TrueLife - Carey Corr - Engage, Entertain, & Enlighten

Episode Date: November 19, 2023

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome a visionary in the world of storytelling, a screenwriter, movie director, and the CEO of Connected Pictures, Carey Corr. In the realm of filmmaking, Carey spearheads a revolution with Connected Pictures, an AI-powered Multiverse of Self-Monetizing Movies. Here, the cinematic experience transcends mere entertainment; it becomes a communal journey towards our authentic selves. Carey challenges the constraints of specialization, advocating for a world where non-linear thinkers flourish, breaking free from the confinements of labels and boxes. Join us as we delve into a realm where creativity knows no bounds, and together, we embrace the strength that arises when diverse perspectives converge.http://linkedin.com/in/carey-corr-10455b5https://www.theoctopusmovement.org/ One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scar's my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark. fumbling, furious through ruins

maze, lights my war cry Born from the blaze The poem is Angels with Rifles The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini Check out the entire song at the end of the cast Of

Coby Ladies and gentlemen Welcome back to the True Life podcast Thursday Thursday today. Thursday today I hope that everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope the sun is shining. I hope the bird is singing and the wind is at your back.

I got an incredible guest. We've been speaking. We've been speaking off air briefly, and the time kind of got the best of us. But ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the visionary and storytelling, screenwriting, movie director, and the CEO of Connected Pictures, Carrie Corps,

in the realm of filmmaking, Carrie Spearheads, a revolution with connected pictures and AI-powered. multiverse and self-monetizing movies. We were just kind of shooting the breeze. Carrie, what? I'm not even sure. After our conversation started, I'm not even sure where to begin.

But maybe you can give us a little background on who you are and how you got to become a screenwriter or just fill in some background, man, until you feel comfortable. Yeah, absolutely. Glad to. I came about getting into movies and making movies and writing by chance, by doing a bunch of other stuff in my life into my mid-20s. And I always love movies. Movies are still are a big part of where I get my knowledge from the world, even from fiction.

They have informed me since I was a little kid. When I was a little kid, I couldn't sleep. And somehow my parents took this old black and white TV. I don't know why they even did it, but they put it in my room so I could like turn it on. I'd go to sleep at like eight and I'd wake up at 11 and I'm and I would just turn it on I'd watch these black and white like B movies Vincent Price and all this stuff you know and like just this until the in those days the screen went blank and you had the thing right yeah yeah snow on there I remember those days so that would white noise me to sleep right and so so I got some

sleep so movies was just always there they were always in that my dad was and my mom were much older. They had me when they were older. And so, like, they came from the generation of movies. Like, the, you know, like where Hollywood was everything. There was no TV that was doing that stuff. So we were always about movies, going to movies and whatever. So, you know, it was just a big part of my life.

And oddly enough, maybe it's because I had to always cover up who I was in school because I had these big thoughts, right? And even at home. I never put together the idea that somebody makes a movie or a bunch of people. Like I understood there was a director. I understood the actress. I understood someone wrote stuff, my dogs in the background, wrote it and did all that. I understood all that.

But I guess I just didn't see that I could do that. So somewhere along the line I was in my early 20s or something, maybe in my late teens, I was like, wait, wait, that's something. So then I just was at like a community college and took a film class, you know, like an intro to film or whatever. Not in Lightning, you know, you saw the old stuff. And it's all cool. I loved it all. But I was like, oh, there's all these fat people do this. and so I just I just like kind of went oh that's that's me you know that's me that's like I could do that

I have a lot to say I have a lot to to write about I have a lot of stuff even though like I don't like I know a lot of writers they say well ever since I was a kid I was I wasn't like that I'm not like that like stuff comes to me and I write it down but like stuff was always coming to me you know and I would either keep it in my head or whatever. Sometimes I'd write it. But I would share it sometimes just my ideas. But the point is I found out that I could do something with that thing that's happening to me, right? And, you know, I could do something with that.

And I've always been, you know, a little outside the box. So, like, you know, I did stuff that was normal and I acted normal, I guess, to a certain degree. You know, I mean, I was a, when I was a teenager, I, I was into punk and like, you know, all that. And I'm of that age. So I came up with it like this late 70s stuff. And I have a bunch of friends. And I think you saw, I don't know if you saw the one video I sent you.

But anyway, I made music videos or punk stuff and unique stuff. But before that, you know, I just was kind of like, I only embraced the ethics. Like, we have something to say here. So I just started studying film. I went to school at UC Irvine and, you know, and it was all film theory and criticism, which was good for me because I wanted to know why people were making films. Like I figured, like at some point, technically anyone could make a film, like, just takes the tools, right? Right. But what the hell's the point?

Right. So I've learned about all these directors who, the course of the history of film. We're always trying to say something, you know, and I was inspired by them. The neo-realists in Italy and the new wave and whatever, all the stuff where people were just trying to say stuff, you know, Renoir and just these interesting things. And you don't need to know any of this stuff, like who they are or whatever. What I needed to know was if you see something differently in the world, you can express it through art. For me, the art was film. But like, and I did have my whole life these experiences where you connect with art in some way,

whether it's reading a book or seeing a piece of art or in a gallery, whatever, or a movie or a TV show even or a theater. That's just something opened in me. Something just moved me. It just, it just, it opened me and I went, And I thought, oh, here's a new perspective on whatever this thing is that's called existence, you know, whatever we're doing here. Right? And I feel like people have that, right?

And so luckily, some people, but it took a long time for me, years and years and years and years, to figure out that you can do something with that. If there's something to do it, it doesn't necessarily have to turn into a piece of art or you doing art or whatever. you can change who you are. You can live that feeling you have, that connection to your true self. You can live that in some ways. For me, but I feel like a lot of people have that opening, but they're left alone with it, right?

What do you do? You don't know what to do because no one teaches you what to do with it, right? That's actually the antithesis of what we're being taught. Right? Yeah. I mean, anyway. So I guess that segues to connected pictures because that's kind of, not kind of.

That is the mission. That is the mission. The mission is to shine light into the places where there's no knowledge or no understanding, you know? I mean, film is actually just capturing light and then projecting. that light, right? So literally, like, that's the process of it. So the light of consciousness or the things that move through us or the feelings we have when we're exposed to a piece of art or whatever that moves us is just a form of light. And we can shine that light through movies.

This is our thing, connected pictures and my thing, to people so they can see that it opens their eyes. oh wait, who I really am might not be what I think it is or this whole thing might not be what I think it is, you know? And then what we're doing is we're creating a community platform so people can actually come and explore that with us, with characters. And together, like there shouldn't be, in my opinion, and this is kind of the revolution, I guess, if you want to say I'm trying to foment one,

although I don't know if I am or I am, but I'm not, you know what I mean, kind of thing. It's like, but the idea is we can, why is the audience separate from the film and the filmmakers and all the stuff like that, that's just a power play of a group of people trying to collect money and do stuff and glorify stuff that isn't really true because they're just,

It's just a person. I'm just a person. Like I said, that realization that like a person for me could make a movie, right? I want to shed that to everybody. I want to spread that around because you can do, when you get into who you are or start to seek, right?

Then you can see what you bring authentically. So that's what we want to do. Why, you know, cut out the middleman. Come directly together. Let's talk. about it. I can share my experience that is no better than yours because I can make a movie. And we can just talk about it, do it live and do it as it grows and help it, you know, make a community come together about it because it's not. We're not doing anything special. We're just telling stories, which is what people do constantly 24-7 in their own brain.

and what they do. It's what makes us human, I guess, or part of what makes us human is this story. So why are we stuck in a, to be stuck in story that we don't get to write ourselves? Yeah. Right? Makes no sense.

Just makes no sense. And I don't see the world changing for the better if we're stuck there. So my thing is, I'm a storyteller. That's how I see the world through the stories like everybody else does. They run through my head and like, you know, I just happen to gravitate to it, build skills, have a sense of that I feel like I know with that rhythm of how to make a movie and how to write it and all that.

It doesn't matter what you do, really, the truth is, what is your story? You know, what is your story? What is the story? You're telling yourself and you're telling other people. That to me seems at the bottom of how things could get better for humanity. when the story matches the I almost fell into saying matches the truth but everybody's truth is a little different

but matches the world that we want to see you know I it's sometimes I think of my my life as a novel which is a story and one way I've found it to be helpful is to think of myself as the main character in this novel and I'm trying to get the author's attention. You know, and you can.

