Buddhist Philosophy in Pixar’s ‘Soul’
By: Allison J. Van Tilborgh
Tags: Film, Religion, Spirituality, Self, Philosophy

Buddhist Philosophy in Pixar’s ‘Soul’

Being in a world of doing.

Pixar’s Soul was released on Christmas Day, 2020, exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service. It’s a masterpiece. The visuals are stunning, the music was soothing, and the story felt actually meaningful. IMBD describes the plot of Soul in this way:

A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself.

This is a film equally focused on death and life, metaphysics, and the spiritual. Instead of focusing on the classic dualistic model that pits ‘good’ and ‘evil’ against one another, Soul is more concerned with understanding oneself and practicing compassion than almost any other film I’ve seen this year.

The film has fingerprints of Eastern Philosophical traditions all over it, namely Buddhism, but also Taoism. This article will be examining a handful of such examples, but by no means will it be an exhaustive list. I will mostly be focused on the character of Joe.

Warning! Spoilers ahead. Don’t bother reading if you haven’t seen the film yet.

The Three Unwholesome Roots

The most negative actions one can take in Buddhism are greed (passionate attachment or lust), hatred (passionate aversion), and delusion (or disorientation).

In Soul, the main character, Joe, is obsessive. While alive, Joe puts his responsibilities on the backburner while he passionately pursues his dream of becoming a jazz musician. This lust for success negatively impacts those closest to him in life, including his mother and even his barber (who he has never taken a true interest in).

When dead, Joe actively pursues his own life, totally averse to his annihilation. In Buddhism, the desire to live forever is just as unwholesome as the desire to annihilate oneself. This obsession causes him to totally dismiss the rules of the universe, and see all other people as means, not ends. Joe exists in a completely imbalanced, self-centered state.

In Western contemporary philosophy, Joe’s insatiability might be celebrated. He is passionate. He has found his ‘purpose’ — his so-called spark. This movie challenges this fruitless desire to control one's life and become something ‘important.’

The Middle Way

Buddhism does not advocate for extremes. Being too passionate about something can be seen as negative, as can being passionless. Peace can only come by living the ‘Middle Way’ — somewhere in-between the two extremes.

The symbol of the ‘path’ connecting the ‘Great Beyond’ and the ‘Great Before’ figures prominently in the film. Those on this path have largely accepted their fate and move toward their next stage willingly. But not Joe, at least not until the end of the film.

In line with his personality, Joe resists following the Middle Way. He pushes himself off it, putting himself further in harm's way. His passionate journey to return to life causes adversaries to passionately pursue him; he gets what was coming for him.

At the end of the film, Joe is back on the path. He has decided to put 22’s needs ahead of his own, exhibiting compassion. He does not try to run from death but accepts it. It is in this acceptance that he is offered another chance at life.

Souls

Ironically, Buddhism doesn’t buy into the notion of an unchanging soul at all. The term for ‘self’ is anatman, literally means ‘no-self.’ So why bother drawing parallels between the film Soul and Buddhism at all?

I think that the film Soul is hugely critiquing our culturally embedded belief of an unchanging soul. To believe in a soul that never changes, we must also believe that we were pre-programmed with personalities and ‘purposes.’ Such thinking puts us on the brink of fatalism, which flies in the face of many of our beliefs that our fruits are the product of our own efforts. We can’t change.

But Joe does change. Although he loves music, he begins to understand that loving something does not mean becoming that one thing, just like his barber is not entirely defined by a previous desire to become a veterinarian. The film challenges our assumptions of what a successful life should look like. It rejects the Hellenist notions of ‘soul’ many of us have grown up with in the West.

Soul begins entirely fixated on Joe and his unsatisfied career as a musician. The film ends without the focus being on Joe’s career at all. In the end, Joe has fundamentally changed. He is no longer defined by what he does but by how he is. He feels the breeze; he breathes deeply.

Instead of obsessively fixating on changing the world around him to serve his own needs, Joe learns to accept the world as it is and finds peace in it.

