Mayor’s Journal, 29th July, 2010
A number of interesting subjects have been coming up lately in the ponderings: the intriguing and provocative film Inception, the wonderful interview with Kenneth at the Monastery, and Ken’s lovely article in the Lighthouse. Some thoughts:
Inception:
My nighttime dreams are second level dreaming according to the film. A dream within a dream… So lucid dreaming would be knowing that it’s not at night that I’m sleeping, but during the day, and like the figures in the film, I can become perfectly aware of my choices and experiences within the (daytime) dream, knowing that my ‘host-mind’ is not present here at all but safely tucked away elsewhere far, far away above all the ruckus down here (‘above the battleground’).
With respect to the technological blip in the ponderings (see Annie’s 311), I can’t explain that weirdness, except to say that it was an ‘inception’ like moment in which it became apparent that there can be no true unbreakable order to a hallucination. It’s like the computer/internet was pointing out that weird things are going to happen because, baby, this is a dream! That seemed to happen to me literally all the time when I was renovating houses. Doing handyman/craftsman work is usually so extremely logical – you do X and Y is the result. Only on so many occasions that rule just didn’t apply. The impossible happened just so many, many times that I eventually got the message to stop being surprised.
Did it cross your mind that the Course is not about ‘extraction’ (taking away our fears and hurts) but ‘inception’ – putting the idea in our minds that we are asleep and maybe reality is in fact something else, like Cobb’s spinning top, showing us ‘this can’t be the true reality’, with the promise that our fears and hurts will eventually disappear because they were never really real? Hmm.
After seeing the film, did you go out and sit at a sidewalk coffee shop looking at all the figures passing by and wonder if they knew they were images in a sleeping mind and that the real mind was somewhere else? Double hmm. Did you think you were a figure in your own dream?
In the film the characters awoke when their dream-figure was killed. This is not the case in our world here. According to the Course, nothing happens when our dream-figures die; they merely slip from one dream of individuality to another, continuing to believe in their separation from reality. We awake only when we learn to have a lucid dream, that is, when we learn to smile and chuckle at all the ways in which we still try to make our dream-figure real (our anger, fear, guilt, judgments, investment in differences, etc.), trying to symbolize for ourselves in three-dimensional Technicolor that the separation with reality is true and not just a product of our imagination or an ‘idle wish’.
Susan Dugan’s Interview with Kenneth (home page at the Monastery)
Some passages that really stood out for me:
“There’s that lovely phrase in the Course about the quiet center. And while the image is not used, it’s implicit in it that if you think of a hub of a wheel there’s that quiet center where you live and the spokes that emanate from it are your various roles: wife, teacher, mother, etc. The spokes are not important. What’s important is that you stay in that quiet center and the love in there infuses everything you do; whether you teach the Course or whether you’re playing with your grandchildren. In a sense it should all be the same and to the extent that you recognize that it’s not the same then you recognize that you still have work to do. That’s where the process comes in.”
“I get asked a lot how can you stand to teach the same thing over and over again. People listen to tapes I made 25 years ago and it’s basically the same thing. And I sometimes make a joke; I can say the same thing over and over again because I don’t listen to myself. But really it’s because it’s always for the first time. So if someone makes a “demand,” the person’s just always talking to me for the first time. Otherwise I couldn’t do what I do. It’s all for the first time.”
“I used to say a lot instead of worrying about which voice you’re hearing and what the voice should tell you why not ask to hear what you should do to remove the blocks so that you can hear the voice better.”
“What is it like to basically be peaceful all the time?
Really nice.”
“You know, it’s just a book. Books are harmless; it’s nothing. It’s when you take it seriously that you have a problem. You don’t want to dismiss your ego. You want to respect it but you don’t want to give it a power it doesn’t have.”
Extracts from the Lighthouse Article:
“Jesus reminds his scribe and all his students, that the purpose of A Course in Miracles is to return attention to the decision-making mind that is the single source of our perceived problems, and the only means of correcting them. This is the role of the miracle, as we have already seen, for it corrects the belief in the reality of magic, including the need for it. It is also the basis for our kindness toward others, enabling us to focus only on our reactions to what we perceive without judging them. The miracle’s kindness leads us to exemplify the Holy Spirit’s judgment: someone expresses love or calls for it (T-12.I.8-10; T-14.X.7:1). Either way, our response would be loving: sharing love with the person, or answering the call for love with love.