Because you're the author, but it's a unique way to look at it because you can go, oh, I'm telling the story. Wait, I'm the main character. Or maybe you're not there yet. And maybe you still are the main character, but you want a bigger part. So then you have to appeal to the author. And then all of a sudden you begin realizing that you're the author.

But wherever you are in your story, like, I think there's an incredible insight into the idea that you spoke up just a moment ago about the story you tell yourself. And I love the idea of a story where the main character becomes aware they're in a story. Because there's a lot of power in that, right? And it sounds to me for so long, whether it's through conditioning, whether it's through the Pavlovian school system of bells and whistles in which we were trained to obey authority,

maybe this has taken away our imagination. Maybe this has taken away the fact that we all are this. unique form of awesomeness. It's been contained in this small, weird box. But I do see this emerging. And I think that your idea of film, your idea of a connected way in which we can tell our story is people breaking out of it. And I want to hear more. Like, it seems to me that you have a unique way of expressing community through things. Can you talk on that a little bit more? Absolutely, yeah.

So, I mean, here's the truth. If you're making a film, you, and this is, it's not necessarily true because of technology. Now someone can go out with an iPhone and make their own film. But if you're making like a feature film,

even they can do that. But you still need people. It's a communal thing, right? And this harkens for me, directly to the storytelling nature of human beings and indigenous tribes having storytellers. Their stories, they're not a storyteller in a sense that they're the one or they're something special. If it's not communal, it doesn't do anything.

It's just somebody talking, right? So that's what it is. It's just somebody talking, right? If there's no exchange, it's just someone talking. I mean It's well said Yeah so the point is I guess for me with that stuff is

We we just this vision Came to me To create Take out the middle man And open up to community Because everyone's story Is valid You exist, your story's valid

That's it There's nothing else to it You are worthy of everything that there is because you exist. So if we tell stories and that's our nature, let's go with people together and co-create the stories in a sense or at least provide, which is what our platform, which is coming soon,

will provide is a place for people to express themselves and interact through the stories that we tell and try to together as a community help each other figure out what is that, like you said, that unique awesomeness that's in me that's connected to this great whole. Right?

So just that is what a community is. I mean, you could talk about it being 8 billion people or even more in the scope of humanity. or whatever, the whole. But also, it's just, what's my unique part here in this world, in this community? What's my unique part talking to you today? Like, it all is the same, right? It's all the same. The numbers don't matter. So why won't we have a place to just do that, present this, present, yeah, we can search for our authentic self and see what it has to bring together. You know, and movies are something that people,

storytelling is storytelling and humans have to have it. That's it. Right. So I do it through movies and people like movies. It's not really even about any of that. It's just that's my uniqueness. Right. So I'm bringing that to the table, right?

But it is a medium for which we can tell better stories about that idea that what it means to be human. So there's examples. for those who see it and are moved to see the characters they can relate to, or the story or the plotline or the setting or whatever that opens them to a new idea. Then connected pictures is a place they come and explore that together with everybody who's there. And then they're co-creating a story on the platform while it's happening in response to that. And the movies live and the characters are there so you could have conversations with them. if you're so inclined

and you can have conversations with other people there's this interconnectivity just based around a story. This story happens to come in the form of media, but it could be anything, right? But we're just doing it this way. It's movies, that's what

I know, you know, that's what I know. That's my uniqueness. But it's no different than the communal nature of storytelling. I love it. Here's an interesting thought. Like, all movements are based on a story, whether it's the story of the United States or whether it's the story of Fred Flintstone. It doesn't matter, like, you know, the stories have power.

But I think inherent, and when we talk, especially through film, you can really embellish, you can put sound effects in you can make, you know, when you go to the big screen, someone is 30 feet tall. And you can't help but understand their job. character appearance on screen. Like that does something to us when we see that kind of imagery. And when we bring communities together, I think that there's some people that are very, very worried about that because you can very easily tell a story of, you know, the Pied Piper or you could tell a story of the Nazis.

But whatever story you tell has a real possibility of escaping the world of storytelling and playing its part in real life. And I think that that's both the gravity and the power and the beauty of it, but also the tragedy of it. Do you ever worry about a story getting out of control and finding its way into the lexicon? I suppose that truly is something to worry. I guess I can see that. I don't know. Maybe. No, no.

I know. Yeah. I'm saying, you know, I get that when people talk AI. I get that when they talk movie. I get that. I know it. I studied that. I saw that Lenny Reef and Saul films.

You know, I see the power. And as everyone know what that is, those are the Nazi propaganda films, right? Because they were saying, like I know the power in it. That's why I want to use it. Yes. Counter that. Because this even happens with Hollywood films. Agreed.

Right or wrong, right? You know what I mean? And I know they're just trying to make money and mostly they're safe and all that. And it's not the power of the idea of regime change or anything. You know, like big really bad stuff, right? But the point is, that is the point for me. What is the story? And it has a magnitude, a film does.

A magnitude, you're right. There is something. I'm not in, I don't look at the downsides of it because I'm only looking at using the upside of it. I understand that there's downsides. I know that inherently in all media in any way. Of course there is or could be. But that is my point. That's the point of connected pictures.

You can tell a different story. You can tell a story that's just as engaging, just as takes you in as a Hollywood film, but it has characters who are learning consciousness or authentic self. And the example is the same. And it's not done in a way that marginalizes that, like Star Wars with the Force or something. And then there's these, you know, it's all fantastic or not real.

or yet they still have to be warriors or whatever stuff because that's how that is. But we don't have to do that. I can tell a simple, beautiful story with characters who are just people finding it and layer that stuff in in a way that maybe not everybody sees fully that part. But whoever sees it, then that's where change starts to happen. And that's why we have the community. That's the point. Yeah.

And I think every community has its own story. And that's how that community learns. It's how it heals. It's how it grows. But the community must have the right to tell their story. They must have that. Otherwise, that community will be forever unable to grow. Like, they have, every community has a story they're dying to tell.

And you can see it layered on everyone that lives in that community. They're all part of it. And in some ways it saddens me to think that they've been silent, all of our communities, on some level, we harness the silence of conformity. Like we don't want to tell our story because we're afraid or we think that's wrong. But so many of us share the same doubts, the same insecurities. And if we were allowed to come together on Sundays or whatever,

if we were allowed to come together in every community, can you imagine a film festival where every community told a story? And once a month we had our city community story gatherings. And we all showed like, this is what our story came up with. This is what our school came up with. Like, it could be so beautiful. We could learn so much. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's a beautiful concept.

And I mean, we, in a similar way, that's the point of what community in connected pictures is. We want to talk about stuff. You know, it may, and we want to co-create with other people. So the other part of it is, and it could be just anybody in the community, We also are with other creators who can bring their characters. Because for me, I think life is prototyping. I know for sure creativity is prototyping. Can you break that down for us?

What does that mean? Sure. So what it means is it's all trial and error. And so in life is the ultimate existence is the ultimate trial and error. We have no idea what's coming around any bend. you and I don't know where this conversation's going to go. I don't know. And I'm grateful I don't know.

I don't want to know stuff. I'm so over-knowing stuff because knowing stuff is what got us where we're at, as humans. We don't know anything. Right? We don't know. I mean, we think we do, but we don't. Because we don't know what's coming around the corner.

And we have to be open and aware of the fact that we don't know so that we can adapt and use our, big brain to tell a different story and solve whatever thing comes around the corner. So it's the same with creativity. I'm all about conscious creativity or through consciousness. So in a sense, I've been saying the word I a lot in my work, but really I don't have anything to do with it. I'm just a filter.

I'm a filter for the stories that come through me. But they're still prototype. They don't come all at once and they don't come out. out of me all at once and I got to go back in it and tinker with this and have questions about that and whatever but and that's what I mean by creativity's prototyping I don't think there's any painters who just and it's done right you know what I mean there's always a look back at it oh that needs a splash of this or whatever right so it's all that's prototyping that's that's trying to figure out what the best way to say whatever I'm trying to say is knowing and this is

the new key for me and this is the opposite of what I think or my experience having been partially in Hollywood and doing some stuff, I think this is the big difference and even an independent film of mainstream or even not mainstream.

I don't know what it is and I'm not supposed to say something that's perfect. I'm supposed to leave it. I'm supposed to leave it where it is and I'm supposed to not look at it and say, oh, it should have. have been like this or I could have done that.

This is, you know, antithetical to creativity, which is prototyping. So it doesn't happen in this movie. Maybe it happens on the next one. Like my well is never going to be dry. And whatever came through me at the time it's coming through me is through my filter of that time. So, of course, I'm going to gain understanding, knowledge. In the next 24 hours, I'm going to gain a ton of it.

