Wednesday, January 24, 2007
I just had to say
We should laugh at the people who think that science and spirituality are not the same thing, or that religion isn't spirituality plus politics, or that politics isn't about control of emotions by perpetuating states of war, gluttony, worship, and hope. ha ha ha ha.
Have we not seen that science is the greatest tool of spirituality that the human race has invented? Look at the leisure time and senses of empowerment that science has given us to explore our creative potentials. Science will more clearly serve spiritual evolution when the great leap happens that many are metaphorically anticipating with vague terms like indigo and crystal children or earth changes or paradigm shift, but until then a little consideration reveals how much science has already served spirituality.
Most scientists don't get it. They haven't studied the history of science enough to appreciate that science began as observation of nature to better understand God. But that's what science does, it reveals God through the observation of nature, and anyone who thinks that's dumb or corny just hasn't had God revealed to them yet. God is not human, but human plus God is superhuman, and in fact the next generation of God. You can't stop it, the patterns have already been laid in the unconscious collective experience that we call physical reality. Science reveals God, the Arts glorify God, Science empowers the Arts, the Arts anticipate Science, etc. etc.
Think about it. Science made inventions which change daily life and become desired by large populations that invent the commerce of products. With commerce comes transportation of the people with the goods, first as the merchants and sailors, then as the tourists and international brokers of power.
Societies and mythologies intermingle, first in psychological pidgins, then as new multicultural societies. And science gives exactly the framework needed for the universe of possible worlds to expand. If you're Irish, the other worlds you can visit are kingdoms of tempermental gods and fairies, and people suspect your crazy or fearfully agree. If you're Irish Catholic, you can visit heavens and hells with demons and angels and saints. If you're an Irish Catholic scientist, you can read science fiction mass produced in paperback and completely and fearlessly agree to imagine a vast number of worlds on all the planets of the universe, with creatures who mimic or exaggerate human qualities or do things we can't yet imagine. If you're an Irish Catholic physicist, you can imagine an incomprehensibly infinite number of worlds in alternate universes of the quantum multiverse, with 11 or more dimensions, where there are so many possibilities that basically alternate yous exist doing slight variations on everything you already do now. If you're an Irish Catholic physicist who has a mystical awakening from thinking about this -- perhaps you have lucid dreams or are visited by translucent beings or you go out of body and you consider that all the spiritual terminologies of different cultures could be united by scientific explanations for supernatural contact across dimensions between different universes -- then you start to appreciate that science serves spiritual evolution, and contact between worlds as well as wise solutions to all problems and world peace are all fabulous goals already in progress.
See what I'm saying? And I'm not even an Irish Catholic physicist who had a mystical experience. But I did come back from a stimulating conversation and meditation class with several intelligent friends who are like myself exploring frontiers of personal spiritual experience. So I just followed an impulse to say what I said, think along those lines, and some might call it channeling, which is a kind of inner listening for something that could use saying.
So there, unedited, unexpurgated, tonite's blog entry, true stream of consciousness. Hope it made sense.
Have we not seen that science is the greatest tool of spirituality that the human race has invented? Look at the leisure time and senses of empowerment that science has given us to explore our creative potentials. Science will more clearly serve spiritual evolution when the great leap happens that many are metaphorically anticipating with vague terms like indigo and crystal children or earth changes or paradigm shift, but until then a little consideration reveals how much science has already served spirituality.
Most scientists don't get it. They haven't studied the history of science enough to appreciate that science began as observation of nature to better understand God. But that's what science does, it reveals God through the observation of nature, and anyone who thinks that's dumb or corny just hasn't had God revealed to them yet. God is not human, but human plus God is superhuman, and in fact the next generation of God. You can't stop it, the patterns have already been laid in the unconscious collective experience that we call physical reality. Science reveals God, the Arts glorify God, Science empowers the Arts, the Arts anticipate Science, etc. etc.
Think about it. Science made inventions which change daily life and become desired by large populations that invent the commerce of products. With commerce comes transportation of the people with the goods, first as the merchants and sailors, then as the tourists and international brokers of power.
