On the film version of “On the Road” (from the archive)

 I  finally saw the film version of Jack Kerouac's “On the Road,” (2012,Walter Salles directed) which relied more on the original manuscript than the published book, which might have made the reception of the published book different since the level of thrill-seeking hedonism is much darker in the original manuscript than the book. And this relates to the main thoughts I had from the film.

Thrill-seeking hedonism can be more easily justified if one agrees with Carl Jung's Spirits=Spiritual idea that seeking alcohol/drugs is a disguised desire for the Spiritual and many of the Beat Generation, and their Hippie followers, did eventually seek spirituality in Eastern religions, although Kerouac became trapped in alcoholism.

Hedonism and recklessness in literature and the arts often ties in with the natural rebellion of young people trying to make their way in a society they did not create. But seeking the bliss of the God Within or the Father Within can be seen as another concentrated form of hedonism, a spiritual substitute for alcohol/drugs. The way out of the dead end of  hedonism is not another form of hedonism, a way out comes from transforming the blissful God Within of the Inward Path to the Outward Path and the material evolution of life to ascending levels of Godhood.

The Outward Path---which needs to be seen as the fulfillment of the Inward Path, and the real attainment of the God first seen inwardly---does not lack in thrill-seeking and adventure, since materially evolving to Godhood requires classical courage, heroism and intelligence, even beyond what is required in wild poetic car trips across the country.