Library | Soul Biographies Inner View

AN INNER VIEW OF HUMANITY

This is the home for the Soul Biographies Collection, the work of Nic Askew since 2005. Many of the films have the unbridled experience of human awareness running through them. They have been filmed in a profound method called INNER VIEW.

We’re in the process of uploaded many more Soul Biographies from the Collection. And they continue to be made.

WATCH MINDFULLY

Soul Biographies have been made from a state of profound mindfulness (inner view) and are best watched in similar fashion. That is where the experience will find you. This is important.

Switch Off The World. Play Full Screen. Use Headphones, Unless Projecting To An Audience. Do Not Attempt If Distracted.

Nic has emailed out a Soul Biography most weeks since 2005. You are welcome to JOIN us.

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On Knowing Happiness

Have you found the joy in your life? Has your life brought joy to others? Two simple questions surrounded by the experience of Kathryn Temple. A film concerning the often missed nature of happiness.

A Life Beyond

This film explores the extraordinary change in a relationship between Mother and Daughter following the onset of dementia. It's metaphorical for so many of the events that seek to challenge our lives. Events seemingly out of our control.

Learning How To Fall

This short film portrait bears witness to the deep and visceral experience of a devastating illness, ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. And to a live well used. Things can shift dramatically. We're not in control. Life is precious.

Fragile

We are fragile. You and me. Though we act strong, our lives are held together with thoughts of where we might be tomorrow. And of disappointed yesterdays. At any moment we might shatter. We might fall to our knees weighed down by ...

Beyond The Words

Shooting people – with a camera that is – in a foreign language that you don’t understand encourages an ability to listen beyond the words. This film might just be the epitome of joy.

On Belonging Without Condition

"You belong. There was never any condition to that. Ever. You never didn’t belong. Despite what it might seem. And without the need to belong, your need to be right falls away." An artful introduction one of the key principles to this Inner View work.

The Possibility Of Men

From the opening question ‘Would the boy you once were be inspired by the man you’ve become?’ this six minute film might sit uncomfortably for many. Uncomfortable and inspiring in the same breath. ‘Who might you gather around you to inspire a life of significance?’

The Soul Of America

The United States of America is so obviously fractured. We talk about the symptoms believing they are the cause. But the cause of such human fracture lies deep. But what if we were to gaze deeply into the Soul of this Nation. What if we were to listen to its innermost voice. A voice that exists far beyond the ideas of right and wrong.

Business Consciousness

Many in positions of leadership dare not take a new more conscious view of the world fully into the work place, for fear that the structure on which our organizations are built will fall. This is evidence by which you might gather the courage to do so. So regard this as a clarion call.

Smile

This is one of the most viewed films from the Soul Biographies Series. Perhaps because of its title, most probably because of its subject. The camera appears to have captured the very energy of gratitude.

Undivided and So Still Attention

Before your words of encouragement and well-timed advice. Before items gifted at beyond an arm’s length. Did you ever consider the one thing that might turn the entire world on its axis ...

Don’t Turn Away

Beyond the drama of tragic events lies the deafening, visceral and prolonged experience of grief. An experience that is seemingly untouchable by those who look in from the outside.

Between You And Me

What is it that lives in the space between any two people in a relationship. This film is a portrait of a marriage, and considers the experience of appreciation, gratitude, trust and love.

Conflict Series

Conflict is universal. I imagine each conflict is reflective of all others. The Klamath Conflict is notorious. I imagine it will reflect shards of your world. If not more. And point to how we might live and work well together.

Kindness, Or Not

In the protracted and often violent Klamath Conflict over land and water there have been those who have led the difficult work towards truth and understanding. Becky is one. Her perspective relevant to all human conflict.

Nowhere

Warning. This is haunting. You might be haunted. Jayanie and I have a knowing. Between us. Beyond words. Beyond time. This we know. Though we had never met. Might there be nowhere to get to? Might you call off the search?

Free Spirit

'... when you love life, when you love your customers, when you love your business you bring a different self to it, and effective leaders have the courage to fall in love ...' A film on free spiritedness and love in business.

Guest Inner View Lesson

Inner View is a way to see and experience a deeper aspect of all people, beyond the assumptions and defenses that keep us hidden from each other. It is the way in which Soul Biographies are made. Guest lessons from the Inner View Program will appear here, and change from time to time.