Societies and mythologies intermingle, first in psychological pidgins, then as new multicultural societies. And science gives exactly the framework needed for the universe of possible worlds to expand. If you're Irish, the other worlds you can visit are kingdoms of tempermental gods and fairies, and people suspect your crazy or fearfully agree. If you're Irish Catholic, you can visit heavens and hells with demons and angels and saints. If you're an Irish Catholic scientist, you can read science fiction mass produced in paperback and completely and fearlessly agree to imagine a vast number of worlds on all the planets of the universe, with creatures who mimic or exaggerate human qualities or do things we can't yet imagine. If you're an Irish Catholic physicist, you can imagine an incomprehensibly infinite number of worlds in alternate universes of the quantum multiverse, with 11 or more dimensions, where there are so many possibilities that basically alternate yous exist doing slight variations on everything you already do now. If you're an Irish Catholic physicist who has a mystical awakening from thinking about this -- perhaps you have lucid dreams or are visited by translucent beings or you go out of body and you consider that all the spiritual terminologies of different cultures could be united by scientific explanations for supernatural contact across dimensions between different universes -- then you start to appreciate that science serves spiritual evolution, and contact between worlds as well as wise solutions to all problems and world peace are all fabulous goals already in progress.
See what I'm saying? And I'm not even an Irish Catholic physicist who had a mystical experience. But I did come back from a stimulating conversation and meditation class with several intelligent friends who are like myself exploring frontiers of personal spiritual experience. So I just followed an impulse to say what I said, think along those lines, and some might call it channeling, which is a kind of inner listening for something that could use saying.
So there, unedited, unexpurgated, tonite's blog entry, true stream of consciousness. Hope it made sense.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Film Opportunities
(I have a longer essay i'm working on about how i'm becoming receptive to new paradigms, but in true blog style here’s just a tell-tale blurt that needing blurting)
Ok, this is weird, I'm getting big film related opportunities out of left-field in the past few weeks, check this out:
1) My bank account filled up with money from a major film producer. It took me a while to even think of it this way. The way it happened is that this woman bought my childhood house, which was the last thing my sister and I had to sell since our mom passed. I discovered that this woman produced Babel and Frida, worked with people like Jim Jarmusch and John Waters and Hal Hartley, and is working next with Michel Gondry. And for some reason she really wanted to live in my house!? Wow that's great, because you know the market is slow and it makes for a great story about life's unconscious connections. Sometimes I theorize that 90% of what people do for each other is actually not seen or understood, it just happens vis a vis commerce and dreams and other so-called chance events.
2) A psychic comedian friend called to ask if I'd make a film of his funny song to submit to David Letterman,
3) Right before my annual review at my software job I got a random call from a screenwriter just to say that he thought my online FAQs were so well written that he just wanted to talk to me, and
4) The next day my boss wants me to learn how to make a short promotional video because the PR company found a place to use one.
I don't even know how to make films! I just collect and review films, and I bought a good camera and software a couple years ago that I haven't really explored. I mainly used the camera to document the art shows I produced in Cambridge. There are precedents for me to just up and make something though. I made a music video in college in homage to german expressionism, and shortly afterward produced an LP (remember those?) that was praised by an obscure art reviewer (kinda like me I guess) in Option magazine (if anyone remembers it). Currently I have a lot of old soundtrack material and new short stories I've been working on, some with plans for filming.
So what is this now, the year that I'm supposed to become a filmmaker? Strangely encouraged, I'm thinking more seriously about producing my weird therapy session short story now. I just need to cast two really good actors. Any suggestions on how to do casting in the Boston area? Also location, somebody got access to a dignified interesting looking therapist’s office? Oh hey, some crew too. Anyone recommend a good book on filmmaking? Hey, gotta start somewhere, better late than never, the glass is half empty or half full, if you think the horse will throw you off then you need to think that you'll get back up again, etc.
Oh and I just want to say that I have seen a run of great movies lately, including:
1) Renegade, aka Blueberry, about a western hero who does peyote ceremonies to become a shaman marshall. The director is French and started out just doing the western but got into shamanism himself so he made this weird hybrid film with intense psychadelic graphics. Imagine 3d animations of Alex Grey, if you can (it's actually been a year since a friend of Alex recommended the film to me, that's how long my to-watch list is).
2) Survive Style 5+ is from Japan's biggest cutting edge advertising team. 5 stories intersect with magical realism, martial arts, mtv, and art film weirdness. In the end, it is incredibly moving and I'm not even sure why. Something about how the guy whose wife kept resurrecting misses her and jumps off the building to be caught by the business man who was hypnotized to think he was a bird and became determined to learn to fly. Perfect soundtrack and images helps too.