Thus, our focus shifts from the various forms of magic to our reactions, and this is nothing less than the shift from judgment to kindness, respecting people’s fear as being their call for the love they do not believe they deserve because they betrayed it.”
And a nice passage that harkens back to the discussion of the film Inception above:
“If the idea of separation has never left its source in the mind, through projection, then there can be no world outside the mind that is dreaming it, let alone having an effect on us.
And so, how can we be upset by what is not there? Indeed, who would be there to even become upset? There is no world, only the mind’s belief that there is. Once again, the world is only magic, pure and simple: an illusion that is the projection of an illusory thought, delusional thinking that has led to hallucinatory perceptions—a maladaptive solution to a nonexistent problem.”
Inception will keep us talking thru the summer and again when the Academy Awards come around and I’m sure for a long time to come.
I saw the word Inception to = the tiny mad idea. An explanation of how we got here in the first place; just the opposite Mr. Mayor on you “spin”. Yet the result is the same.
But I like your point better. It’s the Holy Spirits job to come in and plant the idea for our return home but she can’t do it without our willing participation.
Hmm so much to talk about.
“Doing handyman/craftsman work is usually so extremely logical – you do X and Y is the result. Only on so many occasions that rule just didn’t apply. The impossible happened just so many, many times that I eventually got the message to stop being surprised.”
that made me remember an impossible thing that happened some years ago, when i still was training with my Buddhist teacher. I had several sessions been working with death-processes the Tibetan Buddhist ways, and got the impression from inside that I would be taken care off, when that happened – it was one of those strong ideas you instantly believe, you know?
then, at the bus on the way home, i started feel uneasy…”I will die today”…and still remembering the knowing that I would be taken care of…sort of relaxing into the script –
at a certain spot, outside a High School-building, there is a spot where two buses can not pass each other – one has to stop. At this point. a bus was coming towards us with great speed. I was sitting in the first row, right behind the driver. I heard him swear and call out – I knew we would crash – and in the next moment, the bus coming toward us had passed (even thought it was no space for that. IMPOSSIBLE – and still it happened.
The rest of the way I thought i was dreaming – but the bus-driver was cussing and re-telling me how crazy the other driver had been all the way to my home. I just nodded and nodded. I felt weird, but in a good way (:
and later, by Buddhist teacher just laughed and reminded me what we had been going through the last session. For him, these kind of stuff was normal.
gets you wondering, doesn’t it – what is real?
I’m really grateful for this site and my “friends” from the monastery! I don’t post, but just wanted to say hi, and I’m going to see “Inception” this weekend!
Love and Gratitude to all,
melody
Melody, I have missed you. Maybe you might post just a little ? (:
Big welcome hug to Melody! Thanks for your quiet attentive presence. We look forward to having you amongst us.
It was like a dream within a dream. I had this vision of this lady wearing a bright green jacket along with the brightest smile…and the sweetest Melody was playing.
It warmed my heart (:
I think the Mayor should have a “Movie Page” so that those who haven’t the time to maintain regular correspondence can just pop in and share their movie reviews with us. We could be missing very important perspectives or insights. If a movie column shows up Bernard just know it was always your idea (:
Hey I always wanted to be a Movie critic where I can earn a living judging (:
Visualizing Gravatars from my past and loving you all…btw Thanxs Nina for the heads up on Dreamy’s Dream coming true. There will be singing in the Fireside Lounge tonight!
Thank you for the warm hi and hug. 😉 Somehow, I really needed it today. Dear Nina, I will post a bit more…I have been finding that silence is golden, as when I start to talk….it goes on and on….and somehow gets me right smack dab in the belief system of the ego – before I even know what happened! Yet it is always a lesson, and a good one….as long as I can choose the Teacher of love. 😉
Love to you all~~
Good morning Melody is that little smiley you sent winking? S w e e t.
Silence is Golden that is why I prefer this digital form of communication. 😉
Just a quick post Melody after you see “Inception” that’s all I ask. I wish to talk abit more about the movie.
