“… for close to two decades I’ve sat utterly still with countless people in front of my camera, and over time it became increasingly clear that there’s another way. A way to tear down the walls that exist between people and in doing so, expose us to the human soul and a common humanity, and an awareness that we belong to each other. It also became clear that this very same way exposes us to a conscious flow of insight that causes us to act differently, and to speak with an entirely courageous voice. It’s this voice that I’ve made my films from.”
Nic Askew, Film Maker, Educator, Explorer. Creator Of Soul Biographies And Inner View
Nic (Askew). From expeditions in the Congo, Amazon and Sahara to a Managing Directorship in Business, Nic’s eclectic earlier life took an unexpected turn in 2005 when a lucid daydream to pick up a film camera and use it in a profound fashion consumed him with no doubt. A living experience of his poem The Tree of Dreams.
Since that day he has used this camera to capture an unyielding experience of human presence, taking his film subjects far beyond the experience of the mind and deep into an inner, wiser and more consciously intelligent world.
Through a nearly two decade journey in explorative film, he discovered that there is a profoundly simple way that we are able to be together, which he refers to as Inner View. The sharing of this experience has transformed the relationship countless people have with themselves and those around them.
If I were to hold just one wish for humanity, it is that we remember our innate capacity to experience each other without condition. Such a shift in awareness might resolve many of the towering predicaments of this age and of our own lives.
His Inner View Method has given rise to the acclaimed Soul Biographies Film Series, an experience of human presence viewed by millions.
Nic has set out to capture The Soul of This Human Race on film, in all its shades and from all four corners. So that we might see ourselves reflected in each other. So that we might see beyond all differences. So that we might come to remember that we belong to each other without condition, and act accordingly.
He has worked in provocative fashion in some of the World’s most influential arenas, and has given a profound visibility to both leaders and the seemingly ordinary person who it turns out is each a haunting reflection of us all.
The work with and without the camera has been described as sitting in the experience of an unyielding awareness – see EVIDENCE. This experience allows both the subject and audience to see with clear perception, give conscious voice to important things and access an extraordinary source of insight.
photo credit rebke klokke
Nic has worked with many organizations: Georgetown University, Harvard Business School, Apple, National Institute For Civil Discourse, The Inner Game Institute, Young Presidents Organization, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Prosperidad Ciudadana (Presidential Campaign – therein lies a profound tale), Center For Leadership Philanthropy, Medtronic, Nieuw Unicum Multiple Sclerosis Center, Joseph’s House Hospice, MacArthur Foundation, US Bureau of Land Management, MIT Entrepreneurial Forum and many many more.
He has been described more poetically as an itinerant confessor, a disruptive influence, a monk independent of any religion and an explorer of the Inner World.
“… I stumbled across four words spoken by Ramana Maharshi in answer to a seemingly simple question. Immediately I realized that what he had said is my experience of people from behind the Soul Biographies Inner View camera. The question was – ‘how are we supposed to treat others?’ The answer that came was – ‘there are no others’.
The 13th Century Mystic Poet, Rumi described the possibility of a field; ‘out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.’ These few words point to the possibility of an experience between people. This is Inner View. Those in front of the camera have often described the experience of time and space collapsing. And Inner View as a meditation like experience but between people. An experience of another without condition, and an ability to give conscious voice to important things. Here there is an extraordinary connection to an inner intelligence. Inner View at its essence is about self knowledge, and our own liberation. And I would like to show you the experience of this.”
Nic Askew, Creator Of Soul Biographies And Inner View
Two decades of filming the experience of the human soul has led me to become aware of an extraordinary reversal in the cause of all movement.
A reversal in which a flow of conscious insight causes us to know and to act differently. And to experience others and ourselves without condition.
Such a reversal is a shift in consciousness. And it is such a shift that will transform our lives on earth.
Nic Askew
By some magic, Nic captures people openly and without defence or pretense, so that you get the real person, their integrity, their doubts, their joy. In short, an insight into their soul.
Dr. Scilla Elworthy, 3 Time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
Nic is a rare genius when it comes to appreciating the essential human being that lies beneath the variety of masks we choose to cover ourselves with. The value is simple, deep and far reaching.
Tim Gallwey, Bestselling Author ’The Inner Game Of Tennis’
Nic’s Films and Words are an invitation to go places in thought that you have never gone before, and would never go to, were it not for these signposts left on the path of a genius in our midst.
Mike Dooley, New York Times Bestselling Author
We’re moved because in the reflection of their eyes we see ourselves. We find hope, tragedy, strength, gratitude, kindness, fear, resolve, love and a sense that we exist to thrive together.
Jim Kalb, Viewer