How Andor deepens the entire Star Wars universe

Andor is a prequel to Rogue One and may be the best Star Wars property ever, standing on the shoulders of giants. Andor's complex and detailed worldbuilding unpacks both the Empire and the Rebellion, giving the viewer a new and expanded perspective on both. 

The Emperor Has No Clothes (TEHNC) is a podcast devoted to unpacking the lies we believe and the truths we can't see. We frequently cover the transformational aspects of popular media and the ways it can evolve societal consciousness at scale.

NOTES

 

Andor is the first Star Wars show we'd consider a masterpiece. Andor creator Tony Gilroy famously "saved" Rogue One, and here Gilroy had nearly complete creative freedom to bring to life the preceding 5-year arc of rebel fighter Cassian Andor, and the physical, mental and spiritual journey that brought him to the events of Rogue One. Andor's first season has just ended and we decided now was the time to bring back the dormant TEHNC (The Emperor Has No Clothes) Podcast for a discussion on an angle we haven't seen anyone else cover: that Andor's deep-dive into the grinding bureaucracy of the fascist Empire, as well as its compassionate close depiction of the seeds of the rebellion, not only illuminates both of those Star Wars domains but actually deepens all other Star Wars works, past and present. In other words, the "referential density" of our new knowledge about the inner workings of these domains means when we watch other Star Wars works (like the original Star Wars film) we will have a whole new sensory understanding we didn't have the first time around. 

Needless to say, you should NOT watch this discussion if you haven't already seen Andor and Rogue One. Rogue One is the story of how the rebellion got hold of the plans for the Death Star, and it ends literally at the moment Star Wars (Episode 4, technically) begins. It has emerged as one of the best-loved Star Wars films, probably because it deepens our grounded understanding of what it means to sacrifice for a higher cause. Andor is a prequel to Rogue One and it greatly expands the terrain of Rogue One, showing us the lived experience of being inside two adversarial fields, that of the Empire and that of the Rebellion. It's a deliberately-paced, complex and masterful work packed with memorable characters and tremendous specificity. We can't recommend it highly enough.

Find us on Twitter: Jonathan: @MagicPeaceLove Mark: @MarkAllanKaplan

What Makes a Media Work Integral?

This was a special event for all past and present transformative media shaman course participants, along with members of the wider Integral community. In this session, we explored the big question that everyone has been asking us over the years..."What makes a moving image work Integral?" 

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director of the Integral Cinema Project, started us off with a deep dive into the basic patterns his years of research have revealed and then we opened it up for a deep community exploration of the topic. 

Miracles are Seen in Light (ACIM 111)

Here is a short video meditation I created in an attempt to capture and communicate one of the transcendental concepts from A COURSE IN MIRACLES. I have been doing the Course for many years now and it has become a foundational path of guidance for me on my Search for a Divinely Guided Life...

"The Social Dilemma" and the War on Consciousness

Welcome to the new Media Shaman Studio (formally Conscious Movie-of-the-Month)

Featured Topic: Netflix’s new documentary The Social Dilemma (2020) and the war on consciousness.

Virtual Discussion Date: Sunday, October 18th, 2020 at 12 p.m. PT

There is a war on our consciousness. The main battlefield is the social media sphere. Our screens are the frontlines. The targets are our hearts and minds. There is no single enemy. Our freedom and democracy itself are at stake. The war is bleeding into our relationships and onto our streets. Many military historians and strategists believe we are in the middle of World War III. They speak of a new form of war called Nonlinear Warfare. This approach integrates advanced propaganda and social programming techniques with the weaponization of social media platforms, big data and A.I.. This form of warfare has been open-sourced, and nation states, corporate states, political parties and movements, splinter groups, subcultural groups and more are using it to vie for control and power by creating chaos, confusion and polarization in all dimensions of civilization. The other great World Wars included some nations, but not all. This war is covering the entire planet. Every human being in the world is a combatant. Is this the war to end all wars? Is there something more going on? Is this all part of the great transition in consciousness we are called to make during this Age of Transformation?

Join us this month as we begin our new Media Shaman Studio series with an exploration of this war on consciousness and it’s transformative potentials using Netflix’s new documentary The Social Dilemma (2020) as our leaping off point. This profoundly resonant documentary delves deeply into how the utopian dreams of those who helped create social media platforms have been shattered by its weaponization against the very ideals they were working toward.

