Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Live Discussion (April 2019) - "The Matrix"

This video is a recording of the April 2019 Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Video Conference Call - Exploring "The Matrix" with Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. 

Date: April 25, 2019
Sponsor: Conscious Good Creators Network
Group: Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Club

Why I believe Marianne Williamson is the "real deal"

I believe these are serious times that require serious attention and action. I believe it is vital to help elevate the political discourse in the United States and around the world by getting alternative deeper and more expansive voices into the political and social spheres. We are seeing this happen more and more with the emergence of alternative voices speaking truth to power like those of politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the US, teenage climate warrior Greta Thunberg from Sweden and historian Rutger Bregman from the Netherlands.

There are also several deeper and more expansive voices attempting to speak truth to power among those running for the US presidency in the democratic political field, including Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang. These two candidates are speaking on a different level than our normal political discourse is used to and I believe it is vital to get these voices out there, especially onto the stage at the democratic debates. To do that each candidate needs a certain number of contributors. I have donated $1 to each to do my part and I urge you to do the same.

Here I want to focus on Marianne Williamson and why I think her voice is vital and needs to be taken seriously, because I have a bit of inside information on the candidate and because much of the corporate media has been either directly or subtly discounting her as a "New Age Guru." I know Marianne. Not as a close personal friend but as someone who was in her congregation from the beginning; someone who has been inspired and helped by her on many occasions; and someone who has sat with her one-on-one in counseling sessions. She officiated at my wedding and sat with me and held my hand as I nervously waited for the bride-to-be who was running late. Back in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, I watched her minister to the gay community and sit with the sick and dying when most others were afraid to be near them.

Marianne Williamson officiating at my wedding (1989)

I can personally attest to her being the "real deal"...she is a deep and expansive thinker rooted and grounded in a spiritual and moral center of being, who puts feet to her spirituality. I can attest that she does indeed walk-the-talk! And I believe her talk these days is important for us to hear for she is talking about some of the deep underlying issues that are not truly and clearly being addressed, like the need for us to heal the deep wounds that are haunting us, from the shadows of hatred, slavery, racism, misogyny, corruption, poverty and American imperialism, to the loss of our moral center in almost every sphere from economics to the environment...and most importantly, how she is framing how we deal with the rising threat to our democracy and what we are being called to do to save this grand American experiment. She does not just give us spiritual salve, she is trying to help us see the truth, to feel the pain and suffering spreading around us and recognize the clear and present danger to our freedom and our moral center as a nation...but she is doing so in a way that attempts to help us face these dire issues with a fierce love that does not feed the hate but seeks to heal and transform it...to heal the soul of America...

"The Matrix" and the Evolution of Consciousness

Or, taking the Red Pill and waking up to the coming of Winter: Reflections on meta-perspectival storytelling, The Matrix, Game of Thrones and our current global situation

According to my research into the potential co-evolution of the moving image, consciousness, culture and society, The Matrix (1999) helped to introduce a higher form of cinematic consciousness* into mainstream pop culture. The foundation of this higher form of cinematic consciousness could be called meta-perspectival storytelling.

Meta-perspectival storytelling refers to stories that unfold through both major and minor shifts in perspective that often reveal whole new ways of understanding and experiencing the storyworld unfolding before us. Think of the red-blue pill moment in The Matrix, or the self-as-ghost revelation at the end of The Sixth Sense (1999), the shifting realities of a television series like Lost (2004) or the progressive, reality-shaking awakening of characters to the true coming threat of winter in Game of Thrones (2011). All of these works use meta-perspectival storytelling to drive their stories and characters to greater levels of understanding and capacities.

This form of storytelling has been around for a while in various forms but not until the release of both The Matrix and The Sixth Sense in 1999, did this form penetrate the pop culture cinematic language in a big way. Since then, more and more cinematic works have been using this form of storytelling, creating deeper and more expansive works with layers and layers of perceptual realities that hide and reveal themselves over time, guiding us and the characters to greater levels of understanding and revelation. Meta-perspectival storytelling is born out of a specific stage of development and structure of consciousness, often referred to as Integral Consciousness. The key to this structure of consciousness is the drive to understand all dimensions and perspectives of our reality and integrate them into a meaningful whole, a "big picture" meta-perspective.

I find it beautifully symbolic that this month is the 20th anniversary of The Matrix (1999-2019), the film that helped birth this expansion of cinematic consciousness, and the start of the final season of Game of Thrones (2011-2019), the series that helped to evolve this form of storytelling to new levels of richness, depth and complexity for a global scale audience that more easily and deeply understands, embodies and enjoys this form of consciousness and storytelling.

I also find it rather haunting and inspiring to look at how this evolution of storytelling and viewer consciousness coincides with the ever deepening and expanding deconstruction of so many of our individual and collective mental, emotional and perspectival constructs within and around us. This deconstruction has culminated in the whirlwind of reality bubbles, fake news, propaganda networks and "alternate truth" in which we currently find ourselves. I have to wonder if all these meta-perspectival stories feeding our imaginations these last twenty years are an expression of our collective consciousness preparing us to make some big perspectival transition, helping more and more of us to wake up to the coming of our own global climate change and political, cultural and social regression winter, and to individually and collectively search for the red pill that will wake us all up in time.



*NOTE: Cinematic consciousness as I define it comes from my research into the relationship between the moving image, consciousness, culture and society. This research suggests that human beings project their structures of consciousness into their creative works. This in turn appears to create similar composite structures of consciousness embedded in these works. In a sense these embedded consciousness structures create a kind of cinematic consciousness that lives within the constructed cinematic reality of these moving images. And this cinematic consciousness in turn affects viewer consciousness.

