Monday, January 6, 2020

The Star Wars Saga and the Evolution of Consciousness


It's a Star Wars month for the Integral Cinema Project! Join us as we explore perhaps the most successful consciousness-raising cinematic work of all time, the nine+ theatrical film Star Wars saga, which finally completes its major storyworld arc with the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Star Wars is unique in the history of cinema on so many fronts; that one cinematic work could have such a deep and expansive impact on individual and collective consciousness as well as major effects at the cultural and social level is truly mind-blowing. A small sampling of its impacts include:

  • The rebirthing of mythology for the modern and postmodern age; 
  • The introduction of numerous technological advances in both filmmaking and the movie watching experience, advancing the fields of special effects, animation, sound design, and theatrical projection and sound systems that all increased the capacity for more immersive and consciousness-raising experiences for all cinematic works;
  • The introduction of the “hybrid” genre, which integrates multiple cinematic genres into a meaningful whole and which has contributed to the penetration of an integral structure of consciousness into the popular entertainment domain;
  • And of course, the introduction of the idea of The Force and the exploration of the very nature of individual/local consciousness and collective/non-local consciousness and their intersection, as well as exploring various evolutionary dynamics of consciousness and its relation to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of being and becoming.

The Rise of Skywalker is currently in theaters. We recommend watching the film at least twice, the second time with the intention of seeing any patterns of consciousness you had not seen before.

New Podcast!

You can increase the transformative potential of the second viewing experience by watching our new TEHNC/Integral Cinema Sessions podcast: Why The Rise of Skywalker is brilliant! (and why it matters).


And if you really want to dig in, you may want to check out our previous discussion: Unpacking Star Wars 1-7.


Conscious Movie-of-the-Month discussion is Saturday, January 25th at 1pm PST



For this Conscious Movie-of-the-Month event, we will be discussing the entire Star Wars ennealogy (9-film series). Please join us as we explore the transformative impact of this groundbreaking and historic cinematic work. As always, you are also invited to share your thoughts, reflections and musings about the movie in our group's online discussion forum. You can join the Conscious Good Creators Network for free and sign up for the Conscious Movie-of-the-Month discussion at the same time here: https://conscious-good.mn.co/events/star-wars-conscious-movie-of-the-month-virtual-discussion.

If you have not seen any or all of the three major trilogies of the Star Wars saga you can still participate in this exploration by reading the Wikipedia overview of all the films. Serious fans of the work might also want to check out ICP founder Mark Allan Kaplan's two articles, My Cinematic Emancipation and Star Wars and the Tetra-Evolution of American Cinema. If you are really ambitious and want to binge watch some or all of the series in preparation for our CMoM discussion on the 25th you can now stream every major work of the saga (excluding The Rise of Skywalker, which is currently in theaters) on Disney's new online streaming service, Disney+ (a free trial is currently available).

Happy New Year and New Decade to all...and...

May The Force be with us all!


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