Introduction to Meta-Movieology Course Back by Popular Demand



MetaIntegral Academy is excited to once again offer the wonderful and ground-breaking 8-week course in Meta-Movieology created and facilitated by Mark Allan Kaplan beginning on September 4, 2014. Mark is widely recognized as "the preeminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema" so you are in for a real treat. If you are a movie enthusiast and into integral and evolutionary approaches to personal growth and development, this course is for you!

Register Today...

Meta-Movieology I

An 8-Week Course in Using Movies to More Deeply Understand and Fully Embody an Integral and Evolutionary Perspective

PUT DOWN THE BOOKS, PICK UP THE POPCORN 
AND ENTER THE WORLD OF EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENTAINMENT

From: September 4, 2014 (Thursday) at 12:00am PDT
To: November 9, 2014 (Sunday) at 12:00am PDT

What Is It?
Meta-Movieology is a groundbreaking meta-approach to learning Integral Theory through a transformative moving image viewing practice. In this course you will develop a deeper and more visceral understanding of the basic elements of the Integral approach by using the aesthetic and multisensory power of the moving image for embodied learning and evolutionary growth.

Location:
This event takes place online.

DETAILS:

The moving image in all its evolving forms has a unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Over the last several years Mark Allan Kaplan has discovered a profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

This course is for anyone interested in Integral Theory, for those interested in the transformative power of the moving image, and for anyone who loves movies and is interested in their own personal growth and development. For those unfamiliar with Integral Theory it will offer a simple, powerful, and intuitive way into the integral-evolutionary perspective.  For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a wonderful opportunity to revisit and viscerally deepen your understanding of integral theory and see and feel how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have. For those who are interested in their own personal growth and development and love movies, either as a viewer or creator, this work will give you a deeper appreciation and understanding for the medium, along with a greater capacity to use it for healing and growth of self, other and world.

Join Mark for this introductory course, which explores how the six basic Integrally-informed lenses of holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states and types can be utilized as powerful transformational practices for using any moving image work, from movies to video games, for your own evolutionary growth and development. This course will be taught through 8 weekly 2-hour conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). The first week you will be introduced to Meta-Movieology in general. Each of the subsequent 6 weeks will be devoted to a single Meta-Movieology lens and practice. The final week will be a reflection and wrap up week. Each week Mark will assign practices for you to do that week using that week’s lens. There will also be weekly readings and movie viewing assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding of this work. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – Integral Theory and the movies will never look or feel the same.

Dates: 8 weeks: Aug. 31st – Sept. 21st; Sept. 28th – Oct. 12th; and Oct.19th – Nov. 9th

Cost: $345.00 USD plus $12.50 handling fee (includes a free download of the Meta-Movieology meditation video “The Pond”)

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Thursdays 1-3pm Pacific Time

September 4 – Week 1: Introduction
September 11 – Week 2: The HOLONIC Sense
September 18  – Week 3: I Heart QUADRANTS
October 2 – Week 4: LEVELS of a Groundhog's Day
October 9 – Week 5: The Imaginarium of Developmental LINES
October 23 – Week 6: Altered STATES
October 30 – Week 7: TYPOLOGY Code
November 6 – Week 8: Conclusion

Note there is no call on September 25th or October 16th.

Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments:*

Week 2: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
Week 3: "I Heart Huckabees" (2004)
Week 4: "Groundhog Day" (1993)
Week 5: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009)
Week 6: "Altered States" (1980)
Week 7: "Source Code" (2011)

*Participants will be required to either rent or buy the movies listed as Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments. All other materials will be supplied by the instructor.

COURSE TESTIMONIALS

"I was surprised at how deep the Meta-Movieology practice goes. After completing the course, I have a richer experience with films, which has cascaded into other areas of my life."
– Heather, San Carlos, CA

"I can't say enough good things about the Meta-Movieology course. It was delightful and profound. This course enabled me to see integral concepts in movies that I had not recognized before and that's saying a lot because I have followed Ken Wilber since his first publications." 
– Dennis, Silver Springs, MD

"Mark is a great teacher! I am out of my league as far as my experience with integral is concerned, yet the materials, movies and weekly discussions in this course met me right where I was at. I found the meditations mind blowing and key to the shifts I am experiencing in my expanding awareness. I feel so fortunate to have stumbled on this opportunity."
– Anne, Charlotte, NC

"The Meta-Movieology course is at the theoretical, practical, and pedagogical cutting-edge of integral and evolutionary film theory and practice – it is a sophisticated training in how to experience film, and therein how to deepen one’s experience of the world within and around us. While being theoretically advanced, this course is taught in a manner that anyone, beginner or advanced practitioner, can readily get and do so with transformative results. I very highly recommend this course of study."
– Michael, Augusta, GA

PRESENTERS

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is an independent award-winning filmmaker and the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts.  Mark has a B.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, an M.F.A. in Motion Picture Directing from the American Film Institute, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Certificate in Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University. He has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a producer, writer, director, editor, researcher, and consultant. Mark’s creative works have been shown on television, in theaters, schools, and colleges, and at film festivals and expositions around the world. He has also conducted seminal research in Integral, transpersonal, transformative, and transdisciplinary approaches to film, video, and multimedia at Interval Research Corporation, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and as founder and lead researcher of the Integral Cinema Project, an independent research, production, and educational initiative sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. Mark received Integral Institute's 2008 Integral Life Award in recognition of his continuing groundbreaking research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.

