HALLOWEEN SHAPESHIFTING

What better time to explore the transformative powers of costume and mask. Not some goofy rubber Frankenstein mask. Something more sophisticated...elegant... Emerge from the shadows of the nighttime city...seductive and dangerous.

Speak Another Language - Operations - 9

Begin to learn a foreign language. Speak it in your daily life instead of English (or the language you usually speak).

Action...Cut...Wrap - Observations - 7

It is much easier to "do" your new character for short set periods at first…a couple of hours…then a day. A time period with a beginning and an end.

Like actors do in a play or film. They identify with the character for the duration of the production, then have no trouble dropping that character and taking on another. They give over the executive/directorial function. When the director says "its a wrap" they can move on...the production is over. Drop one character and move on to the next.



This does not happen in "real" life. There is no end to the identification with the character you are more or less stuck with…your ego/personality. Hence, if you try to change there is baggage that is carried around like an unwanted sack of shit. There is nobody outside…a director…to call action, cut and finally wrap, so you can drop the sack of shit and move on. The conditioning kicks in. But you can drop the conditioning for well defined short periods with less anxiety.



You have to learn to do it yourself…be your own director. Drop the old character, at first, for only a day. Take the risk of "doing" the new character for defined short periods at first…without anxiety. Make the transition gradually.

This effect can often be noticed on vacations. Especially in a foreign country. You don't "feel like yourself". You can drop the old you for the duration of the vacation, then when you return home the sack of shit is there again.

Paparazzi Yourself - Operations - 8

Get someone to follow you around for a couple of days taking your picture in public…at places you usually hang out… as the "character" you are now. Pose. Have the photographer direct you. Now...adjust yourself a bit. Create a new look. New hair style, grow beard if you are a guy. Different costume. Get photographed again in places you don't usually go. Compare the two sets of pictures. Note reactions of people watching you get your picture taken.

ALL THE WORLD'S A SCREEN - Observations - 6

Each Cinemorphic "project" should include all the elements of a film production…from conception (of new character), to story conferences, writing, financing, development, "crew" (show runner, director, acting coach, make-up, wardrobe, special skills/physical training, etc.), rehearsal, grand opening, performances (going live), promotion, distribution (playing in the real world), criticism/reviews, sequels, ancillary products, etc.

CHANGE ROUTINES - Operations - 7

Change the routines in your daily life. Your habitual ways of doing things outline a footprint of "you" in the world. If you want to alter your persona you should alter this footprint. If you drive to work via the same route every day, go a different way. Or take the bus...or a hot-air balloon. Shop at different stores. Eat at different restaurants. Hang out in a part of town you are not familiar with. Become a regular at a new coffee house. Shake things up.

A Note On OBSERVATIONS & OPERATIONS

OBSERVATIONS and OPERATIONS are included in this blog to provide a taste of Cinemorphics only. They are by no means exhaustive. Also, they are not presented in, nor are they intended to be applied in any particular order.

RE-BLOG YOURSELF - Operations - 6

Set up a blog for your new character (and name?). Post to it regularly. Tell stories. Use it as a tool to flesh out the new character.

TOMBSTONE - Operations - 5

Write your own obiturary. Take notes on how this makes you feel. Put it away. Have a look at it several weeks later...after starting the process of reconceiving, re-writing and re-"doing" yourself. Make notes on how you feel at this point. Consult your obiturary from time to time.

THE WORLD IS A MIRROR - Observations - 5

The reaction of the world (friends, lovers, etc.) will interact with re-invention of the persona. It may not always be good. If you change one significant thing, you change everything. Be careful what you wish for. The world will be a mirror that you observe yourself in. You may not like what you see.



Also, once you change the world will treat you like a different person…which is what you want…you think. This may be expressed in unexpected ways which you cannot control. To this extent, you are as much shaped by the world as by yourself. Good thing though…you become more aware of the dynamics of the process and are not so much at its mercy.

