I was looking through some of my previous blogs and I came upon this one that I wrote about a year ago. As I do periodically, I pull down the old blogs and then they are published in book form. You can find this one in, Zen and the Shadow of the Flower. Reading it, I thought that some of you may find it interesting and thought provoking. So, here it is, (again).
 
After mentioning DGJ in the blog yesterday, it got me to thinking about one of the events in the later stages of his life where he conceived, The New Church of Zen Entertainment. If you watch one of my Zen Documentaries, Bluegrass Christmas Party, on YouTube, you can hear him mention this church in his piece of Performance Art near the beginning of the Zen Film.

So, what was, The New Church of Zen Entertainment all about? I don’t really know??? I don’t think Don really knew either. But, he had this idea that it would be this ever-growing expansive foundation where he (we) could do pseudo-religious services, film festivals, and video productions that would be sent out to the devotees, (this was before the current state of the internet, where everything is broadcastable), all based around a central theme of the spirituality of filmmaking. Interesting idea, but nothing ever came of it.

Like Fred Olen Ray said in his great new book, Hell-bent for Hollywood, in one of his mentions of Don, “…Don possessed an unstructured, but enthusiastic, spiritual approach to filmmaking. Everything just flowed from him. Creativity and his love of off-the-wall subjects drove him.” Very true. But, the thing about Don was, and I’ve said this many times before, Don possessed what I dubbed, “The Elvis Complex.” He really thought he was the center of the world, even though it was everyone else, i.e. me, (or other people), who were actually doing the all and the everything. He really felt he was some sort of a prophet.

Again, quoting Fred, “Don kept shooting disjointed images. I wouldn’t call them scenes. There was no sense of plot, let alone a script. He couldn’t pause long enough to plan or organize a real production.” Thus, if he was a prophet, he was a prophet of chaos. And, that’s not a bad thing. I believe it is true art. But, the whole Elvis Complex did sometimes bother on me.

Though these two quotes are taken a bit of context, I believe they do provide ideal insight into the mind of DGJ.

The thing about Don was, he was so scattered, that it was very hard for him to complete anything. Thus, so was the case of, The New Church of Zen Entertainment. It just kind of faded away.

To dive a bit deeper, Don had taken this nude photo of one of the starlets he had a relationship with—taken it and had created a poster for the church. He was paying her rent and stuff like that. Something he also did with a few of his other close female cohorts, as well. Sad, really… That’s why his family and he never had any money, though he had raised millions. He gave it all away… But, the girl got pissed when she saw that she was on the poster. She didn’t want to have anything to do with this, “New Church.” Though, I will say, it was a great photograph of her.

After he passed away, Don’s wife gave me that poster, which had ended up in their garage. I thought to keep it. As stated, it was a great shot and a true piece of Zen Filmmaking History. But, I thought I would respect the model’s wishes and get rid of it. I mean, if you don’t respect the other person’s wishes, what is life all about?

So, why am I talking about this? Answer: I believe that it illustrates a very common mindset that dominates the life of certain people. …People who believe they have something special to offer. …Something unique and special that is not possessed by someone else.

The problem is, do they? Do they really have that, “Something Special?” Or, is that, “Something Special,” nothing more than something generated in their own mind?

I guess that’s for the everyone else to decide. But, what I will say is that, someone who operates from this mindset, is operating from a mindset of ego. And, is ego ever a good place to operating from?

Whether it was Jesus, Caesar, King James, Freud, Jim Jones, Rajneesh, DGJ, or whomever, what they are claiming was only claimed by them. Some of these people, obviously, drew a massive amount of followers. One of the mentioned, did not. Yet, they each possessed the same mindset, believing that they were someone who knows something that no one else understands.

The point is, you really need to be careful with people who operate from this perspective. They are dangerous. They may take advantage of people, get others to believe in what they are propagating. And, this goes to all levels of life. From the very small talkers to the ones who scream out to the world.

In closing, be careful whom you listen to. Be watchful of the people you walk down the road with. Sure, they may have a new idea about a new something. But maybe, they are just a self-proclaiming egotist or a liar, who will lead you to disaster.