The Second Glance

‘... perhaps true beauty is something that draws our attention at second glance, once the judgment of a first glance has realised it’s mistake.’ This is a film about the possibility that exists beyond judgment.

The Invitation

It’s 2am. You’re wide awake. Feeling alone. Unseen. And inexplicably lost. Discontent despite all that you have around you. The people. Your life. Your dreams. You wear a face that tells the world you’re OK, but you’re not. You’re bone achingly tired from the relentless game of belonging.

Consensus

This is a film about what democracy truly is. It's about inclusion. And proximity. And the full undivided attention given to another person. This is so very important. Particularly amongst a seeming intractable conflict.

The Tree of Dreams

Many had gathered under the tree of dreams. All but one stood shaking its branches for dreams to fall. But one sat quietly waiting for a dream to recognize his soul. And to consume him with no doubt ... Words of Surrender.

I Wish People Would Just Understand

This is about one half of a minute. A young girl articulates one of our greatest yearnings. You may well be compelled to watch it over and over again, until its meaning seeps deep into your bones. Which is where it was always intended to live.

From This Unrequested Fire

The carer to a partner with a debilitating illness so often carries a vast unseen weight. A weight that can change so much. In the uncontrollable vulnerability of such a journey, one might break wide open. And in such fracture might exist vast questions.

Myself Without Apology

'... there's so much love in my heart that it scares people to the point where it scares me sometimes.' This is beautiful. Watch this gently. Watch this attentively. Watch this with yourself in mind. And know this. Wherever I go. Wherever I look. I find people like Anita. I find people like you.

The Fields of Kindness

As time stood itself still, she walked towards the camera as if beckoned by something more powerful than the need to be seen. What happened next was as naked as naked can be. A courageous and utterly beautiful articulation of the sheer weight and terror of depression.

In the Life of Another

Might we all have a part to play in the life of another? This film captures the experience of an extraordinary soul. From the holocaust to the delights of the London Underground. Meet Alison. 93. Alive. Very alive.

What Was Revealed in Dallas

This footage is revealing of what is under all Soul Biographies Inner View. Most probably a must for all drawn to the nature of these films. There is a field. This field is the very atmosphere in which I film. It elicits something different in nature. In Dallas, I sat in this field. This time, in front of the camera. And this is what happened.

An End To Seeking

'We are a Work in Progress.’ And so lives the perilous myth on which our human existence appears to have built itself. We are not yet enough. There is someone we must become. This life has conditions. This piece is central to the way of all of this. And contrarian, if not dangerous.

Schizophrenia Series

A Portrait Series that has set out to capture the very human experience of Schizophrenia. Such experience might have something to show us all.

The Grand Human Predicament

There is a Grand Human Predicament. It is that we seek to become enough, yet we never seem to be. There's a sense that we will never be quite enough in this relentless pursuit of belonging. This is an antithetical counter view. A simpler way. This is an outline in just eight images.

Unprotected Conversation Film

I've often wondered how many leaders have faced themselves with the question ‘would I follow myself?‘ And, how many are courageous enough to follow the seemingly untrodden path of knowing themselves.

Concerning My Wife

What you will see here, in this astonishing 89 seconds, is a normally reserved man speak from his very depths with no filter to the world. As his wife of many years sat just 12 feet away. Filmed in front of a 'Soul Biographies Live' Audience.

Underneath the Underneath

Awareness is an unusual substance. Beyond powerful. It stands to change this world for the good. Yet the act of seeking it might push it further from us. The following is an observation of how we might transform the very way we see and why such a thing might be important.

Portrait of a Human Being

Carlos Enrique Araujo has experienced perhaps the greatest of all tragedies. Yet he chooses to see the world, and those in it, through a quite unexpected lens. Perhaps it points us to the whereabouts of true wealth.

No Place To Hide

This film concerns the terrifying experience of being seen. And there is no modern day pacing to carry you through this film. No drama to help frayed attention. Such is the quiet and subtle experience of the profound.

If I Were To Know You

Living through the protracted experience of dispossession, Jeff Mitchell alongside others has seen a way through the pain of generations. Some in the Klamath Basin have a collective realization that when one truly knows another there is the vast possibility to transform everything.

