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Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Where Are We?

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #2

On many occasions during this lifelong journey, I’ve asked the question (usually to myself) ‘Where am I?’. Far less often, I’ve asked the question ‘Where are we?’. Does this mean I’m self-absorbed, inconsiderate or narcissistic? Perhaps. More likely though, it is a basic instinctual inquiry, founded in the desire for self-assurance, and pursued with the end-goal of finding profound meaning and purpose in this existence.

“Industrial Obsolescence” – from the Hope Mill collection

A few moments ago (yesterday), I invited anyone and everyone who was interested, to join me in the current moment. I asked for the courtesy of your presence in the moment of now. I asked if you could put aside worries and fears for a moment, and just be present. That invitation remains open for eternity. The invitation is made in every moment, to every human being that is open to accepting it. It is made by Life itself. Readers of this blog did not require my invitation to be present. Our capacity for presence is as open and unconditional as love, compassion, empathy or any other innate human characteristic. More often than not, it is fear which blocks our ability to be present. Fear opens the door to a broad range of distractions and perceptual distortions that can make it seem impossible to maintain presence, even for a moment.

So, when I ask the question ‘Where are we?’, I am not questioning our current physical position on the planet. Instead, I am asking where we stand in terms of present awareness. Are we lost in yesterdays, wrapped up in tomorrows, or are we here and now, facing life’s constant change with hopeful hearts and an indelible sense of wonder about where we’ll be in the moments yet to come. Please join me in the Now.

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

What Comes of Our Moments Past?

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #3

It’s been said many times, in many different ways, that the only time we ever really have, is right now. If that’s the case, why do we behave as if the past and the future are just as real, and just as deserving of our attention, as is the current moment? In my experience, the most meaningful answer to this question is provided by our intuition. We learn early in life that our motivations, our intentions and our actions in each successive moment will bring either negative consequences or positive rewards at some point during the moments that follow. We may not even be consciously aware that we know this, but intuitively we perceive this principle to be a basic truth in our shared reality. To put this in simpler terms, we are intuitively aware of our ability to manifest future circumstances through our actions and intentions in the now. Whether we choose to practice these intuitive abilities of manifestation or not, is entirely up to us.

Trouble x Two = The Black Cats of Jim Thorpe, PA

So, what comes of our moments past? In my own understanding, they become the raw materials that are used to weave the very fabric of our individual and our collective lives. We are now experiencing the resulting circumstances and situations which were born of a multitude of human intentions, both positive and negative, sent forth during the past moments of human existence. Depending on your outlook, the basis of this proposition might be welcomed as incredibly positive or rejected as extremely negative. Some of us will undoubtedly be inclined to point the finger of blame toward others in an attempt to explain the entire nature and substance of where they are in the now. Especially those who experience life as a hardship or something to be suffered through. Others will insist they have absolutely no control over the direction of their life journey. They’ll posit that they’re the helpless victims of an unfair reality. They’ll further claim that the ‘world’ they were born into is disinterestedly dictating every quality and quantity of circumstance available to them during their lifetime. Personally, I must admit that I have cloaked my persona with a blend of these two outlooks for a sizable portion of this life journey. At least until I came to the understanding that I am completely responsible for my own intentions, and directly accountable for my own actions, during every moment, past and present. I have introspectively embraced the outlook which holds that intentions put forth in past moments, whether they were put forth individually or collectively, are experienced as objective and subjective manifestations in this, the present moment.

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Can Unity of Presence = Unity of Intention/Purpose?

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #4

Absolutely, it can! If we are open to it.

Some of you who have read the previous three entries on this blog might be wondering where I’m going with all of this discussion about present awareness and joining together in the moment. Well, here’s the explanation for the invitation – This current moment, right now, is the one and only commonality that links every human being on this planet, and that commonality expands outward to include every plant, animal, rock, drop of water, grain of sand and molecule of oxygen within the Earth’s biosphere. Furthermore, the moment of now, is a commonality that we share with every mote of stardust at the outward reaches of our perceivable Universe. Of course, I am quite aware that our perceptions of distant galaxies and celestial bodies are not yet experienced by humanity in real-time, but I believe that one day they may be. More on that discussion later! Let’s get back to the invitation. The proposal is as follows – If one human being, one who is consciously aware and present in the moment of now, can put forth an intention to initiate change during future moments, and that human being is rewarded with a positive outcome or suffers the consequences of their ill-intent, then how much more effective would those intentions be if they were sent out by a multitude of human beings who were sharing a moment of common intent? This is the question which will drive a search for meaning and purpose during the remaining moments of my personal journey here. I have an abiding ambition that it will also include as many fellow travelers as are willing to take part in this synchronistic momentary exploration of conscious awareness. All are welcome here. There is no exclusivity in the now!

Granite Remains – From the Hope Mill Collection

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Merging Intentions

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #5

Many moments ago (specifically in January of this year), I sent out a series of specific conscious intentions with the expectation that they would manifest positive and profound changes in my personal life. In setting those specific intentions, I also conjured mindful expectations to affect positive and lasting change in the lives of many others. At the core of these intentions was a deep desire to aid in the healing of our planet, humanity, and all living creatures that inhabit the Earth. In the current moment, where I am continually practicing the art of focusing my awareness, my personal life has indeed changed dramatically since setting these specific intentions. I also see synchronistic positive change in the world I am one with. I see positive changes in the quality of interactions I experience with others, I see similar positive changes in the way I am perceiving the natural world around me, and I also intuit a dramatic increase in my personal ability to love others unconditionally. Yes, love is the ultimate Source energy. Love is always working toward the manifestation of our most heartfelt hopes and dreams. In this moment, I perceive that unconditional love has the capacity to engender our highest positive vibrations!

“In the Silence of Trees, Industry Dies” – From the Hope Mill series.

In the next blog entry, I’ll lay out the specific intentions I set back in January. I’ll propose how those intentions duly manifested the current changes in my personal life and the lives of others. I’ll also discuss how these intentions might manifest positive change for our shared future.

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

The Cosmic Picture

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #6

Most of us have heard of “…the big picture perspective.” For more than a century, success coaches and motivational speakers, especially those who are primarily focused on financial success, have recommended that we keep our big picture goals in mind at all times, even while we are attending to the smallest details on our personal paths to success. I am in agreement with this strategy. I have adopted it on a daily basis for more than twenty years now. I’ve discovered that I am most successful at being presently aware when I expand the proverbial “Big Picture” to include every aspect of this life experience on the planet Earth. Beyond that, during occasional moments of extraordinary spiritual clarity, I’ve found that I’m able to expand my perspective much further, to include even the ‘cosmic picture’ of our successes (and failures) as human beings on this tiny blue planet floating within the expanse of space. In momentary awareness we might all have the capacity to perceive the cosmic picture. We are limited only by the lenses and filters we’ve chosen to see through. One day, I hope to experience the full breadth, the cosmic picture of human existence as it truly IS, not as our limited perceptions are currently presenting it to us.

Ruin or Ruby in the Rough? From the Hope Mill Series

If you read my last blog entry, you’ll remember that I promised to lay out the intentions that I sent forth back in January of this year. Well, the first intention I set, was to return to college seeking a master’s degree in film. Savannah College of Art & Design was my first choice because of its exemplary reputation as top college for film degrees, but I was also immediately attracted by the Savannah Historic District as a place to live while I was learning to be a filmmaker. Eight months’ worth of moments later, and I am residing in Savannah, Georgia, outside of the Historic District, but loving it here just the same! In the next blog entry, I’ll tell you why I set the intention to pursue a film degree. It has to do with the ‘cosmic picture’…