Jul

23

At the Movies - Again

Filed Under The Mystery 

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I want to get back to the movie metaphor because it’s so useful to this next ramble.

Imagine that you are The MovieMaker. [Let’s just get this bit settled, in case there is any confusion. When I say imagine “The MovieMaker” I am metaphorically approaching what would otherwise be called “God” or “All That Is” or “Source” or, my personal favorite, “The Mystery.” However, for my metaphorical purposes, “The MovieMaker” works best. Some folks might get nervous about “Imagine you’re God.”]

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Let’s say you wr0te a screenplay that absolutely expresses everything you “are.” It’s perfect. Romance, lust, humor, grief, danger, terror, adventure, good, evil, tension, relief, etc., etc.. What’s more, technology being the marvel it is, you are able to play every single role, create the sets, the props, the special effects. Everything about the movie came out of your imagination and was created by you. On your MacBook Pro, using Final Cut.

Now it’s time to watch the movie, which, even though you created the whole darn thing, you find to be endlessly fascinating. You love everything about this movie. Of course: You made it.

One more thing. Let’s be clear: “You,” the MovieMaker, are pure Creative Imagination. “You” are not “here” or “there.” “You” don’t exist in Time and Space. If a human being in the Movie was to look for and find you, what they would find would be apparent Emptiness, Stillness, and Silence. Apparently. To human senses.

In fact, this Movie you’ve made was only possible because, in making the Movie, you created Time and Space. The Movie required Time and Space, for all the characters to have “lives” with apparent actions and reactions, cause and effect, beginnings and endings, movement, and so forth. Time and Space is necessary to play out all the polarities: Good and Evil, Hot and Cold, Pleasure and Pain, Better and Worse, Progress and Regression, etc..

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Time to roll the Movie.

Wait. Let’s just cut to the chase. Let’s say “The Movie” is Time and Space and everything in Time and Space. Another metaphor. But, let’s still think of T&S as a “movie.” And, let’s say that created things in T&S are not “aware” that they are figments of The MovieMaker’s Imagination. [Though such Awareness may happen, for some, perhaps inexplicably.]

Now, if you’re in the Movie, you believe you’re as “real” as real can be. You have a Life. The better The Movie and The MovieMaker’s skill, the more “real” it should seem. However, imagine how silly and pointless and meaningless it would be, given that we’re thinking of T&S as a Movie that’s already “in the can,” for anything or anyone in the Movie to do any of the following:

[It’s likely that only the human beings in the movie would do any of these silly things. The animals and other creatures would almost certainly be content to just Be whatever they’re Being in the Movie.]

Silly, Pointless, Meaningless, Irrelevant Stuff:

• Trying to become “Enlightened” so that you didn’t have to be in the Movie anymore.

• “Transcending” the Movie.

• Attempting to escape the Movie, especially the ending, by adhering to a particular religion.

• Hiring a therapist in order to escape from your part in the movie, at least for a fifty-five-minute hour, once a week.

• Insisting that other characters in the movie don’t belong there, or shouldn’t be doing whatever it is they’re doing.

• Getting depressed about your part in the movie, or otherwise feeling like you should be doing something different or better.

• Trying to figure out “who you are.” [You’re Who You Are, for goodness sake! Your character.]

• Trying to change anything about the movie, as if you were actually more than a character in the movie, as if you were actually a MovieMaker yourself, and not only could, but should be attempting to change things. Maybe you should make your character a better person, maybe with a bigger part, or a better body, more money, and a better car.

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You may be getting my drift, and you may be eager to disagree:

“Hey, we’re not just characters in God’s movie, dammit. In fact, I don’t believe there is a God. If we’re not here to make Our Own Movie, and be the best writer, producer, director, and actor we can possibly be in Our Own Movie, why the hell are we here?

“Furthermore, if we’re just characters in a movie, then we have no personal responsibility. There’s no reason to reduce our carbon footprint or be a good parent or to save for retirement. There’s no reason to diet and exercise, recycle, or care who we vote for.”

On the other hand, look around: the movie seems to have all those things you just mentioned going on. Somebody is playing each of those parts, and a few billion others you haven’t thought of. If you were to get comfortable with the idea that your character is just fine - whatever and whoever that is - and you knew you had played your character perfectly when the Movie was being made - exactly the Movie The MovieMaker wanted: where is there a problem? [Putting aside, for the moment, whether “The MovieMaker” exists.]

You wouldn’t have to worry about how things were going to turn out. Hey: It’s already in the can. The MovieMaker made the final cut eons ago.

You wouldn’t have to suffer from “the open wound of consciousness.” There’d be no reason for angst, nothing to be fixed. Other kinds of physical suffering might be part of the movie, even for your character - or not - but, either way: It’s just part of the movie, and it’s a great movie.

You could stop trying to figure out “Why?” and “Who or What is making it happen, and what do I do about it?” You could stop wondering, “If I become a Seeker, and actually find The MovieMaker, is there something I can do to get him or her to change my part?” Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc. …. until the mind boggles. One more time: [For purposes of this ramble] It’s in the can.

If you got comfortable with the Movie Metaphor, all you’d really need to pay attention to is What Is. You might get to love the Movie, even the goofy title: What Is. You might find some joy in it, or at least see the humor in it. Especially the humor in trying to change it, for cryin’ out loud. [Did I already say "It's in the can?"] You might find yourself in love with The MovieMaker, for having made such a Great Movie.

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Here’s the best part:

In my little ramble, YOU are the MovieMaker, playing all the parts. The MovieMaker truly is All That Is. It’s not “All That Is and seven-billion other wannabe writer/producer/director/cast-MovieMakers making Their Own Movies,” some good, some great, some so-so, some awful. There’s just The MovieMaker. But the MovieMaker LOVES the Movie and every character in it. EVERY character in it. Just like you would love something you created, if it turned out just like you imagined it.

Some spiritual philosophers talk about Oneness becoming Two(or more)ness just for the unconditional love of it, the creativity of it. Yet, even though Oneness (Emptiness, Silence, Stillness) is All That Is, there is “Twoness” happening within the Oneness. A lovemaking, between the Oneness and the Twoness, each longing for the other, the mutual longing fully requited. A dance.

Are you ready to dance? A One-and-a-Two-and-a-One-and-a Two …..

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2 Responses to “At the Movies - Again”

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