So I'm not going to be who I am sitting here now. It's just not reality. But I think people who want to know want to be stuck. I'm this guy. Right? I'm this. I tell that story. That's the story I tell.

You know. I'm this person forever. Right. It's permanent. Right. We have this strange. Humans have this strange thing. And I'll segue into the octopus movement here.

people humans we have this strange thing of unbounded imagination and an idea of permanence that pervades all of our lives so we get skewed on stuff like thinking about the past or whatever that means like whatever that moment was is for sure going to alter everything you do going forward. It's stuck in you for life. And it's, you know, it's like we have these permanence things. Our laws are based on old stuff because that's like

permanence, you know? It's like that existed forever. So, you know, it makes no sense. And then we have this unbounded creativity, imagination to see beyond all that stuff. But for some reason, and I believe

it is tied up in storytelling. The stories that people tell them, at least in the world where there's a lot of pain and suffering and there's a lot of problematic stuff, they tell themselves a story of permanence and excellence in that permanence instead of prototyping. Their lives aren't prototyping. Their lives aren't, well, what new thing can I do today? It's more like, how can I hold on to this point of view and make everyone believe that point of view, you know, so that I'm comfortable, you know. Yeah, so that's, that segues in a little bit into the octopus movement, which is a wonderful

nonprofit organization that I'm a part of that is a group of nonlinear thinkers, you know, people who have, who think like we're talking about here, who have their whole lives. And I have also suffered because we don't fit in. in because the permanence world says, whoa, I don't understand what you're saying, so you can't say it. You know? I do. Yeah, I'm sure you do. I don't say.

I don't say. So, you know, it's a place where there's just a bunch of people like us, right? And we do stuff. We do stuff. We have think tanks and we create white papers and we help organizations. solve problems just with our brains and talking and letting, because we don't have any more adherence to permanence because it didn't serve us.

And fortunately for the group that's there, we were able to somehow not just become another person who's just stuck in the world of permanence, or believed in it. We just couldn't believe in it. Like it never rang true, right? There was always at least that little voice that said, I may be crazy, but I don't want to be like that, you know,

or I may be whatever. I don't want to be like they may be telling me, my thoughts are too much, but like there's something that's really real to me about them and really important and could be a changer for somebody somehow, somewhere. You know, we were able to hold on to that long enough to find a group. You know, it's not enough to find a good, you know. Yeah.

I think it speaks to our nature and so many people probably listening to to this podcast. And that may have seen us around sometimes, maybe they're captivated. They hear this word about impermanence or octopus or, you know, the idea of divergent thinking or nonlinear thinking. You know, I've spoken to so many people, myself included that, you know, I spent a lot of time. in the corporate world for 26 years and like it just never made sense to me. And the more I tried to sit down with high ranking officials

in the corporate sector and explain to them that their ideas of productivity are not rational because they're not even measuring all the variables. The higher, like in the beginning, people just look at you kind of weird. But then you get to a certain level, like a district manager,

and I figured out, oh, it's not a bug, it's a feature. This motherfucker. It's not a bug. It's a feature. And this guy, knows and as soon as you get there that's when you get fired as soon as you start realizing like oh i was just all naive this whole time i thought that we could make a difference i listened to the

propaganda and then you go oh god so dumb you know like but it's not it's not about being dumb it's about having a passion and caring for everyone around you because you want to believe you can make it better on some level but sometimes you can't make it better in those large institutions. You have to, and that's why you get fired. That's why I got fired. That's why I can apply for 220 jobs and never get hired. You know, it's like people don't want the weirdo. They don't want the person that sees everything different because you're a threat. Not that you'll hurt them, but you think different and you can mess. You throw a whole wrench in the gears and people have spent a lot of time making those gears. They don't like a wrench in there.

Yeah, you're chipping at their wall of permanence and they just can't have that. There's no way. This is exact, you know, it's not that. Yeah. We do it. We don't do it that way, right? Right. Well, really? Who's the we?

Yeah. What was your moment, Carrie? Of like, did you have, like, I'm sure you've probably had several, but maybe you could share an experience where you realize like, hey, this is, I'm not fitting in here or I'm different. Yeah. I mean, it was lifelong. So, so. But I'll pick the biggest one and the driving force. to get to this point and the power of it to propel me into connected pictures.

So I've been trying to make movies. I made a lot of music videos. I won awards for stuff. I did, you know, whatever, all the stuff. Like, no one cares. You know, like I worked with really great people and all that stuff. I mean, people care about that. That's your cachet in Hollywood.

Right, right. But like, I'm with you, though. Right, no one cares. I'm with you. The truth is no one cares. Right. Doesn't even matter. But so I went out to make this movie, like I was going to, I kept knocking on doors.

I had written a script with someone and we had an optioned a bunch of time. We had meetings all over town. Just never became something, right? And so, you know, I was caught in the illusion that you can solely make things happen yourself and just go do stuff, right? And it's not a fake illusion. It's one you can actually do, right? But how you're doing it, what you get out of it is part of the illusion, right? Yeah, yes.

So, I mean, I took family money. My kids were young. My wife, I took family money. I was going to make this movie, right? It was all good. We set it aside, whatever, whatever. You know, like it was going to be hardly any money, but by that time I had built up enough relationships

with the key people that I could get everyone to do help me. You know what I mean? They wanted because a lot of people, and you wanted me because they thought I had something to say they wanted to help me, right? So, but the problem is when you're forcing stuff to happen, when you're not connected to consciousness, when you're impatient,

when you're trying to prove something, when you believe that this is going to be the thing that shows them that I'm worthy and they're going to give me the deals and all the stuff. But when you're doing something, I'll put it this way. You're doing something in the now that's somehow supposed to pave the path to the future. because that's a lie.

Only the now exists. So, you know, that thing, that movie was going to get right my ticket, right? Yeah. The only problem was I was so caught up in all that stuff. And then I was forced into, in a way, producing the movie and connecting everybody and doing all these things that weren't the creative side for which I do. So, of course, that's the side that suffered. Right. So, okay, the movie went out.

It won some awards and some festivals. It was sold early to early streaming and into Netflix when it was DVDs. But literally no money was made. And that put up. And then in order to get it there, I had to put more money into it. Like the production money was fine. We had it aside. But then it kept going and going and I was forcing and forth.

Yeah. So, you know, we were stuck with heavy stuff. situation. Two young kids, you know, my wife not stoked on me. Yeah. You know, all of that stuff, right? And that's, that was my moment to start to get clear about, or at least the crushing blow of that, made me realize what I believe cannot be the truth. Like, that just can't be. It just started me seeking. I mean, it was years after that because we were digging out of the hole and I was doing all kinds of stuff and had one part in filmmaking and would occasionally get some little jobs

that paid money or whatever, but then I was working and just, you know, digging out of the hole because I felt bad and I felt wrong and I had to provide for my kids and, you know, just all that stuff, you know, just all of it, you know, it was difficult. But it was a blessing because it taught me. the lesson which is that faking who I am to try to show people who I really am, I mean, right there I don't need to say anymore is the most ironically stupid thing you could ever do, right? Because you are who you are. That's it.

You just are who you are when you embrace it. So that led me to understand I am who I am. And it took me a long time. There was the digging out of the hole and there was some other stuff. And then I, you know, got on to seeking like, what is, what is this existence? Who am I? If I'm not that, because clearly I'm not, then what am I? Like, what am I?

What do I have? And so, you know, I started searching consciousness and connection to who I am and things that are bigger than me. all of that stuff. But that moment is that moment where the mask sort of had to drop. That mask of the real world. Like you were talking about the corporate world. Like, I had to drop that.

And even though I was in a creative world and it felt like it was okay to be out of the box, I actually was putting myself in a box creatively. You know, I was putting myself in a box creatively because I didn't really know who I was and I didn't want to have patience, trust into what's the most important thing. I didn't know any of that.

They just didn't know it, you know what I mean? I just didn't know it until it had to happen for me to understand. Right? That this is who I, wait, maybe you ought to seek who you really are and what you have to say and make that the only focus and do it in the now. and not for the future. How did you balance?

