Tag: movies

Borat

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Even if a part of me is somewhat embarrassed, I can’t help looking forward to this movie with a good deal of enthusiasm: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, scheduled for release in November.

Besides being very funny (to some of us), the exchanges in the movie is a good example of Spiral Dynamics orange (scientific, rational, early world-centric) or higher making fun of blue (traditionalist, ethnocentric) or lower, while also exposing the prejudices we are all holding onto in various ways.

When I see the prejudices exposed by people in the movie, I see a mirror of my own myself. I do the same, although it may look different on the surface. I even do it here now: I relate to these racist and homophobiacs as they relate to people of other ethnicities and sexual orientations. When I go into beliefs about them, I see them as wrong, sometimes as subhuman, as someone who needs a good lesson.

Here is the second trailer.

Night Watch

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During the Breema intensive in Oakland, I ran out of t-shirts and went down to a second hand clothing store to find a couple to tie me over until I had an opportunity to use a washer & dryer. Among these was a black one with a mix of Russian and English words, saying Night Watch 6-26-06 on the back. I thought that whatever it refers to, it probably fits, and was curious about what it would be. After all, the world is my mirror – reminding me of what is already right here.

Looking it up in an idle moment today, I found that Night Watch is a Russian science-fiction movie, and the date refers to the release date of the computer game.

Living among normal are the ‘Others’, who possess various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day Moscow, the dark Others roam the night as vampires and other evil nightmares, while a “Night Watch” of light forces (among them Anton, a kind of seer and the movie’s main character) try to control them and limit their outrages. [source]

And yes, that indeed fits. According to conventional views, and really any view that divide the world into “good” and “bad”, I can find both of those in me – and it is often hidden, often masked by politeness. Which ones govern fluctuates, as day follows night follows day. Nothing new there. The movie is, as any movie, a portrait of me. (How clearly and thoroughly I see it and allows that seeing to inform my life is another matter.)

The night watch itself mirrors shadow work, including in the form of inquiry – which is catharsis, shadow work, and insight meditation rolled into one.

Ken Wilber Goes to Hollywood?

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I am sure this is one of the hot topics in the integral blogger world right now: Grace and Grit may be made into a movie, possibly starring Jennifer Aniston (!).

Of course, only a few movies at early planning stages come to fruition. But if it is made, it will certainly bring Wilber’s ideas and framework out to the masses in a new way.

Inconvenient Truth

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I saw An Inconvenient Truth yesterday, and found it to be engaging, powerful and well enough made to shake me pretty deeply even if I am familiar with (most of) the information presented.

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The movie is a good example of accurate information presented in a way that is clearly understandable and motivates people to seek changes. It speaks to the whole of us.

Definitely worth seeing… And a movie that may indeed be a catalyst for changes.

Movies as Analogy

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Since I read Yogananda’s analogy of a movie screen, I have been curious about it – mainly because it does not (yet?) fit my own experience.

But lately, there has been a shift here. Maybe not so much in my experience, but in how I see it.

Using the headlessness inquiries, I can see how – in Douglas Harding’s words – the whole world of phenomena is “out there”, always at a certain distance from me, and that “I” am here, at zero distance. Or, as he also says, I am capacity for the whole world of phenomena.

This is a somewhat clumsy way of putting it, setting up a seer-seen duality which is not really there. At the same time, it is an elegant way of easing people into the experience and realization of it. It helps people shift the center of gravity into the seeing, the witness, which is a step on the way to realizing selflessness.

As we awaken to ourselves as seeing, and then to realize selflessness, there is also a sense of everything becoming more intimate, more “two-dimensional” – with no distance. There is intimacy and distancelessness, yet also clearly the conventional distance we all are familiar with. This is most likely because it really is this way. It is all God, Spirit, Ground – so there really is no distance. Yet, in the world of form there also is distance.

And there is also a sense of disidentification with any particulars of what is happening. It all comes and goes, within and as Ground. None of it is really more “I” than anything else.

So from all of this – finding myself as the seeing within which all happens, through a sense of intimacy with everything happening, of no distance, of it all being “two-dimensional”, and through the disidentification with particular content – I can see how the movie screen analogy can match some of my own experiences.

There is really a sense of (a) it all being flat and “out there”, yet also (b) of intimacy, no distance and no separation, and also (c) a sense of disidentification with any particulars of what is happening. And this could be described using a movie screen analogy.

Clarification

Some aspects…

  • All phenomena as a seamless field
  • No I inherent in any segment of it
  • A sense of intimacy with everything
  • And no distance to anything
  • Yet also conventional distance
  • A disidentification with everything happening, including everything associated with this human self

… which together could be described as a movie unfolding (light dancing) on a screen.

