'Gravity,' Alfonso Cuarón’s film about a depressed astronaut trapped in the deadly void of space, is a profound metaphor for experiencing trauma and aimlessly drifting through life. This class will dissect the movie, beat by beat, and compare it to three titans of philosophical, psychological and spiritual literature: Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and The Bhagavad Gita. 

Notions of purpose, duty, distraction, and free will are explored through comparing these diverse (but thematically similar) texts to this deceptively deep film. 

We will also use the movie’s metaphors to understand a handful of ancient symbols (and a few modern ones) in this online course featuring nearly two hours of original short lectures and a wealth of supplemental materials.

This class is not only for fans of the film—anybody who is compelled by the themes noted above and by esoteric symbolism and knowledge more generally will find the course extremely compelling.

Note: We do not provide the movie itself, but it is easy to find on various streaming services.