THE SIMS - Operations - 4

Play the Sims game. Practice becoming another character in virtual reality before "taking the show on the road" in the "real" world.

THE SIMS GAME (Ordinary Life Computer Simulation)
From the Manufacturer (as found on Amazon)
In the The Sims 2, you direct your Sims over a lifetime and mix their genes from one generation to the next. You set your Sims' goals in life; fame, fortune, family, romance or knowledge. Give them a long, successful existence or leave their lives in shambles. Take them to extremes, from getting busted to seeing a ghost, from marrying an alien to writing a great novel. Unleash your creativity with the all-new Create-A-Sim feature, new building options, and the new in-game movie camera. Get ready to mix their genes, fulfill their dreams, and push them to extremes. What do you want to do with your Sims' lives?



• Mix Genes: Your Sims have DNA and inherit physical and personality traits. Take your Sims through an infinite number of generations as you evolve their family tree.

• Fulfill Dreams: Your Sims now have purpose in life. Do they aspire to a life of fame, fortune, family, knowledge, or romance? It's up to you to decide if they will be a lover or a loser, a prince or a pauper, a fool or a mastermind, and many other choices. Give them what they want and they'll lead a long, successful existence; indulge their fears and risk ruining their lives. It's all in your hands.

• Push The Extremes: Will your Sims be left at the altar and need a shrink, or inherit a fortune and become filthy rich? Witness the big moments that make every Sim's life uniquely memorable.

• Unlimited Creativity: Generate unique Sims with the new Create-A-Sim, packed with a vast selection of facial features, hairstyles, and outfits. Build dream homes and design neighborhoods with new building, design, and home furnishing options.

• Revolutionary Movie-making: Make your own Sim films with the all-new movie-making feature. Create the cast, set the stage, take control of the camera, and capture your own screenplay in action. Zoom in close to record every detail as your very own Sims sitcom unfolds.

MADONNA - BRANDO - Operations - 3

Spend the day "as" a well known personality. i.e. pretend you are…say… Marlon Brando or Madonna all day…identify with and play an array of different personas. Don't just feel it from the inside…act it out. Do impersonations. Variation: Be an animal for a day…a gorilla, say…or a cat.

ON B.S.

The ego/persona, the character that you have become over the years, is really nothing more than a belief system, or B.S. as Robert Anton Wilson calls it. So messing with your B.S. is messing with your persona, your identity, which as religious wars have shown us, can have serious consequences. It also implies that the fluidity involved in engaging in a project like Cinemorphic alteration of "you" can result in an openness, wide-eyed disbelief and hair-on-end wonderment at the nature of things which engages life in a way that allows one to break out of the prison of B.S.



Belief systems are constructions...just like egos. They are tools to be used to maneuver through life and should not be confused with reality itself. Nietzsche wrote that belief systems are like windows and that one should "look out of this window, now out of that" but never get stuck looking out of only one. This is what the Cinemorphic malleability of ego/persona construction can accomplish.

CINEMORPHICS - Operations - 2

Start consistently writing well put together letters to the editor of at least one daily newspaper "in character"...the character being the new persona you are developing. Sign a new name or altered version of your current name to these. Don't look at this as a joke or spoof. Take the things you say seriously...try to form the opinions your altered persona would express. Experiment with points of view different from the ones you typically hold as the "old" you. If your opinions are challenged...your new persona attacked...by either the editor or other readers, notice the protective feelings you now have for this "fictitious" character...which you are beginning to identify with.

CINEMORPHICS - Observations - 4

This is a production not a daydream. What is the budget? Like a movie, it costs money. Can be either low budget or blockbuster but consciousness of the projects interaction with financing is important…all the way from cost of "effects", e.g. new "costumes", cosmetic surgery, flying lessons, a trip to Rio…to day to day living expenses. Is your new character commercial or a low revenue producing art house offering? You are the producer. You have to raise the money.



Another take on this same question: This type of project is much easier and more effective if money is not a consideration. If your new character involves having to do something new for money…e.g. art not fixing cars…the new character has to be marketable. This is part of the character description. This is a different game indeed.

