Explore the Spirit: More on the spiritual implications of Iron Man

Explore the Spirit: 164: What Happens in the Movie Theater -- Jumps Out into the World with Us: "'I LOVED 'Iron Man'!
'I mean, I LOVED it.
'It was so -- so Zen!'

Those were the words just one day ago from the Buddhist priest and author Geri Larkin, who we'll feature next week in a story about her new book, 'Plant Seed, Pull Weed.'

Following our recommendation last week, Geri went to see the debut of the 'Iron Man' movie. Then, this 50-something, nationally known Buddhist sage, who lives in Eugene, Oregon, and leads a quiet life of hard work, meditation and writing wound up raving about the spiritual lessons that jump right off the silver screen in this movie.

I have huge respect for Geri's Zen viewpoint, but this isn't a spiritual theme limited to a single faith. A week ago, the same point was made by Christian scholar Greg Garrett, another nationally known sage -- in Greg's case concerning cinema, superheroes, popular culture and faith.

When East meets West in a spiritual evaluation like this, then I know we're onto something here."