  • It is all a seamless field. On the screen because it is just that, on the screen. In the world of phenomena because there is no I anywhere.
  • It is all “equal” in the sense that there is no I inherent anywhere. Not on the screen, not in the world of phenomena.
  • It is all up front, right there, intimate and with no distance.
  • And there is a disidentification with it. With the movie because it is just a story, with the world of phenomena because there is no I anywhere – it is just happening.

Movies as Practice

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The same ruminations seem to come up over and over, which has the benefit of allowing it to sink in a little more. And they all seem to move on with time as well, which I appreciate.

A current theme for me is movies as practice.

Watching movies allows me an opportunity to…

  • Recognize some of our collective projections and shadows
  • Recognize some of my own projections and shadows
  • Notice how I relate to everything coming up in me from watching the movie – emotions, thoughts, triggered reactions, and so on.
  • Find myself more as Big Mind, that in which everything unfolds within – the events of the movie, in the room/movie theater, and from my human self.
  • Explore how the Spiral Dynamics levels can play themselves out.

And so on.

Twelve O’Clock High

For instance, in my exploration of the world of classics I watched Twelve O’Clock High a couple of days ago.

Although this movie was not quite as juicy for me as some other ones, it helped me recognize what seemed a quite healthy expression of Spiral Dynamics blue.

It seemed to be a good example of how authority, hierarchy, discipline, loyalty and other blue level qualities can play themselves out in an appropriate setting (during WW2) and in a quite healthy way.

And I also saw how I want to bring more of these qualities into my own life again, after a period where they have been more in the background. They are all appropriate, all valuable, playing themselves out in certain ways and certain areas in the tapestry of my life. How do they show up in my life right now? How and in what ways can I invite them more fully into my life? Where can they benefit me and others?

The movie also reminded me of one of the ways our shadow can become completely other, to the point not even being noticed or acknowledged to any significant extent. The Nazis in the movie, and the civilians bombed, were not acknowledged at all, apart from being marks on a map. The ones carrying the shadow for us can – in some instances – become completely ignored as living, human beings.

Of course, we have seen this recently too, in how Iraqis civilians are ignored in the US media, and how people around the world – suffering in desperate situations, are similarly ignored and left out of the media picture and the public discourse. Nowhere is this more obvious than for people in areas of Africa.

V for Inquiry

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I watched V for Vendetta Sunday, and thought it was worth the time and money – although maybe not too much more. The theme is certainly relevant (governments with totalitarian tendencies playing on fear), although especially the ending was anti-climatic for me – too much of a one-man show and less emphasis on the role of the people in changing regimes.

It is interesting to note that the theme of the movie is pretty much universal – reflecting totalitarian governments at many times in history. Still, many Bush supporters apparently see it as a specific criticism of the current Bush administration. Maybe it hit a little too close to home? Maybe the rhetoric and strategies were a little too similar to that of the Bush administration? Maybe it could be taken as a mirror rather than an attack?

Going to the BK inquiry group last night brought up some things related to the movie.

Fear of death

In the movie, V takes Evey through a process where she finally looses her fear of death. And in our group last night, one of the participants went through another process on her fear of death – arriving at a place of peace with it. The outcome may be very similar, although the process is – on the surface – very different. One is brutal and uses exhaustion, the other skillful means and detailed belief surgery.

Zen and inquiry

Actually, this is not that dissimilar to the relationship between traditional Zen practice and the Byron Katie inquiries. The outcomes may be quite similar, although one can be grueling and exhausting and the other precise and playful. I have a tremendous respect and appreciation for Zen, although also see how the BK inquires offer a more precise approach for unraveling beliefs – in any thought, including that of a separate self.

Inquiry

Noticing the profound effects in myself of inquiry, and in others who have done it for a while – often far longer than I have, I see how it brings people to where Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, mysticism and many other traditions try to lead people.

To a place where they see through beliefs at a deep level, and come to the nature of mind – unfiltered by beliefs, thoughts, ideas. To a place of liberation. A place where the natural and inherent compassion and wisdom of the mind can play unhindered.

It is very impressive. And it all comes from each person’s inquiry, guided by a very simple process that even small children can and do use. There are no teachings, only each person’s inquiry – their own truth guiding them to clarity and liberation.

Contact

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I recently watched Contact again, and it brings up several things for me…

Mostly, the incredible beauty and awe that comes up from realizing that we are this universe bringing itself into awareness. And the deep sense of humility and belonging that comes from realizing that we, as human beings, are infinitely small parts of this infinitely large and rich universe.