CINEMORPHICS - Observations - 3

Cinemorphics is a tool, not a panacea. It is a way to look at and handle reality. One angle on things…that can lead to insight and "freedom of movement."

CINEMORPHICS - Observations - 2

Fluid, shifty identity meme proliferating in the last decade. Many manifestations. Identity theft. Extreme make-over TV shows. Popularity of cosmetic surgery. Nip/Tuck a hit. But all of this is physical enhancement (not ID theft of course). Cinemorphics is psychological and psychic as well as physical.

CINEMORPHICS - Operations - 1

Take a "vacation" and be someone else while you're gone. Possibly use another name. Make up a new personal history for yourself. This is a version of the Astonish Yourself! experiment described elsewhere in the blog. Don't use this as a period of debauchery...act "normal" (relatively)...just act like like someone other that the habituated everyday you.

As they say...what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Observe carefully how it feels to now be the old "you" when you get back home. Which "you" is the "real" you?

CINEMORPHICS - Observations - 1

Look at the attachment to your ego/persona/character you have haphazardly become over the years as an addiction. It is a habit that is hard to break. There is resistance and fear of change for which falling back into old patterns…the old character…is a narcotic.

SATORI TANGO, A Benny Pristine Mystery

SATORI TANGO, A Benny Pristine Mystery is the title of a limited edition novella that I published a couple of months ago. Since the story has close ties to Cinemorphics...e.g. a draft of the Cinemorphics FAQ is found in Benny Pristine's apartment after he has disappeared...I make reference to it here. Also, here's a link to a SATORI TANGO blog which comments on and expands some of the book's themes.

Old school San Francisco P.I. Benny Pristine is hired by a mysterious and wealthy femme fatale to find the meaning of life...or else. Benny disappears. His girlfriend, Crysta Bella enlists the aid of several of Benny's inner circle, including H.P. Moondog and the enigmatic Quantum Coyote. Moondog's description of "QC"...a sort of preview of Cinemorphics...is presented below.



QC was short for Quantum Coyote, his "real name", his
identity of birth having been either lost to him following
a fall of several hundred feet while attempting Mt. Everest
alone, which he miraculously survived intact except for his
memory (the story he tells most often), or deliberately
erased by either himself or some covert government agency,
which he occasionally alludes to but which I carefully avoid
discussing.

Tonight, QC looked taller than usual and his skin tone
seemed different, but the ever present rumpled white
tropical suit and Panama hat were the same. I had noticed
over the years that "Mr. Coyote", as he liked to be
addressed by the uninitiated, could change his appearance
depending on the part of the world he was in, the language
he was speaking (he seemed to be able to speak them all),
the story about himself he was telling at the time (if he
was claiming to be half Irish and half Apache Indian and
expounding on the similarities of Native American and
Celtic Shamanism, he looked the part).

"I am a fictitious character...I make myself up as I go
along. Everybody else does too, they just don't know
it...what a pity..."

QC did not seem to age. Or, more accurately, he was able
to appear to be younger or older depending on the character
he was "playing" at the time. I once watched him make the
color of his eyes change like a mood ring.

"Controlled Multiple Personality Disorder...valuable tool
in my line of work!"

and...ALWAYS ASTONISHED...

Like ASTONISH YOURSELF!, here is another fascinating book and author. Fernando Pessoa had all of the personas he inhabited write their own poetry and prose "in character". The works are all very different from each other.



ALWAYS ASTONISHED: Selected Prose by Fernando Pessoa

An excellent introduction to this esteemed Portuguese poet's work, including his influential essay, "On Shakespeare." Pessoa is of special interest in the authorship debate because his fame is linked to the "heteronyms" (Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and Alvaro de Campos) under which he also wrote and published. He has described "heteronyms" not merely as "pseudonyms," but as other characters/personalities that live inside him. "After looking for him in the poems, we search for him in the prose. The pursuit of the Other in Pessoa's work is never-ending," writes Edwin Honig (the translator and editor of Always Astonished) in his Introduction. In Always Astonished Pessoa and his several selves (Caeiro, Reis and de Campos) discuss one another's work, revealing how Portuguese modernism was shaped. "To pretend is to know oneself," Pessoa once wrote.