Like, you know, it seems that a lot of people, well, maybe not a lot of people, it seems to me, it strikes a chord in my heart when you speak about having this passion project that you believe in and taking your family's money. And on some level, you feel like you're probably being selfish and greedy for pursuing this thing when your family is right there and you know that you're not bringing anything in. You know, are you being greedy? Are you being selfish? But even though you can look on the mountaintop and see this glorious other side,

you look back and you see your family. Like, you know, how did you balance that? And what comes of that? Well, I guess in the story is this, is that I wasn't balancing it. It was the, that's what it was. I mean, I had all those thoughts. I had all those thoughts. And that's what I guess what I was trying to say is it wasn't really a,

a passion project for me. It wasn't really who I actually authentically was. That comes through my work no matter what, but it was like a thing I was trying to make that people would like. I see. You know what I'm saying? Like even though creatively I always had a different beat. And in that movie, it's called A New Tomorrow,

there's a different beat to it. There's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there is my beat in it. a lot of it. You know what I mean? That inner beat because I couldn't escape it, but I didn't know that was happening. And I didn't know how to honor that fully in all aspects of it. So that's what I'm saying. And that's what that's what dropped me on because I wasn't, I wasn't balancing it. I mean, I had all those thoughts. And my brain was going a million miles a second with bad stories about how I'm terrible. And but yet I'm creative and that I have to be able to make this. And I all this that we open with the stories. They tell ourselves, right? And so the best thing that's the best thing that ever happened to me, even though nearly lost my wife, things were hard, like all this stuff, because consciousness reached down and shook me and said,

this is not how things are. Life is prototyping. I didn't know any of this language, even for a few years. after that happening. I didn't have any of these understandings, right? But it shook me and said, life is prototyping, and it's only prototyping in what's authentically you.

You know, so first figured that out, first figure out being just another human in the world, not some indie filmmaking genius or whatever you want. I was trying to go after, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, just drop all that stuff, Just because you know how to tell a good story and make things interesting and, you know, like, it means nothing if you're not using it to serve, right? If you're not, and that's not, and you're not really who you are if you're doing that other thing, even though you might have some of those talents and gifts and skills. Still not really.

You're just a facade of yourself. You're living behind the veil of the illusion, right? hoping that if you sell the movie for $5 million, everybody in the house is happy and you're going to be able to make whatever next film you want to make. Like, this is all stuff that, when I hear myself say that just now, I think how insane those ideas are,

but that's what was going through my head. Right, that's what was going through my head. You know, it wasn't, oh, who are you? grab onto that and ride that because even if you died penniless and you ride that, you'll have lived a true existence for a short time, if that, or a long time, whatever time it is. I don't know, time, whatever. But if you grab and hold that and treat that, treat everybody in the world like that's who you are and that they can also be that,

then the, the, whatever happens happens. And it's not in your, it's not really in my control anyway, right? Yeah. Yeah, the letting go part is very difficult, whether it's an illusion you believe you are, whether it's the illusion society tells you can be, or whether it's something that's been conditioned into you. You know, I think everybody gets to a point in their life where like,

Okay, here it is. Are you going to continue with the illusion or are you going to let go? I love life because I think it will always present you that opportunity if you want to look. Sometimes the older, you get the harder, it gets to look though because you're like, Jesus, gee, look what I'm done. Yeah, look at it. Look at it and stop doing it. Yeah, the patterns are heavy. The conditioning patterns are heavy.

They weigh into you. Yeah. They weigh into you. But I mean, I feel like, I feel like, yeah, it's hard. But I also feel like it's who we are. Yeah. So what's only hard about it is recognizing the fact that we aren't the illusion in any way, at least for me. And I was realizing I came in with all I ever needed.

It's all installed there. And it was written over, right? It was written over and written over, and it was written over from places not from me, and then I wrote over it as well. But it's still the truth. You can get away from it. So it's really just accepting that that's it. But, you know, and then it's, I guess, for me and I guess kind of what you're saying, then it becomes about what we do every day, how we feel about it, what we think about. what we think about it,

what shirt I have on, what, how do I live? And you start to realize that it's not that nothing matters, something matters, there's a uniqueness, so you know,

I love blue. So why would I get rid of blue? You know what I mean? Like you don't have to drop everything is what I'm saying. Just have to drop this big falsity that you don't have everything, that it's all not there.

waiting for you to just reach and grab it and connect with it and prototype your day, you know, without knowing what's going on and without making the list and feeling different because you didn't do everything on the list or do nothing or whatever. It's just prototyping, being open to what might come next and following exactly what's inside of you that says, oh this is this this this rings true to me i'm going to go out and see if i can make it happen today somewhat you know somewhat and that and and that we're all we're humans and we all have value and are deserving so i should treat everybody that way right yeah you know i i don't know how yeah it's gone i don't know where it's gone but

But I don't want to feel like I'm preaching because I'm not. I mean, this is just my experiences. This is how I get through to my stuff and am able to tap into my creative zone and all that because I don't have that attachment to some false entity. I don't have to be the next so-and-so filmmaker. It doesn't matter. I just, what's coming up? What am I going to write this story about?

Oh, there it is. It's coming through me. I'm letting it come through me. I'm not going to block that. You know, and it'll work with me and we'll prototype it out until we have something that's ready to go, ready to be made. Like our first film will be, you know, sing your song, something I wrote. And it's not that, you know, everything's not in there.

Like I take out all, I take out, I leave out a bunch of stuff I should say. When I say that, it's not stories. or plot or any of that. But like, there's such a heavy director's ideas and so much control. Yeah. And I realize that's baloney, man.

And I'm, when I'm working with an actor, they're bringing something. How can I tell them, I'm just envisioning this character as it is now with the idea that they're going to come and bring their stuff. That's,

that's beyond beautiful that they will do that. Not, I got a, they got a move like this, you know what I mean? They're not like Hitchcock where they're mannequins or whatever that he's pointing around the film set, even though he's a great filmmaker. You know, I mean, that's kind of how he thought of actors.

You know, it's like, do exactly what I'm telling you to do and don't do anything else. You know, so a lot of stuff while I was writing is just still open because it's an open process, right? Yeah. It's an open process with a bunch of people that you're going to collaborate with. Why try to tell them exact stuff?

Now, share your vision of what you think, and then you guys can talk. Right? Yeah. So, I mean, I kind of look at, I guess maybe it's my own personal experience, but like you said, you see yourself in a novel, your life. I see myself in a movie. Yeah. And that it's like unfolding like that and that there is no perfect anything.

There's just constant change. And it doesn't seem in nature that there's anything boxed in or permanent or a certain way, right? It seems like it's all just kind of open. So it didn't make sense to me when I read it, right? I had that that understanding that I would be living or doing my work any other way. Like, why would I be going against the natural flows of things? I know why I would because of conditioning because of the stories I tell myself, but I refrain from that now because.

It's interesting to come, you know, it's almost like awakening to the idea that you tell your own story. Like when you think about Hitchcock or I think about, you know, some directors, sometimes the story is about, like, there's a story, there's always a story behind the story. Like there's a story of this great film, but then you hear the story about the director about that great film. And, you know, in some ways,

you could see that the director wanted that to be the main story of the film was the way that they directed the film. You know what I mean? Like, depending on how you look at it, you start seeing all these different perspectives. But one perspective that I love that you're bringing to the forefront, and I think that this is, at least I'm beginning to see more of this. And maybe it's because of our conversation today is that

this idea of co-creation. All of a sudden, instead of being the main character, you're co-creating with these other characters. You're all the main characters. And when you can start seeing that aspect of it, you're like, wow, you know, we're co-creating this thing together. And just my words going out here, if they bounce back in this way, instead of, if I use this tone, they bounce back this way.

Like the echo back to me is co-creating. And I really think that that is the way forward. And I see it as this evolution of our civilization or the evolution of our communities. or maybe it's a harkening back to, but maybe you can speak more to this idea of co-creation and how it's shaping, how it can shape the future of storytelling. Yeah, I mean, I'd love to speak about that because that's what it is. You know, that is exactly what it is.

How you described it. It's this, to me, I'll put it in my words. We each are very a unique slice of the great hole, right? So if the great hole is looked at like a puzzle without your slice in there, there's lack. So I apply that to a film. Why would I take out someone's uniqueness if they're a production assistant or a cinematographer or a gaffer or an actor or a makeup? Why would I not want their full uniqueness? it can only make a hole.

Now, if you're attached to outcomes, like there's people you mentioned, those kind of directors, and I was there. That's what got me with a new tomorrow. I was there. I wanted to be that guy who was the story about the movie, right?

You know, like that was me. I wanted to be the guy. Oh, you're the guy who did that. You know, I wanted that. I wanted it desperately. Yeah. Right? And like I said, I'm ever grateful that didn't happen for me.