“Mark’s work is the first mature application of Integral Theory to any domain of art.” 
– Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. (Founding CEO of MetaIntegral)

“Mark is the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema and his work represents one of the most advanced and profound meta-theory’s of art and media to date.” 
– Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. (Professor of History and Philosophy of Art, Georgia Regents University)

“Mark’s passionate quest to explore the further reaches of film and media theory and practice is inspiring and holds great promise.”
– Jean Picker Firstenberg (President Emeritus, American Film Institute)

Click here to register - join Mark and other integralists, evolutionaries, and movie enthusiasts in this enlightening and entertaining course!






Integral Cinema Studio Published in the Russian Journal "Eros and Kosmos"



The Integral Cinema Studio article series, originally published on Integral Life is being translated into Russian and published in "Eros and Kosmos" (Эрос и Космос), a contemporary online Russian language journal exploring integral, transdisciplinary and postmetaphysical perspectives.

The first article in the series, the Holonic Lens, is available at: http://eroskosmos.org/integral-cinema-act-1-holarchic-prism/


Integral Cinema Movie and TV List (Updated)



The latest Movies and TV shows to pass the Integrally-Informed Movie and TV Test have been added to the Amazon Integral Cinema Movie and TV List. New listings include:

The Dark Knight Trilogy - An epic Integral journey from a pre-modern to modern to post-modern to transmodern society spurred on by the evolution of an archetype and the individual beneath the archetypal form as he heroically evolves from egocentric to kosmocentric circles of care and concern.

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen's masterful integrally-informed temporal shifting adventure into the present and historical and creative streams of Paris and the artist's and lover's inner and outer evolution.

Looper - A trippy Integrally-informed journey that uses a multi-temporal template to spur the evolution of a character through the interaction of the character's older and younger self.

The Sixth Sense - A holonic masterpiece, exploring the subtle meaning streams between realities and the evolution of a little boy from a frightened child to a kosmocentric medium between worlds.

The movies and television shows on this list have integrally-informed elements to varying degrees according to my findings in my article "Toward an Integral Cinema: The Application of Integral Theory to Cinematic Media Theory and Practice" in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (2010).


Mark Allan Kaplan Portfolio now on Behance



A selection of drawings, photographs, and movies by Mark Allan Kaplan are now available for viewing on Behance at: https://www.behance.net/markallankaplan




Introduction to Meta-Movieology



The word “movieology” is traditionally defined as the study of the movies. Meta means “beyond” or “greater than” and Meta-Movieology refers to an approach that goes beyond the mere study of movies to a practice of using the viewing of moving images in all their evolving forms for personal growth, transformation, and evolutionary development.

 Meta-Movieology practice is effective because of the moving image’s unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Another factor that makes the movie image a potential tool for transformation is the complex connection and communication between creator, moving image work, viewer, and world. Since all human-made works are the partial product of the human imagination, the imaginary is embedded in all human-made artifacts including and especially, the moving image (2005a). Because humans imagine through imagery (mental images, dream imagery, etc.), and the moving has the unique capacity to concretize or reify imaginary dimensions, in a sense doubling the inner image with an outer image, the moving image is inextricably and uniquely bound with the human imagination. This produces a complex symbiotic-metamorphic web of interaction between the inner images of cinematic creators and viewers and the outer cinematic form, which makes the moving image a potential catalyst for individual and collective evolutionary growth and development (Kaplan, 2013; Morin, 2005a; 2005b).
By means of the [moving image] machine, in their own likeness, our dreams are projected and objectified. They are industrially fabricated, collectively shared. They come back upon our waking life to mold it, to teach us how to live or not to live. We reabsorb them, socialized, useful, or else they lose themselves in us, we lose ourselves in them. There they are stored ectoplasms, astral bodies that feed off our persons and feed us, archives of soul. – Edgar Morin, 2005a, p.218
I have developed the Meta-Movieology practice over the last several years during my research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic theory and practice. During these explorations I discovered this profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective to produce personal transformation and growth. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral and evolutionary frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

I discovered that this practice is not just for those of us who watch movies, but for media makers as well. While it is true that you cannot teach someone to have talent, but beyond mastering the craft of media making, I believe that through this practice we can develop the structures of consciousness that are common to all creative masters, and that is the capacity to see multiple aspects of reality with a deeper and more expansive view.

On this coming Thursday, May 15th, 2014, I will be teaching an introductory course in this practice sponsored by MetaIntegral Academy. In this course we will be exploring the basic practices related to the Integral framework elements of HOLONS, QUADRANTS, LEVELS, LINES, STATES and TYPES. In the follow-up advanced course we will explore the advanced Integral perceptual frameworks of ZONES, ALTITUDES, ENERGIES, METHODS, COMPLEXITY, and ARCHETYPES.

