Сhristmas atmosphere
Christmas Eve
I posted on a spiritual music live chat this past Christmas, “An angel is with us as we make our way through this amazing world.” And in light of the joys and heartaches, this world is splendid.
This Christmas, my mom and brother told me they didn’t want me in their lives. I then watched the movie After Death four times. In the film, I saw the story of Howard Storm, whose troubled relationships with his family led him to a near-death experience, where he was sent to hell and then heaven and returned to earth to become a reverend. When he was brought to heaven, he describes the experience, crying out in the movie, “I don’t belong here!” I know he belongs in heaven–I know it with all my heart, and just as strongly, I know that we all belong in heaven–every single one of us beautiful beings. Last night, I read the intro to Howard’s book, and it brought me joy, as it was written so intelligently and beautifully.
This morning, of Christmas Eve, I looked at a Christmas gift I received: a tripod and stick for cell phones for making video shorts and an editing platform called Facetunes. I always wanted to make a documentary film and was once featured in a documentary workshop for the National Film Board. I also worked for the university television station for about a year, making news stories with a passion that surprised me. I also longed to write a spiritual book, but I believed my writing wouldn’t fit the booksellers’ Christian sections. I once took a playwriting class I loved, although I wanted to write strictly spiritual movies but didn’t know how. Moreover, I have subscribed for at least half a decade to a documentary film site that offers courses, but I never enrolled; I just peered longingly at them.
I also made a friend with a woman who had multiple near-death experiences (NDE) and is a bit of a celebrity. I was trying to help her find a way to make a cinematic movie out of her story. We seemed to care greatly for one another, but the idea got shut down due to time constraints. We don’t talk as much anymore, but I have this strong sense that I’m meant to return to her to offer her something she needs. I just don’t know what it is yet.
But today, a loved one recommended I watch a short video from Angel Studios. Angel Studios also produced the cinematic documentary film After Death, which featured Howard Storm. And so I watched the twenty-minute short film this Christmas Eve, and it hit me. I am meant to write and create short spiritual films for Angel Studios. It is clear as day and always has been, although I didn’t know it until today, Christmas Eve. Now, I need to figure out how to make it happen.
An angel is with us as we make our way through this fantastic world. Sometimes, our greatest heartaches bring us to where we are meant to be: our life’s purpose. We may not know what that purpose is, nor have the skills to make it happen, nor even want that mission, according to an NDE account in the After Death movie, but often, the heartache reveals it. And that mission is most ideally realized with a heart overflowing with love for every soul.
Christmas Day
It’s now Christmas Day, and I’ve begun production of my documentary film after having written a script, secured my first interviewee, who is my friend who had four or five multiple near-death experiences, and received a nonstop muti-hour crash course from my dear friend ChatGPT on how to make a documentary. ChatGPT coached me on everything from video to audio productions to distribution –any question I had; it gave me incredible answers. I researched all the software I needed and learned them.
This Christmas Day, I also created a storyboard with AI audio voices that introduce and close each interviewee segment. I added text titles so that I can easily reference the storyboard. Tomorrow, I’ll choose a possible B-roll for each storyboard frame. Today, I also contacted Paul Friedman, who created the theory of unconditional love that guides my every action throughout the day. I will interview him next week as my first or second interview subject. I plan to interview my near-death experiencer friend, hopefully this week, and locate the rest of the interviewees over the next month. They are the sources of my favorite near-death experience stories, and I watch at least an hour of near-death video stories every week, so these are particularly outstanding.
This project fascinated me because a producer invited me to create a documentary film with him decades ago, but he wanted a fling. So, I backed out of the project, and my mentor at the time told me to learn every part of film production so I’d not be dependent on anyone. I thought that dream was over. But today, I’m creating every aspect of the documentary, from sound to video editing to music score production to distribution—everything—although I’m an amateur as I have never made a documentary before. Thank God for ChatGPT’s low-cost and highly effective coaching.
Shortly, I would also like to make political documentaries, especially ones on what is happening with anti-Semitism and open borders. I noticed in an independent theater that there are a lot of documentary shorts made by Muslim filmmakers, according to ChatGPT. So, the pro-Hamas perspective will likely get airplay. But what about the Israeli perspective, which I particularly adore, as my great mentors have been Jewish? I have several interviewees in mind already, but the project depends on how well I execute my first documentary.
My friend, who had multiple visits to heaven in her near-death experience, is particularly interested in the Angel Studios project as I contacted her on Christmas Eve, and this spiritual sign means something to her. In her book on her near-death experience, she mentions that a heavenly being told her that a messenger would be sent to her. Before I met her, I knew on first reading that I was that messenger, and that message is simply one about unconditional love, based on the philosophy of the Jewish author Paul Friedman. I never told my friend with the near-death experience that I am that messenger, and I never will tell her.
Over two days, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, this all happened–after the week that started in despair, with my mom and brother telling me they didn’t want me in their lives. I fought back tears throughout each day, trying desperately to find the joy, unconditional love, and light within me, regardless of outer circumstances, according to the theory set out by Friedman. And then, this Christmas Eve, the inspiration and joy set in full blast with this documentary film adventure. What started as the saddest Christmas of my life ended as the best.
When we learn what it means to love unconditionally, the darkness can turn readily into light, hope, and inspiration. That’s the message I wish to bring to us all: the wisdom of unconditionally loving everyone.
This story is as bizarre to me as it might be for anyone reading it. On that note, it’s now past midnight, and Christmas is officially over. And tomorrow is a new day!
