●•٠· KNOW THYSELF ·٠•● [Video]

[stellar]

Excellent work producing this brilliant video.
I think it may entice some to pause and contemplate.
Who knows, some may even get hold of some books an actually Do some Work on themselves.
Thank you for sharing. :)

 

[Laura]

Btw, the closed captions are being worked on right now. ;)

I think it would have been a nice extra touch to read the quotes as they appear on the screen instead of just leaving it to the viewer to read. Also, in a few places, the music overpowers the voice.

 

[Ageeva]

I just like to congratulate you on an excellent first attempt. It's a good length for an introduction, not too short and not too long. Like other feedback my only suggestion would be to turn down the soundtrack a notch, I know it can be tricky to balance the background music with the voice so it supports rather than hinders the message, otherwise a fine result of your holiday work

 

[paralleloscope]

Excellent video spiral out and de-tached, I watched it quite a few times and like how you used funny pictures to balance the terrible. I have been plotting making a similar titled video, but don't think I could have made such a well composited and non combative piece, well done. I was thrilled that you used 1st initiation, but I agree with Laurentien that it probably is too dense/ upfront for a novice seeker with the whole text, but it will be interesting to see feedback on this.

 

[jhonny]

Excellent!!! congratulations, great job!

 

[Cosmos]

I think it would have been a nice extra touch to read the quotes as they appear on the screen instead of just leaving it to the viewer to read.

I second that

 

[shijing]

Finally had a chance to catch up and watch this, and I have to agree -- this was really nicely done. Can't wait to share it :)

 

[melatonin]

Brilliant video. I especially liked the quote from Carl Jung, havent heard it before.

 

[Nienna]

This is a great video, Spiral Out and de-tached! I give it a two-thumbs up.

I really like it.

 

[Ellipse]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback and support. I'm really glad you guys like it.

In regards to the "scary face", I found it's a great representation of the signs of times we're in as an expression for the "horror of the situation". We just put some layers of images over it that make the point even clearer. I'm sorry if it's not for the faint heart, but this is what is happening and has happened in our world, so there is no "fine brushing" it. War is war and it is ugly. I agree with what Laurentien said:

maybe this is the kind of shock that could trigger some to realize that nothing will change until they work to change them self.

I also think that there are even more horrible things happening that we are not aware of and certainly don't want to see.

[quote author=Spiral Out]
We wanted or needed to leave the video at 15min, because that is the maximum length allowed for a single video upload on youtube. Our intention was to address some important issues within that time frame of one video clip, otherwise it would have been two or more video parts and usually not everyone clicks on "part 2" or even "part 3". Someone else on here commented that it was too long and should be shortened and divided into smaller parts. It's hard to satisfy everyone.
[/quote]

Sure, this is the point, you can't satisfy everyone. What is important is to have the conscious that the video only reach a certain range of people due to above points. Perhaps you can do another version with the changes I suggested and compare the result, perhaps it's useless because I'm minority.

This is only suggestion from what I feel, not a criticism. I know how much work doing a such video is.

and usually not everyone clicks on "part 2" or even "part 3"

Do you have statistic to know if the video is seen to the end ?

 

[FireShadow]

I loved it. I thought the imagery (throughout) was spot on. Sure the "silent scream" face was scary, but I thought if reflected perfectly the reaction to all that is going on in our world. I loved the closing imagery as well.

I think you did a great job of putting such a big topic into 15 minutes, concise and powerful.

In addition to adding to my favorites and voting thumbs up, I "stumbled" it so perhaps more people will get to see it.

 

[Cosmos]

the video is now on SOTT: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221040-Know-Thyself

 

[de-tached]

(please remove prior post. reposted with corrections)

Thanks and gratitude for all the excellent feedback!

Just to generally reply to the suggestions, we understand that there will always be a margin of people to whom the video could be better suited. With respect and care for these people, we will be implementing all these considerations into future projects.

As for revisions to the video, I feel the overall positive feedback speaks for itself. The vast majority are greatly moved and inspired, so I feel confident that it stands on its own as it is.

