is about the journey together and the companionships we make along the way, which are just as important. Speaking of Inigo, we find that he demonstrates to us the power of affirmations. Inigo continually remarks to himself the same phrase over and over. The fact that he continuously tells himself this, he is preparing himself and keeping himself focused on his goal of defeating the six-fingered man. He affirms to himself over and over, this is my destiny, this is my fate, I will avenge the death of my father. In doing so, he also is affirming to himself his own ego death, which comes by the end, where he is complete on that part of his life and moves into something new. A spiritual death, which many cultures tell us, is a kind of transformation. This affirmative energy of his line teaches us the power of affirmations too. If we wake up every day and tell ourselves that we are creating a certain life for ourselves, perhaps it is to meet true love, perhaps it's to create great wealth, or perhaps it's to warm the hearts of others. Then we keep ourselves focused on the path that we're on. Affirmations are powerful because they directly program the subconscious mind with direction, and this assists us in creating our realities with more clarity and focus. And now let us speak for a moment on Vizini. He had a classic and hilariously overused line inconceivable, inconceivable, inconceivable. You keep using the word. I don't think it means what you think it means. Demonstrating the nature of arrogance and pride. By it being represented to us in this way, it teaches us, the viewers, not to identify with these qualities, or reflect it to us if we already do. Over and over, Vizini remarks how brilliant he is. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Yes. Morons. Really? He thinks he's so smart, but that's just it. He only believes he is so smart. There a true wise person knows that they know nothing. This is doubly more interesting that he repeats inconceivable, because how could a person who knows everything find anything to truly be inconceivable? Ultimately, this arrogance is his own undoing, and Wesley easily outsmarts him in a simple game of wits. This once again reminds us not to brag or pretend we have all the answers, know what we need to do in our hearts, humble ourselves before others who we can stand to learn from, and strive for goodness always. Finally, the story outside of the story, between the grandfather and the grandson, we see here two important lessons. One is the transformation of the boy, and his own growth and emotional maturity. In the beginning, as we saw, he remarks to his grandfather, Is this a kissing book? Wait, just wait. But by the end, he learns to have a respect for the emotional health of the characters, not just the action and adventure. I don't mind so much. Being that they are outside of the story, this reflects that the entire story is happening within them, within the little boy. And so as he evolved with the characters, his own personality grew as a result. And so we must ask ourselves, how did we grow and evolve as a result of watching the movie? The story within a story, within a story, and if we go one level deeper, we see the story of the dread pirate Roberts, who, in and of himself, is just a story. Second, and returning to the highest level of the story, we see our final manifestation of true love. You see, true love is not just when two people fall in love and live happily ever after in this beautiful relationship. And we see this when the boy asks his grandfather to come back and read the story again. As you wish, the grandfather responds, bringing the heartwarming story to a close. In this, we see that the grandfather truly loves his grandson and is more than happy to come and spend time with him, read him a story, and make this heartfelt connection. We learn here that love permeates through many layers of human connection, and they demonstrate beautifully the wisdom of the Ten of Disks legacy. The understanding that true wealth is not money, but the lasting connections that we create together throughout our lives, and the passing along of love and wisdom from generation to generation. Further, in the completion of our old stories, we are free to forge new ones. And so, we bring this week's episode to a close. I ask you with kindness and humility, what story are you writing into your life? Affirm it for yourself now by sharing it in the comments, and while you're at it, let us know what other episodes you'd like to see the hidden spirituality of. Happy Valentine's Day, and we'll see you next week.