ALWAYS ASTONISHED is published by and available from City Lights.

ASTONISH YOURSELF!

Roger-Pol Droit is a French philosopher, researcher at the Centre de la Recherche Scientifique and columnist for the French daily Le Monde.
He has written a fascinating book, ASTONISH YOURSELF! 101 EXPERIMENTS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EVERYDAY LIFE, which he calls an entertainment but which is much more than that. I highly recommend that you buy the book and try the experiments. Since Chapter 27 speaks directly to matters central to Cinemorphics, I present it below…for your entertainment, of course.

CHAPTER 27 Invent Lives For Yourself

Duration: a few months
Props: none
Effect: disturbing

You only live once, as they say here. Others, elsewhere,
Will assure you that you have already lived out several
previous lives. No matter. You can multiply your own
lives yourself, and feel them proliferating. To do so you
need to carry out a relatively long and fairly demanding
experiment, but whose effects are well worth the effort.

During a period of several weeks, try systematically
inventing lives for yourself. Tell your new barber you
were a taxi driver in Detroit before you delivered pizzas
in New York. Recount your years of teaching in Australia
to a distant cousin. To your nephews spin yarns about
places you never saw, livelihoods you never made (who's
to know, after all.), great and small adventures, of fox
hunts and fogbound ports.

Do it properly. Don't just tinker. Recount the same
stories several times. Spice up the anecdotes, add new
details, fill in the blanks and eliminate implausibilities.
Tell the same stories to the same people. Take care not to
get muddled up. If need be, take notes, fill out cards, do
research. Persevere.

After a few months, you'll be familiar with these
alternative lives. You'll have answered a lot of questions,
and explained a good deal. You will have described,
narrated, taken up, and repeated the key episodes of your
various parallel autobiographies. Above all you'll have
implanted your fabrications into the minds of people who
believe what you've told them, and who will pass them
to others in the version you made up for them. They
believe it.

Why don't you? The point you need to reach is when
you start to doubt whether it's all false, and when you
can't quite tell what belongs to fiction, and what to your
real life. Or when-it comes to the same thing-you can
admit to yourself (without forcing or sudden delirium)
that what you used to consider your "true life" is really,
in fact, just one fiction among others. No more, no less.

The Birth Of Cinemorphics™

My educational background is first in clinical psychology and then in research psychobiology. (A full bio will be posted later.) After receiving my M.S. and completing Ph.D. coursework, I began to find the prospect of a life in academia confining. I had been using film techniques and a motion picture camera in my research and had really gotten into the medium in its own right by that time. I took the camera home and never really looked back. I was invited to join a newly formed film and TV production company, which I did. This was in the late 60’s. I have been involved in one aspect or another in film and video production ever sense, operating my own company since the late 70s.


That's me on the left on the wall surrounding Xian.

I had dabbled with the idea of using method acting and other cinematic techniques as a way to "re-create" someone in "real" life and deal with individual problems, both psychological and physical, for years…since the early 70s when I took part in an ongoing actors/directors workshop and really began to see the power of cinematic/theatrical manipulation. By the early 90s this approach had gone through quite a gestation period and it was time to use it. On myself.

At this point, although I was still quasi-functional and successful, I was grossly overweight and addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cigarettes. Then a close friend, business associate and big time drinking and coking buddy of mine dropped dead of a heart attack. This woke me up. I decided to re-write and re-direct myself. I checked into hospital to de-tox and walked out a different character. I got a new wardrobe, dropped out of film for awhile and got involved in a restaurant-nightclub project, ate different and "acted" different. I knew I had to do this or die. I was able to write the booze and coke out of my character description…14 years ago…and do the same with cigarettes, which was much harder, a few years later.

