An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a famous story by Ambrose Bierce. It was wonderfully adapted for film in the early 1960’s by Robert Enrico as part of a trilogy of short films. It appeared as an episode for the Twilight Zone series by Rod Serling. This story is a vivid and apt image for the samsaric journey. The skandhic-mind is forever groping, running, trying in vain to escape from the final outcome of what awaits all sentient beings in samsaric realms—but the end is always the same. Along the way there are momentary glimpses of freedom, yet viewed exclusively through skandhic-lens these efforts will always be in vain. Quite a fool’s paradise indeed; a marvelous metaphor here as we begin to explore quite a different avenue of transcending the mind games that plague us all. It is a masterful film; the brilliant black and white cinematography lends itself wonderfully for this particular season of the year and serves our purposes well. The following is an edited video of the film available on YouTube.
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