Daughter of Godcast
Episode 110
Earth Dog
In our last Episode 109, Nothing, I coined the term elony, which roughly translates to virtuosity at letting the universe deliver epic outcomes. Practical application of arcane insights. In Episode 109, Nothing, I opined that Elon Musk seems like the most obvious embodiment of elony in our times. Seamus pointed out that Elon recently got into trouble for tweeting confusing / misleading information about Tesla, and the SEC smacked him down. So Elon can fuck up, which is good news. Since he is capable of making mistakes, he is likely human — just like us. He's nothing special; just a guy who consistently tunes in to the larger part of himself AND seems to have compelling clarity about what he wants. Wanting is what I'd like to explore in the next couple of episodes. How to acknowledge what we want. Another word might be identify or even remember. We're beginning a gentle segue out of the third season of the Daughter of Godcast, Summer Vacation, and back into our movie adventure. This is Episode 110, Earth Dog.
I might remind you that this podcast is about moviemaking, specifically making Daughter of God, a movie I wrote in 2005 and started shooting in 2006, 12 to 13 years ago. My first feature. How making this movie made me. Going from human being to being fully human.
Daughter of God, she is coming. Ever closer now, the Chinese year of the DOG wraps on February 4, 2019. Are there still lots of moving parts, adventures, and discoveries ahead? Oh yes, expect mucho manifesting in the next four months. With the end so close, I am ready to revel in what I want to experience while and when DOG gets done. What shape of completion feels the most exquisite? Emphasizing the experience of completion over the incidentals of completion (e.g., a feature film), is how we realize the best DOG ever. What do I want… to feel?
Desires. Aren't they mysterious? How do we know what we want? Before we can follow our bliss, what is bliss? What is your compelling desire? Do you know? Would you like to know? Does knowing make a difference?
I've come to celebrate desire as the mechanism of reality creation. What we want is super important, vital, essential, the beginning of everything. To deny or ignore our desire is to douse the cosmic fires, short-circuit the glorious universe, and shut off the lights. Without powerful desire, we're left groping in the dark.
Most of the turbulence associated with strong desire is the belief that dreams don't come true. Or that they very rarely do unless we struggle and suffer — no pain, no gain. Even with hard work and perseverance, success is elusive.
Maybe the idea of hard work could be utter shite.
Maybe dreams coming true and struggle aren't compatible, which is why dreams mostly don't come true; we've been going about dreams coming true all wrong. What if the most effective dream-realizing action felt easy, even pleasurable — like calling on our full potential and getting a robust answer, or going deep into our resilience and flexibility, or having the delight and wonder of helping diverse elements fall perfectly into place.
We can't invite our desires in and serve them biscuits and tea if we are fairly certain that no matter how hard we try desires are almost always thwarted. When trying and effort is the ONLY option, then desires have to stay outside where all the other dangerous wild things live.
Maybe the dreams-come-true recipe is strong desire coupled with confidence in the efficacy of great-feeling action. That IS the recipe, basically. Just for fun, pretend I'm telling the truth. That you now know how to make any dream come true. What desires would you let off the leash? What wild dreams would you dare to dream?
At first, this felt like a big leap for me to make. My transition to an effective dreams-come-true awareness is pretty far along now; the amazing, ecstatic completion of Daughter of God is just the beginning. You listeners and watchers of this podcast have had a front-row seat, tho maybe we were never quite sure what the Dan Kelly aka Shri Fugi Spilt show was all about. I've been showing myself how the cosmos goes… and maybe showing you too. If Elon and I can knock them out of the park, so can you.
That's my first step for bliss following. We start by demonstrating to ourselves that feeling a little better is always a choice and making this choice gets us on the express lane to dreams coming true. As the least of our dreams start coming true, one by one, little by little, we can free up and unleash more of our desire until the biggest dreams come tromping out into the light, shaking the earth with every step.
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That's the Daughter of Godcast Episode 110, Earth Dog. My cousin Shannon gave me shit about extending the completion date beyond December 31, 2018. She's not trapped in a gweilo temporality, she just wants the movie to be done so she and her son Jack can revel with me, celebrate. They don't listen to this podcast because I warned them off, what with all the drugs and sex and overthrowing the government. If I thought they were listening, I'd tell them right now that dates are trivial, DOG is guided by the tao, and the tao is timeless. They probably wouldn't hear this, though. Their excitement about the movie wrapping up is very prominent in their experience. They are focused on how good the finishing feels. I am learning from them!