My wife, especially, and close friends provided the support group/audience/cheerleader/coach component of the equation which is so important for the success of a major re-write.

The name Cinemorphics is an obvious choice for this approach.

Act Happy

There is an interesting book, Never Act Your Age, by Dale L. Anderson, M.D. that takes a Cinemorphic approach to physiological as well as behavioral changes. The Edge Effect by Eric R. Braverman. M.D. also suggests that psychological "exercise" has physical effects. More on this later.

CINEMORPHICS™ FAQ

CINEMORPHICS™ FAQ

"Life is a movie. The world is not made of atoms, it is made of characters and their stories."
Lon Chaney

WHAT IS CINEMORPHICS™?

Cinemorphics™ is the science and art of changing, transforming, transmuting the construct known as the ego, persona, self...what someone thinks of when asked to describe himself or herself...one's idea of oneself...from one form into another, by making use of the methods and techniques of acting and movie making. Bodily changes may also be addressed or result from this change in the psyche. Emotional and physical health may be improved.

"If you think you are and everybody else thinks you are, then you are."
Jean Genet


WHAT CAN CINEMORPHICS™ DO FOR ME?

Such changes may be sought for a number of reasons...to fix some problem either physical or psychological...for serious personal growth or just as a form of play.

When someone asks, who are you?, your response may include your name, age, sex, race, height, weight, hair and eye color, where you live, whether you are married or not, whether you have children, what you do for a living, your hobbies, your likes and dislikes, your religious beliefs, your hopes, fears, hang-ups, skills, etc. If pushed, you could produce an exhaustive "character" description of all of the things that, when combined, make up what you take to be you. You identify with this description, this construct.

This description of who you take yourself to be...your ego...includes genetic, biological and physical components as well as culturally conditioned, learned and psychologically "shaped" components. Most of these components have been assembled over a long period of time without your intervention. (e.g. you were born with black hair and learned to speak Spanish growing up.) Some you believe you have intentionally cultivated (e.g. you decided to learn to play the guitar and make your living as a musician). In many cases the distinction between which of your attributes were come by intentionally and which were thrust upon you by nature or nurture is very blurry.

In any case, this description of who you think you really are, this construct with which you identify, can be looked at in another way. If written out, your description of yourself reads like a character description in a movie script, play or novel. Consider yourself a fictitious character that has been devised by the haphazard, natural forces of ordinary life in the world but which you have believed is the real and only you.

Now that you realize that this "you" that you can observe and describe is very much like a character in a movie, consider the possibilities. If your life is a movie and you are the star, lets have a look at how your character was written...to a great extent not by you...and how you are being directed...also in many cases not by you. If you don't like what you see, demand a re-write. Your character...your self...is not written in stone. It is malleable and can be re-written, then rehearsed and performed by you...at first with the collaboration of and direction by a professional and then by you alone. You can also learn to be your own best, most discerning audience, write your own reviews...decide what is working and what is not. You become the producer, the star performer, the critic. You learn how to take charge.


HOW DO I DO THIS?

Either through a series of one on one sessions, or one or more intensive workshops. What follows is an overview of how these sessions and workshops are conducted.

You will be asked to provide a brief medical and psychological history and a summary of what you want to accomplish by using this process. The director of the sessions or workshop will describe the types and levels of change that Cinemorphics™ can provide, outline the procedures of, as well as the dangers inherent in the process.

You will then write a short character synopsis of "you"...your character as you now see it...which will be reviewed, discussed and then re-scripted, rehearsed and then performed, first in the private session or workshop environment and then in ordinary, day to day surroundings. Videotape may be used as a feedback device in these rehearsal and performance stages. During the course of the sessions you will possibly have assignments to do which relate to certain components of your new character. (e.g., if you decide that your new character speaks French, you could be directed to take a course in French. Or, you may simply be directed to go shopping...finally buy that intriguing hat you always thought would make you look mysterious, but always put off getting.)

