Things Are Changing Productions

Our Enduring Fascination with Synchronicity

Time is Art ‘, a narrative documentary film-in-progress that explores synchronicity and the role of visionary art, is preparing for worldwide release in three languages on 11/11/2015. The film follows a writer’s metaphysical journey through inspiring urban and natural settings in California and New York guided by author, Graham Hancock, biologist, Rupert Sheldrake, Carl Jung historian Richard Tarnas, visionary artists Alex Grey and Allyson Grey, mystic, Toko-pa Turner and many other scientists, artists and activists. The transmedia project which also includes a book of the same name, comes at an important moment in new science, quantum physics and consciousness studies.

This year is the 63rd anniversary of Jung’s (1952) concept of synchronicity. “In response to the seemingly growing popularity of this concept, Princeton University Press, in 2010, decided to reissue the seminal publication Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Although a complete formulation of synchronicity was published only in 1952, Jung had used the term in his lectures as early as 1929 (Cambray, 2009).

Carl Jung used synchronicity to refer to a meaningful coincidence of an outer event with an individual’s inner state in which there is no apparent causal relationship. The term consists of the Greek words for joined with and in time, suggesting a bond that takes place in temporal correspondence. Synchronicities are also associated with the uncommon and often consist of numinous, life-changing, and deeply spiritual experiences (Main, 2007); these synchronicities can play a critical role in an individual’s growth and personal transformation (e.g., Richo, 1998).” – Dan Hacoy

This year also marks the 32nd anniversary of the Police’s 1983 hit album “Synchronicity”. Early on in the making of our film ‘Time is Art’, I had a pretty wild synchronicity concerning the Police’s album. We were traveling back from the Berkshires in Massachusetts and had stopped at a funky looking restaurant serving questionable Mexican food. I think the owner mentioned she was either an ex Hollywood makeup artist or just liked to wear a ton of makeup. She literally looked as if she had come from a 1950’s hollywood set. The tiny place was packed full of a surprising amount of old magazines, art and furniture from the 50, 60’s and 70’s. In that moment I was thinking about the film, as it occupied my mind constantly, since we were still hashing it out through research, conversations and brainstorming sessions. There was a large stack of old Life Magazines and Rolling Stones from the and 70’s and 80’s. I looked through a few and by the third one I was just flipping the pages quickly and came to a page with an advertisement for The Police’s Synchronicity album!

At the time, even though I was a huge Police fan, I did not realize that their most popular album was called ‘Synchronicity’. For some reason I had not connected the dots, so for me this was confirmation that the project warranted more thought and research. (Whats unprecedented is that the album was so massively appealing that millions purchased it as well as the preceding four Police albums in numbers great enough to place all five on the 1983 sales chart simultaneously at year’s end.)

A quick survey of popular books and academic publications indicates that the idea of Synchronicity has never been more popular.

Just in the last year, several large international conferences have been held on synchronicity and related topics, including the Synchronicity: Matter & Psyche Symposium at Joshua Tree National Park where much of the film ‘Time is Art’ takes place. The upcoming Synchronicity Summit at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY features a plethora of academics and researchers such as Jon Turk, PhD, and Neurosurgeon Eben Alexander, MD .

Besides synchronicity, the film also explores an alternative to the materialistic and exploitative money-driven society we are all expected to live in. Synchronicity shows us that there are other ways of understanding our role in the universe. When you think of someone and then 5 seconds later they call you, its not a coincidence. During our film shoot with Rupert Sheldrake he argued that synchronicity is also a bit like telepathy. In one of his books he talks about why dogs can sense that their owner is coming home. Elephants, horses and other animals flee and hide for cover hours before massive storms hit. How is this possible if all of life is not interconnected and communicating through unseen realms of reality?

‘Time is Art’ is meant to fuel and inspire this growing movement. Says ‘Time is Art’ co-director, Joél Mejia, “We want to contribute to the awakening in global consciousness that we are witnessing right now. To contribute to the increasing number of conversations about our understanding of time, space and interconnectedness that resonate with so many people right now.”

The title, ‘Time is Art’, coined by the visionary author, José Argüelles, whose work is a major inspiration for the film, is a twist on the catch phrase “time is money”. In the world of the film, “time” is unyoked from the relentless pursuit of material and capital gain and the audience is given an alternative framework: ‘What if we lived in a world where time is linked with creative potential and art?’-hence the film’s title, “Time is Art”.

In a recent article, Aaron Kase of Reset.me says of the film, “ultimately, the film is about how to shift from being caught up in an ego and success-driven society into a state of seeking peace and community anywhere we go.”

Brent Marchant via Vivid Life, also wrote “Even though many worthwhile films in this genre have been released in recent years, “Time is Art” could well prove to be one of the most important offerings in this vein.”

