Man, I love creating. I love the creative process. I even love being witness to it.
I got caught up watching some behind the scenes footage from the David Lynch masterpiece Mulholland Drive last night. A movie that left me feeling eerie as hell and just scratching my head in confusion after watching it for the first time. Something had impacted me very, very deeply, in a very deep place, in spite of the fact that I hadn't even understood "the plot," if, indeed there is one. The movie moved me in a a powerfully deep place. Lynch himself has stated that he doesn't like "themes" in film, because making a movie around a "theme," kills a movie. The creative work should become its own entity, on its own, once all the needed elements are present, according to the master. But, I digress.
I was watching backstage, off-camera footage of both Stanley Kubrick and Lynch directing their respective movies, and I just couldn't take my eyes off of them, off of the whole spectacle. I have always been extremely fascinated by the act of creation, by taking existing real world elements and using them in unique ways to bring forth a vision from an artist's mind. Whether it was Naomi Watts in the diner cussing because she kept fucking up her lines, or the crew trying to figure out how to create the clatter of dishes in the background and dropping them from a ladder off camera, the whole thing was so fresh. So cool. So new and alive. I just love the process.
I also found this great interview with legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa:
Dehydration and Meditation
I had gotten on this binge of watching directors behind the scenes and YouTube videos analyzing classic films by way of feeling like absolute shit yesterday: tired. ache-y. weak. sick. I think this was the two-day-delayed "punishment" for my night out on the town the other night. Anymore, as much as I love drinking, the next couple days are rocky, and my body just can't handle the poison the same as it once could.
In a country where binge drinking is considered "the norm" in many senses, and being someone subject to a lot of anxiety and stress if I am not careful, and as such, easily partaking in the "stress relief culture" here, I think it may be time for a new drug, man. And one that doesn't include massive headaches from dehydration and extreme fatigue. The cycle just isn't working for me anymore. I need to meditate. Find a new way to dissipate stress, and one that doesn't make me feel like shit afterward. :)
Tying this all together for me last night, and piquing my interest, was hearing David Lynch talk about TM, or transcendental meditation. That, and watching videos on headache relief telling me to drink more water.
Check this out:
Two things that bother me:
If so many celebrities and famous individuals are doing this, and they are becoming so conscious and aware, why aren't they calling out the powers that be for their mass murder? Maybe they are, and I am just unaware. As usual, I remain skeptically hopeful.
The other thing is, why must the TM method be learned from a "certified instructor"? Sounds 100% like a bullshit, cultish scam, even though the philosophy behind the whole thing sounds great. If it is so great, why isn't it shared for free? Does anyone here do TM? Can you explain it to me?
How did John and Yoko feel about the whole thing???
Anyway, all that said. It's time for something new. Regardless of any conclusions I may arrive upon regarding TM, the inspiration of watching masters at work remains, and the advice about drinking more water is dead-on solid. Looking to flip things around here now. This is a kind of spiritual reset, it would seem.
Peace!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)