Art is either medicine for a culture, or it is a poison

There's a fantastic, short interview with Chilean/Mexican/Parisian/transnational director, comic book author, playwright, poet, transpersonal psychologist and Tarot reader Alejandro Jodorowsky over at the Fortean Times from July of this year.

Jodorowsky belongs to the certain class of people who, while I could understand if some are turned off by his actual work, I always find large chunks of insight and intelligence in interviews. The language used in this exchange reveal a Gurdjieffian influence or bent I hadn't tacked onto Jodorowsky before: "hypnotism" to describe an artist manipulating his audience's emotions, "prison" to describe the contract between the individual and society, binding individuals to roles and functions they feel no connection to, the quick mention of three brains possibly forming a fourth, etc. The more I look at it, the more there is to unpack.

You have no fear of death?

Not anymore. I am completely prepared to die – spiritually, not corporally. My body wants to live. The body always wants to be immortal, not to die. And the soul accepts death - that is good. But it’s not good if my body wants to die, because my life is shorter. You menace me with a knife, and I will defend myself, I will ask somebody to protect me, no? Even if I say [to myself], “I can die.” I understand that.

This is something I think we all understand on one level, and protest against on another. Either death is something (and that's not so bad), or death is nothing (and there's nothing there to suffer so, again, not so bad). There is no logical reason to fear death--that fear only acts as a stumbling block to natural living. But this is not bravery! The body and mind still do not want to die! The body is incapable of wanting death, and will do everything in its power to act toward self-preservation, even without the consent of the mind and spirit. The mind, in turn, will usually do everything in its power to maintain a sense of continuity between thoughts and experiences, being all that it is. So one can accept death consciously, while still struggling against it! That this is seen as a contradiction or hypocrisy is only because, in a dominator culture, death is the one forbidden topic of thought. After all, fear of death is the foundation stone of our concept of civilization. If death is nothing to be afraid of, what exactly are the robber barons protecting the rest of the tribe from? Why do we still employ them? Are we afraid of them? What's the worst they could do, kill us? We are constantly bombarded with phantom barbarians at the imaginary gates to keep us from reaching these thoughts.

So, Hollywood film is mind control?

Yes, mind control. And all American pictures are US propaganda, it's a form of imperial power.

Look at 300. First it is propaganda against Iran. Second, it deifies physical strength. It is preparing the young person to kill for his country in the anti-Islamic kamikaze! 300 is also racist towards black people – the bad people are monsters and black. And the emperor of the bad guys is also gay! Your initiation comes when you begin asking “Why? Why?! Why a gay? Why [is he] the biggest black person? The Persians are not like that! Why?!” It’s a critical initiation; that is when you start to know the limits of the jail we are born into.