The next video will be longer, so we will be able to address the following concerns with greater ease and variety:
- One long video ~vs~ Breaking it into parts
- Reading the quotes ~vs~ A break in narration
- Emotionally challenging imagery ~vs~ Comfortably modest visuals
- Music & Narrative balance


Also, it would be wonderful to have foreign language subtitles, considering SOTT.net has a diverse readership.

We'll post the transcript for anyone who wishes to translate.
The captioning can be a bit tricky, with the video timecodes and formatting for upload, so along with the transcript, anyone interested can download the text file with the timecodes to translate line-by-line.

Here's the link: https://www.yousendit.com/download/RlRvc2ZFdVUwVW52Wmc9PQ
(File download expiration date: January 13, 2011. Note- file does not contain the written quotes. Those will be posted in the transcription.)

You may have to send it back to me so I can format it for youtube SRT captioning, unless you know how to. I used the program "Subtitle Workshop" to format the text file.

Thanks again!
Much love!

 

[Bernhard]

Thanks again for all the suggestions for improvement. Very helpful. It all will be considered and applied for the next one. ;)

Here's the transcript including the quotes if anyone wants to read it by itself or if anyone is interested to translate it for subtitles in different languages.

"The human heart cries out for help; the human soul implores us for deliverance; but we do not heed their cries, for we neither hear nor understand." ~ Khalil Gibran

[wake up]

[wake up]

With people presenting solutions everywhere, be it through the political circus, spiritual leaders to more progressive movements offering self-sustainable solutions, many people seem to have a plan of how to "fix" the world. Others say all is just as it is supposed to be and all we need to do is to go with the "flow", focus on "love and light" and everything will be good. Visionary ideas are good and great to have, however hopes based on ideals can shatter into nothingness if there is no foundation to build it on.

The popular notion is that we must “do”, “act” or “vote” and it seems most folks want just someone to tell them what to do, so they don’t have to think too much on their own. The question is what are we really able to “do” if we don’t even know ourselves? What is humanity? Yes we’re all one, but are we all truly the same inside, seeing, thinking, feeling the same way? Who is to say what is good for the world and what is not? The issues the world faces, the destruction, greed, genocide, economic meltdown cannot and will not be resolved until man faces himself and does the work to gain Self-Knowledge, beyond worship of the ego.

Humanity is deeply conditioned through Culture, Society, Religion, Media, Nationalism, Education, Government, and all kinds of illusionary beliefs. Before we can offer any solutions we need to become aware of this conditioning and do the work necessary to truly understand ourselves with our mechanical reactive behaviors, emotional addictions and our biases to automatically reject information that conflicts with our world view.

Honest self-work takes effort and courage as one will have to confront the social conditioning and programming as well as the lies one is telling oneself in order to fit in. If one is sincere with oneself, this process will lead inevitably to confront the lies in the world, and one starts to SEE the world more as it IS, not as one likes it or assumes it to be. This results in a rise of consciousness and awareness, moving from subjectivity to a more objective view, letting go of the false conditioned self and embracing one’s higher self based on Truth, Knowledge and essentially Love, which is a higher state of being and not merely an emotional state.

The more we see ourselves and the world objectively, the wiser our choices become and our resulting actions will have lasting positive impact. This work is to be done within and without, for both are interconnected. Much like when Neo woke up in the film “The Matrix”, the view is not necessarily pleasant once the illusions, buffers and programs have been dislodged. Only Truth will set us free. Once we can SEE, especially the “unpleasant” aspects of our reality so many people like to ignore, we’ll have a better understanding of what to DO.

“Awakening is possible only for those who seek it and want it, for those who are ready to struggle with themselves and work on themselves for a very long time and very persistently in order to attain it.” ~ G.I. Gurdjieff

The necessity to “Know Thyself” has been transmitted through many wise men and ancient teachings throughout the world for thousands of years. However, the depth of these teachings and the required work to attain a higher state of consciousness has been distorted and watered down in the New Age arena and “Conscious Movements” these days. Some of it even deliberate in order to steer people away from truth. Disinformation is used by the powers that be to infiltrate not only political parties and progressive organizations, but also the New Age Movement.

