Integral Cinema Set and Setting Viewing Practice




During my research into the application of Integral Theory for cinematic media theory and practice I have been developing and experimenting with potential integrally-informed viewing practices. One practice that appears to be significantly effective for establishing an integrally-informed viewing set and setting is to do a quick check-in of dimension-perspectives while sitting in the theater, or any in any viewing space, waiting for the cinematic work to start…

Integral Cinema Set and Setting Viewing Practice:
  • With eyes open or closed and sitting in a comfortable position,  bring your awareness to your I-space or your inner-beingness or self-ness, feeling what it feels like to be an "I"; 
  • Then try to sense the WE-space between yourself and the other audience members (or if alone, you can imagine others who have or who are currently viewing the same cinematic work); 
  • Then bring your awareness to the IT-space or the physical reality around you, the chair or other surface you are sitting in, the floor beneath your feet, the screen in front of you, etc.; 
  • Then try to sense the ITS-space or the environment around you, the atmosphere of the theater or room as a whole, the air in the space, the auditory resonance of the space, etc. 
  • Next, bring your awareness to your physical body; 
  • Then try to sense your energy body, the subtle energetic field within and around you; 
  • Then bring your awareness to your emotional body, the subtle emotional field radiating within you; 
  • Then your mental body, the causal field that contains your thoughts and mental images; 
  • Then your witness body, imagining the ability to witness yourself from the outside of your physical, energetic, emotional and mental beingness; 
  • Finally try to get a sense of non-dual beingness, that part of you that is part of all that is. 
With practice this process can be performed within a couple of minutes and has the potential to help you enter an inner-viewing-space that is open, lucid and aware of multiple domains.

*This practice is adapted from Integral Life Practice.

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