Origins
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Background
Over the course of three decades, I’ve interviewed a broad spectrum of people who have honored me with their stories. I’ve always been fascinated by the invisible network through which we’re drawn to one another.
I started gathering stories in Glastonbury, England in March of 1992 as I began work on a documentary. I’d been to Edinburgh, Scotland the previous November and had been enchanted by its beauty. I felt as though I’d come home. Something had awoken in me. When I returned to Los Angeles that December it became apparent to me that if I stayed I would fall back to sleep. I needed to get back to Edinburgh.
I didn’t know what I would find when I got there, but I knew it would be an improvement over what I was leaving behind.
Making a documentary was an afterthought. It was the vehicle I would use to connect with people on my journey.
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Inspiration
Starting in Glastonbury, each of the people I met directed me to the next person or destination.
I traveled through England and Scotland by train, eventually making my way up north to the Findhorn Foundation where I settled in for the duration of the year.
It was there I began interviewing friends, or more accurately, listened to them telling their stories. In many cases, it was the first time they had told their story to anyone.
They were revealing themselves to themselves with me as their witness.
Subtle and not-so-subtle shifts would occur in them, and in me, as a result of this witnessing.
It was unlikely these more personal stories would end up in the film. I saw this as my service and reward for following the guidance I’d been receiving.
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Wisdom
The Messengers film was completed in 1996 and while much of the material is out of date, there remain some pieces that are both timeless and timely.
The Messengers are identified here by their names and Archetypes as presented in the film.
In an attempt to make sense of the world we can believe we know what we’re here for; I don’t think we can ever be certain about that. I offer these words to inspire thought that may lead you to your own answers which, in my mind, are the only ones that matter.
We live in a closed-loop system. Each part of that system impacts the rest.
Recognizing this is critical to our well-being, our ability to thrive and, ultimately, our survival.
Wish us luck.
With deepest love and respect,
Jack
“What service is, is not finding what needs to be done. Service is finding what fills you up; finding what you would do whether anybody paid you to do it or not. Finding what your heart tells you to do and doing that a hundred percent. No vacations. You don’t need vacations when you’re doing what totally fills you up and turns you on and gives you joy.”
“It’s very difficult for people, to shake them out of their complacency and their material preoccupations. And I think what does that for most people these days is illness. I think it’s the moment when people are sick, whether it’s mentally, emotionally or physically, when they’re at a crossroads, they’re open. It’s like, “Wait a minute. It isn’t working. What I’ve been doing isn’t working. Maybe I should look at some alternatives. Maybe I should take a fresh look at what I’m about. What am I here for? What’s this all about? What’s going on?”
“For thousands of years we have become progressively alienated from the earth and our body. And that means, in psychological terms, we have repressed our primitive, natural self. So that when the first settlers came to America, went to Africa and so on, all they could see were primitive savages. What they were seeing was that part of civilization that had been put down and repressed. And the violent, predatory, destructive part of western man is very easy to see if we look at his history. We are so busy glorifying ourselves that we don’t want to own this rather dark shadow. Unfortunately, therefore we have accumulated many, many generations of repression of this violent and brutal shadow which we choose to project on simpler, less materialistic or technological peoples, the indigenous peoples.”
“It’s simpler to change the universe as long as we don’t separate from the oneness. This is a oneness. We’re all in it together. We are parts of one another. We are parts of a oneness. And if we can get back to remembering this and acting in this as a oneness and to remember that we carry messages to one another and the bad guys are the ones that we are requiring to play very ugly roles for us which are no fun at all. And let’s stop requiring people to do that for us. Really see what parts of you create the bad guys and change them and then you won’t require any bad guys anymore. You won’t have to have those kind of role players. Because all it is is role playing. And who wants to be the bad guy?”
“Service and love are the only two things that actually, right now, have any valid meaning, certainly in my life. It’s about acceptance of service for other people. Service and love and compassion. And maybe that is why we’re having to go through such turmoil before we wake up. We are having to be taken to the edge, to the very edge, of the abyss. To bring the human collective to its knees to begin to ask, for God’s sake what?”
“Be forgiving. Let go of yesterday. These are the things that you do to cooperate with your vision. If we can do that everything else will take care of itself. Your decisions will be made for you. The doors will be opened for you. Because guess what? You’ll be ready to go through those doors.”
“Don’t be afraid. I want to say it to me first... and then to say it to everybody... we need to fall in love with ourselves which means we need to be kind to ourselves, we need to believe in ourselves, we need to honor ourselves. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. But I think that’s our task as a planet... to see that we’re not other. When we fall in love with ourselves we know we’re everybody else.”
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be where religion gets organized again the way it has been in the past. We’re each going to have our own path and then we’ll share it with each other and say, “Guess what I found on my path today? I got this gem. What did you find on yours?” The discovery and the kind of sharing we can do with each other… because I can’t take your trip and you can’t take mine. But, boy, we can share some of the gems we find on each of our trips and some things you’re going to discover are things that are going to help me on mine, and vice versa”