Fair warning its a long movie don’t be tempted to drink as there is no scene that can be missed no matter how fast you think you are in using the facilities. Actually, it doesn’t matter cuz you will still want to/need to see it again. I may try to see it again myself this
weekend.
Love to you all too
OOOOhhhh I figured out the wink…Thanxs Melody!
Hi all–saw “Inception” yesterday w/ my husband! For once, he was asking ME lots of questions about it afterward (usually it’s the other way around!) Well…..it was great, but I need to see it several more times. I didn’t drink or miss any parts….but it was all so fast and with the sound effects….very drama filled! At the end…he saw his kids’ faces…so….was he still in the dream..or?????!
Several more times I need to see this…. 😉
Love to all
Doesn’t look like I have time to see ‘Inception’ again this weekend. I do wish to see it on the big screen before it leaves the theatres, although I’m not worried about it leaving anytime soon. I usually like sitting close to the screen (not front row) but close enough that no one wishes to sit in front of me or to close. I’m a movie snob. If I could have private screenings with the director that would be ideal. But I think for my second viewing I will sit further back because it is a movie with a whole lot of action going on. So for those that haven’t seen it yet now is the time to stop reading.
My husband and I figured the ending is open to interpretation. DeCaprio’s ‘touchstone top’ was beginning to wobble so it could have still been a dream even though the children’s faces were revealed. How long must the top spin for it to be reality? As a Course student if it’s not eternal it doesn’t exist. So the movie is primed for a sequel…of ‘Course’.
I personnally was moved at how projection was portrayed. When in the dream sequence his projections started to turn on him. I especially loved the subtle sifts played out in the restaurant scene when his mind would move consciously from one reality to the other. How all the patron’s would turn to face him when he got caught up in the dream but then would return to their designated roles when he ‘chose’ to stay in his right mind. I’m such a visual learner and that scence allowed me to see how ones intent creates in the moment of now. Its just a skill to catch yourself slipping, no need to judge just get back to the task at hand. Practice, Practice, Practice. Then again I could have dreamed up that that’s what was going on. I was totally projecting my Course material onto the film.
I know there is so much more like you said Melody. I recently read an article talking of the significance of the number 528 in the movie. There seems to be an entire discussion that could be had from just that tid bit alone.
How cool Melody that your husband turned to you for clarification. He must know you are on to something? If nothing else it gets us all talking.
As if we all haven’t enough to forgive. I am requesting that any spelling, gramatical and or punctuational errors I have ever made in my past, currently in todays post, and any and all future posts that you please forgive me. I promise to do the same.
Amen
“My husband and I figured the ending is open to interpretation. DeCaprio’s ‘touchstone top’ was beginning to wobble so it could have still been a dream even though the children’s faces were revealed. How long must the top spin for it to be reality? As a Course student if it’s not eternal it doesn’t exist. So the movie is primed for a sequel…of ‘Course’.”
It could also be seen in the movie as dreaming in levels: that coming home for Cobb was just a step or two closer to Home. Like when we “die” and are received by people who love us and show us how everything has been for love – simply part of our seemingly l o n g Atonement Path
speling errors? i nevver do them
Wow, A girl goes out of town for a couple days and all kinds of stuff happens. Big Hugs Melody! So good to hear from you again.
I haven’t been much of a movie person or T.V. person for years except for animated ones with Cory. Heck I still haven’t seen The Matrix though we looked for it at the video place this weekend but couldn’t find it.(was in Lincoln) but It as well as Inception are on my list for seeing soon maybe this week.
Yes, the touchstone at the end of the film… What’s pretty amazing is that even if that touchstone had fallen, signifying that DeCaprio was in the real world, he would have still been dreaming (from the Course’s point of view). In other words, despite having reunited with his children, he would still be dreaming just another, unhappy dream, with another much more wonderful (happy) dream to come. I found myself feeling a little frustrated at the end, perhaps like everyone, not knowing if he had ‘made it’ or not. Was he with his ‘real’ kids, or was this just another disappointing, illusory dream? Then I saw I had set myself up again, thinking that it was about finding our ‘real’ happiness here in some form we define – family reunions, release from jail, the perfect promotion, receiving the degree, freedom from a sickness… As if any of these things were the lasting solution to our real problem.
