Tag: Unity

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Unity at Birth

Grand Providentia United

Accept It or Not, You Are Part of the Human Community

Whenever I make an honest appraisal of my earliest memories from childhood, one theme that always emerges is a powerful desire to belong. That single desire has remained at the forefront of my earthly persona until this present moment. I have always felt a compelling desire to belong to something that is more than just me. And it isn’t only a desire for connection with other people, although that makes up the bulk of it, it is also a desire for a failproof connection with the Source of Life itself. As you might expect, I had an instinctual need for human connection when I was a baby, and I’ll assume that is a natural and common need for most human children, but I hadn’t even begun to understand my desire for meaningful connections with others. And beyond that, I had no understanding, or even a clue, about having a desire for connection with Source. I’ll assume that is also a commonality we humans share. The focus of this discussion, and I’m hoping it will become a Bonafide discussion, one where readers add commentary, is our desire for connection (unity) with each other. Why do we create communities?

From the moment we’re born we make contact with other human beings. Our physical interaction with others begins at the moment we emerge from the womb. Even if it is only our mother who is present at our birth, we are inevitably touched by human hands. For some of us, those hands are warm and nurturing, while others are greeted by uncaring hands, and in the worst-case scenario, they are the hands of cruelty. Whatever the circumstances of our birth, we are physically reliant on help from others if we are to survive past infancy. It seems as though our instinctual drive to belong to a group of others is an evolutionary feature of being human. It’s part of our genetic makeup that recognizes our physical vulnerabilities and addresses them by giving us the inborn instinct to belong. The desire to belong comes from an entirely different place; It comes from a place of individual preferences. It is the sum-total biases of every interaction we’ve had with others until this present moment. If we’ve learned that we can’t trust other people, then it is likely that we won’t have a desire to connect with them. If we’ve come to the conclusion that human beings are compassionate and willing to lend us a helping hand, then we are more likely to desire their company. Whatever interactions we’ve had with others, and however those various interactions may have colored our preferences in terms of wanting to belong or not, we can still learn to rely on our intuition when it comes to allowing or disallowing other people’s access to our personal lives. In effect, we can choose our own tribe.

At Moore Art Expressions we shared an unspoken understanding that we were all working together to create a successful commercial art business. And we had a whole lot of fun, even when we were dismembering the bodies of sculptural humans to prepare them for molding.

Thank you for stopping in to read! I’ll continue to explore the theme of unity for the rest of this week. Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on this subject, or any other, for that matter!

Below is a link to the Moore Art Expressions FB page. I closed the business in 2019 in search of greener (more profitable) creative pastures. I cherish the memories of S.M.art Castings & Sculpture Services, LLC and Moore Art Expressions but I still believe that I made the right decision when I chose to leave the business of commercial sculpture.

https://www.facebook.com/grandprovidentiaunited/

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

What Have I Done?

Grand Providentia United

“Grand Providentia Projections” update – Originally published in September 2022

This is not a question that I’ve posed with any personal angst attached to it. As in, ‘OMG, what have I done?’. No, this is basically a self-inquiring question that I need to externalize the answers to through the act of writing them down. It is a question that I’ll begin to answer today and finish answering, well, maybe never. It may help some readers of this blog to understand what I’ve done mentally, physically and spiritually in the recent past to keep things moving forward. I’ll describe some of the actions I’ve taken, decisions I’ve made, and dreams I’ve conjured to continue moving toward the realization of the grand dream that I’ve been working to manifest for the past fifteen years. To catch some of you up, the grand dream is to bring conscious awareness of, and attract membership to, the Alt Unity. As the Alt Unity grows, through its creative collaborations and collective conscious intentions, the Grand Providentia Projection will be made manifest. And while the Alt Unity is in the process of manifesting the GPP, we will concurrently produce a rolling factual documentary that is focused on our efforts. Simultaneously, we will also be creating a fictional account (past, present and future) that will tell an imaginative, surrealistic story based on our real-world efforts. As each of the storylines unfold, the factual and the fictional will be brought together and united as one, thus creating the ultimate production of “A True Story, as Yet Unfolding…” So, in answer to the question – What have I done? I will tell you what I’ve done, and what I’ve been doing, during the recent months of practicing presence in the moment of now.

