Joan Holman
Founder & Executive Director
Spiritual Cinema Alliance
"My deep desire is to unite people and break down barriers of hatred, prejudice and intolerance among peoples of different races, gender, religions and cultural backgrounds.....We need to focus on unity by finding common ground among people of different beliefs and backgrounds."
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It is a film that uplifts and inspires, that explores higher realities and the spiritual potential of man and woman.
It is a film that exalts the worth of the individual and shows the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. It is a film that differentiates between light and darkness and affirms light as the essential nature of all things spiritual.
It is a film that leads people, through images, music and messages, to create inner and outer worlds of beauty, truth, love, harmony and happiness.
It's A Wonderful Life
Directed by legendary Frank Capra - one of the most inspiring spiritual films ever produced powerfully illustrating the value of a single human life and the importance of community. Capra said, "There are no rules in filmmaking, only sins. And the Cardinal sin is dullness." Spiritual exalting films do not have to be dull!
Lost Horizon
Another Frank Capra masterpiece-- showing the dream of Shangri-La, a Utopian society, and the love of "Twin Souls"
Somewhere in Time
Produced by Stephen Simon starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, a love story that transcends time
Ghost
Illustrates the continuity of the life of the soul
Maytime
Starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald with a beautiful story of the enduring love of "Twin Souls" that surpasses time and place
Fairytale
A look into the world of fairies and magic - produced by Wendy Finerman who also produced "Forrest Gump," and by Mel Gibson's production company Icon Productions. Look for a cameo by Mel.
Star Wars
George Lucas's first Star Wars film is the classic story of the Hero's Journey, a spiritual journey we are called to take to reach our spiritual potential. "The Power of Myth" as taught by Joseph Campbell was foundational to Lucas's creation of this masterpiece that deals with universal themes and archetypes
My Life
starring Michael Keaton, a tremendous story of personal growth and transcendence
Joan Holman with Dean Mitchell who is recognized as one of the finest painters in America. Coming from poverty and raised by his grandmother, Dean has risen to the heights of the art world. His work, which deals with the universal themes of life, death, family and psychological and spiritual revelations, has appeared in numerous publications and can be found in private, corporate and museum collections across the United States.
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New York Time bestselling author, successful entrepreneur, popular business speaker and a syndicated columnist Harvey Mackay and Joan Holman
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HARMONY, UNITY AND VIBRATION
and the impact of angry, pessimistic, destructive and violent films on your consciousness and hence your life
by Joan Holman
copyright 2003 Joan Holman
There are unifying, common elements found in all great religions and cultures upon which we can focus to build cooperation in a diverse world. We need to focus on unity by finding common ground among people of different beliefs and backgrounds. A focus on unifying elements creates harmony
and brings people together instead of dividing people, whether it be by religion,
race, culture, political beliefs, or other differerences.
HARMONY IS CONSTRUCTIVE -- DISSONANCE IS DESTRUCTIVE
Everything is vibration. Harmonious vibrations build, and dissonant vibrations tear down. Creating harmony in a group through focus on common ground builds a resonance that is a foundation for cooperation.
For example, without the use of rules of orderliness, such as Parlimentary Procedure, groups of people with different opinions end up in argumentation, dissension, and nonresolution of issues.
There certainly is a time for debate and discussion of charged political and religious issues. However, as an artist, I want my focus to be on transcendent realities and common emotions that pull people together. I want to create art that builds harmony in society, that builds culture, rather than tears it down.
GETTING OUT OF OUR HEADS AND INTO OUR HEARTS --
The problem with our society is that people are too much in their heads, too much in their intellects. We connect with the Higher Self, our Spiritual Self, through the emotional body and not the mental body. At the higher levels, we are able to experience unity and harmony with all of life, all of humanity.
When the emotional body is stilled, harmonious, and not agitated, we are able to connect to higher vibrations, higher wisdom and higher intelligence.
