accept your nature

overactive mirror neurons

 

Allen was indeed distressed that much of the critical acclaim for Zelig focused on the technical achievements of the film. 

“To me, the technique was fine. I mean, it was fun to do, and it was a small accomplishment, but it was the content of the film that interested me." (Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman, Faber and Faber, London, 1994, p.141).

It is clear from published interviews that Allen’s impetus for making the film revolved around the theme of identity. “I wanted to make a comment with the film on the specific danger of abandoning one’s own true self, in an effort to be liked, not to make trouble, to fit in, and where that leads one in life," Allen said in that same interview. (Ibid, p. 141).

So much of the creative process is about uncertainty. Like a fog we must pass through, there’s a length of confusion that precedes originality. I think of this fog as initiatory in nature, turning back those who can’t withstand the uneasiness of not being able to see the horizon. But anyone who has passed through bewilderment enough times knows that the fog is really a sacred shroud, giving us refuge from the outside world so we can finally turn towards ourselves.

Shifting our allegiances from the outer to the inner life begins with a kind of clearing work. In order to discern our own voice from the collective (or what I like to call Other People’s Information), we need to have a clear container. Like draining a pool and discovering sediment and debris, our psyches can get cluttered with outer influences, and it takes patience and dedication to render it ready for new ideas. So much of the creative process is clearing this pool so we can discern what values, ideas, and instincts are native to our own experience. 

- Toko-pa Turner