Also, the continuing de-provinsialization in our culture, as it shows up in so many areas – going towards deepening worldcentric views and experiences of the world. From anthropocentrism to biocentrism and possibly beyond. From ethnocentrism to ethnodiversity. From rights for a few to universal human rights. From seeing this planet as the center of the universe, to seeing the sun as the center, to seeing this galaxy as the center (or rather all there is), to realizing the infinite number of galaxies out there – everywhere a center to itself. And how even the thought of life other places in the universe brings us even further out of our provincial outlook, to acknowledging that this planet may be one of a large number of living planets out there.

And also, slightly disappointing maybe, the orange (in Spiral Dynamics) view on science and religion which the story is filtered through – making it appear to be a choice between the scientific methodology and faith, or maybe both although for separate realms.

In any case, when I saw the movie the first time it brought me straight into Big Mind, and it still does. It reminds me of the big picture – that we, as humans, are stardust. That we are the universe temporarily reorganizing itself into humans, human culture, human technology, cities, thoughts, emotions, feelings, sensations, animals, plants, mountains, stars, oceans, clouds, rain, rocks, beaches, trees, the living Earth, this solar system, this galaxy, and all there is. That we, along with everything else that is, are the leading edge of the evolving universe. That all this is, with a center everywhere and nowhere, one seamless unfolding process – where there are no separate individuals, no separate doers, thinkers, seers, experiencers. Everything belongs, everything is the local movements of the whole – beyond and including all polarities.

Reversals

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The world is beyond and includes all polarities, so if we attach to one end of a polarity and push the other away, we are in constant struggle with what is.

I was reminded of one expression of this when I read an invitation to a workshop on natural burials, woodlands burials and so on. This – at least the idea of it – is in vogue here in the Northwest it seems.

One of my favorite scenes from any movie is at the end of Dreams by Akira Kurosawa. Here, a traveling man arrives at a village in rural Japan, and he encounters a joyful celebration, full of life and rejoicing. He asks what they are celebrating, and is told they are celebrating the life of a man who just died. They are celebrating all the joys of his life, and all the joys he brought to others through his life.

I may not remember it accurately, but this is at least the essence I got out of it. And I have always thought that he could have walked on to another village where they are in mourning. Upon asking what they are mourning, he is told they are mourning all the pain and suffering that a newborn baby will encounter through its life.

There is a nice symmetry there. Celebrating the past joys at the end of a life, and mourning the coming sorrows at the beginning of a life.

Since we in our culture, and most human cultures, tend to do – and be stuck in – exactly the opposite, it would be beautiful if this is brought more into our lives. It would help us unstick, and see that there are reasons for joys and sorrows at the end as well as at the beginning of a life.

Joys and sorrows go hand in hand throughout any of our lives, from birth to death.

Movies as Practice

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I watched Brokeback Mountain with my partner today, and while we talked about it afterwards she joked that watching movies is one of my main spiritual practices. It is actually not too far from the truth right now.

During the last two movies I watched at the theater – King Kong and Brokeback Mountain – I left the movie theater with a relatively clear sense of no “I”, of the tapestry of what is, with no “I” anywhere.

Watching movies, I am typically engaged and focused on the unfolding story, I sit still, and I allow whatever comes up – usually strong energies from emotions – to unfold withing space. And the effect is similar to doing a mediation retreat: clarity, insights, stability – and even a taste of no “I”.

Fuel

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I watched the latest Star Wars movie tonight. These types of movies are a good opportunity to stay in spacious awareness, and allow whatever is triggered in the personality to be triggered. The energy in the emotions helps expand, clarify and stabilize the spacious awareness. It is quite an interesting experience – the more habitual emotional patterns are triggered, the more space and presence there is.

When awareness is identified with the small self, whatever is triggered is blindly related to, in terms of fueling it further or trying to push it away. There is no space for anything else. We are blindly caught up in the drama of our own making.

When awareness awakens to its own nature, all the experiences of the personality unfolds within clear space – and the energy fuels this clarity and space. We see the drama, but there is no need to be caught up in it.

Of course, this happens in only some situations at first – typically those we are more comfortable in – and then spreads to more and more situations in our daily life. As we become familiar with the process, it becomes easier to transfer it to other situations.

This allows us to more fully engage in life, as the drama comes from a dualistic view, believing in thoughts and the reactions that arise when external/internal situations do not conform with these thoughts, and the confusion that comes from both of these. We can allow ourselves to experience whatever is triggered in the personality more fully – without fueling or pushing away. And the filters (at least some of them) fall away, and we can engage with life more directly.