I was a psychotherapist for a number of years. And I have experienced a lot of group therapy. In the first group therapy experience I ever had, we were not
allowed to express anything other than our feelings, whether it was anger, sadness, fear, or other emotions. Whenever any of us started to get "into our head," the group leader would bring us back to our feelings.
FILM CAN TAKE YOU HIGHER OR LOWER IN CONSCIOUSNESS --
Film creates powerful emotional experiences, which either take you higher or take you lower in consciousness. Always pay attention to how you feel when you leave the movie theater or when you finish watching a movie at home. In order to know how you feel, you are going to have to get connected with your heart and get out of your head. Otherwise, you will never even have a clue as to what it happening to you on a psychological level.
- Do you feel uplifted?
- Do you feel depressed?
- Do you feel hopeful?
- Do you feel hopeless? Do you feel optimistic?
- Do you feel pessimistic?
- Do you feel happy?
- Do you feel angry?
ANGRY, PESSIMISTIC FILMMAKERS --
Some filmmakers are angry and pessimistic people. Their films outpicture their consciousness. And that consciousness is imprinted upon you, the film viewer, in an extremely powerful way. It is hard to get the sounds and images of a film out of your consciousness, especially if it is a well-done film.
VIEWING A TOXIC FILM IS LIKE TAKING POISON INTO YOUR BODY --
Viewing a toxic film is like taking poison into your body. The most detrimental films are those that are the most well-made. For example, a film like Mulholland Drive is very entertaining. It is well-acted, well-directed, well-crafted and has an interesting plot. However, it contains graphic sexual content, which is basically pornographic, and the film lanquishes in darkness and despair. The film critics call it art; I call it trash. It creates a descent of consciousness into the basest levels of the human condition. And it leaves you there at the end of the film. By including pornography in the film, it creates a shock value which heightens the emotion of the person viewing the film, making the film even that more powerful in its imprint on the subconscious mind.
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE ARTIST PERMEATES HIS OR HER ART --
There are a lot of angry, disturbed people. And that anger and disturbance is channeled into a great number of the Hollywood films that are the regular diet not only of the American population but the world population as well.
BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE FILMS AND ART IN YOUR LIFE --
Deep-seated anger and a disconnect from higher spiritual realities appears in the work of many artists, of many filmmakers (in fact, it is what the critics love these days). It permeates their art. So be careful whose art, whose films you partake of, since it will then filter into your own consciousness, at levels gross and subtle, and have a profound impact on the direction of your own life through a subconscious mechanism.
IMAGES RECORDED IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND --
Every single image you take in is permanently recorded in your subconscious mind. The more shocking the image, the more the image creates a heightened emotion, the more powerfully the image will be imprinted in your subconscious. And the subconscious mind drives your life and your psychology. (To learn more about the subconscious as the primary goal seeking mechanism, read the classic book Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.)
PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WORK THROUGH AND WORK WITH THEIR TOXIC EMOTIONS --
It is my belief that the biggest problem with people in general has been they do not have mastery over their emotional bodies. They do not know how to properly work with emotions. They do not know how to work with and work through anger and other toxic emotions. Consequently, it becomes a barrier to harmony and unity.
EMOTIONAL MASTERY --
Unfortunately, there has been a split between the emotional and the mental bodies of man, which has created psychological problems that underpin so much of the dissension and discord in the world today, from the level of the family to the world community. This was my own personal problem in my youth and was why I needed to not only study psychology, but to become a practicing psychotherapist and a college psychology teacher. I really needed to work on the issue of my personal psychology in order to walk a spiritual path where I could connect with my higher spiritual self.
GREAT FILMS CAN CREATE HOPE AND UNITE PEOPLE --
Great films can inspire us to create a more positive, harmonious life. They can model exemplary behaviors and demonstrate the consequences of self-defeating and destructive behaviors. They can help create hope and help unite people and break down barriers of hatred, prejudice, and intolerance among peoples of different races, gender, religions and cultural backgrounds.
