Bluelab is a developing non profit corporation providing new approaches to new media art productions. Bluelab will seek collaborative involvement on the part of many leading artists, filmmakers, performers, writers and musicians along with highly regarded spiritual teachers and leaders of other fields. Our hope is to aid in "The Great Work"--that of saving the world.
The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein If one wishes to change the world, one must first become that change. Forbearance, patience and tolerance are the only conditions which keep two (or more) individual hearts united.
Hazrat Inayat Khan It seems that far too many people even sophisticated, intelligent and educated people have little or no idea what true community actually is. Perhaps even fewer have personal experience with it. Bluelab offers a way for talented and skilled professional artists to work together in a truly comfortable and supportive atmosphere with quality professional tools.
Bluelab encourages spiritual practice which can be defined in a wide range of interpretations but which simply helps individuals to relax controls and to effectively quell the personal ego and its influences. We re not interested in ideologies though many of us are personally dedicated to various religious or philosophical interests we re more interested in the experience. As Jung said, contact with the numinous (God) is what heals us .
As Joseph Campbell once said, "Religion is often a defence against the religious experience." It's clear to most of us that experience is what we need--not concepts. If one studies religion from a mystical perspective one finds a lot less to argue about.
The problem here is not with the mystics of the world. They have never been the trouble makers. Jimmy Hendrix is quoted as saying, When the power of love becomes greater than the love of power, there will be peace.
The perception of many creative people the world over is that we are in a state of unprecedented crisis the scale of which seems complex to the point of insurmountability and therefore completely overwhelming. It is with this condition of overwhelm in mind that we have sought to develop and to define alternative art making methods and processes to those that are typically known. Artists are perhaps the most sensitive and therefore vulnerable members of any culture.
By creating ways for artists to maximize their God given sensitivity while remaining supple and balanced and reasonably comfortable it would seem that their gifts could be optimized. Einstein once said that a problem can never be solved at the level of consciousness in which the problem was created. This is a glimpse into a holographic social approach to art making in that we can through a structured community learn to internalize the problem and the solution learning that all that we perceive around us is based upon who and what we are.
They say that earth is heaven for the saint and hell for the fallen.
The concept of triage is that our focus will be built upon a shared commitment to uncover and discover our own demons with the assumption being that as we do, we will see a shift take place upon the landscape around us. As we weave our discoveries into new media collaborations and transmit these to those with the ears to hear and the eyes to see it s possible, that we could touch a decisive number of hearts to incite a meaningful shift in our global culture or at the very least, to do our part as we work with many others of like mind.
The rigors of such a task in the face of our shared human frailty poses that our only effective solution lies in the strength and power to be found in some sort of communal approach. Isolated approaches may have effect, but a compressed and shared effort could provide greater efficacy while also providing a covering for all involved.
By loving, forgiving, and serving, it is possible for your whole life to become one single vision of the sublime beauty of God.
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
If one would realize that the world of God, His splendor and magnificence, are to be seen in the wise and the foolish, in the good and the bad, then one would think tolerantly and reverently of all mankind ...
But man has ignored the divine spirit that manifests in humanity, and always prefers an idol, a painting, a picture, to the living God who is constantly before him. For the sage, the seer, the saint, and the yogi who begin to see the master, and see him living, there is no place where he cannot be seen. Then everywhere the beloved master is ready to answer the cry of the soul coming from friend, father or teacher.
And if we go a little further forward, we will find that the teacher speaks aloud, not only through living beings, but through nature. If the eyes and ears are open, the leaves of the trees become as pages of the Bible. If the heart is alive, the whole life becomes one single vision of His sublime beauty, speaking to us at every moment.
All occult powers belong to the divine life, but man should live a natural life and realize the nature of God. The only studies which are worth accomplishing are those which lead to the realization of God, and of unity first with God and then with the self, and so with all. It is not necessary for us to be told that we have progressed; we ourselves will know when our hearts go forward; and by loving, forgiving, and serving, our whole life becomes one single vision of the sublime beauty of God.
What if artists were offered stipends, room and board allowing them to come together and to work intensively and without distraction for substantial blocks of time on film, music and real time performance collaborations? What if artists and thinkers could explore important issues in depth leading to transformational theater, installation, film and music? What if these artists were guided by experts through a structured community building process prior to beginning to create their projects?
What if artists were given opportunity to work with and interact with some of the leaders of our time in the fields of art, science, and philosophy? What if these artists were given all the production equipment and technical assistance they might need to produce global quality shows? What if supporters and friends of our organization were given intimate amphitheater access to segments of our artists processes as well as early rehearsals, scheduled meals, activities and fellowship?