It was never really about reuniting with his children, I think, which is nevertheless a really nice symbol. It was about releasing his mind from his projections (symbolized by Marion Cotillard), bringing them home inside, and forgiving them there (in this case forgiving himself for thinking he had killed his wife). Then whether he found his children again or not (and we can imagine that in this world here sometimes people do not find their children), he would be at peace, serene and completely fulfilled. It would be nice to think that even if things don’t work out here as we would like, that what we really need and are looking for is still available.
And what about twelve years down the line when DeCaprio has to deal with his kid’s adolescent crises? He’ll be hoping that a dream comes along to save him!! Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution within a dream. Except waking up from it, and knowing reality is something else. Sorry to be a party-poop – I’d just love to think that all was well once more because he found his children, and that’s the way I think about it for the most part. But when I look to my sought after solution in life (which I do dream of), I know that even if I get it, that’s not the answer. Something else IS.
Just my spin on things. And you?
Heading out of town for a couple of days. My love to all, B.
This is pretty cool reviewing a movie with all of our Course projections. My head is spinning but there is clarity here if I wish to see it. So grateful for your reviews so that I can wrap my head around this.
I do see I need to be careful here. I think I am mixing my levels in my movie reviewing.
On one level there is no “touchstone” that is the experience or should I say the goal of the Course. But since we are in the dream we are gonna need someone who has walked this dreamscape and is familiar with all the rabbit holes out there. I saw Cobb as a “Jesus” figure. He’s the only one who believes, who knows that Love can heal all. Ok so he’s not walking on water in this movie …hence we will need a sequel…baby steps… the world isn’t ready for the whole truth… so the movie ‘Inception’ could just be the prequil to the next movie, lets call it the ‘Ressurection’.
Cobb is a renegade daring to go where no one else has ventured, a man ahead of his time. Willing to go as far as he needs to save one soul. (no one gets left behind) His wife represented to me our ego in the dreamscape. So convincing that I could not tell who was telling the Truth in that most perfect scene on the ledge. So well written. It’s the whole reason I wish to go back to see the movie and stay in that moment when the decision maker chooses.
That’s how I saw the movie the first time around. This is why reading a review prior to seeing it can taint the whole experience. You never know how your mind is perceiving if you allow yourself to be swayed by someone elses perception.
True story. My husband is vigiliant when it comes to staying away from movie reviews. He is an avid movie goer, sees at least one new release a week. (I call him a movie whore but I digress) Prior to the release of ‘Incepiton’ Mark took extra care to stay away from any reviews which is difficult to do in Hollywood. Anyhow, he had a dental appt. that Friday afternoon (we had plans to see Inception on Saturday as a family) as he was in that reclined position mouth open and dental instruments in play he realizes the radio station is giving a full account of DeCaprio’s performance and its too late to stop hearing…oooh was he mad! I couldn’t stop laughing when he told me. Of all the movies to hear a review on…this was just plain evil of the Universe to do to him. Forgiveness lessons come in all sorts of packages. I mean what are the chances when you make your dental cleaning appointments 6 months in advance that a movie review would air at just the precise moment that all controls have been taken from you. You can’t make up this shit…or can you? I know the answer, it just goes to show me how much I don’t want to accept that its true.
The bottom line for me with this movie was that there is no way in hell I can escape this maddening mess without help.
Love love LOVE reading every one of these reviews this morning! Every one makes sense to me!
As far as Jim (husband) knowing I’m on to something, he is not a formal “course student” but IMHO lives it, is supportive, and we talk about “the dream” all the time! LOL—so that’s why the questions were in reverse for this one!
Love to all,
😉
Say that again Melody …”what questions were in reverse”?
I also like knowing more ahead of time about movies it has saved me from going to shows I really wouldn’t have liked and got me to shows I wouldn’t of seen otherwise.
Lol…”the questions were in reverse” means that Jim was asking me instead of me asking him (I always ask lots of questions, as he gets into all the intricate details of movies!) That is because I’m always yaking at him about all of this being a dream!
