Anime Lectio: Shelter

                                                          1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace. The only device you need is the one you use for this blog.

3. Deep Breathing - Open yourself to God’s Presence

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that

you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. Remember God places all our

thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a

community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of people you

know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence. 

4. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me. 

Continuing to live without the people you started living with can be difficult, but it needs to happen in order for you to move on.  This can happen by focusing on what need to do for yourself and others, even the other(s) who isn't with you anymore (at least not physically - remembering them, but in a different way, is important for this to happen too).  An example of this can be seen in the short anime video Shelter.

5. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

A teenage girl lives her life in a simulation that she can control with a device that also functions as one of the newer types of phones.  After living her life in various simulations, she has flashbacks to when she was younger and spending time with her dad when he was still alive.  While this does make her sad, it also lets her realize that continuing to live her life, even if she has to do it on her own now, is something she can do because of him, which she is grateful to him for.

6.  Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime shed any light on what's been on your minds?  The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

I first heard about Shelter a long time ago in another video that talks about what anime is and Shelter is used as an example because it initially wasn't considered an anime, which a lot of people didn't agree with and rightfully so. While it is an interesting topic to discuss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFtfDK39ZhI), this isn't what I plan to reflect on here. What I do plan to reflect on here is my experience of watching Shelter for the first time, which I only got around to doing recently (yesterday actually as of this writing) and is something that I really should've done sooner. Anyway, what makes Shelter great like other short anime videos is that it can tell an interesting story in a short time. Shelter is also a case of effectively using the idea of show, don't tell (and using music for that too since most of this feels like a music video - the comments section of the video is helpful though in order to understand what exactly happens). It doesn't take a lot to tell a compelling story with an important lesson, or lessons, to take away from it and Shelter is an example of that. For example, continuing to live your life, no matter how you do it, usually involves remembering people, places, and/or things, but in a different way that involves a proper understanding of detachment. Detachment isn't letting go of what you love, but letting go of it's control over you (or something like that, which is why thinking/praying about it is important).

7. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime.  The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray that we can continue our lives by understanding how detachment works.