Blog

Seth Godin writes about a pastor who “runs a congregation” who admits it’s “just a job” on many days. Godin turns to his readers and admonishes them to do whatever they do with passion, whether doctors, lawyers, salesmen, etc. (it strikes me his audience is a bit highbrow). He says they each have callings that are important, potentially.

Or fake it, whatever.

Godin may be shocked by the pastor (I’m not). What gets me is that people in the secular world are increasingly free to talk about spirituality, passion, and calling. This is a very good thing. It’s great that Godin is bothered, and I’m glad he doesn’t leave spirituality to the professional religionist. We aren’t living in two worlds: secular and spiritual. There is just one real world that we’re often too distracted or simply afraid to see. Anyone who wants to live with genuine passion and calling will begin a journey that leads to truth. It’s difficult but worth taking. I don’t have to argue with you about where it leads, because if you pursue it honestly you’ll find out. I’m happy to share thoughts and experiences as one fellow traveler to another though. Meanwhile, people living by pretense or settling for the security of mere religion (or a mere role) are only fooling themselves. We have an incredible chance in this life, let’s live it to the full.

More later when I have time.

Comment »

Last September I went to Cambodia with a group of Japanese volunteers, and during our time at Wat Opot I made this short movie. All the actors are kids, mostly orphaned by AIDS (having lost one or both parents).

It’s a movie about friendship and living with HIV. There is a worldwide fear of HIV, but that fear is intensified in cultures with relatively little formal education or medical awareness. When Cambodians were dying by the thousands of AIDS, their own families cast them out, hospitals wouldn’t receive them, and even crematoriums were afraid to burn their bodies for fear that workers might be infected by the smoke.

That was three years ago. Not surprisingly, people living with HIV are still stigmatized in Cambodia.

About 20 percent of the kids at Wat Opot are living with HIV. They have worked hard with the surrounding community to dispel their fears. All the kids at Wat Opot attend the nearby public schools, and they interact freely with kids in the community. That isn’t to say all the fears and stigmas have gone away, but the situation is much better than before. The director wrote the short story that this movie is based on to help more people to understand that it’s okay to make friends with HIV infected people. We hope to distribute it in Cambodia on DVD’s and via YouTube. I’m still working on finalizing some things, like adding credits in Khmer script, but now you can see it with English subtitles.

A quick qualification: this was a learning experience. It my first attempt to make a short movie, and the crew were all learning with me as we went along. We made some significant mistakes, but we also got some things right. The actors are all kids and staff from Wat Opot, plus one woman from the community who spontaneously assumed the role of Doar’s mother (and proved to be a natural). I’m proud of what we did, and I hope we’ll create more movies in Cambodia with better and better results.

Enjoy. If you want to tell others, just send them to the main page here: www.photosensibility.com (thanks).

A Japanese volunteer and Cambodian youth handling the sound

1 Comment »

A boy living beside the old garbage dump in Phnom Penh

Today a Japanese student raised the question of happiness in a small group of students from five countries: Japan, China, the Philippines, the USA, and Egypt.  Here’s how it went. The Japanese student said her happiness was tied to graduating and getting a good job. The Americans (a student and two teachers) talked about contentment and joy. The latter was difficult to explain so the student drew a diagram to illustrate. A student from China also talked about the critical importance of getting the right job. Then the student from the Philippines, reflecting on how she lives at home, described having the equivalent of a dollar in her pocket to buy a nice plate of food when she’s hungry. The Egyptian echoed her sentiment and said he’s happy when he has food and whatever else he needs for today.

I observed how the people from wealthy countries think about happiness as a concept or a future goal, while others in poor countries find happiness in the present moment without thinking deeply about it.

What is happiness to you? Have you ever pretended to be happy, because you thought you should be? When will you be happy?

7 Comments »

My blog has a new look. If you’re using Google Reader, you’ll have to come here to see it. Be one of the first to see the short movie I’ve posted on the front page.

Are you a victim of the lizard?

Recently, I added Seth Grodin to my Google Reader feed. He has an amazing ability to churn out useful insights almost every day. Today he writes about the inner resistance that holds people back:

The resistance is the voice in the back of our head telling us to back off, be careful, go slow, compromise. The resistance is writer’s block and putting jitters and every project that ever shipped late because people couldn’t stay on the same page long enough to get something out the door.

The resistance grows in strength as we get closer to shipping, as we get closer to an insight, as we get closer to the truth of what we really want. That’s because the lizard hates change and achievement and risk.

I’ve been wanting to start exercising for months, and I want to write for publication. But the lizard is strong in me.

Comment »

If you can set aside 20 minutes and watch this movie, I think you’ll be grateful you did. It’s better than lots of films I’ve paid to see in the past. You can learn more about the project and see it in HD if you click here.

Comment »