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Yesterday my wife and I had the pleasure to sit down with Lubomir Arsov, the creative mind and animator responsible for the 2017 hit animation “In Shadow.”
It struck me: his now famous animation may resonate with people even more now than when it first dropped. When I first wrote about it back then, the article was read by over 500,000 people. But so much has changed since then, and millions more people are questioning societal institutions. Will it resonate more today?
The brilliant short film urges us to reflect on the egoic masks we wear, how we stifle our minds and creativity through conventional education, the nature of media and governments, the way we produce food, how the masses can fall mindlessly into pop culture, and much more.
It’s hard to walk away from it not feeling like, when we are unconscious, we function in programs that are not of our choosing. Programming we can become lost in and think are ‘us’ and our own thoughts when in reality they are learned behaviors we confine ourselves to.
To question this programming is to expand our consciousness.
Many resonate with the idea that our society is in major upheaval. As I have pointed out for many years, this is for good reason driven by the evolutionary pressure of corruption being exposed.
We are in a powerful moment where we have the chance to reshape a society that is holding us down and keeping us from thriving. But in order to get there, we have to think and feel more deeply.
Simply changing out a politician or two isn’t going to get us there in my view. To truly thrive, we must look deeper. We must look to our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves as well.
This also leads us to something deeper: simply blaming those in positions of power as ‘the bad guys’ isn’t going to get us anywhere. It doesn’t seek to grasp the totality of what is at play, and it will only keep us at war with one another. After all, without a change in ourselves, what’s to say new people in the same positions of power won’t do the same thing?
I believe forgiveness of the ‘shadow’ must be embraced as we integrate that experience into our story as a whole.
To me, the nature of our consciousness, spirituality, and hearts are at the center of expanding our ability to re-imagine society and free ourselves. We don’t get true freedom through laws, rules, and new politicians. Sure those play a part, but true freedom is gained through inner mastery. When embraced, inner mastery is at the heart of exceptional creativity and possibility.
But is our individual and collective consciousness focused on these transformational elements? People may spend hours consuming endless amounts of news content, but how much time is spent mastering oneself, emotions, and consciousness? Can we sense the connection between our personal excellence and our outside world? Does it demand more of our attention?
I love Arsov’s animation as it challenges us to reflect on these questions. Questions that happen to be what drove me back in 2008 to expand my consciousness and make the most profound changes in my life.
I invite you to watch his short film below. I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts as well.
Oh, and pass this article on to a friend who may enjoy it. His piece can be a great conversation starter!
Had not seen this, really enjoyed it. Many visceral reactions came to my body as this went on. Thanks for sharing this and your vision of a path forward.
Brilliant video. I have shared it to Facebook with a brief explanation and a challenge to others to check it out. Challenges kind of hit that ego button and pokes at that innate desire to compete.
Thanks for sharing this.