From the Gallery Director
Animatic Meditation
RL Johnson,
Gallery Director
As individuals we are constantly required to respond and react to stimulus from our environment. To make it easier to get through each day we develop behavior patterns and conditioned responses that operate semi-autonomously and insulate us from the incessant demands our environment places upon us. When a response is required we just reach into our grab bag of template responses that have worked in the past.
Many of these are hand-me-down responses passed on to us by our parents. For the most part they remain unconscious and unquestioned and therefore become powerful shapers of the reality we experience on a daily basis.
Response patterns that we employ in our daily lifes, can control and confine us within a framework of idiosyncratic individualism. Unless we find a way to periodically step away from this inherited and self-constructed "who I am"; persona, and experience connection to our collective self, we will inevitably suffer from isolation and loneliness.
Overview: Achieving Animatic Consciousness
We spend most of our time in a state of self-consciousness. This state experiences the world and others as something separate from itself. It is a useful and powerful illusion and yet one that we must see through if we are to grow and contribute in a meaningful way to our community. To retain the separateness of our unique individuality, at the same time as establishing and maintaining awareness of our collectve being, is the most important developmental task facing us as adults.
Animatic awareness is an awareness of transpersonal-consciousness. Activating this awareness will enable you to connect into a higher realm of consciousness in which your individual self merges with your collective self. In this state you will experience directly the love, wisdom and compassion which are the primary attributes of our collective being.
Daily Meditation is the Key to Experiencing Collective ConsciousnessDaily meditation is the most effective method for re-establishing your connection to the collective. Twenty minutes a day will change your life for the better. There are many meditation forms and practices and in my experience they all work equally well.
In Animatic Meditation the words “WE ARE ONE” are used as a mantra. The mantra is repeated slowly and sub-vocally during your meditation. Focusing your attention on the repetition of the mantra will help you to see the thoughts and fantasies that drift through your mind as passing patterns and not the essential you.
If you notice during your meditation that you have slipped into daydreams and that you have stopped chanting the mantra then disengage from the daydream and return to the mantra. With practice you will find that you are not so easily lead away.
What we wish to achieve during the Animatic meditation is a clear awareness of our Collective Consciousness. This will enable the healing and illuminating power of unity to bring peace, tranquility and wisdom into our daily lives.
To begin the meditation, close your eyes and take three slow deep breaths, then begin to silently chant the Animatic mantra, “WE ARE ONE.”
Upon completion of your meditation, sit quietly for a few minutes and reintegrate back into the room. Stretch, take two or three deep breaths and open your eyes. And don't be surprised if the room seems very beautiful and you feel very good.