You can find out more and sign up for the introductory course at: www.metamovieology.com

References

Kaplan, M. A. (2013). Integral cinematic analysis: Mapping the multiple dimensions of the cinema and the co-evolution of cinema, consciousness, culture, and society. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 8(3&4), 255-276. Available at: https://foundation.metaintegral.org/products/integral-cinematic-analysis

Morin, E. (2005a). The cinema, or the imaginary in man. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Morin, E. (2005b). The stars. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

A Course in Meta-Movieology



MetaIntegral Academy is excited to offer you a new 8-week course created and facilitated by Mark Allan Kaplan. It's called Meta-Movieology and it starts next month. If you are a movie enthusiast and into integral and evolutionary approaches to personal growth and development, this course is for you!

Register today.

Meta-Movieology I

An 8-Week Course in Using Movies to More Deeply Understand and Fully Embody an Integral and Evolutionary Perspective

PUT DOWN THE BOOKS, PICK UP THE POPCORN 
AND ENTER THE WORLD OF EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENTAINMENT

From: May 15, 2014 (Thursday)
To: July 6, 2014 (Sunday)


What Is It?
Meta-Movieology is a groundbreaking meta-approach to learning Integral Theory through a transformative moving image viewing practice. In this course you will develop a deeper and more visceral understanding of the basic elements of the Integral approach by using the aesthetic and multisensory power of the moving image for embodied learning and evolutionary growth.

Location:
This event takes place online.

DETAILS:

The moving image in all its evolving forms has a unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Over the last several years Mark Allan Kaplan has discovered a profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

This course is for anyone interested in Integral Theory, for those interested in the transformative power of the moving image, and for anyone who loves movies and is interested in their own personal growth and development. For those unfamiliar with Integral Theory it will offer a simple, powerful, and intuitive way into the integral-evolutionary perspective.  For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a wonderful opportunity to revisit and viscerally deepen your understanding of integral theory and see and feel how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have. For those who are interested in their own personal growth and development and love movies, either as a viewer or creator, this work will give you a deeper appreciation and understanding for the medium, along with a greater capacity to use it for healing and growth of self, other and world.

Join Mark for this introductory course, which explores how the six basic Integrally-informed lenses of holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states and types can be utilized as powerful transformational practices for using any moving image work, from movies to video games, for your own evolutionary growth and development. This course will be taught through 8 weekly 2-hour conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). The first week you will be introduced to Meta-Movieology in general. Each of the subsequent 6 weeks will be devoted to a single Meta-Movieology lens and practice. The final week will be a reflection and wrap up week. Each week Mark will assign practices for you to do that week using that week’s lens. There will also be weekly readings and movie viewing assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding of this work. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – Integral Theory and the movies will never look or feel the same.

Dates: 8 weeks: May 15th – July 6th

Cost: $345.00 USD plus $12.50 handling fee (includes a free download of the Meta-Movieology meditation video “The Pond”)

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Thursdays 1-3pm Pacific Time

May 15 – Week 1: Introduction
May 22 – Week 2: The HOLONIC Sense
May 29 – Week 3: I Heart QUADRANTS
June 5 – Week 4: LEVELS of a Groundhog's Day
June 12 – Week 5: The Imaginarium of Developmental LINES
June 19 – Week 6: Altered STATES
June 26 – Week 7: TYPOLOGY Code
July 3 – Week 8: Conclusion

Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments:*

Week 2: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
Week 3: "I Heart Huckabees" (2004)
Week 4: "Groundhog Day" (1993)
Week 5: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009)
Week 6: "Altered States" (1980)
Week 7: "Source Code" (2011)

*Participants will be required to either rent or buy the movies listed as Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments. All other materials will be supplied by the instructor.

PRESENTERS

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is an independent award-winning filmmaker and the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts.  Mark has a B.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, an M.F.A. in Motion Picture Directing from the American Film Institute, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Certificate in Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University. He has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a producer, writer, director, editor, researcher, and consultant. Mark’s creative works have been shown on television, in theaters, schools, and colleges, and at film festivals and expositions around the world. He has also conducted seminal research in Integral, transpersonal, transformative, and transdisciplinary approaches to film, video, and multimedia at Interval Research Corporation, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and as founder and lead researcher of the Integral Cinema Project, an independent research, production, and educational initiative sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. Mark received Integral Institute's 2008 Integral Life Award in recognition of his continuing groundbreaking research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.

“Mark’s work is the first mature application of Integral Theory to any domain of art.” 
– Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. (Founding CEO of MetaIntegral)

“Mark is the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema and his work represents one of the most advanced and profound meta-theory’s of art and media to date.” 
– Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. (Professor of History and Philosophy of Art, Georgia Regents University)

“Mark’s passionate quest to explore the further reaches of film and media theory and practice is inspiring and holds great promise.”
– Jean Picker Firstenberg (President Emeritus, American Film Institute)

Click here to register - join Mark and other integralists, evolutionaries, and movie enthusiasts in this enlightening and entertaining course!


