The Art of Being - Treatment

In this documentary we take the viewer on an extraordinary journey of one woman's quest through life, seeking the answers to some of life's universal questions. Who am I? Who is God? Where do we all come from? and How can we find peace?

Spanning 13 years the film follows Australian woman Shraddha the filmmaker, mother and nature lover, devoted to her quest as spiritual seeker. With her growing family, husband and 3 children,   as they travel around the world meeting and living with Indigenous and alternative cultures and communities, interviewing Indigenous elders and spiritual masters from many cultural traditions, and documents her personal development and growth as she births her children and makes her home in the rainforest situated on the rim of the Mount Warning caldera of Northern NSW Australia.

This is a story of courage, a search for truth, a journey of faith and a quest for answers. Will they find what they are looking for and will they get to their destination against many obstacles, meet the people they want to interview, and discover the answers? This theme of spiritual and personal quest carries us through this documentary as we are given rare and wonderful insights from this unique journey.

The style of this documentary is that of a personal narrative, with a heartfelt voiceover taking us on an intimate journey. Like ones own mind sharing its deepest thoughts on life, love and God. Rare and original footage and colourful visuals accompanied by an original music score as well as live recordings on location; this global documentary takes us to some of the worlds most active peacekeeping people and places of power,

We learn about the roles of indigenous elders and spiritual masters as peacekeepers and carers of the Environment, along with spectacular footage of their land and culture.

The film opens in the Australian rainforest, where Shraddha can be seen laying in a fire heated bath, outside in the forest, as she gazes up through the trees to the stars, Shraddha contemplates the questions which will send her and her family on a pilgrimage to the four corners of the planet.

Shraddha's journey to find the Art of Being starts with her attending a performance of the Gyoto Monks of Tibet in Byron Bay. Shraddha is in her early 30's, having left Sydney a few years before where she had been working successfully as an actress, Shraddha had moved to Northern NSW to find an alternative lifestyle. During the monks performance Shraddha falls into a trance, when she 'awakens' she has the conviction that she will make a film called the 'Art of Being', and whilst contemplating this insight in the bath she realises that to find the 'Art of Being' she must first find the answers to the universal questions of birth, life and death.

Her first step on this quest is to visit Sri Poonjaji an enlightened master in his eighties living in an ashram in Lucknow North India. Shraddha travels to Lucknow with her 3-year-old daughter Hara. Discovering life as a devotee of an Indian guru from the inside, Shraddha broadens her life experience through immersing herself and her child in this next stage of her journey. Here we witness hundreds of westerners gathered in a small room to experience an enlightened master, as he speaks and answers the questions of the devotees. We witness Shraddha and Hara receiving Darshan (being blessed), sitting traditionally at the feet of the master. The essence of his message is self enquiry, to ask yourself the question " who am I'? to find out who you really are. Poonjaji speaks of the journey to the source to find the self, which leads Shraddha on her next step, travelling up into the Himalayas to the glacial source of the Ganges river.

Shraddha and Hara travel by train, bus and taxi to Gangotri the northernmost town on the Ganges and a holy site for Hindu pilgrims. From here they set out on a four day trek on foot, travelling alongside Saddhus (Indian holy men), on a steep, treacherous, and windy Himalayan track that weaves alongside the Ganges River.   This part of the journey is seldom taken by westerners and never before by a western woman and small child. This trek is hazardous, there are landslides to traverse, and many narrow hanging bridges as they cross and recross the river.   We get a sense that Shraddha, driven by her desire, overcomes physical obstacles by trusting each step of the journey to reach her goal.

As they arrive high in the mountain, at the foot of the glacier that feeds the Ganges, they come to a very still, clear pool, like a mirror, and on seeing her reflection Shraddha remembers why she had come here, to reflect on the self, to find out " who am I." she realises that the source is not outside herself but within.

Back in Australia after this experience We meet Shraddha's husband Gito, free spirit nature man, strong, artist, father, ingenious builder and photographer. Gito emigrated from Germany to live in the rainforest near the alternative town of Nimbin, where he learned from his own resourceful spirit to survive. On his personal journey he is becoming a nature man, creating the house from rocks of the river, from trees of the land, building mostly by hand with no power to run equipment in the early days. Watching him evolve over the years we see the manifestation of self-sufficiency as he creates everything from furniture to sculpture, from art to household utilities, an adventurous spirit to match Shraddha's own nature loving idealism.

Living and growing with her family also becomes a part of Shraddha's journey to discover "the Art of Being" and many questions arise out of the life style she chooses to live.

During the film we will meet the children Hara, Mahto, and Bodhi   watching them from conception, through birth and their growing years. Seeing them evolve through experiences that are very unconventional. The children grow up in an alternative community, travelling on this journey of their mothers becomes a natural part of their life.

Whilst Pregnant with her second child (Mahto) Shraddha seeks answers relating to Birth and the meaning of life.   "Where do we come from?" We witness her barefoot and pregnant deep in the forest, living in trust, making informed choices around birth with her locally known and respected Hawaiian midwife.

We experience the water birth of Mahto in an aquatic cave with glistening crystal lights, a resonating sound chamber, built and sculpted by an ever inventive Gito. In their rainforest home where water is in abundance and see a rare and exclusive way of life, not common on our drying planet.

Once again following her heart she asks her husband and children now aged 9 and 3 to go on another adventure together this time, back to the holy land of India. Leaving their home on the way to the airport Shraddha and her family drive through flooding creek waters out of the rainforest.