The Glorious Ignoramus

I don’t know. But I know that I don’t know. I love that I don’t know. That I can never know for sure. So I have stopped looking to understand you. Or convince you ...

Is it True

‘Is it true?‘ exists as one of the most profound questions. A question you would do well to ask yourself often. Pay full attention to this few minutes with the enigmatic and mysterious Byron Katie.

Reimagining Education

The MacArthur Foundation backed the University of California Humanities Research Institute to re-imagine the experience of education. They commissioned me to bring the sense of the courageous & transformational findings to film.

A Thousand Moments

If I am to be entirely honest you would be a fool not to give this you full and undivided attention for its full and undivided duration. I imagine the experience will contribute in ways you might not be able to place words against. It is a profound wondering about the experience of life, death and cancer.

Ten

In a dream more real than his daytime, a grown man meets himself. Himself at just ten. With the light in his eyes. And the world in his heart. He sets out to explain to his young self why he’s taken the road to someone else’s somewhere. But he can’t. And in the deafening silence ...

Behind Every Old General

Scilla, a three times Nobel Peace Prize nominee, has held on to a profound question for much of her life. How can you deal with superior force without using force yourself?

The Fight Against Me

We level our ire at the world around us. The world with which our opinion so often disagrees. But might our energy be better focused on the experience within our own personal jurisdiction. This was filmed from deep within the experience of a thoughtful life lived through desegregation in Alabama. This film is the epitome of the experience of peace.

Voice For Movements

There is a palpable undercurrent in these unusual times. A sea change in consciousness. And as we've become more aware, movements have formed in an attempt to change this world for the good. Know this, "... if there's truth at the heart of a movement you would do best to realize that and represent it as honestly and truthfully as you can."

Let Me Introduce You to the Moon

Let me introduce you to the moon. She sits up there in skies afar, gazing down upon you where you sleep. Wondering why you live just half a life. And crying silently ‘what if’.

Revelation

In the protracted Klamath Conflict in Oregon, a Farming Community Leader came to the revelation that the things that he held as fact weren't, people that he once thought of as evil and selfish were not, and that he was part of the problem. And such revelations changed everything.

Mentor

The true influence of mentorship is so very human, and its ability to validate another is beyond powerful. Teacher or not, this film might leave you wondering if you have a part to play in the life and education of another.

Interconnected

A profound observation of disconnectedness and the pathway to interconnectedness in the violent Klamath Conflict. Relevant to all conflict. The process of vulnerability and truth is more important than one could ever imagine.

One Same Heart Beat

Each of us stand seemingly alone, as we cry out for evidence that we belong. And as we cry out silently through the actions of our every day, we step further from our own sight. Further from the experience of our one same heartbeat. But in the flicker of a single moment ...

Gratitude

'Gratitude in so many ways is so dramatically missing in the world today. Without gratitude nothing is enough. Look what you have.‘ A film on the nature of gratitude and the appreciation of simple things, set around an experience from the Spanish Civil War.

Amo La Vida

Singuli nobis resistere videtur, unum, sicut et nos clamamus testimonium quod sumus. Et sicut vocem de secreto per actiones, nostris omni die, ulterius non a conspectu suo. Praeterea, ex experimentum uno eodemque pulsatio. Sed in in mico momento uno non posset Meminisse non sunt anima separata. Et quia nunquam tantum.

The Perilous Journey

‘… so you’re looking for answers but you’re not entirely sure about the questions. But you know you have to become someone.’ This is a mad dash through ‘the journey of your life’. This is 'The Perilous Journey of Becoming a Someone'.

The Black Mist

As the people railed against the most obvious acts of dark spoken violence, they missed the black mist that encircled the world. A mist that lay as the cause. Veiled and casting blame on each dramatic symptom ...

Behind the Mask

Imagine if the mask were to fall from your face. Even if just for a single moment. Might you cause someone to smile? Might you cause someone to feel warmth? A short film shot on Brighton Beach, England back in 2006. My exceedingly early days with a camera.

Two Fools In A Mirror

We won’t have peace until we can both agree,’ said the two fools on either side of an argument. ‘We won’t have peace until the other gives way,’ said each about their foe. But peace could never be had ...