Announcing the Publication of "Integral Cinematic Analysis: Mapping the Multiple Dimensions of the Cinema and the Co-Evolution of Cinema, Consciousness, Culture, and Society"



The journal article "Integral Cinematic Analysis: Mapping the Multiple Dimensions of the Cinema and the Co-Evolution of Cinema, Consciousness, Culture, and Society" has just been published in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Winner of the Complex Thought Engagement Award at the 2013 Integral Theory Conference. Available at: https://foundation.metaintegral.org/products/integral-cinematic-analysis.

ABSTRACT

This article provides an introduction to the application of integral and transdisciplinary approaches to cinematic media theoretical analysis. The theories and works of Jean Gebser, Edgar Morin, and Ken Wilber are used to potentially integrate major cinematic theoretical and analytical approaches into a comprehensive meta-approach that covers the objective, subjective, intersubjective, and interobjective dimensions of the cinematic arts. Specific integrally informed lenses of cinematic analysis are introduced as part of this meta-approach, based on Gebser’s perspectival structures, Morin’s cinematic complexity, and Wilber’s Integral framework. Potential benefits for the meta-approach are presented, including a deeper and more expansive understanding of the complex interrelatedness of the experience, form, language, and context of cinematic works, collective works of individual cinematic artists, genres and styles, and collective movements within the medium, along with the evolution of the cinematic medium itself and its relationship with the evolution of individual and collective consciousness, culture, and society. 


The Integral Cinema Project is one of 11 Finalists in the 2014 MetaIntegral Projects in Action Grant Series (DONATE AND VOTE)


The Integral Cinema Project's MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) is one of 11 finalists in the 2014 MetaIntegral Foundation's Projects in Action grant series.


THE MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) is an integrally-informed interactive narrative short video by the Integral Cinema Project and integral cinematic artist-scholar Mark Allan Kaplan.

THE MIRACLE OF WE will attempt to tap into the capacity of the moving image to produce real-world transformation by creating a powerful and engaging short video to help foster the emergence of integral philosophy and culture on a potentially global scale. Using a traditional narrative structure as its foundational through-line in the form of a fictional love story, we will follow two strangers from their first meeting, through their courtship, and to their first kiss, unpacking their journey with various Integral lenses to reveal the rich and staggering complexity of the numerous dimension-perspectives, development structures, states, and typological patterns within, between, and around us that makes our capacity to transcend and include all this and connect with each other a truly miraculous occurrence. Integrated within and around this integrally-informed narrative will be abstract, experimental, meditative, and documentary elements that will include vignettes of other relationships representing the myriad of dimension-perspectives of self, culture and world, along with informational and experiential explorations of the Integral perspective itself. Through live action, stock imagery, animation, and interactive elements, THE MIRACLE OF WE will interweave all these elements into a hybrid dramatic, comedic, inspirational, contemplative, and sensual work with the intention to create an entertaining and transformational visceral experience of the integral perspective in the form of a potentially globally-viral interactive video.

Lead creator of THE MIRACLE OF WE, Mark Allan Kaplan, an independent award-winning filmmaker and the preeminent theorist-practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts, will attempt to break new ground with this work by applying Integrally-informed methods and practices that he has developed over the past several years to the design and execution of this production, including the application of Integrally-informed approaches to narrative, visual, sound, and editorial design, and to pre-production, production, postproduction, and distribution practices. This approach includes the application of Integral practices by all members of the cast and crew to help facilitate an integrally-informed creative field and assist in putting Integral principles into practice to support the transformational intent of the creative work and the potential transformation for creative team members as well.


Donate and Vote for THE MIRACLE OF WE (A Kosmic Love Story) and for the other great projects up for funding and support at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/pow/



"The Pond" Meditation Video Now Available Online for Video on Demand



Experience the audiovisual transformative experience of THE POND now available to rent online Video-on-Demand at Amazon:


THE POND is a short video meditation for relaxation, personal growth and transformation. Transformative approaches to audiovisual expression are used to capture the presence and atmosphere of the natural environment of a pond and the state of consciousness one can acquire when meditating in this environment. The gentle movement and presence of swimming fish and the interplay of earth, water and light, combine to create a healing and calming energy, while subtle shifts in perspective and consciousness-altering audiovisual elements help stimulate the expansion of both inner and outer awareness.

"The Pond" Meditation Video Now on DVD



Experience the full audiovisual transformative experience of THE POND now on DVD at Amazon:


THE POND is a short video meditation for relaxation, personal growth and transformation. Transformative approaches to audiovisual expression are used to capture the presence and atmosphere of the natural environment of a pond and the state of consciousness one can acquire when meditating in this environment. The gentle movement and presence of swimming fish and the interplay of earth, water and light, combine to create a healing and calming energy, while subtle shifts in perspective and consciousness-altering audiovisual elements help stimulate the expansion of both inner and outer awareness.