Babies born between February 16, 2018, and February 4, 2019, are Earth Dogs.
Earth Dogs are stubborn and never give up. They aren’t very connected with the world and society. Though stubborn, they respect other perspectives. They believe that as long as they work hard, they’ll make it.
Hint about our Earth Dog: She is coming.
Wait a minute! You would have me believe, as you do, that hard work and effort are not the pathways to achieving one’s dreams. that opening yourself up to your desires and to the universe of possibilities are all you need. Then you seem to celebrate Earth Dogs, who “believe that as long as they work hard, they’ll make it.” You see, we are paying attention, but not sure where you are headed. Maybe you weren’t celebrating Earth Dogs, but actually warning us off? Yours in confusion,
Hey Pam, thanks for paying attention!
I chose this description from several Chinese horoscope sites because of the apparent contradiction. The superficial justification is – wry humor. After making a brilliant case for flow over struggle, ancient Chinese wisdom site says I’m full of shit!
The deeper motivation for this choice was feeling comfortable with nuance. Cherry picking material that supports my premise feels like insecurity. Plus, I felt curious about how the seeming contradiction might expand the exploration, even if only for myself. I honestly didn’t think this would stick in anyone else’s craw. I am super excited it stuck in yours.
So what could this contradiction point to? If we buy into the whole memes replicating scenario, then art could be considered to be alive, autonomous. Our earth dog, Daughter of God will be out there, trying to get copied into as many minds as possible. DOG’s dream might be to get replicated into the awareness of Cannes jurors, then into the awareness of everyone attending the festival and from there outward into the known universe. She will work hard to get copied, which according to my premise, is the least effective strategy. But check out how an earth dog perspective makes success inevitable, a given. “Earth Dogs are stubborn and never give up…. They believe that as long as they work hard, they’ll make it.” This doesn’t say maybe they’ll make it or it’s highly likely they will make it. They WILL make it, period. AND they NEVER give up. The inclusion of these absolutes changes “hard work” into a sort of magic spell, a foolproof talisman for total success. That’s not an ordinary understanding of hard work. That’s an invocation of inevitability.
I knew you’d clear it up, oh guru! I figured that as long as you open yourself up to the universe of possibilities, identify your dreams, and believe that achieving them is possible, hard work and dedication to those dreams are gonna pay off. I would cite you as an example of that principle! So I see no real contradiction, if you follow your prescription for bliss with an eye on the prize.
Having said that, I also believe in letting go of outcome. (The perfect is the enemy of the good, and all that.) Sometimes it is necessary to focus on a dream goal, pursue it wholeheartedly, but let circumstances as they arise shape the ultimate result. It may be different from, but could also be better than, the one you originally had in mind. And those you encounter along the way or those who may be participants in the end product or event will enjoy it a thousand times more than if you had burdened them with your quest for the “right” or perfect version of your vision. Wow. Am I on a soapbox? But I know you get it because this is what you are doing here, I think.
You’re 110% on, that is what we are doing here! Love that you’re running with all this!
Hard work in the context of episode 110 implies mostly struggle getting to a goal. Even intense focus on how to reach the goal (furrowed brow type) can be problematic. To be clear, action and concentration can fall somewhere on the spectrum of enjoyable – exciting, inspiring – but if effort feels shitty, the goal recedes.
The point is not achieving goals, but what the goal brings to our now. Imagining the goal, pre-experiencing the achievement should feel amazing, that’s what desires are all about.
There’s all sorts of platitudes about life and living, half truths and outright misdirection. Is there any correlation between the supposed sacred texts and the actual configuration of the cosmos? Our consciousness seems to be tightly interconnected with reality, with what actually shows up in space time. Can we suss out how that actually works, such that we can think things into our shared experience? What I’ve recently (last couple of years) demonstrated to myself is that as I choose to feel easy, satisfied and appreciative, the more excellence shows up. That says something about how to live our most stupendous imaginings