Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Cognitive Dissonance

According to Wikipedia the meaning of the term Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.

How does this relate to filmmaking you might ask? Well, we cannot hold someone down without holding ourselves down in the process. If you subscribe to the theory that there is enough abundance in the universe for us all, our next quote from author and medical intuitive Carolyn Myss might interest you.

In Carolyn Myss’s book Invisible Acts of Power Personal Choices that Create Miracles, she says:



“We might lend a friend $1,000 dollars to pay their rent, but we won’t lend them $1,000 to start a new business. I will help my friend get by, but I won’t help them pass me by.”

The same could be said for a career in entertainment. We are all competitive creatures. We are human. The news of someone else’s success while we are trying to break down a door just to be visible might irritate us a little more than we’d like to admit.

Giving a thousand dollars might be harder to come by for lots of us now that The Great Recession has ravaged many bank accounts. Don’t get me wrong, money can make or break many things. But honest praise goes along way to an artist looking for validation.