If you have not seen The Social Dilemma you can stream it on Netflix. You are also invited to share your thoughts, reflections and musings about the film in the comments section below.. 

And of course join us on October 18th at 12 p.m. PST for our virtual discussion of the film, the war on consciousness it addresses, and how this all speaks to us at this moment in human history. As part of our virtual discussion we will be sharing a perception practice specifically designed to use this film for training us in the new emergent consciousness this war is calling us toward.

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Media Shaman Studio is a monthly in-depth public lecture and discussion series on the relationship between consciousness and media with hosts and facilitators, Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D and Jonathan Steigman. This series is offered for free and is open to all members of the Conscious Good Creators Network, the general public, and participants in our Media Shaman courses. 

If you have not already joined our FREE Media Shaman Studio group, you can still join us anytime by signing up for a free membership at the Conscious Good Creators Network.

Conscious Good Creators Network presents the Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Club with Integral Cinema Project Founder and Executive Director Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., for anyone who wants to use media to raise individual and collective consciousness.

Watch the video replay of this event HERE.

 

"Interstellar" Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Virtual Discussion (Video)

Here is the video recording of our April 2020 Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Live Discussion of the film Interstellar (2014) and its resonance with our current real world challenges.

We had a wonderful session! Big thanks to everyone for making this a deep and profound mindwalk into Interstellar and into our current challenges!

Here are some links for things mentioned in the session:

• Germaine Dulac's The Seashell and the Clergyman (the first integral film)
• Toward an Integral Cinema - an academic article exploring the film and her work as the first integral filmmaker
• Big Picture of the NOW - for a deeper dive into the evolutionary crisis we are facing.

And don't forget to check our Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Virtual Discussion Archive for video recordings of all our previous CMoM Virtual Discussions.

Transformative Media Creation and Reception Course

Announcing a new online course in 

Transformative Media Creation and Reception: 

Designing and Creating Transformative Media Experiences for Self, Other and World 

with Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Starting the week of November 3, 2019

This is a course for aspiring and accomplished change makers who want to learn how to use media to extend and deepen their efforts to create transformation in self, other and world. It will illuminate the comprehensive toolkit for designing media to catalyze healing, personal growth and the evolution of consciousness on an individual and collective level.

Together, we will learn about the co-evolutionary relationship between moving-image-based communication mediums, consciousness, media, culture and society, and how these mediums can be used as a driving force for individual and collective healing, growth, and revolutionary and evolutionary change and transformation. We will also be exploring how to consciously create and receive moving image works as a transformative practice for self, other and world through the development of both individual and group projects. No previous media-making experience required.

For more information and to sign up for this course visit: 

https://campus-coevolve.org/course/transformative-media/

Campus Co-Evolve: https://campus-coevolve.org/
Admissions: https://campus-coevolve.org/admissions/

Integral Movie and TV List Update for 2017

2017 has been a challenging year for many of us and sometimes taking a break from all the challenges in these times is needed; sometimes we need an escape or release from the stresses and sometimes we need some distance on our lives and the world to see things from a different perspective. Great integral movies and television or streaming series can often do both at the same time. In addition, integral cinematic works can exercise our perspective-taking capacities, something that can only help us in dealing with these challenging times...plus we get to have popcorn while we are doing our integral cinematic workout...

So here are this years additions to the IMDb Integral Movie and TV List of cinematic works that tested positive for elements of the Integral structure of consciousness by the Integral Cinema Project. Some of these are new works released in 2017 and some are older works that have been rediscovered as integral gems from the past. For the complete list of Integral movies and series check out the full list at: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls074613980/

IMDb INTEGRAL MOVIE AND TV LIST UPDATES 2017

Star Wars VIII - The Last Jedi (2017; Now in Theaters) - The evolutionary arc of the Skywalker dynasty continues with a second major tetra-evolutionary cycle (inner and outer selves, cultures and systemic forces) following the Skywalker lineage and their world through their evolutionary arcs. This latest installment of the saga has some major twists in the evolutionary arcs of both the characters and the greater and deeper archetypal patterns, including the challenging of the duality between the dark and Light Forces toward a more mature and complex understanding of the ultimate non-dual nature of the Force. We also witness the healing of Luke's major regression and primal wounding from his past and his conscious transition into the Kosmocentric Witness.