As Yet Untitled

This is unusual. Filmed Fall of 2019. This 30 minutes of footage is pretty much uncut. Insights, admissions and all. It is deeply reflective and revealing of where this work is now to be pointed, and the contrarian nature of life and purpose finding you rather than you heading off to find it.

The Hidden Messages of Family

‘Perhaps the lives of those close to us cry out for us to take notice of our own.’ This is a film about family. And the challenge and opportunity of unconditional acceptance.

Forever On The Far Side

A man moves silently to the far side of a room. To the far side of another man bearing different circumstance. A man with a different look. A man who looks at the very same world differently ...

A Window to the Soul

Might the eyes really be a window to the soul? And if so, what then? Filmed in unusual fashion for the early days of Soul Biographies. But now I have come to understand the importance of patience, stillness and unflinching human contact. The film asks if you are able to see beyond your assumptions.

Unprotected Conversation

‘How brazen’ they said. ‘How threatening’ they thought. She’d talk with anyone. With everyone. Without caution, or regard to who or how they were. Or to where such conversation might lead ...

The Riddle Of Here

The fascinating thing about riddles is that you can stare at them intently and completely miss their point. And often, a riddle will fool you into the illusion of an understanding. This is a short film about the nature and whereabouts of joy.

Curiosity

'... a fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it.' This is perhaps what so many of us do with the conversations that fill our everyday. And it raises questions. A film about the nature of curiosity starring the ever curious Seth Godin.

A Note From Behind The Camera

From a palpable and utter stillness, it is as if the subject ‘is being spoken’. They are not speaking ‘to’ or ‘at’ the world in expectation of something in return, as is so often the case. Here, there is nowhere to hide. Here there is no need to hide. Here there is the letting go of control. The control that kept us from seeing one another.

The Balls to Stand Naked

In this film Sting’s guitarist and writing partner, Dominic Miller, reveals more than you might expect and offers a quietly provocative observation on the nature of creativity, and the possibility for the story of your own life.

From Unimaginable Depths

From the unimaginable depths of human darkness exists an almost unintelligible shard of light. So vague that it might remain unseen. So vague that it might remain unseen. But it’s from such a shard that hope is born.

The Reflection

As I gaze into the world, I realize that nothing falters in its ability to reflect what I’ve come here to see. My challenge remains ...

The Midwife’s Tale

Doña Chona seems tired but she isn’t frightened. The frightened you see deep in the eyes of most human beings. A frightened that hides itself well. A frightened that quietly shouts its assumption of isolation, and of loneliness.

Lighter, or Darker

A film made originally to open a Hollywood Movement started by Jim Carrey, Eckhart Tolle and John Raatz. Addressing the responsibility of the media in this World. In poetic fashion as you might expect.

On the Edge of Life and Death

The Hospice Community at Joseph's House in Washington DC hold the belief that no one should live, or die alone. Welcome to ‘On the Edge of Life and Death’. It’s the film title, because it is just that.

In This Time Of Chaos

In this time of visceral chaos what if this were the last time I were to see you. Might the possibility of words left unsaid haunt the rest of my days ...

Concerning Choice

One foot in front of the other. Unconscious, and unrecognizably blind. And then again. And again. Until those few steps become a habitual march to somewhere you never set out to be. Where is it that you’re going, and what on earth are you going to do when you get there?

Side By Side

In the complex landscape of Schizophrenia, I imagine Compassionate Care should not be absent. Care that is unconditional. Care that is full of hope and of possibility.

The Boy Who Would Leap

He’s somewhere between thirty and forty. Perhaps fifty. Maybe sixty. He wants to play. Without prescription. He wants to stamp. And to stomp. And to run. And to leap from chair to chair.

Run

Run. Run until you can hide no more. Headlong towards a life of importance. And the person worthy of a place in this World. Run until the pain becomes inexplicable. unbearable. Until you feel your very soul bleeding dry. And then stop. Stop dead. Beyond the delusion of slowing down. Which is still running ...

On You, Me and God

If no one had ever told you of God, what would be your understanding of God? If no one had ever told you of Me, what would be your understanding of Me? If you ...