THE ANGRY, THE DISSONANT IN EVERY SOCIETY --
Of course, there are always fanatics and extremists in every society, in every religion. These people live in fear and are truly disconnected from higher spiritual consciousness and awareness. They will continue to be dissonant, angry and work against unity, peace and brotherhood. They have no peace in their souls, so how can they ever bring peace to the world when they have no peace in their own inner world.
SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTING ALTERNATIVE FILMS TO MAINSTREAM HOLLYWOOD FILMS --
On a positive note, I feel that there are enough people who are moving forward with tremendous psychological and spiritual development which will lead to an age of enlightenment and peace on this planet. (I am an optimist!) Among these people are artists who are ready and who would like to have the opportunity to present an alternative point of view in cinema, alternative to the gloom and doom, depression, destruction, violence and death that is so pervasive in mainstream Hollywood films.
The Spiritual Cinema Alliance wants to give artists the opportunity, the support and a distribution system to reach audiences with alternative films, films that leave audience members feeling optimistic, hopeful, and united in the affirmation of life and not death.
OVERCOMING THE HOLLYWOOD CONTROL OF THE FILM INDUSTRY--
Hollywood is an oligopoly that controls the production and distribution of feature films. However, with the Internet, digital filmmaking and other new technologies, there is hope to make an end run around the powerful few that control this industry. This can be done through alternative distribution systems such as direct to video feature film productions. One company that is already successfully doing this is Feature Films for Families. But we need many more companies and organizations to do this and offer adult films as well as family films, films that are positive and uplifting and which do not contain the negative images, the gratuitous violence, the sexual content and depressing messages that Hollywood is exporting to the whole world.
THE ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE MODEL--
We can follow the example of the alternative medicine model where the mainstream medical establishment could no longer ignore the billions of dollars that people were paying our of their own pockets to get alternative medical treatments outside of the mainstream system. Now, traditional clinics, hospitals and medical schools have started to include alternative medicine to complement traditional medicine. The same thing can happen with films if some serious money starts being taken away from Hollywood "trash" and put into the few Hollywood films that are positive, and to films being produced outside of Hollywood.
GETTING BIG HOLLYWOOD STARS TO SUPPORT SPIRITUALLY EXALTING FILMS--
Look at the success of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." It is positive, uplifting, no nudity, no sex, no violence. There is a huge audience for these kinds of films! So why are there so few of them? And the excuse that the public prefers the dark, negative films does not hold water, when, in fact, the majority of Hollywood films, something like 60-70%, actually are not profitable!
MY BIG, FAT GREEK WEDDING --
"My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" was produced for $5 million and has grossed over $200 million. It had the backing of major star Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, and a careful marketing strategy got word of mouth going in the Greek community to create positive buzz for the film. But this would not have happened if someone like Tom Hanks would not have been behind this film. So, another way to create spiritual cinema is to get some powerful people like Tom Hanks behind this movement.
PLEASE HELP THE CAUSE!--
Please help the cause by donating funding and support and advice to the Spiritual Cinema Alliance! Let's get some big name movie stars behind this. Let's get philanthropists who care about our declining culture to put up the kind of money we really need to make a difference! The media is the key to changing the downward direction of our society. Please call Joan Holman at 763-551-3969 or send an e-mail to joan@holman.com.
Every donation, big or small, will be greatly appreciated!
Other Commentaries
Violence in video games
The film Solaris with George Clooney
The Spiritual Cinema Alliance serves under the umbrella of the National Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., which has been helping individuals, corporations and communities express themselves in the charitable, educational, scientific and religious sector since 1968. The National Heritage Foundation has 7,000 foundations under its umbrella.
To make your tax-deductible contribution or for more information, contact Joan Holman at 763-551-3969.
"Joan Holman has a relentless focus to produce something positive to lift
the human spirit. I can't say enough to describe the GREATNESS of
Joan Holman other than she is in in simple terms a GREAT HUMAN BEING and for
that she will always have my friendship and support."
Dean L. Mitchell, acclaimed artist
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