I, too like knowing more ahead of time about movies Pam!
ahhh yes Melody so obvious now what you meant by ‘reverse’. Gotta keep things fresh in the dream world and shake it up sometimes. How did hubby feel with you behind the steering wheel on that ride? Which brings up the question why are there no seatbelts on buses? This is a bumpy ride or does it just feel like that for those of us on the short bus?
Oh Annie is in sassy place this morning! It’s gonna be a fun ride today.
Hi, everyone. I started to write out some thoughts to your great ponderings, and then this turned into more of an article so I stuck it up on the home page. Thanks for your great ideas.
Oh, I also had this thought about Matrix (which I looove – at least the first one, the other two I didn’t care for much). When Neo says, “No!” in that great scene when he stops the bullets near the end of the film, I always wondered why that was so powerful. Could it be that this was his sudden moment of entering the real world in which he knew it was all just a dream/computer images? And in that instant he was saying “No!” to the world/matrix’s declarations. The matrix was saying “these bullets are real and you shall die”, and he said, “I don’t share that interpretation and I’m not afraid of the consequences anymore.” Sometimes I think that’s what Jesus is asking us to say, too. To say a quiet and understanding “No” to the messages of the world (according to Ken, refusing to believe that 2+2=4: the world does not work the way it claims, rather 2+2=5, because 1+1=1; and you say, Eh? what gives with all this math?) Jesus would like us to have the courage to know it’s okay to believe that suffering does not have any outside cause, it’s okay to think there are no differences between us, it’s okay to think that this world and its suffering and victims might not be reality…
I completely agree with your “spin” on Inception from a Course perspective. But how to explain it to our spouses who don’t see the 2+2=5 equation? (hey Anil there’s that #5… no wonder you like the Course) Actually, I’m not worried about my hubby he is the kindest person I know, lives straight from the heart. That’s the best homing device in town.
Curious if Hilter is working as a grocery store bagger in this life? It really looks like it could be Adolf. Paper or Plastic? That is the question.
Along with the dream interpretation site that was given to me by a dear friend I found another article I wanted to share. Sorry I don’t recall where I copied it from.
INCEPTION MOVIE HERALDS 528 CODE FOR MUSICAL TRANSCENDENCE
Wake up or die in the nightmares of corporate espionage, greed, corruption, and armed anger. INCEPTION writer and director, Christopher Nolan, heralds “528” as the “code” through which social transformation, involving music, is achieved.
The new Hollywood blockbuster has moviegoers nationwide curious about the source of a mysterious code used in the plot involving music played in “Room 528,” and linked to a forgotten “528” memory.
INCEPTION, another word for creation, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, shown here entering Room 528 to defend against corporate thugs.
Recalling the “key” to Room 528 is crucial to the movie’s plot, wherein Cobb (DiCaprio), an expert in the art of mind manipulation, extracts secrets from people’s subconscious to serve the “treacherous new world of corporate espionage.”
The movie repeats the number “528,” a mathematical frequency, in a key phone number, on a napkin, two vault combinations, and the room wherein much of the action occurs during the film’s climax. Here, special music must be played at a precise time to “extract” the operatives from their anguish and nightmarish pseudo-realities.
Cobb’s psychological operation in Room 528 reconnects the heir to the world’s most powerful energy cartel, Robert Fisher (played by Cillian Murphy), to his father’s memory. Fisher senior, atheistically representing the corporate alternative to God, is locked in a vault requiring the 528 code to open. Another “528-491” combination unlocks the final safe containing the greatest secret, treasure, motivation, and catharsis for the main characters that have all been struggling with the loss of LOVE.
The idea of linking music for social transcendence with “528” and LOVE in INCEPTION appears to have come from Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz, the discoverer of the “Perfect Circle of Sound,” and a frequent contributor to Hollywood’s screenwriters. The author of 16 books has written extensively on the subject of 528 as it relates to universal construction, healing, Spiritual Renaissance, creationism, and what Nolan terms”inception.”
“I am honored that Christopher Nolan, reputed to be a ‘dark filmmaker,’ thinks so highly of 528Hz music that he chose to promote the frequency in, around, and through “Room 528″ at the height of the drama,” Dr. Horowitz said.
528 engages the “music of the light,” versus the “music of the night.” The musical mathematical knowledge about 528, and its spiritual implications, is urgently needed to deal with the planet’s corporate criminals.
