2012 : Time For Change, SF Screening :: First Thoughts

Awesome stuff, thank you to Daniel, Joao and all of the wonderful producers, presenters and commentators.

I found the film to be engaging, thoughtful, pragmatic, enjoyable and the animation is superb. Fantastic, like a slick mix of Monty Python and Alex Grey! Really well-done.

Might I add a few comments?

I love the scattershot approach to solving the challenges of our day: permaculture, a Bucky Fuller design revolution, water based combustion engine, green tech, alternative currencies, urban farming, yoga, entheogens, etc. I also found very satisfying that fully 1/3rd of the film is devoted to the aforementioned and other solutions.

Whenever I see a film of this sort, I think "what would my father say?" Well, in this case, my father would ask for solutions, not armchair philosophizing...and this film delivers solutions in spades.

I also greatly enjoyed the general feeling of optimism that Daniel and many others, especially Barbara Marx Hubbard, seem to espouse. I agree, we are at a precipice, and whether or not we plunge into positive change and conscious evolution is up to us as a civilization of individuals sharing a common cosmos.

There were some choice video excerpts with Terence McKenna, Buckminster Fuller and others that were also well done.

On the flip side, and in no particular order, some additional comments and questions:

While the scattershot approach to solutioneering this challenge is indispensable (and pragmatic), I can't help but wonder whether or not there is political harmony amongst the otherwise disparate ideologies presented? Is there provincial infighting amongst the luminaries where some feel their specific area of expertise is the most important? Or are we to assume/believe that at the cutting edge of this movement the individuals involved are fully cognizant of the need for each and every one of the their ideals to be exploited?

The environmental, progressive political and previous cultural movements have all been ravaged by this type of infighting - though they've all been more structurally hierarchical than this one. (That's where the E+SM comes in...anyone, even me, can get involved on any level, but that's another topic.) While I definitely cannot imagine a way forward that does not involve leaders leading, I need to allow myself the freedom to ask how it's going.

The general thesis of the film, as I understand it, is that there is nothing specific that's "going to happen" in 2012, at least not that we yet know. But we can rally around the date/time as a catalyst for positive and conscious change and evolution. Am I right there?

Is that thesis presented cogently in the film, or did I already know that was the gist and took it as a matter of course? Would my father understand that as readily as I did? Or does my 20+ years of soul searching, astral traveling and psychedelic experience prepare me innately for that message?

It's an important message to examine, given that this movement is nothing if we can't reach larger segments of the population. But here's the rub: in my opinion, there is a Terence McKenna quote as mentioned in the film is particularly poignant now.

Not having the text of that quote available, here's a similar one from TM from a talk live at The Fez in NYC as broadcast on WFMU:

The reason I’m a psychedelic advocate is not because I think it’s easy, or because I think it’s a sure thing — I don’t think it’s easy or a sure thing. It’s simply that it’s the only game in town. Nothing else can change your mind on a dime like we are going to have to change our minds on a dime. If we had 500 years to sort this out, we could maybe have a fighting chance without radical pharmacological intervention. Quote can be seen here: http://bit.ly/cnyo93

So what am I saying? Although I understand that to give this film, and the movement behind it, some traction and mainstream appeal, we need to downplay the more controversial components...but my concern (as it always is) is that in downplaying the importance of psychedelic, gnostic experience is to run the risk of this movement bleeding dry as it gets co-opted by the very media outlets we're hoping to avoid.

Though I can feel the intrinsic pull of our spirit plant friends and teachers shine through in the film, as mentioned before - with so much personal exploration of these topics, I have a hard time determining the context.

Regardless of my concerns, I think the film is very well done and we should all be grateful for it's presence on the circuit. Good luck at your future screenings!

-ohmabatu