“What's next is the manipulation of spiritual values and tendencies. It is no accident that in the last few years we’ve seen a new religious thought. The religion of acquiescence and passivity: trusting in the process; whatever happens is what needs to happen; everyone is right where they need to be; you don’t resist; you acquiesce; to resist is to be negative, is to be fearful, is to be unconscious. A great prescription for convincing the natives to give over the keys to the kingdom, a very good, clever form of manipulation" ~ M.V. Summers

Religion has been used to control society for ages. The New Age Movement with its many distorted teachings seems to become the new “global religion”, vectoring people into complacency and conformity with an oversimplified understanding of “we’re all one” or “all you need is love”. Many people already believe that they are awake and aware, yet they are merely dreaming to be awake. As a matter of fact what we see nowadays in the New Age is similar to followers of dogmatic religions: blind belief, wishful thinking, emotional projections and lack of critical thinking.

Effective disinformation always contains a good amount of truth to lure the seeker in, but enough lies to steer the person away and keep them in a subjective tunnel vision. The same can be said about the many self-help gurus out there and many others who claim to know the way to happiness and abundance; they are here to “help you help yourself”, giving techniques of how to “attract” and “manifest” money, a fulfilling relationship, the perfect job, lover, and so on… while they make millions off the desperation of the people who seek happiness and a way out.

“Man must have results, real results, in his inner and outer life. I do not mean the results which modern people strive after in their attempts at self-development. These are not results, but only rearrangements of psychic material, a process the Buddhists call *samsara* and which our Holy Bible calls *dust*." ~ Jacob Needleman

When looking deeper into some of the self-help teachings, one can see that they mostly appeal to the ego, with its conditioned desires and buffers. They promote and push to follow desire without truly trying to understand where they come from to begin with. In a sense, what is sold today as spirituality and self-work is quite the opposite of what the classical esoteric traditions have passed down. It is more an escape, another buffer to stop seeing the world and oneself as it is. True self-work is not a walk in the park or about manifesting
ones desires.

“The goal of any esoteric work must be that of objectivity, first in our understanding of ourselves, and then, as our filters and programs are dislodged, of the world. A true esoteric teaching will, therefore, not only focus on “Know Thyself”, but will also provide knowledge about the reality of our reality. If one or the other of these aspects are missing from a teaching, then you can be certain that it is incomplete, and an incomplete teaching, even if through ignorance of the teacher, even if unconscious, is dangerous.”~ Henry See, from “Spiritual Predator: Prem Rawat AKA Maharaji“

That is not to say that all prominent authors and teachers are misleading in purpose. They themselves can be duped and spread disinformation unknowingly, even if their intent is well meant. Most of them have more knowledge about marketing and selling themselves than understanding of spiritual work. It’s not black and white, but lies are mixed with truth, so discernment is key. The truth about our world and humanity has been suppressed for thousands of years and it certainly won’t be revealed on Oprah anytime soon.

“Many become popular because they speak and write with a reductionist style that brings the complex and disturbing down into canned formulas of what spiritual growth is supposedly all about. Dozens of such New Age authors could bring their works together into one large volume entitled, “How To Become Aware of the Depths of Your Being Without Disturbing the Routine of Your Comfortable Lifestyle.“ ~ Lew Paz, “Pushing Ultimates: Fundamentals of Authentic Self-knowledge”

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does nor become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung

The necessity to seek truth in oneself and the world and act upon it has to come from oneself. No one can do it for another and no one can push another to do it, until man himself realizes the precious times we live in. Free will is not really “free” as long as man acts from his conditioned personality. People who don't know themselves will continue to live in a self-inflicted prison, a prison without bars and walls, cherishing their leaders as “saviors” like in a global Stockholm Syndrome, worshiping and defending the ones who keep them imprisoned. They become tools for the matrix, thinking that they are “free”, but they are merely reacting mechanically to external influences and accumulated conditioning.