Dunkirk (2017; Now On Demand and Disk) - "Dunkirk" is a masterful representation of the integral mind at work. According to integral philosopher Jean Gebser, the main impulse of the Integral structure of consciousness is to concretize all dimensions of being and becoming and attempt to integrate them into a meaningful whole. With this film, filmmaker Christopher Nolan has given us an experientially powerful "integration" of the multiple strands of existence within a specific historical event that includes the subjective, objective, relational and systemic aspects of the event and the varying temporal realities that unfold in relation to different perspectives on the event from these multiple dimensions of being and becoming. Through this process Nolan gives us a simultaneously simple and complex emotional, visceral and existential experience that concretizes and integrates the event into a whole that is way beyond the sum of its parts.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017; Soon On Demand and Disk) - A haunting and beautiful sequel to a cult classic that deepens and expands the Blade Runner universe to include elegant and complex evolutionary arcs for the main character, his cyber-lover and their relationship that transcends the boundaries of human death, digital eradication and the notion of what constitutes sentient existence.

American Gods (2017; Starz Network) - This Starz cable series personifies various stages of evolutionary development in the form of the Gods we create and project at those stages, exploring the possibility that consciousness precedes our reality and that we create our world and even our Gods. This well crafted exploration has the potential to give the viewer a potential experience of stepping back and witnessing the different stages of development in ourselves and our world.

Rogue One (2016; On Demand and Disk) - "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is a wonderful addition to the Star Wars universe, deepening and expanding it's integrally-informed evolutionary arc while also portraying a unique evolutionary arc for its main character, Jyn, who's developmental arc is repressed until re-connecting with her father through a hologram that triggers the release of the repressed forces within her and propels her forward till she faces her mortality with a glimmer of Kosmo-centric awareness.

Westworld (2016--; HBO Network) - HBO's brilliant and multi-layered remake of the Michael Creighton 1973 sci-fi movie about an adult AI amusement park gone astray. In this new cinematic journey, the nature of consciousness and its evolution is viscerally explored as the human's are forced to deal with their loosing touch with their own humanity while the AI's are on the cusp of their own great evolutionary awakening.

The Lego Movie (2014; On Demand and Disk) - A fun and surprisingly deep animated film based on the Lego universe that follows it's main Lego character's evolution from archaic unconsciousness to Kosmo-centric awareness and action as he transcends the boundaries between the Lego world and the human world.

Game of Thrones (2011--; HBO Network) - Epic groundbreaking series integrating the reimagining of deep mythic and magical archetypes, the tracing of the emergence of rational and pluralistic cultural constructs, and the mapping of evolutionary story arcs with glimpses of a bigger picture from a Kosmo-centric perspectival field. This masterfully executed synthesis creates a vast yet intimate multi-layered visceral experience of the human quest for power, for meaning and for goodness.

Black Mirror (2011--; Netflix) - "Black Mirror" is a brilliant and haunting series in the "Twilight Zone" tradition that puts the audience in the Kosmo-centric witness seat to bear witness to the evolutionary gap between the evolution of technology and the evolution of individual and collective human consciousness. Some episodes, like "San Junipero" give us a full evolutionary arc while others take us to various evolutionary inflection points in a projected not-to-distant future.

Diva (1981; On Demand) - "Diva" is a French cult film classic from the early 80s that integrates European and American cinema conventions into a hip uniquely styled hybrid Comedy-Thriller-Romance-Mystical tale. As we go along for the ride of this zeitgeist capturing film, the camera moves the audience from the deeply personal and emotional to the intellectual and philosophical to the big-picture, overview, and kosmo-centric witness position. The young male lead character evolves from ego-centric to ethnocentric to socio-centric circles of care and concern while he navigates through a maze of life threatening and existential "challenges," helped by an older street-wise cosmopolitan kosmo-centric holy man.

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964; On Demand and Disk) - This classic anthology television series explores the further reaches of our inner and outer world within a Kosmic-witnessing frame for the viewer. We are put in the observer seat at the beginning of every episode through the shows opening that includes both visuals and text spoken by the host and show creator, Rod Serling. And as we observe, the stories, visuals and soundscapes they shift us into and out of the observer, witness position and into deeply subjective experiences and expansive existential and philosophical reflections. When you combine the witnessing framing and the expansive reflections you get a taste of the Kosmo-centric Witness perspectival field; in many episodes we, the viewer, can have the sense that we are glimpsing a big picture so big it is beyond our comprehension, that there is a meaningful pattern to it all, to all the dimensions we are observing and the multiple layers of hidden dimensions just beyond our reach, and that there is a much greater intelligence at work.