"The Pond" Selected for Screening at the Hygienic Art Gallery Screening Room 21 Film Festival



"The Pond" was selected for screening at the upcoming Hygienic Art Gallery Screening Room 21 Film Festival in New London, Connecticut on January 24th, 2014. Screening Room 21 is New London’s premier indie film festival features works from both emerging and established filmmakers.

For more on information visit:
The Hygienic Art Gallery Website
Screening Room 21 Event Page
Screening Room 21 Facebook Event Page


Announcing the Online Exhibition of "The Pond" on the Integral Life Art Gallery



This month Integral Life Art Gallery offers their first presentation of video art. The first gallery in this medium is from Mark Allan Kaplan, the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema, who has produced on Integral Life a remarkable series of articles titled “Integral Cinema Studio.” For the gallery this month he offers us a work of Integral video art — this designation not simply about the kinds of technological device used (here a mini-DV camera) but also about the work’s tacit referencing of modes of display that are not centered in movie theatres, as well as its length (5 minutes) and contemplative-meditative mode of artistic expression. The piece is titled THE POND and dates from 2002.

Kaplan’s video draws knowingly on the sundry lineages of moving images (mass media cinema, experimental film, artistic-exhibition), essayed into affecting in the viewer a series of shifts in consciousness. As the artist reports, he entered into meditative states in both the shooting and the editing of the video. In its gorgeous poetically integrative form, many of the frames approaching the beauty of standalone photographic art, as well as the modes of consciousness it evokes, we are privy to a shining instance of integral video art.

In the artist's own words:

As a cinematic/video artist I see myself as a creative inquirer, exploring the potentials of the medium to effect growth and transformation, and attempting to push the medium’s own evolutionary boundaries. My recent video work has focused on explorations of the potential effects that a video artist’s consciousness can have on a video art work; the potential capacity of the medium to communicate that consciousness; and the capacity of the medium to capture and express individual and collective sentient presence, human and other species, along with objective and atmospheric presence or the felt-sense of being in the presence of certain physical objects and within various physical environments.

In THE POND I used Integral transformative practices before, during, and after all aspects of the creative process, exploring if and how an Integrally-informed state of creation consciousness would affect the creative process and work. During the filming of THE POND this Integrally-informed state appeared to give me the ability to alternately and simultaneously hold the awareness of the individual and collective sentient presence of the koi fish swimming in the pond and the physical and environmental realities of the pond itself. This Integrally-informed creation state also seemed to give me the capacity to transcend and include my awareness of my own body, consciousness and the creative technology and become an Integrally-informed mirror for these multiple dimension-perspectives. As I continued using this creation state through the post-production process I felt a force within my own being and within the material itself guiding me toward my goal of attempting to translate and share this deep and transformative Integrally-informed lived-experience of THE POND.

Mark Allan Kaplan

VOICE IN EXILE Classic Film on Stuttering now available on DVD, VOD and Digital Download at Amazon

VOICE IN EXILE – The Powerful Award-Winning Classic Narrative Film Capturing the Experience of Stuttering – Is now available on DVD, Video On Demand, and Digital Download from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Exile-Ben-Bottoms/dp/B00BJC8J9C/ 


“VOICE IN EXILE is the first film on stuttering that tells the story from the inside with all the intensity and power of a real life experience...this is one hell of a film!” – John Harrison, The National Stuttering Association 

“VOICE IN EXILE is among the most notable socio-dramas on the subject of people with physical challenges.” - Geoff Alexander, Academic Film Archive of North America

 “VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkable little film!” – Mitchell Fink, Los Angeles Herald Examiner 

About the Film: 

VOICE IN EXILE is an internationally acclaimed award-winning dramatic and archetypal film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen-year old stutterer, exploring the inner and outer trials, tribulations and fears that stutterer’s often endure. Because of Alan's stuttering, communicating the simplest idea is often impossible. Everywhere Alan goes he faces impatient people who do not understand his severe speech problem. At school, Alan faces snickers and stares that wound him. At night, the horrors of Alan's days invade his dreams, leaving him no peace in sleep. At home, Alan faces loving parents who share his frustration; yet, they are confused and often misguided in their efforts to help him overcome his stuttering. It is Alan's grandfather, a recently retired college professor, who seems to be the only one able to communicate with and help Alan embark on a journey of transformation that ultimately leads to the release of his imprisoned inner voice.

 The writer/director of this powerful cinematic work, Mark Allan Kaplan, is himself a stutterer and this film is the culmination of Mark's deep personal quest to express the inner life of the stutterer through film. This quest for expression began with the writing of the script, during which Mark delved deeply into his own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. The script was further developed with the additional input from interviews with other stutterers, while Mark worked with his committed cinematography, sound, and production design teams to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language. Then Mark worked with the actor playing Alan, Ben Bottoms, on both the physical aspects of stuttering and the emotional underpinnings.