The End Of Silence

'... people are drowning in their own silence. There’s a lot of female voices that were told to shut up. There is a righteous fury unleashed right now. The feminine has been so violated and she’s ****ing furious. It feels like a fire.’

Beyond the Dark

'It is like a miracle. I've got a son back that I thought I'd lost. We're probably closer now than we've ever been but it did start in a difficult place.' A film of hope and light from a seemingly dark and endless place.

All Of The Fighting

"... I used to think I'd be rescued by someone or something. There's no need. And the sense of relief and letting go, and freedom is just so peaceful." Unadulterated humanity and a raw truth for so many of us held in the words and the spaces of these few minutes.

The Rider Or The Horse

Might an entrepreneur simply be defined as someone who takes responsibility for outcomes? This is a film about the possibility for all of us in taking responsibility for the outcomes of our own lives.

How to Give a Fishing Lesson

Might the causes of poverty lie deeper than just physical need. And might the way out lie with our ability to see ourselves together, as the same.’ An extraordinary and humbling experience. A film about the often missed nature of poverty.

Conscious Revolution

These times call for a conscious revolution in the way we act towards one another, driven by our capacity to better see and experience the common humanity that lives deep within our bones.

The Freedom Of Me

The film starts, "... I usually have a lot of words. Now it feels different." Get lost in the quiet mystery of this between its frames. Between its words. Wonder about why you are here. Wonder about freedom. Your own freedom.

The Last Hour

'… she knew she was going to die anyway, and then she decided that day would be the day. I think it was the loneliest thing I’ve ever seen. She walked past me and laid on the bed and she nodded yes to the Doctor. I can’t find words for what it felt like to be there.’ A film about the last hour of a life.

The State Of Not Knowing

'I can't give you anything that you don't already have.' This statement is important, and this podcast explores this and the uncomfortable edges that surround it. If the work of Soul Biographies is interesting to you, this delves deeply into its very nature.

Under the Stars

When did you last lie still as still can be, and breathe in the stars? For they sit patiently each night, waiting for you to share the honesty of your dreams.

When’s Daddy Coming Home?

In those life experiences of our greatest pain and suffering also comes the greatest love and beauty, and transformation. This is a film about sudden loss, and the experience of telling a young child that her Father had died.

The Whisper And The Echo

A man looked for meaning. For his very place in life. He searched high and low. He’d often hear a whisper, calling his name from the other side of what seemed like a door ...

A Glimpse Of Reality

A dramatic story, pointing to a human resilience which I believe is more common than we suppose. It’s told through an uncommon depth of observation. And wonders if there is more to us than the series of events we've been through.

On the Possession of an Adventure

Did you ever possess an adventure to call your own? One that ran through your veins like blood caught fire. Causing your heart to beat far beyond its chest.

For The Love Of Money

A profound film exploring the depths of our emotionally charged relationship with money. Perhaps one can’t have a healthy relationship with money unless one loves it.

Beyond Marketing For Coaches

timeline: 0.15 comedy/tragedy : 2.30 a story of two places : 5.02 coaches two immense challenges : 5.57 how you coach : 7.16 how you are seen : 9.35 the conscious field : 10.52 words from two places : 12.45 incongruent nature of advertising : 14.30 why most are blind : 17.30 how you tell the world : 19.49 articulating from presence ...

Can Albert Come Out to Play?

He knocked on the back door. Three times. As he always had. Heavily worn trouser knees. Spectacles sat at the end of an elderly nose. And eighty two well-used years under his belt. ‘Can Albert come out to play?’

God and the Chocolate Ice Cream

So many of the things people think they want, they want because they think they can’t have. And as soon as they find out they can have it, the want goes away.’ A film about the nature of spiritual and material wealth. Can the two exist side by side?

The Loss of Clothing

A man clothed from a wardrobe fashioned by his own success, caught in-sight as to the route of his own undeniable journey towards awareness. A journey crowded with uncertainty, bewilderment and at times, wonder ...

Only Now

A film about a profound realization following the life-threatening surgery of a free spirited soul. ‘… there is no other place, there is no other time. There is only now. Don’t hold back, this is it.’

North, East, South And West

Four friends set out from where they stood. One went North. One East. Another South. The last one, West. Each in search of meaning. Each in search of the point of their own life ...