Art-in-Motion Video Series

The Integral Cinema Project announces the ART-IN-MOTION SERIES, a collection of moving image meditations that attempt to use advanced audiovisual and cinematic entrainment technologies along with animated abstract art to explore the human perceptual field. The intention behind these works is to potentially induce shifts in our awareness of our own perceptual field and bring the normally unconscious perceptual construct-forming system of the human mind to conscious awareness.




APPROACH

ICP cinematic artist and researcher Mark Allan Kaplan attempts to morph one of his artworks into a transformative cinematic meditation using an adapted form of the "Cine-Sculpture" approach developed by ICP research associate James Lusero and combines it with Integral Cinematic Metadesign techniques to synchronize visual, auditory, textual and temporal expressive forms with an underlying transformative perceptual and conceptual field.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, ANTECEDENTS AND INSPIRATIONS:

We would like to acknowledge the works of the following individuals and organizations who inspired and laid the foundation for the approaches used in these cinematic works: Integral Cinema and Cinéma Pur pioneer Germaine Dulac; cinematic Montage and Synchronization-of-the-Senses developer Sergei Eisenstein; Filmic Expression pioneers Slavko Vorkapić, Lestor Novros and Bruce Block; Visual Music innovator Jordan Belson; state of consciousness cinematic induction trailblazers Dorothy Fadiman and Ken Jenkins; cinematic creation state explorers James Broughton and David Lynch; audio and visual brainwave entrainment pioneers, innovators and explorers Pierre Janet, Arthur Hastings, Robert Monroe, Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Kelly Howell, Eric Thompson, iAwake Technologies and Subtle Energy Sciences; the integrally-informed metatheories of Ken Wilber, Jean Gebser, Edgar Morin and Sri Aurobindo; the consciousness hacking innovations of Mikey Siegel and fellow explorers of the Consciousness Hacking movement; and the integrated transdisciplinary “Cine-Sculpture” explorations of Integral Cinema Project research associate and multidisciplinary artist James Lusero.

SPECIAL THANKS

We would like to give special thanks to the folks at iAwake Technologies for their generous donation of the audio entrainment track. To learn more about iAwake Technologies visit them at: http://www.iawaketechnologies.com

You can view the whole series at the Integral Cinema Project's YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQg0cPXteHDOnD9ehSBTxHXFZ5vL93_pE

Integral Peace Blessing

The Integral Peace Blessing is an integral cinematic experiment playing with an integral peace blessing I discovered. I say "discovered" because it just came out of me during the recording of one of my lived inquiry research video journals.

I have been contemplating what an integrally informed peace practice would be like for some time and this emerged organically out of that process when I began to use the phrase "peace out" that I picked up from hanging out with some young "more hip than me" folks. This unfolded into me organically using four variations on the phrase..."Peace Out, Peace In, Peace In-Between, Peace all Around." It was only after this arose out of me that I realized the four variations perfectly fit into the four quadrants of Integral Theory...Peace Out = Peaceful Actions (UR/Behavioral), Peace In = Inner Peace (UL/Psycho-Spiritual), Peace In Between = Peaceful Relations (LL/Relational), Peace All Around = Collective Peace (LR/Systemic).

After this revelation I then used an integrally-informed editing practice I have been developing to play with the section of the video journal where this integral peace blessing emerged. When I meditated on the video segment I attempted to allow an integrally-informed stream of consciousness state to guide me in the process. What unfolded was a layering of multiple visual and auditory effects to create a visual peace meditation-type experience.

After completing a first draft of the short piece I sensed a need to add audio entrainment music to take it to the next level. I played with several tracks from the iAwake Technologies' collection that seemed peace oriented and a short section from the "Healing Light" entrainment track seemed to organically fit with the visuals.

For this final draft I expanding the piece by repeating the blessing several times, changing the color tinting so that the visuals move through the color spectrum. At the same time I added an audio effect to voicing of the blessing to give the sense that the voice expands into a larger and larger spatial reality with each expression of the blessing.

Special thanks for Jimmy Lusero​ and Jonathan Steigman​ for their valuable feedback which profoundly help shape this work...and...

Deep gratitude to the gang from iAwake Technologies for graciously donating their collections to the Integral Cinema Project for use in our experiments. "Healing Light" can be found at: http://www.iawaketechnologies.com/product/healing-light/

Integral Goes to the Movies on YouTube

Now featured on the Integral Cinema Project YouTube channel, Integral Goes to the Movies, my 90-minute presentation that I recently gave for Bay Area Integral, in which I attempted to illuminate the structures of consciousness embedded both within various films and within the medium itself.