Following the rehearsal/performance/audience stage, you and your director will evaluate the effectiveness of your re-written character and your enactment of it...whether it "plays" or needs more development.



YOU MENTIONED LEVELS OF CHANGE?

While one level of change is not inherently better than another, there are different kinds and amounts of change that are possible depending on what you want to accomplish. Some levels are more detailed and elaborate than others.

For example, your character synopsis may include shyness which you eliminate in your re-write. This may be the only thing you want to change and the only thing you work on. When you are successful, of course, this one change can affect everything else in your life.

Or, your character synopsis may include obesity and shyness which interact. Your new character is thin and flamboyant. You must work on both aspects of this in order to be able to play the part. In this case physical change must accompany rehearsal and "method" acting of flamboyant scenarios.

Or, you may want to make a more comprehensive change... be re-written and directed in identifying with and performing a character very different than the one you are playing at the beginning of the process. This could involve changing your name, your hair color, your wardrobe, your job, your routines, your skills, your "image", the way you conduct personal relationships, etc. You turn yourself into a work of art. Also, studies have shown that behavioral changes can result in physiological changes…heart rate, blood pressure, neurochemistry, etc.

So, as was alluded to above, one change can affect everything else in your life - or many changes can result in the "manifestation" of a single thing (or situation - it does not have to be a "thing") which you have desired that is now written into your script.. This aspect of the process of manifestation is discussed very effectively by David Spangler in his book "Everyday Miracles: The Inner Art of Manifestation" - much more effectively than in the more recent "The Secret" or the many other books about the Law Of Attraction. Cinemorphics™ allows a sideways approach to manifestation which can be explored in detail in the one on one sessions and workshops.

Additionally, after realizing that who you think you really are is simply a construct that you have identified with, a fictitious character that can be altered and performed, a tool that you use as you live your life, you may begin to dig deeper and ask more basic questions. Who am I really...who or what identifies with this fictitious character I have taken to be myself. Who is the observer...the witness to all this...who is making the changes in the character I am playing now? These are extremely significant questions and looking at them may result in a "waking up", a dropping away of the husk of persona altogether. In this respect Cinemorphics™ allows another sideways approach - to Zen, Advaita, Taoism and the other nondual traditions which can also be explored in advanced sessions and workshops.

"The ego is just the dream of the Witness, the film that the Witness creates..., simply so it will have something to watch at the movies."
Ken Wilber

WHAT ABOUT DANGERS?

Individuals with certain medical conditions and diagnoses of certain types of mental illness should not use Cinemorphics™ alone as a tool for change. Conventional medical approaches and psychotherapy need to be used prior to and in conjunction with Cinemorphics™ in these cases.

Also, when someone significantly changes even one aspect of themselves and their life, everything else changes as well (for good or bad - see above). A prudent consideration of this must be taken before you decide to re-construct yourself.

"Be careful what you're dreaming...soon your dream'll be dreaming you."
Willie Nelson


CAN YOU POINT TO EXAMPLES OF THE CINEMORPHIC EFFECT IN EVERYDAY LIFE?

As we look around our increasingly post-modern culture...particularly via the media...we can begin to identify powerful examples of the effect. Many movie stars and other celebrities have very effectively gone through this process. Character creation techniques are utilized extensively off the screen as well as on. The process is evident in the political and business arena and is used by con-men, criminals and spies to great effect...and pro-wrestlers. Post-operative transsexuals take the Cinemorphic process to one of its extremes...physical sex change as well as persona identity change. Thousands use aliases and conjure up alternate personalities in internet chat rooms and role playing games. Hundreds of thousands make a geographic change, introduce themselves with a new nickname and experiment with being a new person in a new location. You, yourself, have probably experienced becoming a "different person" on vacation, particularly in a foreign country.

As you become aware of the effect you will begin to see it everywhere, applied unconsciously and unsystematically in most cases.


Copyright © Charles Webb, 2005 - 2007

FOR MORE INFO: cinemorphics@yahoo.com

http://cinemorphics.blogspot.com