What if the productions could be built and performed with some eventually touring the US and the world? Nothing is more challenging, nothing less sentimental, than the invitation of spirit to become who we are and not who we think we ought to be The new monk wears an invisible robe. Thomas Moore, the Religion of the Soul The question is no longer how did we get here, and why?
But, where can we possibly go, and how? We live in a society that has drastically narrowed our sensitivity to moral and spiritual issues; the problem we face is how to deal with a belief structure that has blocked both psychological and spiritual development. If there is a new agenda, a new vision now emerging within our society, how might one help put it into practice?
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bluelab is being developed upon the issue first posed by Einstein, "a problem cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness in which it was created. It has become evident to many that in order to meet the problems we face as a species we must embrace a radical revision of our beliefs and our behaviors. bluelab functions upon the strong presumption that artists likely figure significantly into the revisioning of a new world and the invention of ways to communicate our discoveries.
As we all learn more and more about our essential interconnectedness it also becomes increasingly evident that artists can t function in a social vacuum. The label of artist is only used as a signifier of persons with specific media skills and training who are fluent in creative processes and who have some professional link to art. In terms of the way bluelab will in fact function, we are working to develop a sound and effective approach to community building which relies heavily upon time tested processes that are well understood and are seeking the help of people who are expert in these processes.
Why all the talk of community ?It is our firm belief that by building works in a heightened communal space we will in fact be building works potent with transformational energies. Jung talked about the distinctions between liminal or transformative space and liminoid , or works that are simply entertaining.
With a hard look at where we are at as a species and planet it seems like simple math that we must link art making to the real task at hand that of saving the earth. bluelab has been founded by Jeff Hogue and created out of a perceived need to reconsider art making and professional collaborative art practice proceeding boldly from visionary prerogatives. We don t find fault with the many artists who will not be drawn to what we are doing for spiritual practice and its interface with collaborative art making are not for everyone.
In light of our present global endgame scenario it seems frivolous at best to argue over rhetorical issues. bluelab is intended for the Great Work --that of joining leaders of many fields worldwide who are engaged in the work of saving the earth. We believe that perhaps the only way to meet these challenges is to deeply transform ourselves which implies structured spiritual practice to be determined by each member for her or himself.
This is the turning point. When serious professional artists are willing to embrace the rigors of authentic spiritual practice, the work of community building and heightened artistic collaboration will undoubtedly fall quickly into place. The abundance of quotes from Sufi teachers have been included simply because they are part of my daily practice and do not infer a direct link between bluelab and Sufism.
In point of fact, any serious spiritual practitioner must see that there can be no schism between the teachings of true Sufism and any sincere humanitarian interest. In the interest of those who may fear some sort of covert Islamic link, Sufism as it s practiced and defined by and large in the West is Universalist in its orientation and in fact many Sufi s roots are Christian and Jewish. Save us, our Lord, from the earthly passions and the attachments which blind mankind.
Save us, our Lord from the temptations of power, fame and wealth, which keep humanity away from Thy glorious vision. Save us, our Lord, from the souls who are constantly occupied in hurting and harming their fellowman and who take pleasure in the pain of another. Save us, our Lord, from the evil eye of envy and jealousy, which falleth upon Thy bountiful gifts.
Save us, our Lord, from falling into the hands of the playful children of earth, lest they might use us in their games; they might play with us and then break us in the end, as children destroy their toys. Save us, our Lord, from all manner of injury that cometh from the bitterness of our adversaries and from the ignorance of our loving friends. Amen Some renaissance theologians worked hard at reconciling paganism with Judaism and Christianity.
We have yet to achieve this détente that is essential to the life of the soul. Fragments of our hearts and minds are located in the garden of Gethsemane and in the garden of Epicurus, on the zodiac of the Apostles and on the zodiac of the animals, in the wine of Dionysus and in the wine of the Eucharist, in the psalms of David and in the hymns of Homer. It is not a matter of belonging to a religion or professing one s faith, it is a matter of orientation in life and participation in its mysteries.
We can all be pagan in our affirmation of all of life. Christian in our affirmation of communal love, Jewish in our affirmation of the sacredness of family, Buddhist in our affirmation of emptiness, and Taoist in our affirmation of paradox. The new monk wears invisible robes.
Thomas Merton travels across the globe, and in the home of Eastern monks, dies. Isn t this a myth for our time and about the resurrection of the monastic spirit!
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