Acclaimed filmmaker and Integral Cinema Project founder Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. presents a mind-blowing new way to look at and think about the moving image in all its evolving forms. This March 16, 2016 talk for Bay Area Integral at the Rudramandir Center in Berkeley, CA has been turbocharged with dozens of visual aids and nearly 100 film clips to create a multi-dimensional visceral experience of the evolution of cinematic consciousness.

Video directed & edited by Jonathan Steigman
With Integral Cinematic Meta-Design by Mark Allan Kaplan
Special thanks to Bay Area Integral and the Bay Area Integral team

Announcing the Launch of the Integral Cinema Project YouTube Channel

Announcing the launch of the new Integral Cinema Project YouTube Channel where you can find original productions from the Integral Cinema Project along with educational playlists that help you explore the cinema from an integrally-informed perspective.

And COMING SOON...
The Integral Cinema Podcast Series...

New and Updated Integral Movie and TV List Now on IMDb

The Integral Movie and TV List has been updated and moved over to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) at: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls074613980/.

On the list you will find all the currently tested movies and television series that have integrally-informed elements to varying degrees according to testing criteria developed during research on the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.

According to this research, a cinematic work is deemed to be integral if elements of the integral stage of development are represented in the cinematic form, style, structure, content, and/or are embedded in the material as a presence or atmosphere. These representations of the elements of the integral stage of development can include: The exploration and integration of multiple evolving dimensions and perspectives of lesser and greater depth and span; the concretion of abstract and interior dimensions and perspectives, such as time and interiority, in the service of evolutionary growth and development; an evolutionary story, event, and/or character progression that is given greater than or equal emphasis to conflict resolution, with progression developing vertically through at least three stages or levels of development; the evolutionary impulse as a driving force or causality pattern; the valuing of truth that is qualified by evolving perspectival fields; and/or a Kosmo-centric circle of care and concern that suggests an awareness, integration, and embracing of all of existence.

Recent updates to the list include the following titles:

Movies New to the List:

About Time (2013) - An integrally-informed Kosmic love story about a time-traveler who attempts to use time to fix mistakes and problems in his everyday life, love life, and in the lives of those around him and ends up evolving himself and others in ways beyond measure.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - A viscerally-charged temporality-loop-based evolutionary science fiction journey about a soldier stuck on repeat going through the same battle over and over, forcing him to develop as a warrior and evolve from an egocentric to Kosmo-centric human being and ultimately find a Kosmic love.

Frequencies (2013) - Strange, wondrous and intimate integral-evolutionary parallel-present-reality science fiction film exploring free will, fate, attraction, and the Kosmic power of the frequencies of being and becoming.

Her (2013) - A beautiful, subtle, and imaginative integrally-informed exploration of the co-evolution of humanity and technology and the evolution of artificial intelligence toward a Kosmo-centric reality.

Interstellar (2014) - The beautiful and groundbreaking integrally-informed science fiction space epic that attempts to both accurately capture the real physics of outer space and concretize the non-physical dimension of love as a Kosmic level force of existence.

Lucy (2014) - Hip and pulp-styled integrally-informed parallel-present-reality science fiction action flick whose female lead goes on a wild drug-induced physical, emotional, perspectival, and ultimately Kosmic evolutionary ride to the further reaches of being and becoming.

Man Facing Southeast (1986) - A mysterious, magical, Christ-like, integral-esque and perhaps "alien" patient in an insane asylum acts as the evolutionary catalyst for the residing psychologist and all the other lives he touches.

Oblivion (2013) - A haunting and layered science fiction exploration of the evolution of awareness and consciousness within and beyond the traditional corporal forms of humanity.

TV Series New to the List:

Awake (2012 TV Series) - An imaginative short-lived TV series that attempts to use temporal and spatial shifts in reality in the service of the main characters evolution toward a Kosmo-centric level of being.

Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV Series) - Epic integral-evolutionary space saga that takes us on a developmental journey that slowly becomes deeper, richer and more complex and ultimately evolves into a profoundly transformative time, space and mind-bending adventure where villains evolve into heroes, pasts become the future and the future become past.

