Chasing Lines
Chasing Lines
Directed by Uzair Merchant | Review by Moumita Deb
Chasing Lines explores the subtle bond between the earth and the conscious creativity of human existence through the powerful cosmic vision. Through the self-revealing monologues, the individuals focus on the generosity of the human mind and our place in each of our individual journeys. There were so many points to ponder, almost too many steeped in high philosophy. I had to keep stopping the talk just to hear them all. As I continued to listen I realized that this talk was a highly thought out and masterful chronology of a creative journey, bravely laid bare. The spirituality connection was a gift given freely to anyone willing to take it in. No matter what’s your belief system, educational background, age, geographic location or any other defining trait, this film is astoundingly a remarkable collection of thoughts to consider.
The film fosters an anti-conventional thinking as we expand our sense of self and understand that our identity “I” cannot be squeezed into the volume of a body or a span of a lifetime, a new channel of creativity opens up for us. My existence as a human being is dependent on my heart, lungs, and kidneys as it is on the sun, photosynthesis, the air, the rivers, and the earth. I have a personal body and a cosmic body and they are both equal mine and equally vital to my existence. This is the great insight into wisdom traditions, particularly Vedanta which says “Aham Brahamsmi - I am the Universe.” Since we have the infinite consciousness that projects as the universe, “the creator,” our personal creativity attunes to cosmic creativity. This is the kind of creativity that brings major revolutions such as Einstein’s insights into relativity and time. I owe all of my insights that lead to my books, to alignment with cosmic intelligence. The film speaks volumes about the assumptions that we are evolving towards unity consciousness where we experience ourselves as cosmic beings participating in the evolution of the universe. The human body is part of the cosmic body. The human mind is part of the cosmic mind. Awakening to this cosmic dimension of ourselves is profoundly restorative. With that experience and understanding, we bring healing to our wounded planet and a new sense of adventure to the human journey. Our journey towards enlightenment goes through several stages: soul consciousness, cosmic consciousness, divine consciousness, and unity consciousness. Each stage of consciousness creates its own reality. Biology, perception, cognition, and the state of our nervous system transform as we move to higher states of consciousness. This is the journey we must all undertake as we move from our microcosmic identity to our cosmic identity. The narrative mode in unfolding the conflict that goes on in the minds of the protagonists as they seem lost trying to find the meaning of mortal existence and search that subtle line of the horizon that merges with the ethereal world is quite evolving and creates a lasting impact.
The film demystifies certain old myths about celestial existence and reiterates that our mind is the most powerful tool in the universe. It holds a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience and feeling. Creativity is making connections within the realm of information, memories, thoughts and feelings stored away in the abyss of our mind. The film lays emphasis on human creativity that teaches us how to build creative visions we failed to realize we were capable of building. The film explores this tremendous power of inner mind creativity that uses meditation and relaxation to take us deep into the innermost recess of our mind. It teaches us to look at situations from a multitude of perspectives, opening our inner-eye to possibilities we might otherwise never have seen. Last but certainly not the least, it strongly makes us ponder on the subtleties of how the mind works, discover the secret to building creative visions out of ideas, and eventually learn a very effective method of realizing our visions, so that they leave our mind and take a final plunge into the actual reality.
Moumita is a Kolkata based independent filmmaker and film critic. She holds a post- graduation degree in English literature from Jadavpur University. Reading novels of a wide range of authors of all genres from classic to contemporary has always been Moumita’s passion and calling. She also takes a strong liking in playing the Spanish guitar & has participated in quite a few concerts. Moumita has done her certification course in Cinematography, Video Editing and Filmmaking.