3) The Celestine Prophecy is awesome, way better than I expected. I couldn't get through the book, it came off as too pulpy to me, but darned if they didn't make a great thoughtful serious film with transcendent special effects!
4) Lady in the Water, which I really enjoyed even after I read online more about the director's ego
5) Passing Clouds, which is better than passing gas (read about this old spiritualist movie and Lady in the Water on my MysticalMovieGuide website)
and 6) The Secret. On New Year's eve I watched this new age infomercial that starts out trashy and ends up touching on all kinds of great issues and concepts with great sincerity and some visual mania to boot. See thesecret.org for details - I was inspired and clarified and wrote some great lines the next morning (writers do lines, wouldn't that make a great t-shirt?)
Anyone got some good synonyms for great?
Happy New Year!
Carl
Ok, this is weird, I'm getting big film related opportunities out of left-field in the past few weeks, check this out:
1) My bank account filled up with money from a major film producer. It took me a while to even think of it this way. The way it happened is that this woman bought my childhood house, which was the last thing my sister and I had to sell since our mom passed. I discovered that this woman produced Babel and Frida, worked with people like Jim Jarmusch and John Waters and Hal Hartley, and is working next with Michel Gondry. And for some reason she really wanted to live in my house!? Wow that's great, because you know the market is slow and it makes for a great story about life's unconscious connections. Sometimes I theorize that 90% of what people do for each other is actually not seen or understood, it just happens vis a vis commerce and dreams and other so-called chance events.
2) A psychic comedian friend called to ask if I'd make a film of his funny song to submit to David Letterman,
3) Right before my annual review at my software job I got a random call from a screenwriter just to say that he thought my online FAQs were so well written that he just wanted to talk to me, and
4) The next day my boss wants me to learn how to make a short promotional video because the PR company found a place to use one.
I don't even know how to make films! I just collect and review films, and I bought a good camera and software a couple years ago that I haven't really explored. I mainly used the camera to document the art shows I produced in Cambridge. There are precedents for me to just up and make something though. I made a music video in college in homage to german expressionism, and shortly afterward produced an LP (remember those?) that was praised by an obscure art reviewer (kinda like me I guess) in Option magazine (if anyone remembers it). Currently I have a lot of old soundtrack material and new short stories I've been working on, some with plans for filming.
So what is this now, the year that I'm supposed to become a filmmaker? Strangely encouraged, I'm thinking more seriously about producing my weird therapy session short story now. I just need to cast two really good actors. Any suggestions on how to do casting in the Boston area? Also location, somebody got access to a dignified interesting looking therapist’s office? Oh hey, some crew too. Anyone recommend a good book on filmmaking? Hey, gotta start somewhere, better late than never, the glass is half empty or half full, if you think the horse will throw you off then you need to think that you'll get back up again, etc.
Oh and I just want to say that I have seen a run of great movies lately, including:
1) Renegade, aka Blueberry, about a western hero who does peyote ceremonies to become a shaman marshall. The director is French and started out just doing the western but got into shamanism himself so he made this weird hybrid film with intense psychadelic graphics. Imagine 3d animations of Alex Grey, if you can (it's actually been a year since a friend of Alex recommended the film to me, that's how long my to-watch list is).
2) Survive Style 5+ is from Japan's biggest cutting edge advertising team. 5 stories intersect with magical realism, martial arts, mtv, and art film weirdness. In the end, it is incredibly moving and I'm not even sure why. Something about how the guy whose wife kept resurrecting misses her and jumps off the building to be caught by the business man who was hypnotized to think he was a bird and became determined to learn to fly. Perfect soundtrack and images helps too.
3) The Celestine Prophecy is awesome, way better than I expected. I couldn't get through the book, it came off as too pulpy to me, but darned if they didn't make a great thoughtful serious film with transcendent special effects!
4) Lady in the Water, which I really enjoyed even after I read online more about the director's ego
5) Passing Clouds, which is better than passing gas (read about this old spiritualist movie and Lady in the Water on my MysticalMovieGuide website)
and 6) The Secret. On New Year's eve I watched this new age infomercial that starts out trashy and ends up touching on all kinds of great issues and concepts with great sincerity and some visual mania to boot. See thesecret.org for details - I was inspired and clarified and wrote some great lines the next morning (writers do lines, wouldn't that make a great t-shirt?)
Anyone got some good synonyms for great?
Happy New Year!
Carl