The filmmakers recently launched a teaser/extended trailer and are currently running an Indiegogo campaign that ends August 1st to raise post-production funds. The trailer, pitch video, and additional information about the production are available on the Indiegogo site, as well as pre-orders of the film, soundtrack and book plus perks like a special dinner with the filmmakers and passes to the premiere on 11/11/15 in NYC as thanks for contributing to the Indiegogo campaign.

The Time Feels Right

 

For those paying attention, we are living in extraordinary times. People have always made extraordinary art and overcome extraordinary challenges so why is now any different from the past? Self-awareness empowers the shift towards a more sustainable way of life where we are more connected to nature and to ourselves. Where traditional media has failed to inform us, independent voices have risen to educate the people about what is really going on. Technology puts content and the ability to make content within reach for anyone that has curiosity, creativity and discipline. The documentary film, Time is Art, was born from that combination of necessity and opportunity, seized by passionate creatives looking for a hungry audience with the hope that such important ideas are considered more and more legitimate in the mainstream. While it’s true that many of the claims we make are esoteric and mysterious in nature, if you check into any one of the artists, scholars, activists and scientists featured in the the film Time is Art, you’ll see they have plenty of legs to stand on. Their books, such as Rupert Sheldrake’s “The Science Delusion”, have a backing in science’s rigorous methods. We are making this film because it is imperative that these ideas get out into the mainstream if we are to continue to create a more balanced world that cares for the well being of the planet and it’s people.

It’s rare when everything lines up for the underdog documentary project and it’s under resourced creative team. It is also rare for an artist to be able to pinpoint the exact source of their ideas or even how they ultimately end up executing ideas that were once completely abstract. There is obviously vision and talent involved, but sometimes there is something more to it – what many artists call a “divine spark” of inspiration – that which is mysterious and oftentimes, unexplainable. It is important to note that this entire transmedia project has been a co-creation between a group of talented artists, each contributing an important skill throughout the production process and trusting the very phenomenon we were documenting; synchronicity. This mysterious phenomenon is a template, a guide, to our creative process that allows things to just happen, to breathe and flow as opposed to forcing the outcome. The exploration of the nature of time has truly become the driving force behind many of our artistic choices.

Visionary art, that which is ahead of its time, is often misunderstood and overlooked. Yet over time it eventually reveals its secrets to the world. Although we are at a very peculiar moment in human history, the time feels right for telling a story of this kind. Millions of people buy books, read articles, and watch documentaries about spirituality and supernatural experiences because they’ve had something unexplainable happen to them and want to explore it further. We have come to realize over time that we all share this connection and we call it the “collective dream”. The spiritual path we follow can be better understood through art, community, and conversation. Thus, the transmedia project becomes a tool we can use at conferences and retreats for individuals who want to explore these topics more in depth. We plan to develop and facilitate workshops around the world, screening the film and assisting groups of people in co-creating transformative projects together. This type of direct action is happening all over the world. People are starting schools, retreat centers, community centers, wildlife sanctuaries, permaculture farms, building earthships and ecovillages. The time feels right and we are confident our film can reach an international audience itching for this kind of experience.

The time doesn’t feel right every second of the day but in general, it’s feeling more like we are co-creating a new timeline. Life is a rollercoaster ride and the moment you receive the truth and think you’ve reached the end of the ride, someone tells another big lie, creating more karma and suddenly the ride is going in reverse. Maybe that’s why its helpful, even on just a psychological level, to be more open to the cyclical patterns of nature, the hidden meanings of symbols, and the dreamlike overlapping of people, places, and moments. This is a major theme in our forthcoming film, Time is Art.

There are many prophecies about the coming age. This fascinating article, Earth Changes and Hopi World-Ages By Gary A. David via Graham Hancock’s website (Graham is also featured in Time is Art), helps one gain a larger understanding of the cycles of time.

“We are currently living at the end of the Hopi Fourth World, where chaos and a life out of balance with the ways of the Creator are the norm. Hopi elders believe, however, we are soon to enter the next world-age (Fifth World), where peace, prosperity, and spirituality shall reign. Some Hopi prophets forecast that fire will again be the purifying agent that ultimately brings us into this new era. In biblical terms it will be “a new heaven and a new earth.” Grandfather David Monongye, Fire Clan member from the village of Hotevilla, Arizona, stated the following during the 1970s when he was over 90 years old.”

Another Hopi teaching and for me, one of the most powerful prophecies from the Hopi which also resonates with the creators of the film, who are mostly women, refers to the rise of the divine feminine.