 As a result of this passionate personal and collective effort, VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkably gripping film that touches viewers on many levels. On one level, it is about a young man's quest to conquer his stuttering. On another level, it is about the inner struggle of all those faced with physical and psychological challenges. On a broader and deeper level, the film speaks to all of us as it addresses a universal theme - the struggle to overcome one's legitimate and unfounded fears...fears that inhibit us, often with disastrous results. A Film By Mark Allan Kaplan Starring Ben Bottoms, Jesse Ehrlich, Richard Sarradet, and Sarah Simmons Produced at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies

 For more on VOICE IN EXILE visit www.voiceinexile.com


New Edition of "A Mystical Passover: A Transformational Passover Haggadah" Now on Amazon



New 3rd Edition of "A Mystical Passover: A Transformational Passover Haggadah" Now available for purchase on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Mystical-Passover-Transformational-Haggadah/dp/148198893X/

A MYSTICAL PASSOVER: A TRANSFORMATIONAL PASSOVER HAGGADAH offers a powerful trans-denominational psycho-spiritual approach to the Passover experience that includes individual and group psycho-spiritual exercises to help transform the holiday into a deeply mystical and magical experience for young and old alike.

From the Introduction:

This Passover (Pesach) Haggadah represents a process of spiritual exegesis that I have employed as a vehicle for deepening and healing my relationship with Judaism, my religion of origin. This process consisted of a radical interpretation of the Passover rituals and prayers into a language and process that resonated with my own heart while also attempting to honor the heart of Judaism itself. Through this technique I have endeavored to heal old wounds and purge myself of the obstacles between the Divine and myself.

There are three basic levels of text interpretation in the Jewish tradition: Literal-Biblical, Theoretical-Talmudic, and Mystical-Kabbalistic (Fishbane, 1998; Kenton, 1980). Literal-Biblical text interpretation includes the historical, biblical and narrative levels of the material. Theoretical-Talmudic text interpretation consists of the extrapolation of the philosophical, ethical, moral and religious doctrines, laws and teachings that are woven into the fabric of the written material. Mystical-Kabbalistic text interpretation seeks to unearth the hidden and concealed metaphysical teachings buried in the text.

On the literal level of interpretation, Passover is a ritualistic retelling of the story of a historical biblical event, the Israelites’ exodus from bondage in Egypt. On the theoretical level, the story and rituals of Passover have many philosophical, ethical, moral and religious lessons to teach us about human behavior and the human endeavor to live according to the teachings of the religion of Judaism. Traditionally, the rituals of Passover, including the Passover Seder, tend to focus on these two levels of interpretation and understanding. In the Jewish mystical tradition, Passover can also be seen as a powerful vehicle for personal and communal psycho-spiritual development. From the Mystical-Kabbalistic perspective, the Passover story of a people being freed from the bondage of slavery is transformed into a road map for how an individual can be freed from the bondage of limited consciousness (Kenton, 1980); the land of Egypt becomes the realm of narrowness of body and mind, and Moses becomes the Higher Self being called upon by the Divine to free all the different voices of the psyche (the children of Israel, THE AWAKENING SELF) from the bondage of the ego (Pharaoh).

This mystical level of interpretation became my pathway through the metaphysical gates of these ancient and sacred rites of inner and outer freedom, and my attempt to integrate all three of these levels of interpretation, along with the interpretative constructs of the various denominations of the Judaic tradition, has lead me to the discovery of this powerful transformative psycho-spiritual Passover experience.

About the Author:

MARK ALLAN KAPLAN, PHD is a psycho-spiritual researcher, counselor, educator, and author focusing on integral, transpersonal, and transformative approaches to spiritual life and practice. His writings include "Prayers for the Awakening Self" and "The Experience of Divine Guidance," and he is the founder of the Integral Judaism Project, a trans-denominational research initiative exploring integral and transformative approaches to Judaic theory and practice.


Integral Cinema Studio Translated into Russian Online


Aypraktik, a Russian integrally-informed initiative, has begun to translate and post online Russian translations of the Integral Cinema Studio article series, originally published by Integral Life.

The first translated article can be found at: http://ipraktik.ru/inform/approach/integral-cinema.html.

Translations by Polina Dushatskaya with editing by Eugene Pustoshkin and technical support by Dmitry Baranov.

Original English articles available at Integral Life.


"Voice in Exile" DVD Release - Now Available at Amazon.com



The DVD of "Voice in Exile," my dramatic AFI film about a young stutterer, is now available for purchase from Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Exile-Ben-Bottoms/dp/B00BJC8J9C/

About the Film and the Process of Creating it...

Voice in Exile is a dramatic transformative film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen year old stutterer. Seeing the world, both imagined and real, through Alan's eyes, we share the nightmare that haunts him and his family as he struggles to not let his stuttering stop him from living.

My goal as a filmmaker was to capture the inner and outer world of the stutterer through dramatic, symbolic, archetypal, and audiovisual expression. This was a deeply personal journey for me since I have been a stutterer for most of my life.