Da Vinci's Demons (2013 TV Series) - A fun, imaginative, and deep reimagining of the life and times of Leonardo Da Vinci portraying him as an integrally-informed genius way ahead of his time.

Heroes (2006 TV Series) - A wild, superhero-esque integral-evolutionary exploration of the struggle between humanities higher and darker potentials. While network pressures caused the creators of this show to veer off their intended course, the integral-evolutionary foundation of the work is still present through to the end.

Sense8 (2015 TV Series) - "Sense8" is a beautiful, brilliant, and groundbreaking integrally-informed dramatic series that attempts to capture and help us vicariously and viscerally experience the tetra-enmeshment of all four dimension-perspectives of our individual and collective interior and exterior world, as its characters and we the viewer experience the dissolving of the boundaries between individual subjective reality, collective relational reality, individual objective reality, and collective environmental reality.

Touch (2012 TV Series) - A beautiful short-lived TV series about the interconnectedness of all things and an integrally-informed level gifted child who perceives and acts from this complex web of connection and profoundly effects those around him and the fabric of reality itself.

VISIT THE IMDb INTEGRAL MOVIE AND TV LIST

More movies and TV series are added to the list as more are tested so check back periodically to keep abreast of the research.

For more on the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts visit the Integral Cinema Project at: www.integralcinema.com.

My Behance Portfolio

A selection of my drawings, photographs, and movies are now available for viewing on Behance at: https://www.behance.net/markallankaplan

Introduction to Meta-Movieology

The word “movieology” is traditionally defined as the study of the movies. Meta means “beyond” or “greater than” and Meta-Movieology refers to an approach that goes beyond the mere study of movies to a practice of using the viewing of moving images in all their evolving forms for personal growth, transformation, and evolutionary development.

 Meta-Movieology practice is effective because of the moving image’s unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Another factor that makes the movie image a potential tool for transformation is the complex connection and communication between creator, moving image work, viewer, and world. Since all human-made works are the partial product of the human imagination, the imaginary is embedded in all human-made artifacts including and especially, the moving image (2005a). Because humans imagine through imagery (mental images, dream imagery, etc.), and the moving has the unique capacity to concretize or reify imaginary dimensions, in a sense doubling the inner image with an outer image, the moving image is inextricably and uniquely bound with the human imagination. This produces a complex symbiotic-metamorphic web of interaction between the inner images of cinematic creators and viewers and the outer cinematic form, which makes the moving image a potential catalyst for individual and collective evolutionary growth and development (Kaplan, 2013; Morin, 2005a; 2005b).

By means of the [moving image] machine, in their own likeness, our dreams are projected and objectified. They are industrially fabricated, collectively shared. They come back upon our waking life to mold it, to teach us how to live or not to live. We reabsorb them, socialized, useful, or else they lose themselves in us, we lose ourselves in them. There they are stored ectoplasms, astral bodies that feed off our persons and feed us, archives of soul. – Edgar Morin, 2005a, p.218

I have developed the Meta-Movieology practice over the last several years during my research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic theory and practice. During these explorations I discovered this profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective to produce personal transformation and growth. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral and evolutionary frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

I discovered that this practice is not just for those of us who watch movies, but for media makers as well. While it is true that you cannot teach someone to have talent, but beyond mastering the craft of media making, I believe that through this practice we can develop the structures of consciousness that are common to all creative masters, and that is the capacity to see multiple aspects of reality with a deeper and more expansive view.

On this coming Thursday, May 15th, 2014, I will be teaching an introductory course in this practice sponsored by MetaIntegral Academy. In this course we will be exploring the basic practices related to the Integral framework elements of HOLONS, QUADRANTS, LEVELS, LINES, STATES and TYPES. In the follow-up advanced course we will explore the advanced Integral perceptual frameworks of ZONES, ALTITUDES, ENERGIES, METHODS, COMPLEXITY, and ARCHETYPES.

You can find out more and sign up for the introductory course at: www.metamovieology.com

References

Kaplan, M. A. (2013). Integral cinematic analysis: Mapping the multiple dimensions of the cinema and the co-evolution of cinema, consciousness, culture, and society. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 8(3&4), 255-276. Available at: https://foundation.metaintegral.org/products/integral-cinematic-analysis

Morin, E. (2005a). The cinema, or the imaginary in man. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Morin, E. (2005b). The stars. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

The Integral Cinema Project is one of 11 Finalists in the 2014 MetaIntegral Projects in Action Grant Series (DONATE AND VOTE)

The Integral Cinema Project's MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) is one of 11 finalists in the 2014 MetaIntegral Foundation's Projects in Action grant series.