Could have. It happened to other people I knew. You know, it had nothing to do with what I was doing or not doing. There was some luck or whatever involved. Sure. Like, you know, or maybe it was meant for me to get here, right? Whatever. I don't know.

I don't know what to get into that stuff. But the thing is co-creation is going to be the future for humanity. And that's part of what's really brilliant. about connected pictures is because I I partner with Amit Rathor and he's a beast he's a he's a tech guy right and he is already paving the way in this for people to balance things financially mutually beneficial stuff in platforms and and the use of you know AI in the right ways you know not excited I don't that that's sound right but you know for the

the benefit of everybody. That's what I should say. Because right or wrong is not good. And that's what we're incorporating in the whole platform because we need to have other ways of exchanging value. Right? And value has to be looked at completely different for humanity to move forward. And so right now we're using money.

You know, that's how we're exchanging value. But that doesn't mean even the money doesn't have to change. it's the perception of value. And so that's what we're doing. We're making everything mutually beneficial through how the platform finances itself sends money, does, you know, conducts business, right?

Because it's the same as a movie set to me. Like if everyone's not honored on the movie set, you know, and if I'm in some exalted chair, Right? Where's the value? Where's the value? There's no value. There's no value in that. There's no value in me. There's no value pumping into the movie. There's no resonance. It's just people, you know, trying to be better than they think they are or something. You know, I don't know. So that's the point. So co-creating is co-creating on all levels for us, including in the community and how money spread around. and how people support us and we support them back. You can't make a movie without a lot of people and you can't do it without resources. And I don't know where the resources are always going to come from.

And I don't want to know. What I want to know is, am I open to all sorts of people bringing their uniqueness and their value at a high level? Because I believe that that's when all the resources will fall in line. And it won't be about X, Y, and Z, and someone doing this and that. It'll just be this organic thing that grows

and turns into a movie that people can see and that lives in a community and has its way out into the world, the way it goes out into the world. And we won't be trapped in some false idea of, you know, what business is and who gets what and how much did it make and how many people saw it and any of that stuff, right?

because that's not it. So co-creation, what I'm trying to say in this long-winded, kind of meandering way, is that co-creation exists in everything. We just pretend it doesn't. But we cannot survive, and we could have never survived, if other people weren't co-creating with us

from the time we're infants until now. Humans could not survive. We can't. It's not. True. I mean, people can do stuff on their own, and that happens, and we see it. But there's a real power and a movement forward. Humanities movement forward has always been in co-creation. As much as we love to point the finger at, this guy did it, or that woman did it, or none of that's true, right? I mean, you look into all the stuff and whatever, all those people, Edison, Tesla, you know, I mean, like, no one thinks, oh, does all this stuff on their own. They might, you know, come up with the ideas on their own. Maybe they have that vision run through them.

Right. But then what happens? You have to have people. Right? You have to have people. Everybody, not just to make it happen, but to also exchange with it. In whatever ways, they exchange with it. I mean, otherwise, there's nothing.

So everything's co-creation. So, you know. And then co-creation. specifically on connected in connected pictures platform is that people have characters that come and interact and they grow and they

prototype into something, there's a movie there. So we'll do all we can to help that movie come about so that more stories are told so that more people, some more light can get out there in the world.

Right? Some more light can uncover the veil that we're stuck in. right you know so that that's co-creation in that way and and it doesn't have a definition so i could say oh well i'll write the script with somebody or some i don't even get into that because that's not even really co-creation it'll present itself co-creation presents the next step to you you know it presents it i don't choose it it presents which way it has to go right it just does And we can get all metaphysical or whatever, and it doesn't matter because that's how it happens. You don't have to know anything except for to know that the thing will be presented for you to do.

And like true prototyping that existence is, you may do that thing, and it doesn't work in that case. And then there'll be a new step presented to you. And there's constant change. And that's why I like the term prototyping, because that's prototyping. You don't just jump into it and it happens. You're testing. But it also isn't a heavy thing. And you also don't have to necessarily know the way, but you have to take action.

Yes. That action may come to nothing or it may come to something, but you're not in charge of any of that. You're in charge of the next action that's presented to you. You know, for me, that's kind of an easy way to look at co-creation. I can call up my friend who wrote a book, right, and tell him, hey, we're doing this platform. Those characters got to be there. And he's like, cool, all right.

And then that's it. I don't need, the next thing will be there. When it's time and when he's ready to put the characters there, we'll do it. And then I can say, oh, I feel like this one needs to do that. You know, and it's just humans. That's human action. You know, it's just about movies, but it's the same with everything. you need to eat, you have to feed a family.

You're talking about what do you want? How do we get it? Is mom getting this stuff? Is dad getting this stuff? I mean, that's co-creation too. That's co-creation. You know, it's doing that. So it's an interesting, I love the term, and it's an interesting term,

but the truth is, I guess if you're open and you're not stuck in a way or there has to be a way, then you're in co-creation, kind of like we are, you and I are right now. We're co-creating this, what's being recorded, right? Just in the resonance that we have

with what each other is saying. I love it. And I think it speaks to the idea of co-creating your own life. I love the way in which you describe that. If you just have the courage to take the first step, then maybe the next step will be revealed to you. But you have to,

it's almost like it's life is whispering like, hey, come here, come over here. Well, over here. Yeah, look at this thing. What, this thing over here? Yeah. What do you think about that? You don't look behind you, you know? Like, but like, but like enticing me and like, yeah, yeah, I know that happened,

but come here, I'm here. I'm here. I know, I know those problems over there, but just come here for one second. Let me show you this thing, you know? And it's such, I find myself sometimes in tears, sometimes laughing maniacally. And people look at me like, what is wrong with this guy? But it's just the way life talks to me. And to all of us, if you're willing to listen,

I think life desperately is conspiring to co-create with you. And like you said, when you call your friend, I need these characters, maybe two show up. And you're like, okay, I guess that I'm supposed to have these two. How do I make this work? You know, but it is this. But it does get scary, though, too. Like what?

Maybe that's part of the story, though. Maybe when things are supposed to get scary, you know, like, hey, this is the part where the movie's scary. What are you going to do right here? What do you do when life gets scary like that? Or when you're co-creating, you don't know what the next. step is. Do you have like some tricks or tips that you do? I mean, I guess the biggest tip I have is I go through the process of being crazy for a short time, right? I love that. Yes. I allow it to be, but I don't allow it

to go to anybody else. You know, so I allow it to be within me. I accept that it's happening. that this is scary and I'm scared and I don't know what to do and maybe it's not going to work and then what will wife say and what the you know and bapapapap right I acknowledge that that's me being human and that's the case and that and then I sit with that I sit with it for as long as I can Not that I can. I sit with it until I give it its acknowledgement that that's true. And then somehow, not always right away, the void is filled with, no, this is your vision.

This is who you really are. You're caught up in the illusion when you're doing that. you're caught up, you're still having you that desire that wants to be the guy. I'm going to be the next, you know, put it, fill in the blank. For me, it's no Brooks, but not that I do comedy like that, but just to be as brilliant. You know, whatever. But like, and that is not your path. You acknowledge that that exists in you.

You let it run through you. accept it, you faced it, you know what I mean, you're truthful about it, and then the void is filled that you, you not only aren't that, but you're bigger and better than that. You're a slice of uniqueness that no one else is. So try to honor that, the best you can. You know, and that, I mean, that's the way that kind of works for me a lot of times. And it really is to me a constant acknowledgement that I've been conditioned. The conditioning is in me. No matter all the stuff I've done, it's still maybe in me.

Maybe it is just being human. And that my task here is to fill my head with the stuff that, that is that I find truth in, which then counteracts that conditioning because it just completely destroys it. You know, it just lays it to bear because it's not true, you know, it's not true. And I mean, a lot of times music, there's whatever,

you know, there's a lot of things we can do, right? So, I mean, I might put on some clash and go, oh yeah, listen. listen to what those guys were saying. You know, they're not just saying tear down the wall and the man, get the man. They're saying what's in us that needs that. And why are we accepting what's happening to us? And you know what I mean? It's within you.

It's not outwardly of you. It's within you, right? And both things are within us, right? The conditioning stuff that comes up is within us. And so was the other, but the others where we're at peace, right? Or we're more at peace. I mean, that's the thing for me. I don't know.

