Suspension of Disbelief

I don't remember where I learned the term, but it stuck with me: probably an English or Film class. This morning as I awoke, the term 'suspension of disbelief' came to me.  I'm sure it's in part because I have been watching Marvel Movies lately.  I was imagining Iron Man and thinking how silly it was that we could see him inside his suit.  It doesn't make sense, but that's where we have to suspend disbelief.We have to turn off or at least turn down this hyper-critical, analytical voice long enough to give the story-teller time to weave his tale.  Time to create the backdrop and build the world, to set the stage.  To invite us in and show us the stakes, the risks and the rewards, to introduce us to the characters.And if the story-teller is any good, it's relatively easy to stay there, spellbound by the scenery, the dialogue, the high drama and the mirror that the narrative holds up to our lives.  Especially when you're watching a movie where characters can fly and do magic, you have to pretend for a while.  It's easy too because we all wish we could zap the bad guys or have super strength.We are kids again, imagining ourselves as powerful but seeing it played out on the silver screen instead of the screen of our imagination.  And there's the rub.  We are so screen-oriented that I wonder if we can imagine anymore. The screens curate our imagination.I have stopped reading books and seldom meditate anymore.  I used to be able to do basic shamanic journeying but now struggle with that as screen addiction seems to have taken its toll on my eyes and my mind's eye.So I keep refusing to imagine for myself.  Day-dreaming is one way, imagining what I want.  Another type of imagining occurs when going to sleep and it reminds me of the journeying piece.  Can we let our minds dream?  Can I turn off the noise and screens enough to let my inner voice speak?  My inner story-teller wants to show me images.  Maybe they don't all make sense.  Maybe it's just churning out imagery.  It's an inner landscape that I want to familiarize myself with, despite its shifting sands and disjointed timelines.And just like with movies and plays and novels, again we need to suspend disbelief.  This is not the arena of the ego-mind, of the thinker, the scientist, the skeptic, the guardian.  This is the dreaming self, where truth is revealed in a different language: the language of visions and dreams and symbols and archetypes.But I say we don't even need to worry about interpretations and journeys and all that choreography.  We need to be willing to just sit and watch the movie.  To welcome the inner storyteller.  To prime the pump and wait for it to catch.  To re-enter our overgrown and unkempt inner world.  To inhabit ourselves.And when this inner world revivifies, it may show us and remind us who we really are and how we may have transgressed against ourselves and our ideals.  How we have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to our calling.  And this may be what's behind a deep agony and the existential dread that we so easily externalize in such confounding times.But maybe these times are an expression of billions of individuals turning away from their truth, their inner worlds and seeking solace in false messiahs and empty enterprises.  Synthetic hive minds distract us from the inner-net that we have access to but for which few of us have an owner’s manual.So disconnected are we from our aboriginal roots and the activities that edified and cradled the individual within a framework of meaning and connection that we knowingly follow false charismatic charlatans.  We laugh at and silence that calm, still voice.  We destroy our home and its capacity to house us.Unquestioned nihilism is so much easier than being curious and risking being a fool.  But that's where we must find our courage and choose a different path.  We must go within.  An old friend who I miss dearly would say, "You gotta get in to get out.'  I see it now.Thus, again, we must suspend our disbelief.  We must be willing to listen to a different story, one where we are empowered to change our course, our decisions.  Where we seek answers from within.  Where we control what we actually can: our attitudes, our plans, our thoughts, and our inner dialogue.We may not be able to put out the forest fires that rage across the planet.  We may not be able to stop the desertification on the outside.  But on the inside we can and must.  We start by suspending disbelief.  Because the ego-mind is a great detective, a great protector, but a cruel master and the worst storyteller. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greenmang.substack.com/subscribe