Rebirth

Buddhism believes that all sentient beings have a ‘no-self’ (anatman). The lifeform one is born in depends on one karma. At the top of the chain is being born as a god; at the bottom, being born in one of several hells. Being born as a human is seen as a preferable lifeform because we experience a perfect balance of pain and pleasure that can push us toward nirvana.

Animals are seen as a form us life just below humans. One could be born as a cow or cat or goat if they followed delusions in their previous life.

When Joe originally comes back to Earth, he is returned to the body of a cat. This is perhaps a subtle nod to Joe’s delusional, obsessive state throughout the film thus far. He really thinks he can cheat death. He really also thinks that playing the gig he was running after would somehow fulfill him. He was wrong.

Compassion & Samsara

Samsara is the endless cycle of rebirths we are each in until we reach samsara. If we are still living, by definition, we are still suffering, caught in the cycles of samsara.

Because we are endlessly spiraling in rebirths, practically every combination of existence has existed at one point or another. At one point, your dog may have been your sister, mother, or husband. At one point, the fly you swatted may have been your cat, your father, or grandparent. At one point, you were the same.

To remember this and swear to reduce suffering towards sentient beings is the supreme form of compassion. This is another way of saying, “treat others how you’d like to be treated.”

In Soul, Joe struggles to exhibit compassion toward others. He is in a prime position to die and continue the cycle of rebirths that will prevent him from reaching nirvana.

When he talks to his mother, he is concerned only about himself. When he talks to his barber, he only talks about jazz. When he meets 22, he is only concerned with escaping the ‘Great Before.’ Once 22 and himself are back in the world, he is only fixated on his own goals. In doing so, he totally ignores the spiritual revelations 22 goes through. 22 is satisfied with walking and enjoying a slice of pizza. Joe will not stop until he is successful in his music.

When Joe returns to the ‘Great Before’ by entering a trance, he finally internalizes the true message of compassion. He exchanges his life for that of another — one who hasn’t even quite materialized yet, one who may feel insignificant to the outer world.

In doing so, he changes the karmic trajectory of his life. He will not be reborn a cat — but rather as himself anew.

Taoism & Being

Buddhism and Taoism have experienced much syncretism throughout the ages, so an analysis of Buddhist thought in Soul would not be complete without it.

In essence, Taoism encourages individuals to not overly concern themselves with action. We perform so many actions as it is: walking, sleeping, eating. To concern ourselves with more is to prevent the world from existing in harmony. This blocks the Tao (the Way) from manifesting.

Instead of doing things to become someone, Taoism says it is best to be. Instead of pursuing gigs left and right in an attempt to become a financially successful jazz musician, Taoism would encourage Joe to step back, accept each moment for what it is, and seamlessly fall into the natural order of things.

This is a path of non-action. This is a path that prefers peace over existential anxiety, passion, and greed.

The Philosophy of Pixar’s ‘Soul’

Soul acknowledges that most of Joe’s problems in life come from his insatiability and self-centeredness. The path forward does not live in extremes, but an acceptance of reality as it is while accepting one’s personal duty to spread compassion to all life forms. Life is not about doing something or playing out a pre-programmed identity. Life is about being and “living each minute” (as Joe says at the end of the film).

The fact that 22 ends of being born in North India cannot be a coincidence. The themes of the whole film are in total opposite to the world that Joe sees when he looks down at the earth from the ‘Great Before’ (the view is North America). To find a healthy balance in the future of our world, we must look to other forms of wisdom. The current ones aren’t cutting it.

Make no mistake; this is an incredibly religious film. Almost every scene is centered on some religious principle, which is refreshing in a cultural period of cynicism. Soul also is a great reminder that secularism will only get us so far. We cannot only look to ourselves and our own desires to lead a fulfilling life. Life can only be well-lived in the context of compassion and peace. It is not about running the furthest or for the longest amount of time. Soul presents the importance of spirituality in a 21st-century context, unlike any children's film I’ve seen from Pixar.