THE MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) is an integrally-informed interactive narrative short video by the Integral Cinema Project and integral cinematic artist-scholar Mark Allan Kaplan.

THE MIRACLE OF WE will attempt to tap into the capacity of the moving image to produce real-world transformation by creating a powerful and engaging short video to help foster the emergence of integral philosophy and culture on a potentially global scale. Using a traditional narrative structure as its foundational through-line in the form of a fictional love story, we will follow two strangers from their first meeting, through their courtship, and to their first kiss, unpacking their journey with various Integral lenses to reveal the rich and staggering complexity of the numerous dimension-perspectives, development structures, states, and typological patterns within, between, and around us that makes our capacity to transcend and include all this and connect with each other a truly miraculous occurrence. Integrated within and around this integrally-informed narrative will be abstract, experimental, meditative, and documentary elements that will include vignettes of other relationships representing the myriad of dimension-perspectives of self, culture and world, along with informational and experiential explorations of the Integral perspective itself. Through live action, stock imagery, animation, and interactive elements, THE MIRACLE OF WE will interweave all these elements into a hybrid dramatic, comedic, inspirational, contemplative, and sensual work with the intention to create an entertaining and transformational visceral experience of the integral perspective in the form of a potentially globally-viral interactive video.

Lead creator of THE MIRACLE OF WE, Mark Allan Kaplan, an independent award-winning filmmaker and the preeminent theorist-practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts, will attempt to break new ground with this work by applying Integrally-informed methods and practices that he has developed over the past several years to the design and execution of this production, including the application of Integrally-informed approaches to narrative, visual, sound, and editorial design, and to pre-production, production, postproduction, and distribution practices. This approach includes the application of Integral practices by all members of the cast and crew to help facilitate an integrally-informed creative field and assist in putting Integral principles into practice to support the transformational intent of the creative work and the potential transformation for creative team members as well.

Donate and Vote for THE MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) and for the other great projects up for funding and support at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/pow/

"The Pond" Meditation Video Now Available Online for Video on Demand

Experience the audiovisual transformative experience of THE POND now available to rent online Video-on-Demand at Amazon:

THE POND

THE POND is a short video meditation for relaxation, personal growth and transformation. Transformative approaches to audiovisual expression are used to capture the presence and atmosphere of the natural environment of a pond and the state of consciousness one can acquire when meditating in this environment. The gentle movement and presence of swimming fish and the interplay of earth, water and light, combine to create a healing and calming energy, while subtle shifts in perspective and consciousness-altering audiovisual elements help stimulate the expansion of both inner and outer awareness.

"The Pond" Meditation Video Now on DVD

Experience the full audiovisual transformative experience of THE POND now on DVD at Amazon:

THE POND DVD

THE POND is a short video meditation for relaxation, personal growth and transformation. Transformative approaches to audiovisual expression are used to capture the presence and atmosphere of the natural environment of a pond and the state of consciousness one can acquire when meditating in this environment. The gentle movement and presence of swimming fish and the interplay of earth, water and light, combine to create a healing and calming energy, while subtle shifts in perspective and consciousness-altering audiovisual elements help stimulate the expansion of both inner and outer awareness.

"The Pond" Selected for Screening at the Hygienic Art Gallery Screening Room 21 Film Festival

"The Pond" was selected for screening at the upcoming Hygienic Art Gallery Screening Room 21 Film Festival in New London, Connecticut on January 24th, 2014. Screening Room 21 is New London’s premier indie film festival features works from both emerging and established filmmakers.

For more on information visit:
The Hygienic Art Gallery Website
Screening Room 21 Event Page
Screening Room 21 Facebook Event Page

Announcing the Online Exhibition of "The Pond" on the Integral Life Art Gallery

This month Integral Life Art Gallery offers their first presentation of video art. The first gallery in this medium is from Mark Allan Kaplan, the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema, who has produced on Integral Life a remarkable series of articles titled “Integral Cinema Studio.” For the gallery this month he offers us a work of Integral video art — this designation not simply about the kinds of technological device used (here a mini-DV camera) but also about the work’s tacit referencing of modes of display that are not centered in movie theatres, as well as its length (5 minutes) and contemplative-meditative mode of artistic expression. The piece is titled THE POND and dates from 2002.