They are anxious to arrive in time to attend His Holinesses the Dalai Lama of Tibet's annual ten day teachings which are held high in the Himalayas of India in the little village of Dharamsala.   Travelling twelve hours by bus from Delhi winding up the steep narrow mountain roads on arrival they see the Dalai Lama's temple, smiling faces, monks, nuns and seekers from all over the world gathered in community, children, beggars, lepers and everywhere smiling faces, glowing eyes and stories of journeys.

Excited to be given permission to film after going through tight security checks and Tibetan beaurocracy. The family are immersed in an ocean of red and yellow as ten thousand pilgrims come to sit in the open air temple and listen to the Tibetan Buddhist scriptures. Shraddha is placed at the foot of the podium, filming this magnificent event and feeling the awe of witnessing this historical moment as His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people delivers his message for World Peace.

The family live in the village with the refugees for the next 3 months filming the Tibetan people their culture, dance, music and prayers. They also share their horrendous stories of torture and escape from the Chinese government and take part in a protest to insist on the return of the abducted Panchen Lama second in line to the Dalai Lama.

In Australia Shraddha and her families home is situated in the mountains outside of the village of Nimbin, showing us the colourful culture of the 'Rainbow Region' of northern NSW through the eyes of this evolving family, as they take part in that areas tribal community and seek to live an 'alternative lifestyle' in harmony with the environment. Sharing this like-mindedness with friends living around the area connects them in ceremony, ritual, celebration and everyday life.

When the third child, Bodhi Dharma, is born, their community of friends come together to initiate him in a unique naming ceremony.

Given rare access to film the World Rainbow Gathering which brought people from 150 countries to the backcountry of northern NSW for six weeks in 2000. We witness the Rainbow Tribe erecting a 50 ft totem Peace pole that was carved by many at the gathering and the communal building of a Mongolian style yurt. Shraddha and her family live in the tipi village and we see scenes of people sitting in circles, singing, talking and sharing their visions for a peaceful planet.

Rainbow Gatherings originated in 1972 in the USA and have since spread worldwide acting as places of initiation grounds for people to learn to live sustainably on the Earth in community. The rainbow people consider themselves to be part of a huge extended family no matter what spiritual, political, religious or social views they may hold.

Following Shraddha's colourful life we meet some of the worlds most famous places and faces, with personal interviews with those who appear to have a grasp on the age-old wisdoms of our planet, and some that carry the wisdoms of the future, one of them being Jose Arguelles who was initiated on a pyramid in South America by nine Indigenous elders as the messenger of the Mayan prophecy of 2012.

He comes to Byron Bay where Shraddha films him speaking to large following of people about the future of the planet according to the Mayan 13 moon Calender. Encouraging people to make the shift away from the Gregorian Calender in favour of living by natural time cycles in harmony with the cosmos.

Shraddha and her family travel to the centre of Australia with a desire to meet the Indigenous people from the land she was born, to discover their cultural ways and messages for the environment. Here they danced and sung with the Pitjantjatjara people of central desert during the Inma which went for 3 days and nights. Revealing their ancient connection to the earth.

They meet Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota tribe of north America, 19 th generation keeper of the original peacepipe handed down to his ancestors by White Buffalo Calf Woman. Chief Arvol is the initiator of World Prayer and Peace day, an annual event held in a different country each year. Shraddha and her family attend this event in 2003 held at the Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the Grampians, Victoria, Australia and plan to visit and film on location at the Lakota tribal homelands in Dakota North America.

Throughout the film Shraddha attends rallies, festivals and conferences about peace and the environment. In 2008 at the International Peace and Human Rights Conference she speaks with two representatives from the Arava Institute. Sharing their understanding of " the environment having no boarders and people sharing the same water sources and air they breathe". The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is the premier environmental teaching and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges. Located in the heart of Israel's Arava desert, the Arava Institute is a unique oasis of environmental education, research, and international cooperation.

Realizing the earth is two thirds water, we seek a voice from the ocean, leading us to meet Bunna Lawrie, Aboriginal Mirning Tribe whale songman who shares stories and prophecies of his people and the whales. We also visit the humpback whales at Hervey Bay off the east-coast of Australia during their northerly migration from Antarctica. We speak with Scott Taylor film maker, author and founder of the Cetacean studies Institute.

The family travels to the renowned Findhorn Community in the north of Scotland after hearing of amazing things happening there, people communicating with nature spirits and the creation of lush gardens on the cold wind swept coast of northern Scotland.   They meet and interview Dorothy Maclean one of the founders of Findhorn, she speaks of God, humanity and nature and they learn how nature has an intelligent life-force that we can communicate with, and the vital importance of our connection with the earth for the survival of the planet.

Founded in the 1950,s Findhorn attracted international interest in the 1960's for growing giant vegetables and flowers, and today is a thriving community of over 500 people living working and studying this unique way of growing plants and community living.

Whilst living in Findhorn the World peace conference was held.   Shraddha discovers solutions to her question "How can we find peace", learning the importance of cooperation not only with nature but also with each other.

Through all her travels to visit these key planetary elders, we witness Shraddha's developing wisdom and personal growth revealed by the depth of questions asked and answers given.

This film is current right now, as world peace and global warming issues are increasing in priority and global consciousness is expanding to incorporate facets of many spiritual and cultural traditions.