My new blog, stumbling across my purpose, the age of transformation, a sneak-peek behind-the-curtain of a film about stillness and human evolution.
"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." – Yoga Sutras, Patanjali
I recently completed production on the experiential documentary THE PORTAL, my feature-length directorial debut, and the accompanying book of the same name. It's a unique and heart-opening film-book project about human metamorphosis and the current planetary shift, which I wrote and produced alongside visionary project founder, Tom Cronin. As someone who is deeply interested in the reaches of human experience and capability, the opportunity to work with a ‘ Superhuman' team on a project designed to contribute to an evolution in collective human consciousness was beyond thrilling for me, and I’m extraordinarily proud of what we’ve achieved. Little did I anticipate the new intimacy with which I’d come to know the subject matter we were exploring or the evolutionary ride I too would be on.
Until recently I'd never been sure what my purpose was, or even truly understood what it meant, "to have a purpose”. There have been a lot of times when I thought that there must be something wrong with me, that everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, why wasn’t I clear on what I was meant to be doing? Does everybody have a purpose?
I used to DJ in clubs for a lot of years. Music connects us to a greater part of ourselves–it makes us feel–and it’s a beautiful thing to create a feeling for people that they may be missing or longing for in their day-to-day life. I loved watching souls stir on the dance floor but I remember standing one night at a 5-hour gig, where I was playing great music at a cool place I loved, just thinking “I’m wasting my life standing here”. It was Ibiza and I was in my early 30s. I'd given up a lot of stability and even moved countries to follow the music dream, so when I realised that it was unfulfilling in such a deep way…it was crushing. I decided to focus back on film, which felt like the area I would be more passionate about over the long-term, but, even though I loved it, at the time I didn’t really see film as being a purpose either.
But that changed a few years ago in a way I’ve only recently had the hindsight and perspective to contemplate the entire significance of.
In February 2016 I got a text message from a woman about a film job, which triggered a series of events, sparked pivotal new relationships in my life, required me to face the fear of doing two of the things I’d always yearned to do but had avoided doing, brought my skills together in a whole new way, made me expand into a greater version of myself, unveiled my purpose... and ultimately brought my soul alive. It also almost killed me.
The job was on a documentary that evolved into what we now know as The Portal.
As is the case with many documentaries how you start out isn’t always how you end up and our journey has been no different. What ended up as The Portal, an immersive journey with six people (and a robot) to discover how stillness can transform your life (and the world), started out revolving around the inner superhuman inside us all that we can unleash through various practices, including meditation.
I still remember how I felt when I got that first text message. It was like every fibre in my being became alive inside me instantaneously. I’d had that feeling sometimes when I was in flow djing but to get it from a text message, in an instant, was wild.
This whole area is totally up my alley. I’m into high performance, brain-hacking, health & wellbeing, personal development, consciousness, evolution…and film. This project sounded AMAZING! I remember vividly the conviction of the voice inside me telling me that I was so right for this project and that the project was so right for me. At that time I had no idea where it would lead me (or how tumultuous the road would be) I just knew the feeling of the massive YES. I always try to follow a yes.
In the film we explore the turning points and challenges in life that help align us with what we’re really on this earth to do, if we’re ready to heed the message. Needless to say, ultimately, that text message turned out to be the catalyst that got me on the path I was supposed to be on, both professionally and spiritually, and I’m grateful to have been taken on this very wild ride.
Over the last three years I've learnt how my own evolution and that of the film are intertwined in a cosmic dance, and I watched my purpose came alive alongside the film’s. The two things I’d been scared to do and putting off for years were directing a film and writing and I ended up having to do both on this project, even though it wasn’t what I originally signed up for. My resolve to birth these stories into the world in a way that was faithful to Tom's original intentions for the project, that moves, inspires and transforms, as well as maintains congruence with the frequency of this kind of message, has inspired me to keep going every day for the last three years, even when I was totally broken and thought I couldn’t go on.
In many ways, what’s been going on behind the scenes to get this movie made is as relevant to the message of transformation that inspired the project as the film itself. I often get asked how we went about making a film like this so I’m looking forward to going deeper into my journey with The Portal, and filmmaking in general, in future blogs and videos. It’ll be a mix of fears and challenges I’ve faced making films (present and past) and how I’ve dealt with them, as well as my successes and failures staying mindful and present throughout the process. I’ll share the highs and lows, how I broke through old ways of thinking to get the job done, what it means to make a film and book about the evolution of human consciousness, and the unique role each of us play in it’s unfolding.
I’m looking forward to sharing these stories as an accompaniment to the film and book because I know a lot of us put off tapping into the secret arsenal that we have hidden away inside us due to not having the confidence, techniques –or reason– to pull it out for the world. And I feel that the more tips on what to do to draw all that out of ourselves, the better. I waited until I was forced by circumstance but what I learnt in the process is: when we are pushed further than we thought possible, amazing things happen.
That’s why I get so excited about the film, and the book, and the opportunity to remind people that the mental congestion and resistance we all experience is universal. We've all got a past to deal with. You’re not alone in that experience, neither am I, and there are ways to go about reprogramming ourselves...we touch on all this in The Portal.
We’re living in the age of transformation. When we look at what’s going on in our collective global narrative we’re really moving out of the warrior archetype into the magician archetype, which means that instead of conquering things we start to transform things, starting with ourselves. That’s what all these practices (meditation, contemplation, gratitude, time in nature, intention-setting and so on) can help us to do: get closer to our inner world to enable that transformation to take place.
Now I see my purpose as using film as a medium to shift consciousness and to transform the way we consume media and interact in the world. But I’m starting to learn that not only is my purpose something that sets my soul alive and expands me in every way, it’s also a unique contribution that only I can bring to the world in exactly that form. So if I don’t do it, it won’t happen. The same goes for everyone else on the planet. It’s pretty cool when you start thinking of it that way. And it's a helpful tool to get my butt out of bed in the morning to kick on, even when the going is tough.
The Portal is part of a global paradigm shift that's sweeping through and has transformation and evolution running through it’s veins. It's been a catalyst for many of us in the team and I know it will jump-start a lot of other people too. I can’t wait to start seeing The Portal play a role in helping people to really come alive so we can all contribute to creating the kind of lives and future that we dream of. The brilliant futurist Daniel Schmachtenberger (who appears in the film) invited Tom and I to imagine and call in an enlightened planet, and to invite our viewers/readers to do the same. So that's the vision we're holding on to and this film is one piece in the puzzle of helping us all get there. It’s amazing to already see the passion people have for the project and the material, and the discussion that it sparks, in early audience test-screenings, and it will continue to gather steam as the film has it’s world premiere next month at Dances with Films in LA, and with the July book release here in Australia, NZ and UK.
Imagine life when 7 billion people go through the portal...
Pre-order is available at:
Book Depository
International edition (September publication date):
And if you haven’t seen the just-released trailer, check it out HERE.
コメント