Baptist De Pape: The Power of the Heart
An Interview with Baptist De Pape
An Interview with the filmmaker of The Power of the Heart, Baptist De Pape
By Shelly Wilson
“The power of the heart is to be connected with who you are at the deepest level. The power of the heart is the power of life itself, the power of the very intelligence that pervades and underlies the entire universe. It is a power that lies at the very heart of the universe. So to live in connectedness with that, then you are in touch with the power of the heart.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
I had the pleasure of meeting author and filmmaker Baptist de Pape while attending a screening of his movie, The Power of the Heart, during Sedona World Wisdom Days. During a recent conversation, Baptist de Pape conveyed how listening to his heart changed his life.
Upon graduating from law school, he was recruited by a big international law firm. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to sign the employment contract. Although he realized that he really worked hard for that opportunity, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this [practice law] because he felt cut off from his aliveness.
Baptist de Pape indicated he had two weeks to decide whether or not to sign the contract. During that period, he couldn’t sleep at night as he wrestled with his decision and what he was supposed to do. One night during that time, he watched a web class hosted by Oprah Winfrey. Sharing a conversation with Eckhart Tolle, Oprah said, “I don’t think there is anything more important than finding your life’s purpose.” Eckhart’s statement, “You can’t get there through thinking” really opened Baptist’s eyes as he had been trying to think his way to his purpose.
Baptist de Pape relayed Eckhart’s words, “If you want to find your purpose in life, then you can ask yourself ‘What do I want from life?’ A more powerful question would be ‘What does life want from me?’ If you ask the question, ‘What does life want from me?’ then you create a space where you can get the answer. You can only get the answer when you find moments of stillness. The best way to find moments of stillness is to go into nature.”