Kaplan’s video draws knowingly on the sundry lineages of moving images (mass media cinema, experimental film, artistic-exhibition), essayed into affecting in the viewer a series of shifts in consciousness. As the artist reports, he entered into meditative states in both the shooting and the editing of the video. In its gorgeous poetically integrative form, many of the frames approaching the beauty of standalone photographic art, as well as the modes of consciousness it evokes, we are privy to a shining instance of integral video art.

In the artist's own words:

As a cinematic/video artist I see myself as a creative inquirer, exploring the potentials of the medium to effect growth and transformation, and attempting to push the medium’s own evolutionary boundaries. My recent video work has focused on explorations of the potential effects that a video artist’s consciousness can have on a video art work; the potential capacity of the medium to communicate that consciousness; and the capacity of the medium to capture and express individual and collective sentient presence, human and other species, along with objective and atmospheric presence or the felt-sense of being in the presence of certain physical objects and within various physical environments.

In THE POND I used Integral transformative practices before, during, and after all aspects of the creative process, exploring if and how an Integrally-informed state of creation consciousness would affect the creative process and work. During the filming of THE POND this Integrally-informed state appeared to give me the ability to alternately and simultaneously hold the awareness of the individual and collective sentient presence of the koi fish swimming in the pond and the physical and environmental realities of the pond itself. This Integrally-informed creation state also seemed to give me the capacity to transcend and include my awareness of my own body, consciousness and the creative technology and become an Integrally-informed mirror for these multiple dimension-perspectives. As I continued using this creation state through the post-production process I felt a force within my own being and within the material itself guiding me toward my goal of attempting to translate and share this deep and transformative Integrally-informed lived-experience of THE POND.

Mark Allan Kaplan

VOICE IN EXILE Classic Film on Stuttering now available on DVD, VOD and Digital Download at Amazon

VOICE IN EXILE – The Powerful Award-Winning Classic Narrative Film Capturing the Experience of Stuttering – Is now available on DVD, Video On Demand, and Digital Download from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Exile-Ben-Bottoms/dp/B00BJC8J9C/ 

“VOICE IN EXILE is the first film on stuttering that tells the story from the inside with all the intensity and power of a real life experience...this is one hell of a film!” – John Harrison, The National Stuttering Association 

“VOICE IN EXILE is among the most notable socio-dramas on the subject of people with physical challenges.” - Geoff Alexander, Academic Film Archive of North America

 “VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkable little film!” – Mitchell Fink, Los Angeles Herald Examiner 

About the Film: 

VOICE IN EXILE is an internationally acclaimed award-winning dramatic and archetypal film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen-year old stutterer, exploring the inner and outer trials, tribulations and fears that stutterer’s often endure. Because of Alan's stuttering, communicating the simplest idea is often impossible. Everywhere Alan goes he faces impatient people who do not understand his severe speech problem. At school, Alan faces snickers and stares that wound him. At night, the horrors of Alan's days invade his dreams, leaving him no peace in sleep. At home, Alan faces loving parents who share his frustration; yet, they are confused and often misguided in their efforts to help him overcome his stuttering. It is Alan's grandfather, a recently retired college professor, who seems to be the only one able to communicate with and help Alan embark on a journey of transformation that ultimately leads to the release of his imprisoned inner voice.

 The writer/director of this powerful cinematic work, Mark Allan Kaplan, is himself a stutterer and this film is the culmination of Mark's deep personal quest to express the inner life of the stutterer through film. This quest for expression began with the writing of the script, during which Mark delved deeply into his own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. The script was further developed with the additional input from interviews with other stutterers, while Mark worked with his committed cinematography, sound, and production design teams to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language. Then Mark worked with the actor playing Alan, Ben Bottoms, on both the physical aspects of stuttering and the emotional underpinnings.

 As a result of this passionate personal and collective effort, VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkably gripping film that touches viewers on many levels. On one level, it is about a young man's quest to conquer his stuttering. On another level, it is about the inner struggle of all those faced with physical and psychological challenges. On a broader and deeper level, the film speaks to all of us as it addresses a universal theme - the struggle to overcome one's legitimate and unfounded fears...fears that inhibit us, often with disastrous results. A Film By Mark Allan Kaplan Starring Ben Bottoms, Jesse Ehrlich, Richard Sarradet, and Sarah Simmons Produced at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies

 For more on VOICE IN EXILE visit www.voiceinexile.com