It's just my personal experience. I love to read, you know, like, I don't know, roomy or somebody. Like things that just, they talk about getting back to your essence, you know, of what you are. What are you, you know? Yeah. I think it's gone anyway. It's an interesting thing though. Humans are are so interesting just as we are. We're so intriguingly interesting. And I'm a people watcher, you know, that I don't know. I just watch. You know, I see. I see in, you can just, most of its imagination. But when I see somebody walking, I get an idea of how maybe they're thinking. because you walk a certain way when you think a certain way or you do stuff

and you know it's probably all not true they may be doing the exact opposite but just watching that and knowing that humans have we have all these little things we display all the time and we know personally

that it's what's in our heads that are making that come out right so just to sit and be calm have a conversation with you five years ago would have been really difficult for me super difficult

if not not impossible because I would have done it you know but I would have been doing it for a different reason I'd have been doing it not to share who I really am

and what I really think but so that maybe I would someone would see me and then something would happen and they'd say I was cool or whatever You know what I mean?

All this stuff could happen. Like, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what else to say about that. It's a pretty interesting concept. It's deep, that's it. It is deep, right? It is deep. Yeah.

Here's a thread I kind of want to pull on. Like, I love to watch people, too. And I have found that in my watching of people, I see myself. And I'm curious, that's the first part of question. When you're people watching, are you really watching your, who you think those people are? Are you watching yourself? And number two, when you create a film, do you think the people that watch that film are watching a version of you?

That's a great question. Well, yeah, I'm a people watcher and I do see myself. Or at least I see how I could adopt what that person's doing. So you know what I mean? Like if they're walking a certain way and I'm a, I don't know if it's coming across, but I'm an eternal kid. Like I'm like a little kid. I'm just a little kid.

And so like I might walk like they walk for a couple of steps just to feel like what that is, to see what that is, you know, to try to understand what's going on there. Like it's just kind of how I am. I'm picking up the. snails and you know and checking them out still you know but it's mental stuff and it's with people but yeah i see myself in it but i had to learn to do that i think at least for right up until now i had to learn that we really are each other yeah like that's it we just yeah we just simply are it's a really hard concept and i see why that keeps the illusion going because there's so much that your ego or

whatever stuff wants to be different. And you truly are, but it's a hard concept to say, I'm completely different, and yet I'm you. So I do see it that way. Now, you're talking about movie creating and characters

and do people think it's me. And what I would say is, and what I do say, people have asked me this, is that there's a little piece of me in all of it, right, in all the characters, even the ones that I have no, in a sense, I've no experiential way to express them, but they're coming through me and they're a part of me. So like a 20-year-old woman or something, you know, like, and I, and there's nothing fake about it,

and I'm not trying to speak for anybody of that age or anything. there's a piece of me. And sometimes it can look like there's more, but it's just a piece. And I think, and I'll only be paraphrasing, but Salman Rushdie spoke to this one time, and he said, yeah, there's a little piece of me, but they're not me because he gets,

his characters tend to look like him, you know, or seem like him. And he's like, no, those are not me, you know. I'm me. Me is here. But there's a piece and there's a, I resonate with that part of it or I understand that or I've had that experience or something similar that's getting infused into the characters. And I really feel like that.

That's how I feel about it, you know. Like, I feel like there's something of me in all those characters. There's also nothing in me. It's not me as a whole. You know, and I don't know if it's even true if I was to, do a documentary about myself. You know, like, I don't know if it's even true because humans, we aren't, we can be fully ourselves

and like I am right now with you and it's feel comfortable and it's totally me, right? But it's also in this scope of we're having this conversation that's being recorded and that someone might, like that, the realities of stuff don't go away from you. even if you can be super calm and be okay with it. You know what I mean?

Like not trying to be somebody or anything, you know, be who you truly are. But the confines of every situation are the confines of every situation, whether it's walking the dog in the park or, and you're kind of different even though you are who you are. And I'm not talking about the, you know, presenting stuff or any of that. I'm just saying that that the situation is,

we're in are just they're just different and so we have different experience because it's happening in the now you know we're tapping different parts of ourselves and all of that so that's what happens when I write a screenplay or I'm trying to make a movie or whatever like well that will be at least it is in the screenplay because the other movies and all that stuff was a different mean that's not yeah it's no longer me you know so so I you know so I can't equate that with that because I was a different doing different stuff. But the thing is, now I just, like, I'm in, I'm actually kind of detached, believe it or not, when I'm writing to the point where I'm doing like we talked about earlier, where like we were talking about the novel, where like there's two people kind of happening

at the same time. So I'll get very emotional while, and I'm not an emotional person. Like, I don't cry. Like, it's my conditioning. I haven't got past that point to cry. I cry a little bit now, but my conditioning was not that. I was a, you know, it was very tough. I was surprisingly looking at me. I was a very aggressive person until into my 20s, very aggressive. You know, I could be aggressive and I fought a lot and did a lot of stupid stuff,

especially when I was young. I was always little and whatever. You know, it's just conditioning stuff. So I don't hold on to it. But so because of that conditioning, that, that, cry thing just like went away, you know, went away for decades and decades, right? So I'm starting to be able to cry. But like I'm writing something and it'll be another character in the situation.

It's kind of coming through me. And I'm like crying while I'm right. So I'm like the two people. Like something's happening, this author. But I'm so swept in it. I'm emotionally moved by what's actually coming through my fingers into the keyboard. You know, so it's an interesting. thing because that's how I see conscious creating, you know, because it's really giving over

to what's happening. I'm so deep into those moments that I'm fully vested there, and yet I'm watching and guiding it at the same time. It's, it's, I mean, you know, it's a, I don't know, I don't know if that explained what we were talking about, but, but that's kind of how, it works, you know, like you get fully, you adopt that. It's kind of, I guess, a little bit like me taking a few steps like someone I see walking. Like, I'm stepping into those characters. The awareness that something is moving through you, I've never heard of put that way, but I feel like a weight is off my shoulders.

Like, that's such a great way to see it. Like, oh, I'm not really in control of this at all. But I can guide it. I can push it in a little bit of a direction. And that's what I can, that's all I can do. You know, and that's the gift in some ways is not being aware. And it probably happens to everybody. They're just not aware of it, right?

Totally happens to everybody and they're not aware. I love it. But it takes you to relinquish some sort of control over it. And I think for me, at least, I want to grab it. I can't control it. Yeah. Attachment is at the bottom of that wanting to control. I want to say, I mean, and I don't even like saying this, although I have to say it.

So I didn't, I don't really, I didn't really write this script. Like, it was written through me. Yeah. But it also is not true because it's filtered through my experiences and my life and the way I see things. So it's that weird nexus of authentic truth and consciousness co-creating within me to make something happen. So I really don't take any I, I, like, credit for it. I am. Yeah.

Yeah. But then I take I am credit like the big I am. Right. You know, because it moved through me. And it sounds out there, I guess, in a way. But it's the truth. That's what happened. And then when, I mean, like a perfect example is in writing the script, I get to points where I don't know what's going to happen.

Just don't know. I don't know what the character would do. I don't know. I may even try to sit in and try to make something. You know what I mean? But I stopped that and I just asked the question. So at one point, though, because of my conditioning and this, my wife has always, she used to. to be a story editor at HBO pictures.

Like, said, she's always kind of, she's a great editor. So I would give her my work when I would get stuck and, like, look for suggestion. But consciousness has come through us both so much and so much of an understanding that at this one point, I couldn't figure something out. And I, and then I went for that. Like, I went, conditioning revved up and I pulled the parachute, you know. Like, you know, don't stick, get the quick answer and move on, you know, whatever. And I asked her if she would look at it and she's like, no, you're the only one who has the answers.

You're the only one, meaning not me, but the big, the whole package, you know, the consciousness has the answers to that. It will tell you. You just want it to be over now. You just want that problem to be solved. Right? So you can move on because I kind of saw what was happening in the future, right? of the, you know, and then I realized this, that's truly how you can gain that really a beautiful spot where you trust.

Like, at least for me, that was my moment that I could grab on to trust and into the unknown. I could jump fully into the unknown and trust. and trust that I'll be caught, you know, and it won't be conditioning stuff. And after a couple of days, you know, I would put the, I put the questions that I was having into my, whatever, I just asked myself or just thought of them, you know, and I said, just give me an answer when you, you know, it's time, you have an answer for me. A couple days later, the answer comes. There it is.

Boom, I'm on. It's that trust kind of thing when we were talking about earlier, you were talking about. about it. Like it's hard to live a life where you really trust that, but you need to have these examples so that they can show you that that is the way. This is the way. And so I think a big help in that is community and other people doing it and sharing that. Is it no different than sharing anything about ourselves like you were talking about earlier too? When we share ourselves and others resonate, then that's the most beautiful thing. And trust is like a hard one to trust. Oh.