Conscious Movie-of-the-Month - "The Matrix" - Live Call

Announcing the first Conscious Movie-of-the-Month live video call. This month we will be exploring this months movie The Matrix (1999).

At the end of the month, on Thursday April 25th at 7:00pm Pacific Time we will have a video conference call where I will share my reflections on the movie from a conscious, integral and transpersonal perspective and you will have the opportunity to share more of your personal reflections and ask any questions.

If you have not already joined our FREE Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Club, you can still join us anytime by signing up for a FREE membership at the Conscious Good Creators Network.

If you are already a member, you are invited to watch The Matrix on your own and feel free to share your thoughts, reflections and musings about the movie in our group's online discussion forum.

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The Matrix seems like a great movie for us to start with because this month is the 20th anniversary of the film's release and because it represents various different forms of what constitutes a conscious movie...

The viewing experience of The Matrix has given many viewers a consciousness raising experience, myself included. I vividly remember the first time I saw the film. I saw it opening week back when it was released in theaters in the Spring of 1999. It just blew me away and gave me a deep and profound altered state of consciousness. When the movie was over and I came out of the theater, everything seemed so much more real...the twinkling stars in the early evening sky, the subtle spring fragrances wafting through the air, the collective dance of the movie goers streaming in and out of the theater, and so much more...and at the same time I was contemplating deep questions about the nature of the reality I was seeing and the life I was living.

The Matrix was also consciously created to affect viewer consciousness. The Wachowski's studied Integral Theory before making the film and were attempting to apply the integral structure of consciousness to the narrative, visual, auditory and time-based expressive elements of the movie in order to elevate viewer consciousness.

The Matrix is also of major historical significance in that it introduced a more complex form of cinematic storytelling into pop movie culture, which has had an influence on collective consciousness by advancing the evolution of cinematic consciousness and helping to catalyze a shift in the co-evolution of cinematic consciousness and viewer consciousness.

Cinematic consciousness as I define it comes from my research into the relationship between the moving image, consciousness, culture and society. This research suggests that human beings project their structures of consciousness into their creative works. This in turn appears to create similar composite structures of consciousness embedded in these works. In a sense these embedded consciousness structures create a kind of cinematic consciousness that lives within the constructed cinematic reality of these moving images. And this cinematic consciousness in turn affects viewer consciousness.

I will be sharing more on the film during the month in our groups online forum and on our video conference call on the 25th. I will also be sharing with the group a Conscious Movie Viewing Practice for members to play with if they feel so moved to do so.

If you are interested in joining me on this adventure...it's time to login, take the Red Pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes...

SIGN UP FOR FREE

April 2019 Conscious Movie-of-the-Month

The Conscious Movie-of-the-Month for April 2019 is The Matrix (1999).

The Matrix (1999)

Welcome to the first Conscious Movie-of-the-Month exploration.

If you have not already joined our free Conscious Movie-of-the-Month Group/Club, you can still join us anytime by signing up for a free membership at the Conscious Good Creators Network.

If you are already a member, you are invited to watch The Matrix on your own and feel free to share your thoughts, reflections and musings about the movie in our group's online discussion forum.

At the end of the month, on Thursday April 25th at 7:00pm Pacific Time we will have a video conference call where I will share my reflections on the movie from a conscious, integral and transpersonal perspective and you will have the opportunity to share more of your personal reflections and ask any questions.

Thanks to group member Harry LeBlanc for suggesting The Matrix.

________________________

The Matrix seems like a great movie for us to start with because this month is the 20th anniversary of the film's release and because it represents various different forms of what constitutes a conscious movie...

The viewing experience of The Matrix has given many viewers a consciousness raising experience, myself included. I vividly remember the first time I saw the film. I saw it opening week back when it was released in theaters in the Spring of 1999. It just blew me away and gave me a deep and profound altered state of consciousness. When the movie was over and I came out of the theater, everything seemed so much more real...the twinkling stars in the early evening sky, the subtle spring fragrances wafting through the air, the collective dance of the movie goers streaming in and out of the theater, and so much more...and at the same time I was contemplating deep questions about the nature of the reality I was seeing and the life I was living.

The Matrix was also consciously created to affect viewer consciousness...the creators, The Wachowskis, studied Integral Theory and were attempting to apply the integral structure of consciousness to the narrative, visual, auditory and time-based expressive elements of the movie in order to elevate viewer consciousness.

The Matrix is also of major historical significance in that it introduced a more complex form of cinematic storytelling into pop movie culture, which has had an influence on collective consciousness by advancing the evolution of cinematic consciousness and helping to catalyze a shift in the co-evolution of cinematic consciousness and viewer consciousness.

Cinematic consciousness as I define it comes from my research into the relationship between the moving image, consciousness, culture and society. This research suggests that human beings project their structures of consciousness into their creative works. This in turn appears to create similar composite structures of consciousness embedded in these works. In a sense these embedded consciousness structures create a kind of cinematic consciousness that lives within the constructed cinematic reality of these moving images. And this cinematic consciousness in turn affects viewer consciousness.

I will be sharing more on the film during the month here online and on our video conference call on the 25th. I will also be sharing with you a Conscious Movie Viewing Practice for you to play with if you feel so moved to do so.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure...time to take the Red Pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes...