this is a brief introduction from soul biographies creator Nic Askew
about how best to experience these film portraits
Imagine being able to see the Inner View of another. Imagine being able to see the Human Soul.
When we are seen without judgment or condition, we are known. When we are known, we become aware that we belong to each other.
It is such an awareness that might change the world.
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 a way to tear down the walls that exist between people and in doing so, expose us to the experience of a common humanity and an awareness that we belong to each other.
This very same way causes us to speak with an entirely courageous, original and insightful voice. It’s this voice that I’ve made my films from.
I call this way to witness the human soul, Inner View.
I never set out to do any of this. It found me in a moment of unintended stillness, and for the last two decades I’ve given my life to it.
I’ve been asked the very same question consistently, ‘where do you find these people?’.
At first I would joke that I happened to live in the postal code with all the open people, but of course I understood that many had probably meant to say ‘this is not how I experience people.’
But, it is everyone. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. There is no one who does not experience a profound inner life. It’s just that we do not always see it.
And so it became clear to me that the contribution is in pointing to how we might see each other without judgment or condition. So that we may catch sight of this inner life, and come to realize that we belong to each other.
The film portraits in the Soul Biographies Library are evidence that we belong, and an opportunity to pay an undivided and unconditional attention to another, so that we are better prepared to do so out in the world where it counts.
Endeavor to watch the films in the same way in which they’ve been made – Inner View.
The basics are as follows;
Start with Nothing. No-thing. No act on your part. For this moment in time set down your requirement to compare, to understand, to make sense of, to know where it’s going, to translate, to seek value, to add value, to fix anything. Let the experience of each film subject find you, not you them. Witnessing is not an act on your part.
Let it. Simply let it.
Do not attempt if distracted. View full screen. Use headphones, unless you are screening to an audience.
Notice what finds you.
We have some tutorials coming soon. A deeper dive into Inner View.
For now, know this.
To witness another without condition is perhaps the greatest gift we can offer another. For in that moment they are set free, and might become aware that they belong. And this could change the trajectory of a life.
Everything here is about this.