Especially when you've been burned before. Exactly. Yeah. Right. Exactly. And all that. But it's a question of who or what you've been burned by. For me, it always comes back to, I've been burned by my own expectations of the outcomes of any situation. So therefore only I'm burning myself in reality, because if I'm being treated in a certain way or something doesn't happen, it's really because I said in motion, whatever it was,

not the heavy responsibility of every moment has to be something out of perfect, but my mindset was about gaining something or something that's about me personally and self-ism rather than asking for help and guidance in a certain thing and then taking steps enough, because that would be helpful for me on a minute. Yeah, so it's a kind of interesting thing,

but trust, you know, like getting those trust moments, they're big, they're huge for me, you know, they're trust. Like I don't think life works out if you don't have some trust because we don't know what's coming around the corner. no clue. You can only trust that if we're like aligned with our own authenticity, that it won't matter what happens coming around the corner because you'll have all the tools to solve whatever problem they're there sitting in you.

You just want to use some other tools that seem easier. But they're not actually, which aren't easier, right? Which aren't easy. And don't provide an answer or to the problem that's really solves it in a way, you know, in like a holistic way. So that's like you say, it's hard. We've had a lot of conditioning. Yeah.

I think it speaks to the idea of stories can be used as a tool for trust and faith in something bigger than us. Or it can be used as an illusion to not trust. You know, it's, it's interesting how we decide to wield that tool. And maybe it, maybe it oscillates like, you know, for 30 years, we go through this illusion of not trusting. And then for the next 30, we begin to open up into trusting. It's just weird. And I can only speak to my own, my own life and experiences there. But it seems to me, life is a test about how much do you trust yourself?

How much you're willing to trust yourself? Do you have the courage to trust yourself? Why shouldn't you trust yourself? Why don't you trust yourself? You know, it's interesting, these questions that come up. Yeah, and those are cool. And actually, answering, trying to answer those questions is like a brilliant, friggin' thing to do.

Because it can take you to the point of truth. So for instance, like, why would I have that mentality that I had trying to make a new tomorrow and be the guy. Yeah, yeah. And it took me back to exact. I mean, I can chart out the conditioning that happened right from the start. And then I can realize,

I got that from somebody else or I'm trying to impress somebody else. And it doesn't matter who they are, dad, mom, grandma, whoever close they are, best friend, whatever. Their truth isn't my truth. so what you know I'm doing that for the the most

false reasons there ever was because they're not even my reasons yeah they're their reasons you know what I mean they're their reasons like I mean you ask yourself and be honest about the answer you can chart it back and it's not a blame game because they only know what they knew you know what I mean but it doesn't matter because then you can just say oh

all that was a bunch of BS right their BS on top of that why am I carrying that you know goodbye see you later let me find what my truth can be

yeah right let me not let that dictate my missing those beautiful steps that lie in front of me of synchronicities and things just like you know that's how we got connected right just an exchange you know

just not worrying about is this person going to talk to me or not talking, you know, or any of the stuff that's out there just like, oh, wow, cool, we look like we're on the same path. Hey, hey, we're on the same path. Hey, yeah, we are.

Right? Let's talk. Yeah. Right, let's co-create. Let's move it forward. Let's go, you know. And then we're doing what's in our heart and whatever, whenever we're doing what's in our heart,

then that's making change, right? It doesn't have to be going and feeding people at the soup kitchen or something. I mean, nothing wrong with that. That's excellent. Sure. You know, when you live from you, you're making change. You're making absolute change. You know, you just can't maybe see it.

Right. Like the stone in the pond, right? The ripples radiating outwards. Right. Yeah. I like the stone and the palm. Yeah, but I mean, that's, I believe in that. Me too.

You know, and I, I've seen it work, you know, and I've also seen how choosing the other is painful for me and for others. You know, and I can continue to tell myself that story that that's how people are. you know, that permanence. We have an evil side, so you know what I mean? When you do something wrong, it's just, that's just being human, you know? Part of that, I guess, in a sense, is true, but also it's not necessarily true.

You know, it's just a story. That's a story that people believe, you know, but we inherently have this thing in us that's prototyping. That is, we don't know what's around the corner, that we don't know what's, going to happen and the safest most beautiful way to go through it is connect to your authentic self and it presents the next step to take without knowing what's beyond that step and then there's another step and that's it and not you're not stuck in a that was a failure why did I do that right because every experience we have is only moving forward it's just not moving directly forward all of them.

Yeah, and like trusting that that's true. You can see all the graphs, though. You can see all the graphs that go like this, and you can still not believe it, right, in yourself,

but I don't know. It's a trip being human and being in existence and finding out new understandings of how to live and actually putting those into motion and seeing what you get from it. You know,

that little risk, right there. Putting them into words or putting them into symbols or putting them into language, you know, like so often language fails, especially, like I'm a big fan of psychedelics and I bump up against this thing all the time, this ineffable,

but it's this something so beautiful, the terror before the sacred. It's this feeling you get, but it's indescribable, but you want to share it, you know, and all of a sudden you start realizing like, oh,

the Yin and Yang symbol, There's this little spot of light in chaos or this spot of chaos in order. And like you start realizing that these symbols that you've seen around your whole life convey multitudes of information far more than any words can, far more than a library can, is in this one symbol if you're just willing to take time and sit with it. And wow. And then you want to show somebody else so you can just walk over and you point it to him. You know what I mean?

Like there's, I kind of went off on a tangent there. No, no, I know exactly. No, I know exactly what you mean. And that's exactly what I was saying right from the beginning is it doesn't, I call it art, but that's a bad word because words don't. These things open us. Yeah. They open us, a symbol like that, the yin yang.

You know, it opens us if you're willing to be open. Or they open you, maybe even better and more true. I guess is they open you now are you willing to say you've been opened by them now are you willing to say you've been open by them and then see where that leads you

see where that leads you because you're right I mean even symbols and art and movies and everything else yeah they don't they cannot yeah they're similar but they can't they can't grasp this experience when you're fully connected

to consciousness and authentic self They can only kind of represent it in the best way that can be representative of that thing to help you point you towards jumping in to have that experience. When you're opened, things can flow out of you and things can flow into you. And that is really scary. Yeah, it is scary. You're right. It's scary, but exciting. Yeah.

Yeah. You should embrace. That's why you should be open because it is scary. But what, I mean, think about what good can, first of up, what needs to come out of you. Geez, for the love stuff needs to come out of you. You got to be open. And you need to be filled back up. You need to have things come into you.

And so many of us get, you know, as I started talking about it, like it's all in the lexicon. It's in the language, in the movies, in the symbols, in the books, being open. Just being open to a new idea or closing yourself off to something. It's in the language, man. It's all right there. That's what I'm always shocked when I find out something that was written 5,000 years ago or whatever. It's just telling me truth, right? And what shocks me is not so much that like, oh, wow, that's old.

It's like we get told this stuff. People have been passing this knowledge on, this understanding. for years and years. But somehow humans in a great way don't want to accept it. It's too heavy or whatever it is, and it turns into something else, a set of rules to live by a set of this, an organization that does this,

a symbol that means that, you know. And it's like the truth is just there. It's just sitting there. It's told a billion different ways. from for thousands of years, right? It can come from anywhere. And the question isn't whether or not humans know the truth. The question is, are we willing to accept it?

Yeah. You know, so, I mean, that's, that's, that's, that's the point for me in filmmaking. I want to shine some light somewhere because maybe, maybe we just need a bunch of different ones because there's so many of us that the sources providing some understanding about what it means to be human need to be super varied. You know, like you. Like us. Yeah, like us being here.

Like about me, it's for movies and you is just talking to people who, you know, and maybe that's just what we need and maybe that's what wasn't there all this time those symbols have been around. Yeah. Maybe we haven't embraced the idea that a lot of people have this understanding. and can share it because it doesn't resonate with everybody from only one source. It resonates. Maybe we need millions of sources to reach billions of people, you know, different perspectives on it,

different ways to do it. You know, I don't know. I mean, I'm thinking about that stuff all the time, clearly, but, and not to make out what I'm doing anything more special. It's actually to like say, look, let's, let's infuse this in what we're doing. Let's get more people's ideas. Let's get more different stories. Let's tell different things.

