"Manlife" is such a beautiful film. Like really, truly beautiful. For someone like me, who bounces from spiritual school to spiritual school, I found a great deal of beauty in this particular story. This documentary is about the last Lawsonian follower, named Merle. To his credit he never slowed down, even though the Lawsonian group dwindled from thousands of members to just him. At the time the documentary was filmed, he was already well into his 80's, and in great physical shape and a powerful spirit.
It should be noted that this documentary does also give some highlights of Lawsonomy. As it turns out, Lawsonomy was an all encompassing philosophy, but also a religion of sorts later in it's development. Alfred Lawson, the founder of this group, was an interesting man; polymath, baseball player, engineer, etc., and he could have been a billionaire, but instead he wanted to make the world a better place. Merle found the group at a young age and was fully dedicated from the start, becoming one of Lawson's best men. And apparently, Merle wasn't into the religious aspect of the group (although his now deceased wife was).
There's also a focus on Merle's high school sweetheart, whom he left behind so he could join Lawsonomy full time. It's a miracle that they found each other again so late in life, but they picked up right where they left off. She's still afraid he'll run off again, so he has to keep comforting her that he won't be doing that, but he still has work to do as a Lawsonian.
What an amazing story. A young man finds a cause he's full dedicated to for life, marries a woman who shares the same beliefs, and when she passes on he somehow manages rekindles a decades old romance with his high school sweetheart. I'm actually quite jealous. Through Lawsonomy, this guy managed to live a full and wonderful life. He even fought in WWII! Again, what a full life Merle had.
No spoilers, but the end of the film deals with Merle coming to terms with a lot of stuff concerning himself, and his faith in Lawsonomy. It's a nice bit of closure for both him, and for anyone watching.
As a side-effect of my viewing was me trying to find any copies of the books written by Alfred Lawson. The main texts are available for free via the very rudimentary but official Lawsonomy website, but otherwise finding actual physical copies is rather difficult. Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder who's running the website these days. I sent an email sometime back but never got a response. I'll have to keep an eye on that.
Anyway, I did manage to find a book about the Lawsonian religion, entitled "Lawsonian Religion".
The Lawsonian religion seems to encompass everything within Lawsonomy with the addition of reverence for a "Supreme Creator" and Lawsonomy Natural Law. There's some wild stuff too, but I will be writing more about that in my other more spiritually focused blog, Interdimensional Anchorite.
So yeah, a huge, huge endorsement for the film "Manlife". In many ways I feel like this is the perfect documentary for this kind of topic. It's respectful, explains the topic well, and more than anything, it's sincere.
Check out their official website, or watch this film on Amazon Prime.
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