“The wave that we ride is the emergence of the “grandmother archetype” that is remembered in the ancient stories… a powerful metaphor, a truly sacred symbol that arises now from the depths of the psyche of the individual and of society. It is being activated and embodied by circles of elder women on many fronts, in many locales, and it holds the seeds of an entirely new consciousness that stands in stark contrast to the prevailing paradigms of our current situation as a human family. I like to call this the Age of the Grandmothers.” – GrandmothersSpeak.com

Meditating on Time is Art

Meditation is a modality that can sometimes feel as if its being shoved down your throat. You hear about it and read about it all the time. My first exposure was through the filmmaker, David Lynch, some ten years ago. He travels the world doing lengthy presentations on transcendental meditation. It’s a long story, but at the time, my cousin who was also interested in meditation suggested we go to one of his talks at UCLA. It was totally last minute and hundreds of people were in line. At one point I think we finally figured out that it was, of course, completely sold out. But the universe does it’s thing and somehow I ended up at the stage entrance where people working the event were taking a smoke break. The next thing I knew, I walked in with them and sat down at an empty seat. No one blinked an eye, because it was as if I was meant to be there and they seemed to know this, too. A minute later with his massive head of hair, there was David Lynch on stage literally blowing my mind. Besides the usual rants about how Hollywood ruins films, he talked about how meditation helps him channel his increasingly risky ideas into his films through a “stream of consciousness” technique. He even had a physician on stage hooking people up to some machine that showed how the brain waves were effected during meditation.

According to the David Lynch Foundation, Transcendental Meditation doesn’t focus on breathing or chanting, like other forms of meditation. Instead, it encourages a restful state of mind beyond thinking.

Stevie Wonder also sang about TM in one of his most popular songs “Jesus Children of America” from his mind blowing 1973 album, Innervisions. The lyric “transcendental meditation speaks of inner preservation” used to loop in my mind for hours after listening to that song. I thought, wow, Stevie was really tapped in to the incredible creative energy of the 70’s and I need to meditate so I can write songs as profound as he did during that time.

I tried TM but soon realized it wasn’t really “hooking me” so I gave it up. I tried chanting with a Buddhist organization and it was a form of mediation to some degree but that didn’t seem to work for me either.

Meditation works differently for everybody. For some people, they need to do 20 Ayahuasca ceremonies and ask for help with their meditation practice. Some people need to do a 2 hour yoga class to relax enough to actually mediate. I love yoga, and I can typically meditate for a few minutes after a class but in order to really “tap in” I needed to step it up a notch.

One day I discovered a group sound meditation session lead by Alexandre Tannous. He uses gongs and tuning forks to “tune” the body. Not long after a session with Alexandre, I formed my dream project, a band called Dream Circle with my husband Joel. Alexandre was also the inspiration for the first webisode that eventually turned into the feature documentary, Time is Art. Watch the clip below.

Fast forward many years later. My husband Joel and I had been editing Time is Art for months. When it came time for story editing, the most difficult part of the process, the three core collaborators did a private sound meditation at Golden Drum to help smooth out the tension. We are all very opinionated with strong personalities that often talk over each other so it was important to get in sync. We were also told after the session that creating an alter in alignment with the four directions before a major meeting or editing session will help the collaboration process.

Just to relax, I started listening to a particular mantra with tibetan bowls. Not long after the sound bath we started each editing session by creating an alter and listening to this recording which turned out to be the Gayatri Mantra. In the beginning I didn’t know what it meant but felt transformed every time I would meditate to it for even just a few minutes which goes to show you just how powerful it is.

The Gayatri Mantra is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus worldwide and is a Vedic Sanskrit verse from a hymn of the Rigveda. It is considered to be a supreme vehicle for gaining spiritual enlightenment. The longer form of the mantra activates all seven major Chakras and connects them to the seven great spiritual realms of existence.

A modern translation of the entire mantra says, “I invoke the Earth Plane, The Astral Plane, The Celestial Plane, The Plane of Spiritual Balance, The Plane of Human Spiritual Knowledge, The Plane of Spiritual Austerites, and The Plane of Ultimate Truth. Oh, great Spiritual Light which is the brilliance of all Divinity, we meditate upon You. Please illumine our minds.” By chanting this mantra, Divine spiritual light and power is infused in each of the seven chakras and connects them to the Spiritual Realms. The last part infuses our minds, hearts and souls with the power of the spiritual light that created the Universe.

After a few months of consistent meditation to this recording I began to live the messages in the film. Time truly became less about rushing and trying to get things done. I’ve learned to slow down and take things as they come. My creative ideas have always been more then I can handle (or anyone else for that matter, just ask my husband). When the time comes I know all the documentary treatments, the screenplays, the events, the workshops, the albums, the trips all over the world will be executed when they are ready. There’s no rush because there’s plenty of time, especially since there is really no time when you live the mantra ‘Time is Art’.