Jim Thorpe, PA – Tybee Island, GA

I decided back in January of 2022, to pursue a graduate degree (MFA), majoring in film and television, at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, GA. Having received my undergraduate degree (BFA), majoring in computer animation, from the Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL, I thought that this would be a fitting way to culminate my career in the field of visual arts. After all, much of what I’d learned at Ringling College is directly applicable to the design and production of film projects. Early in the process of applying to SCAD, I realized that I was missing one critical tool that I would need to buy, if I could even hope to be accepted into the program. You see, one of the requirements for the application is a portfolio film reel (maximum ten minutes long). So, I knew I needed to get my hands on a high-quality camera to shoot the portfolio reel. I have to confess that I almost allowed fear to defeat me before I ever got started. I had a very minimal understanding of film cameras at the time, so I was intimidated by them, but then I thought back to when I entered the computer animation program at Ringling, and I remembered having absolutely no experience with computers. Whether it’s a camera, a computer, a calculator or a clock, you can’t expect to understand how to use it until you get some experience by using it. It took me a couple of months to gather the money to get it, but get it, I did. For any camera enthusiasts out there, it’s the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema 4K.

The model is considered a good option for beginner filmmakers and students of film, but it is not a professional level camera. Of course, buying the camera was just the beginning. I needed to purchase all sorts of other accessories, like lenses, tripods, lavalier microphones, camera bags and digital storage devices. During the six months following my decision to return to school, I was intently focused on making the logistical arrangements to move from Allentown, PA to Savannah GA, but I was also starting production on the portfolio film that I needed for SCAD. Before moving south, I made a trip north to Hope, Rhode Island, to shoot my very first film clips for the portfolio film which I titled “Return to Hope” when it is was completed. The film features the Hope Mill in its current deteriorated state, but the overall theme of the film is decidedly positive. I’ll give a more detailed description of “Return to Hope” in one of my future blog entries. I’ll end this entry with a logistical announcement: On August 1st, I arrived in Savannah, and on the second attempt I found a roommate situation in a shared apartment that works for both me and my roomie. I’m quite comfortable here in Georgia and I especially love the historic district of Savannah (that’s where the college is located). Below is a link to the finished portfolio film “Return to Hope”.

One other announcement: I started a podcast as a companion site to this blog. I’ve only posted two short episodes so far, but I’ve really enjoyed the process of producing them. There will be many more episodes to come. Including video podcasts, as well. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-joseph-moore/episodes

Film Journey & The Alt Unity

Welcome to Our Now!

Grand Providentia United

Gathering Awareness – Entry #1

I am sincerely grateful for your presence in this moment! I’m even more grateful that you’ve chosen to spend a moment of our time reading this blog. Thank you!

Now is our time. It is our only time, so I’ll make this as brief and painless as possible. Please attempt to put aside the worries of the world in this moment. I know it’s difficult, because it’s something that I need to practice from one moment to the next, and the next, and the next. To be IN this moment, I believe it’s necessary to consciously decide to be OUT of other moments. Moments that have already past and moments that are yet to arise are irrelevant in this moment. Please choose to let go of the past and future for just a moment. It may mean that you’ll need to quiet the voice in your head, momentarily. That voice (your ego) will immediately try to distract you with regrets about the past or fond memories from the past that you might hope to relive. Ego will warn you that fearful things might happen to you in future moments, if you get distracted by the moment we are in right now. The ego feels threatened when you are present and aware, because ego insists on absolute control. When you are present in this moment, past and future moments are inconsequential, until you return your conscious focus on them, and in effect, you become unconscious and unaware once more. And when you choose to return to unconsciousness, aware only of your past and future, the ego regains control of your thoughts and reinforces the idea that the present moment is insignificant, while all the past and future moments are the only ones you should be concerned with. Your ego deceives you into thinking that past moments you’ve experienced sum up your life story until now. And furthermore, your ego wants you to believe that your future is dictated by those past moments, which, by the way, were undeniably present moments when you experienced them! So, if you can call out the ego and expose its mind games for what they are, you’ll be well on your way to experiencing the unlimited potential of this current moment. Welcome to our 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

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’…