The Mother
On Cinema, Photography & Visual Arts
The Mother’s comments on Cinema
Sweet Mother,
We see too many films these days and I fail to see how they educate us!
When one has the true attitude, everything can be an opportunity to learn.
In any case, this abundance should make you understand that the desire to see films, which is so imperious in some people, is just as pernicious as any other desire.
– 11 May 1963, The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother
We would like to be able to show the children pictures of life as it should be, but we have not reached that point, far from it. These films have yet to be made. And at present, most of the time, the cinema shows life as it should not be, so strikingly that it makes you disgusted with life.
This too is useful as a preparation.
Films are permitted in the Ashram not as an amusement but as part of education. So we are faced with the problem of education.
If we consider that the child should learn and know only what can keep him pure of every low, crude, violent and degrading movement, we would have to eliminate at a stroke all contact with the rest of humanity, beginning with all these stories of war and murder, of conflict and deception which go under the name of history; we would have to eliminate all present contact with family, relatives and friends; we would have to exercise control over all the vital impulses of their being.
– 29 May 1968, The Mother – On Education
Mother,
How should one see a film? If one identifies oneself with the characters and if it is a tragic or detective film, one is so much involved that one weeps or is frightened. And if one keeps aloof one cannot appreciate it very well. What is to be done then?
It is the vital that is affected and moved.
If you look mentally, the interest is no more the same; instead of being moved or troubled, you can judge quietly the value of the film, whether it is well constructed and well acted and whether the pictures have any artistic value.
In the first case you are “good public”, in the second you are more peaceful.
Blessings.
– 30 January 1970, The Mother – On Education
Sweet Mother,
Is it bad to go to the cinema in town?
For those who want to do yoga, it is very bad. Moreover, I have already said this a considerable number of times, and if you do not know it, it is because you find it more convenient to forget it.
– 27 September 1962, The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother
Mother,
How should one see a film? If one identifies oneself with the characters and if it is a tragic or detective film, one is so much involved that one weeps or is frightened. And if one keeps aloof one cannot appreciate it very well. What is to be done then?
It is the vital that is affected and moved.
If you look mentally, the interest is no more the same; instead of being moved or troubled, you can judge quietly the value of the film, whether it is well constructed and well acted and whether the pictures have any artistic value.
In the first case you are “good public”, in the second you are more peaceful.
Blessings.
– 30 January 1970, The Mother – On Education
Sweet Mother,
Is it bad to go to the cinema in town?
For those who want to do yoga, it is very bad. Moreover, I have already said this a considerable number of times, and if you do not know it, it is because you find it more convenient to forget it.
– 27 September 1962, The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother
More comments on Cinema
The Mother’s Comments on Poetry
POETRY Poetry is sensuality of the spirit. * For me true poetry is beyond all philosophy and beyond all explanation. -The Mother, On Education