The process began with the writing of the script. During the scriptwriting phase I delved into my own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. I also interviewed other stutterers for additional research. The script was further developed while I worked with my cinematographer and production designer to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language.

An audiovisual score was created for the film to explore the use of the expressive elements of space, shape, line, light, color, tone, rhythm, movement, orientation, time, contrast/affinity, sign, symbol and archetype in the capturing of the emotional and perceptual states of an individual who stutters. This score was developed from the my own personal story and experiences, along with the stories and experiences of other stutterer's. The screenplay and storyboards were created concurrently with the visual score, enabling the integration of the visual design throughout the piece. The visual score included divisions for subjective and objective perceptions of waking reality (SPR/OPR); subjective dream states (SDS); and subjective developmental transitions (SDT).

Throughout this process and the rest of preproduction, production, and postproduction, a profound inner battle waged within me. Part of me desired to share these inner experiences with others, while another part of me was terrified of revealing this deeply personal emotional reality.

This personally transformative filmmaking experience also appeared to have a transformative effect on viewers of the film as well. A majority of stutterer's reported feeling as though the film captured their inner lives. This produced emotional release, a reduction in feelings of isolation, and an increase in self-esteem in numerous cases. There was one reported case of the film averting an individual’s attempt at suicide. Families of stutterer's who viewed the material reported an increase in understanding and empathy for the family member who stuttered. Non-stutterer's reported an increase in understanding about stuttering and empathy for people who stutter.

"Voice in Exile" also won numerous awards including the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Silver Medal at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was aired on Cinemax/HBO and A&E Cable Networks.


More Information About "Voice in Exile" is available at voiceinexile.com.


Integral Cinema Studio Dialogue with Ken Wilber (Part 3 & 4)


Announcing the Online Publication of Part 3 and 4 of 
An Audio Dialogue Between Ken Wilber and Mark Allan Kaplan 
Exploring the Application of Integral Theory to 
Cinematic Media Theory and Practice.

For over a year now, Integral Cinema Project Lead Researcher Mark Allan Kaplan has been producing a groundbreaking monthly article series at Integral Life: the much-acclaimed Integral Cinema Studio. In this remarkable exploration, Mark walks us through all of the main elements of Integral theory—using some of our favorite movies to illustrate the basics of the Integral approach, while noting how each of these elements has shaped the cinema experience since the invention of film itself. Not only does this series offer a wealth of perspective and insight to film, filmmakers, and audiences alike, but it also brings more color, more sound, and more awesome explosions to Integral thought and practice! Listen as Mark and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at one of Integral Life's longest-running series, Integral Cinema Studio.

This dialogue serves as a wonderful introduction to the major elements of integral theory. For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a nice opportunity to both revisit your understanding of integral theory and to see how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have.

Either way, Integral Cinema Studio is a terrific way to deepen and enrich your own experience of film, simply by recognizing some of the deeper patterns and perspectives running through your favorite movies that you may not have recognized before. All of the elements of the Integral model are present in our awareness right now; Integral theory simply points to all the various aspects and dimensions that shape our experience of this present moment. It's therefore no surprise that we can see all of these elements reflected in various characters, conflicts, and stories throughout the history of film. Of course, whether the film-makers themselves actually intended this, or just intuited it, is another question—and to some degree inconsequential to the beauty and profundity we experience when these ideas and perspectives come to life on the big screen.

What's more, this discussion and blog series promises to inspire a whole new generation of writers and filmmakers. It's not just how you express these perspectives, ideas, and insights—Integral Art does not require you to represent all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, etc. in your work (though all of these elements are implicitly present in every piece of art). Rather, it's about whether you are able to account for all of these in your own awareness, thereby allowing you to draw from a far richer, more colorful, and more comprehensive pallet of human experience.

So grab a snack from the concession stand, turn off your phone, and enjoy this groundbreaking discussion between Mark Allan Kaplan and Ken Wilber!


Integral Cinema Studio Dialogue with Ken Wilber (Part 2)


Announcing the Online Publication of Part Two of 
An Audio Dialogue Between Ken Wilber and Mark Allan Kaplan 
Exploring the Application of Integral Theory to 
Cinematic Media Theory and Practice.

For over a year now, Integral Cinema Project Lead Researcher Mark Allan Kaplan has been producing a groundbreaking monthly article series at Integral Life: the much-acclaimed Integral Cinema Studio. In this remarkable exploration, Mark walks us through all of the main elements of Integral theory—using some of our favorite movies to illustrate the basics of the Integral approach, while noting how each of these elements has shaped the cinema experience since the invention of film itself. Not only does this series offer a wealth of perspective and insight to film, filmmakers, and audiences alike, but it also brings more color, more sound, and more awesome explosions to Integral thought and practice! Listen as Mark and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at one of Integral Life's longest-running series, Integral Cinema Studio.

This dialogue serves as a wonderful introduction to the major elements of integral theory. For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a nice opportunity to both revisit your understanding of integral theory and to see how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have.