No change is going to happen by simply forwarding the newest conspiracy videos, questionable New Age teachings and dubious channeled material, meditating on love and light, striving for sustainable solutions or just protesting with some banners and slogans. Yes, some of it can trigger and plant seeds of awareness, but ultimately change happens only if WE change and separate lies from truth, within AND without. Only then will we be able to see the world as it is, without filters of denial, wishful thinking, false hopes and misperceptions because of our corrupted state of being. In order to see truth in the world, we need to see truth in ourselves and stop lying to ourselves. Only then will we be able to know what to “do” and act upon it.

"What will bring peace is inward transformation, which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation, is not withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace. An Ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is. To have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin not to live an ideal life but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need; food, clothing and shelter, is destroyed. Some of you will nod your heads and say, “I agree”, and go outside and do exactly the same as you have been doing for the last ten or twenty years. Your agreement is merely verbal and has no significance, for the world’s miseries and wars are not going to be stopped by your casual assent. They will be only stopped when you realize the danger, when you realize your responsibility, when you do not leave it to somebody else. If you realize the suffering, if you see the urgency of immediate action and do not postpone, then you will transform yourself.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

During this time of transition there IS an awakening happening, no doubt. However, we’re also in the Age of Deception and if people don’t know themselves, they will mistake reality for illusion and illusion for reality. The term “awakening” needs to be carefully looked at, because people can “awaken” to merely another form of illusion and dream of waking up while still being asleep. On the other hand, Self-work can also easily turn into a narcissistic activity, if one is too absorbed with oneself or has no network that can give objective feedback and mirroring.

The solutions presented by various “Conscious Movements” these days and other people who have good intentions are not bad in themselves, however, by leaving out the necessary deeper self-work that is needed to truly “be the change", nothing will change fundamentally and so many of those solutions become just castles in the air. It is also the prerequisite to seek truth in the world, for one’s perception needs to be clear in order to discern lies from truth.

Honest self-work goes hand in hand with looking at global issues that seem to be ignored by many self-proclaimed “conscious” people who want a better world. Be it 9/11, Zionism, Psychopathy and Ponerology, the UFO Phenomena, and many other secrets present and past. There is still much we have to come to terms with before any form of “Golden Age” is going to manifest.

Suppression of knowledge is the name of the game. There are traps and dead-ends on the path towards awakening and there are forces that do their best to keep humanity asleep. It is no coincidence that much of this crucial esoteric knowledge has been filtered out and is hard to come by in today’s Spiritual, Conscious and New Age Movements.

Knowledge protects; Ignorance endangers.

“Try for a moment to accept the idea that you are not what you believe yourself to be, that you overestimate yourself, in fact that you lie to yourself. That you always lie to yourself every moment, all day, all your life. That this lying rules you to such an extent that you cannot control it any more. You are the prey of lying. You lie, everywhere. Your relations with others-lies. The upbringing you give, the conventions-lies. Your teaching-lies. Your theories, your art lies. Your social life, your family life-lies. And what you think of yourself-lies also. But you never stop yourself in what you are doing or in what you are saying because you believe in yourself. You must stop inwardly and observe. Observe without preconceptions, accepting for a time this idea of lying. And if you observe in this way, paying with yourself, without self-pity, giving up all your supposed riches for a moment of reality, perhaps you will suddenly see something you have never before seen in yourself until this day. You will see that you are different from what you think you are. You will see that you are two. One who is not, but takes the place and plays the role of the other. And one who is, yet so weak, so insubstantial, that he no sooner appears than he immediately disappears. He cannot endure lies. The least lie makes him faint away. He does not struggle, he does not resist, he is defeated in advance. Learn to look until you have seen the difference between your two natures, until you have seen the lies, the deception in yourself. When you have seen your two natures, that day, in yourself, the truth will be born." ~ from “First Initiation” by Jeanne de Salzmann

 

[Laurentien2]

the video is now on SOTT: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221040-Know-Thyself

I second that