Nolan wrote, “An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.” Horowitz’s idea that 528 plays the sound of LOVE, has been rewriting all the rules since 1998 with his writing of Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse. (Tetrahedron Press; 1-888-508-4787) From co-author Dr. Joseph Puleo, a Bible code scholar and naturopath, Horowitz learned that 528Hz frequency is the “MI” note (that stands for “MIracles”) in the original Solfeggio musical scale.
Thereafter, leading physicists and mathematicians published proofs that “528/LOVE” is fundamental to universal construction, Pi, Phi, the Fibonacci series, sacred geometry, the circle, square, the hexagonal ring of organic chemistry, and the world of biology. Grass, in fact, grows green because of 528Hz–the color of chlorophyll. And the real da Vinci code, according to Horowitz, has everything to do with these discoveries.
LOVE is what drives Nolan’s leading character Cobb, leading lady Mol (Marion Cotillard), and leading victim Fisher, to access their memories in order to reconcile their relationships to reconstruct their lives.
Many people do not understand Nolan’s film for its deeper social and metaphysical meanings. Dr. Horowitz attributes a lot of this confusion to the lost memory of 528Hz frequency, believed to be central to spiritual identity and human creativity.
Nolan’s film plays on these themes, juxtaposing violence and cataclysm with the dream of”extracting” ourselves from the corporate controlled world of mind control and general madness. The objective is to “get back home.”
=
Excellent and helpful article, Bernard, and, as always excellent comments! WOW!
Love, m
(Shuffles feet, looks sheepishly at the ceiling, offers a plateful of fudge with coconut topping warm from the oven…) I felt a need to re-write the last few paragraphs of my recent post on the home page if anyone wants to take a look. I was even scaring myself! Hope I didn’t upset anyone…
I don’t recall being upset yesterday after reading your post or scared but I’ll take a piece of fudge thank you. This much I know, if I was upset it wasn’t because of you (:
And now something completely off topic…has this been the weirdest summer weather in your neck of the woods? I woke up to a dense foggy sky this morning. That never happens in August. Especially after its been hitting 3 digit temps this past week?
mmm the fudge is delish! Taking another before I head off to slay the dragons. Have an awesome day everyone.
Uhh,I don’t get it. What was scary about it? Not that I remember exactly what was in the last paragraphs that you rewrote but I don’t remember feeling upset about anything. In fact I was slowly rereading it everyday a little bit at a time in order to absorb,for me anyway, the most pertinent parts.
Everybody most likely has different parts in anything that any of us write that pertain more to them where ever they are in their process of learning this stuff. I figure that a sentence that sparked a profound insight in me could very well be a ” Well,Duh.” for someone else and yet to another it could be very disturbing.
I will get off the soapbox now.
Hugs Bernard…Sorry you scared yourself..(-: The fudge is most excellent!
P.S. The new stuff is good too IMHO.
my ego is wanting clarification of IMHO; didn’t ask on the first opportunity presented by Melody…so this is my second chance. I’m sure I know what it stands for but there is a big block in my way. Asking for help in the littlest of things is sometimes difficult even among those I fear the least.
Thanks in advance,
Annie
Annie: In My Humble Opinion
No wonder the ego didn’t understand….it’s never been humble a day in its life!
Thanx Nina (:
bernard, pam, annie, nina – you folks are lovely. brings a smile to my morning to read this conversation above (:
bernard – didn’t see anything scary the first time around, but had to smile/laugh at the check-out lady reference !! sweetly and honestly stated, dear friend (:
and no, have to decline the fudge, etc. want to get slimmer so i can play soccer (or at least run around a bit) by the time the kid is ready to walk/run.
love you all.
a
Anil, Stock up on the extra energy now. Kids have an invisible energy siphon hose that they attach to the adults in the immeditate vicinity.(read mostly Mom & Dad) This gives the kid an amazing amount of get up and go(even before they start crawling) and leaves the adult with maybe only half the energy to get things done with. This is temporary but it is a long temporary somewhere around the age of seven the siphon starts to only work sporadicly and the adults can start accumulating full reserves on a regular basis again. (-; Hope I didn’t scare you to much with this.
Love to You , Shobha and the bouncing bundle of joy!