As we yearn for more, we can be totally content with where we are. Those seem like paradoxical statements but perhaps they are not. A film about the possibility of a life with more.

As The Light Made Its Way

A man had lived in his imagination. Ever since he was a boy. For it was full of wonder and adventure when set against the outer world that housed his everyday life. His imagination surrounded him in light. The outer world, in a darker shade.

Size Doesn’t Matter

’Perhaps it’s our superiority that keeps us from our own life. And our capacity for humility that leads us to it.’ A film concerning our capacity to see without judgment.

I Want This

I listened to the Members of the Us Community. And to myself. And to the sky above the horizon. And this is what I heard of what we want. Of what this is. Of what 'Us' is here for. I wrote it down as a piece entitled 'I Want This'.

On How We Might Become Aware

At its essence this is a summary of Inner View. It starts off with a recent Inner View class experience with Harvard Business School and then journeys headlong into the experience of awareness, and its effect on human sight.

One True Voice

‘…the Universe said Jonas is not listening. We did everything we can to make him listen. But he does not listen. So maybe this will wake him up.’ A film about art, cancer and waking up.

Matylda

‘… I knew that everything is fleeting. It comes and it goes. We’ve just got now. We’ve got this moment. I am thankful for the gift to my existence.’

The Space We Need

Does the pace of this world cause you to falter? Does it sometimes make you want to fill your lungs with available air and scream ‘stop this ride I want to get off’? A film about the experience of the introvert.

Said Truth To A Denier

Said truth to a denier. You appear to spend a great many of your waking hours wanting the world to be different. For you to be different. For me to be different.

All We Want

One can be asked what one wants a thousand times, yet the words remain impotent. Unheard amongst the deafening echoes of our modern age. And then one day, the world quiets. And those very same words find their way to the attention of your soul.

Blind Corners And Glorious Dead Ends

I am enough but this is not, spoke a man as he found his way gracefully through a life full of blind corners and glorious dead ends.

Coaches Fail

Many Coaches have had Soul Biographies made to capture the inexpressible nature of their work. They have most often been described as 'coming out' films. This is a short sequence of some of the epic ‘fail’ moments.

Recovering the Diamonds

Perhaps with understanding, comes the falling away of judgment. And with the falling away of judgment, comes the ability to see with clarity. And with such an ability to see, comes the opportunity to share a wealth beyond measure.

The Strawberry Hill

I made this film back in 2007. It's a film about many things. A resilient dream being one. Alejandro was running for President of Guatemala. He didn't win. He won at his fourth attempt and is currently President of His Country, despite having been a quadriplegic.

Through The Schoolroom Window

Beyond the far edge of all he knew, was the only place in which discovery would happen. The kind of discovery that would solve the predicaments of a life weighed down by much that is human. As is its nature, such discovery would seek him out.

Light in the Darkness

The 1940s Holocaust might have been one of the lowest points of human existence. These few minutes wonder if we ‘might all hold the capacity to see light in the darkness’. This is a glimpse of the stoic experience of a holocaust survivor.

The Company We Keep

One man sought out those who would challenge his view on the world. Because he knew that he could never know for certain. Another man sought out the company of those who held tight to his same view.

A Contemplative Life

'It happens with people. It happens in solitude. It happens in the midst of incredible busyness. And incredible stillness.' Might you take a step towards a contemplative life. A meditative life. A life of quiet and courageous transformation.

Concerning Trust

Do those that surround us trust us? Do we trust those that surround us? Organizations can get in the way of their people. Trust, or mistrust can shape an entire culture and in doing so can define the very experience of being there.

Premlata

It’s a feeling inside that defies definition. It’s an experience of wholeness. An experience of tranquility. Of peace. An experience of home. It’s an experience of life. I could stay here all day.

Bravery And Your Own Path

Sir John Whitmore was the pioneer and godfather of coaching in the workplace. He fills these few minutes with many provocative questions concerning a life lived traveling an original path.

Prisoners Of Twisted Reality

A fixation on unexamined business goals or targets can lead to personal destruction, the destruction of colleagues and organizations, and even the destruction of nature. This examines the possibility of pausing, questioning and tapping an inner wisdom before deciding on goals.

AN INNER VIEW OF HUMANITY

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