Either way, Integral Cinema Studio is a terrific way to deepen and enrich your own experience of film, simply by recognizing some of the deeper patterns and perspectives running through your favorite movies that you may not have recognized before. All of the elements of the Integral model are present in our awareness right now; Integral theory simply points to all the various aspects and dimensions that shape our experience of this present moment. It's therefore no surprise that we can see all of these elements reflected in various characters, conflicts, and stories throughout the history of film. Of course, whether the film-makers themselves actually intended this, or just intuited it, is another question—and to some degree inconsequential to the beauty and profundity we experience when these ideas and perspectives come to life on the big screen.

What's more, this discussion and blog series promises to inspire a whole new generation of writers and filmmakers. It's not just how you express these perspectives, ideas, and insights—Integral Art does not require you to represent all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, etc. in your work (though all of these elements are implicitly present in every piece of art). Rather, it's about whether you are able to account for all of these in your own awareness, thereby allowing you to draw from a far richer, more colorful, and more comprehensive pallet of human experience.

So grab a snack from the concession stand, turn off your phone, and enjoy this groundbreaking discussion between Mark Allan Kaplan and Ken Wilber!


Integral Cinema Project Receives Donation of Write Brothers Software



The Integral Cinema Project has received the generous donation of Movie Magic Screenwriter, Dramatica Pro, and Outline 4D cinematic story creation software programs from Write Brothers, Inc.

Movie Magic Screenwriter is one of the film industry’s most highly regarded screenwriting software programs, Dramatica Pro is an award-winning story creation program, and Outline 4D is a story outlining and timeline building program.

The Integral Cinema Project is using these three software programs to help study the development process of the textual dimension of cinematic creation.

Our initial testing of these programs suggests that they can be used a valuable tools in the creation of integrally-informed cinematic works by offering the integrally-informed cinematic creator and creative team a wide range of story creation methodologies and dimension-perspectives.

Dramatica Pro offers a powerful story creation methodology based on a unique and integrally-informed story development theory and approach, which uses a four-quadrant approach to story structure. Like Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, Dramatica’s quadratic approach is based on an expansion of the big three domains of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person dimension-perspectives. While Wilber’s model adds the 3rd person plural as the fourth quadrant, Dramatica uses the addition of the 1st person plural dimension-perspective.

Outline 4D extends this integrally-informed story creation process by adding the ability to view the created story from in-depth and overview vertical-outline and horizontal-timeline perspectives, offering the capacity to move through the individual and collective dimensions of a story with varying depth and span.

Movie Magic Screenwriter integrates these developed multi-dimensional story elements and assists in the further development of the created story into a screenplay (teleplay, etc.) format, while also offering tools to help take the elements of the screenplay into the next pre-production and production phases of script breakdown, storyboarding, scheduling and budgeting.

We are deeply grateful for the contribution of these software programs, and for the support and inspiration of the creators of Write Brothers software.

Integral Cinema Studio Dialogue with Ken Wilber (Part 1)


Announcing the Online Publication of Part One of 
An Audio Dialogue Between Ken Wilber and Mark Allan Kaplan 
Exploring the Application of Integral Theory to 
Cinematic Media Theory and Practice.

For over a year now, Integral Cinema Project Lead Researcher Mark Allan Kaplan has been producing a groundbreaking monthly article series at Integral Life: the much-acclaimed Integral Cinema Studio. In this remarkable exploration, Mark walks us through all of the main elements of Integral theory—using some of our favorite movies to illustrate the basics of the Integral approach, while noting how each of these elements has shaped the cinema experience since the invention of film itself. Not only does this series offer a wealth of perspective and insight to film, filmmakers, and audiences alike, but it also brings more color, more sound, and more awesome explosions to Integral thought and practice! Listen as Mark and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at one of Integral Life's longest-running series, Integral Cinema Studio.

This dialogue serves as a wonderful introduction to the major elements of integral theory. For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a nice opportunity to both revisit your understanding of integral theory and to see how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have.

Either way, Integral Cinema Studio is a terrific way to deepen and enrich your own experience of film, simply by recognizing some of the deeper patterns and perspectives running through your favorite movies that you may not have recognized before. All of the elements of the Integral model are present in our awareness right now; Integral theory simply points to all the various aspects and dimensions that shape our experience of this present moment. It's therefore no surprise that we can see all of these elements reflected in various characters, conflicts, and stories throughout the history of film. Of course, whether the film-makers themselves actually intended this, or just intuited it, is another question—and to some degree inconsequential to the beauty and profundity we experience when these ideas and perspectives come to life on the big screen.

What's more, this discussion and blog series promises to inspire a whole new generation of writers and filmmakers. It's not just how you express these perspectives, ideas, and insights—Integral Art does not require you to represent all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, etc. in your work (though all of these elements are implicitly present in every piece of art). Rather, it's about whether you are able to account for all of these in your own awareness, thereby allowing you to draw from a far richer, more colorful, and more comprehensive pallet of human experience.

So grab a snack from the concession stand, turn off your phone, and enjoy this groundbreaking discussion between Mark Allan Kaplan and Ken Wilber!