Let's have other stuff. This is not a one-stop shop. You know, let's go out there and see if we can get a bunch of different movies out there that are bringing some proofs and resonance to people so that, you know, the rock can move forward so we can push this rock forward, right? Because, I mean, I guess if you dwell in that world, right, the world of oh wow that's happening now now this and that are happening and it's horrific stuff i'm not i'm not putting a pass on that no way but the solution's not in that no the solution is in something

bigger and beyond that and maybe there's a way to use our storytelling and i'm not talking about just mine and connected pictures i mean just in general our storytelling to tell a different story. Maybe there's a different way to look at conflict and to have story and to make it, you know, clear that there's what's going on in that stuff has nothing to do with authentic truth. Yeah, maybe it's the grand scheme of things. I like to think of it as the burning away of illusion, hopefully. And we're getting to the part of the story where something beautifully emerges. But that takes this. You know what I mean? Like it takes this. My wife and I sometimes talk about does it have to get here? And I think the answer is yes. That's what we came up with. Yes. It has to

get here. It's necessary. It's imperative actually. So maybe that's what's happening now. Maybe we're so lucky to be at this point. That could be true. You know, I don't know. I don't know. I have different, I mean, I have similar thoughts, but different thoughts on it because I'm not like a We got to hit a bottom to go back up to the top person. Okay. Like, this is my own. This is just my own thing. What I see is, I see the value in that, though,

because a lot of times that drops the veil of illusion. But I have to mention, I love your burning away the illusion. I had to write that down. That is such a beautiful way to say it. Burn away the illusion. And it incorporates. with my view on it too. It's just not like there doesn't, because I don't know, humans could go much, we're atrocious sometimes. Sometimes, most of the time.

Yo, I don't know about most of the time, but like, like we've done some horrendous things in our history, right? We thrive on it, man. We get good at it. We can be really good at it. But the quent, so I don't know if there's a bottom. It could keep getting worse is what I'm saying. So that's why I'm not a bottom to the top, to the bounce up because I should write that. I don't know if there's a bottom. You don't know if there's a bottom. But the thing is, for me anyway, none of that makes any difference

because really all that needs to happen is to shake out of the illusion. Yeah. To tell a different story than the story that's being told because the story that's being told is held in permanence and has false narratives

and these beliefs of other people and not us who are standing here right today. And we're, you know what I'm saying? So we're enacting the other beliefs. And if you have any connection to your authentic self, you know that that's wrong. You know what I mean? Not wrong in the wrong way,

but you know that that's not the way. You know? And so like, it's then, then maybe that it doesn't matter how low we get if that shakes out. If that story is the reframing for all of humanity, that the old stories are not permanent, they don't have to be, there is a beautiful garden waiting for us right around the corner,

and I don't mean those gardens in some of the religious ways or anything. You know what I mean? Like literally right now, right now it can just be that we all, love and care for each other. It could just be. There's no reason that it isn't.

There's a story that there's a reason that there isn't. There's a story of we're fatally flawed this way and that's humanity and there's a bunch of story around this. But it too is a story created by somebody. It's just a story.

It's not true. Because there's plenty of pockets in the world where it is just love. It's happening at the same time that the other's happening. So neither story can be the truth, right? I mean, the absolute truth, right? So it's just how people are looking at it. They're just agreeing. Oh, I agree.

I agree that we can just take care of each other. And we don't have, and we don't have any of the fight. And then the other way is I don't agree with that. I agree that my way is the right way and I'm willing to wipe out anybody who doesn't believe that. But they're both just simply stories. None of them are, they're just stories. And they can be prototyped and written and reframed into a way that to me is more authentic of what humans come into this world like. is there

do you think there's a way you know a friend of mine Ben Doc Askins Ben if you're listening Thanks for this He wrote a book called The Anti-heroes journey And he makes this

He has this really cool way Of saying that Maybe we're moving past the hero's journey Maybe that's good and bad And maybe these ideas are too simplistic And maybe what we're seeing right now Is the need for a new mythology, like a new way to tell a story. You know, we've relied on these old ways of telling

stories and you're right, you know, whether it's the aftermath of 9-11, we're all united, or it's the terrorists are here right now and we're divided. You know, whatever story we're telling ourselves, how do we tell a new story? How does it, like, how does a new idea begin? Well, it probably begins with a metaphor. Probably begins by telling a story about what happened and comparing or changing the variables in that story. But how do we tell a new story? How does a new story emerge? Can something emerge in a new story that's never happened before?

Absolutely. We're unbound. We're limitless, especially in imagination and creativity. That's one thing humans are. That's how we got to this horrible. I mean, you can call it a horrible state, but that's how we got this far that you and I can have a conversation. like this. So, you know, how long has that been even available? So clearly we're limitless.

Right. You know, so yeah, a new story could be told or the way I like to look at it. Okay. It's not or, really. It's, it's a story is a story, but also what is the character or characters journey towards. In that is what stories don't get told about. They get told in the old paradigm in terms of the cowboy shot the other cowboy, the bad guy in the street, right? You know what I mean? That's the old story, right?

That's what you're talking about. The hero's journey, that's the hero's journey. But what if the story has a hero's journey? journey, but that journey is searching from within to see who you really are and how that connects with the world

and other people. And what if that's with characters who guide you, who you would not expect, who have great wisdom? What if it's that the other characters in the story are bringing parts of wisdom

that you wouldn't be able to acknowledge in yourself until you open that you were opened a little bit. What if it's a story about opening as an example? So it's kind of the hero's journey, but it's a hero's journey against yourself. I mean, the good against evil is within you in a sense, right? But it's a little bit reframed.

And it is kind of anti-hero too, because the person, I've been an anti-hero for myself, to myself, to other people and to myself. Right? You know, so it's got all those elements. So I think it's more a way to shift telling stories into what's the quest of existence. And how does that shake out in different people, in the different ways that they go through it, right?

So if you, you know, like, and what is that, what is the image? impact at that at the end. So sometimes the end of that story isn't some grand thing. It's just that, wow, I'm much more peaceful. The character could just end up much more peaceful than they ever were than the life they can. They could have shed some of the false notions that they have, and they can be at peace and talk to someone they couldn't talk to before or whatever. I wouldn't think. I mean, there's a whole, I think,

storytelling vein that could be just about the characters overcoming themselves, whichever way that can be. I love it. Yeah, I'm going to have to do some thinking on that. I think it's beautiful. What, as we're, Carrie, I love our conversation. And I had no idea we were going to go down. I didn't even know what we're going to talk about.

But this has been really rewarding and fulfilling. And I think that we probably just scratched the surface of what we can talk about. So I look forward to future conversations. And I'm curious, though, before I let you go, can you share a short story with us, whether you make it up or one that you know of? That's put me right on the spot, beautiful. Oh, yeah, maybe. I don't know. Let me let it come out.

There's a story about this guy, and he so badly wanted to be a punk rock star. So one day he picked up a guitar, and he tried to learn. But the learning was super hard. So he tried again. and it was super hard. And so he gave up.

He knew he had something to say. He believed it was through music that he could say it, but it was hard. And his mind started to go into places that were dark and deep and heavy. And it was all about how bad he was and how he had no talent. I think he lost it. I can hear you fine, right?

I can't. Your pictures. I don't know what's happened. Yeah, it's weird. It's the story, man. I'm coming back, man. It's coming back. I don't know if I'm frozen.

I'm probably frozen. That's weird. Maybe my Wi-Fi. So anyway, this guy dwells in the world of his head all the time. He's angry. He's punk rock.

Dyes his hair. He's got liberty spikes. He's at every show. He's slam dancing. He's, He's fighting people. He's doing drugs. And this goes on for a long time.

A long time. And then one day, some little kid comes up to him and says, why do you look like that? And for the first time, he didn't have an answer. He didn't say, because I'm punk rock. He said, nothing. And then he went home. home and he asked himself that question, why do you look like this? He didn't have an answer.

There's no answer to that except for an answer did come. And the answer was, because you're not being you. You're not being you. It's all just a show. Who are you now? And I'll leave it with that. That was a beautiful story. Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you. There's no other words to add to it. So I will leave people with go down into the show notes and check out Carrie, see what he's building, see what he's a part of. And hopefully some of the stories that we told today resonate with you and your stories. Check out the octopus movement. And understand that you listening to this have a beautiful story to tell. And if you have the courage to tell it, I think that the world will unfold in front of you in ways you,

in ways you can't possibly imagine yet. You're part of the story. You're part of the unfolding story. And there's a lot of other characters waiting to play a part in your story. So reach out to all of us. We love you and we hope that your story unfolds in a way that is incredibly beautiful.

So hang on briefly afterwards. I'm going to speak to you momentarily. But to everyone watching the show right now or listening, thank you so much for your time. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day and that's all we got. Aloha.