Movie: Miracle! Mother Nature has appeared to me
Directors: Mario Pascariello , Tommaso MiceliMalaguti
Mario, this movie is about the truths seldom told, beauty that is apparent, mostly ignored.
Was there a specific moment, a moment of epiphany, where there was a bitter regret for
ignoring perhaps the most beautiful things in life?
I have no regrets nor remorse because it is not my nature. Since I was young, I have always appreciated the beauty and charm of Nature; it was just not very clear to me before with all the existential problems I had. Now that I am wiser and I have opened my heart thanks to spiritual practice, of course, being it clearer, I can enjoy it more. I have always felt this pleasure, but now it is greater with a brighter and clearer vision. It was a gradual process that led to the explosion and to the wonder for Nature, so I do not have any regrets.
Tommaso, I have a similar question for you. In these moments of deep, personal and
spiritual revelations, what do we feel more strongly, regret, for ignoring such beautiful things
around us or glee in finally realizing their significance?
The joy in finally understanding their meaning. When the sun comes out after a long period of rain, I am happy because it’s finally sunny, I’m not sad thinking it would have been nice if the sun had come out earlier.
Tommaso, the movie reminded me of John Keats’ ‘On the Grasshopper and cricket’. The first
line of the poem is “The poetry of earth is never dead…”; Why do you think people are
ignorant of this eternal poetry, that is around us every second?
The society we live in, the so-called civilized society, is based on the fact that all the comforts we have come from human intelligence, and it implicitly and subconsciously suggests the idea that everything that has to do with nature belongs to a time when Man was primitive and wild. However, as Mario Pascariello rightly says, most of us dream of holidays in Nature (even though in places where there are comforts we cannot give up, with few exceptions). We have forgotten the magnificence of Nature, under the name of “civilisation”.
Mario, there is a scene in the movie where you can be heard saying that people don’t
appreciate Mother Nature as they do not come with a price tag. Could you please tell us
more about this penchant of mankind for money?
When Man used to trade goods, there was no tendency to hoard goods, because there was simply an equal exchange of goods. The invention of money, generated avidity and made Man more likely to hoard goods. Thus degrading positive qualities such as respect, kindness, sobriety, etc…
In particular, I must say there are extremely avid people, and they are often those attracted by power and richness. These people act solely on their desire for power, and they use it to harm society. Modern, materialistic, and atheist societies have created Hell because their loser philosophy is based on the illusion of looking for happiness in the external world, in objects and senses. Their motto is “the more money you have, the more you can satisfy your material needs.” On the contrary, all of the greatest Philosophers and Humanitarians teach us that real happiness is within us, in our souls, and it is awakened through prayer, meditation, sane principles, and always living a life with a superior mind-set. In fact, no billionaire has ever declared: “I am unlimitedly happy.”
In conclusion, the modern yearning that Man has for money comes from not knowing where happiness can really be found, and from the failure of atheist and materialistic rulers. They are blind and they lead other blind people.
Tommaso, do you think people appreciate simulacra of nature more than they appreciate the
real nature around us? What has caused this tremendous aversion towards the authentic,
the real?
I think that the problem starts with school education, much too dependant on books and abstract notions. If we observe children, they are very curious about their surroundings, they are hungry for surprises, and they have a natural love for Nature and its prodigies. Then, when they start being “tortured” with the pedantic notions of school education, their joy in learning and discovering withers away, and at the end of the 10-12 years of compulsory education, their will to learn and be amazed by their surroundings has often disappeared forever. They are ready to play the far less entertaining game of the civilized society, having lost interest in the game of life. This dramatic reality is portrayed with clear sarcasm by Edoardo Bennato in his song “in fila per tre”. The tragic madness of a society based on work – to quote the extremely sad, in my opinion, first article of the Italian Constitution- is shown with incredible art in the movie “The working class goes to heaven” by Elio Petri, and it is the theme of one of our satirical theatre pieces that we are planning to bring back to the scene in 2 or 3 years (written and interpreted by Mario Pascariello and directed by myself). The title is “Fummo uomini…diventammo lavoratori…(o sei occupato o sei disoccupato)” – “we used to be men…we became workers… (you are either employed or unemployed)”.
Mario, do you think the collective consciousness of mankind is turning into something hollow
with each passing day? They are admiring what others are admiring, rejecting what others
are rejecting. Do you think the potency of the herd instinct is annihilating the process of
individual growth and realising his/her freedom?
The process of individual growth, if authentic, cannot be influenced by the rules and trends of society, the evolution of a person’s conscience cannot be conditioned by these things. We find that many people indeed live conditioned by the social, political, and economic influence of society and they do not try to search or discover their unique and specific personal abilities. In particular and unfortunately they strangely do not venture into the most important search: that which leads to spiritual realization, self-realization, which is the objective that the great Sages of all times have always recommended to pursue.
“Mother Nature offers us everything for free”. Tommasso, Do you think the rise of
Materialism has castrated mankind of reason, turned us into machines of production, where
we ignore the dance of the leaves and the taste of berries?
It is often said that ideologies died along with the last century. But there is still one ideology that has remained “untouched”, which has become the only uncontested one and that seems unstoppable in its enhancement towards a more and more pervasive control of the minds of human beings and their way of living in society: it is the ideology of profit. This ideology, unlike other ideologies or countries of the past that imposed their dominion through guns, was spread with more subtle weapons: with fake ideas such as happiness consists of having as much money as possible or that in order to survive in a civil society you need to take advantage of the others. That profit is more important than anything else and that in order to achieve it you cannot have any moral or compassionate qualms. In order to challenge this diabolic ideology, all people with high Moral and Spiritual Values should find within themselves the courage to unite their forces and engage in a battle to free humanity, which, in my opinion, is a far bigger and more important battle than the one that involved a handful of nations during the so-called Second World War. Einstein said: “The world is not threatened by people who do bad things, but by those who accept it”.
Mario, as both the actor and the director, do you think the process of delivering a specific
message differs greatly? Would you rather deliver a subtle message or would you go all out
for the immediate nature of a grave problem?
First of all, I do not think of myself as an actor, I am who I am. I am an actor only in the etymological sense of the term, which means “the one who acts”, not the “interpreter of a character”, because I express my thoughts spontaneously and naturally. Nevertheless, it is true that sometimes my co-director has asked me to repeat my “existential scenes” (takes made on the set of life) to give an adequate artistic aesthetic to my natural expression in the film project.
About the second question, I prefer expressing a serious message directly and subtly.
J. Krishnamurti believed one must hear with impersonal ears if one wants to hear everything.
Tommasso, do you think a systematic detachment of man from nature has turned us into
cynical utilitarians? For example : we ask questions like What would a beautiful rainbow get
us? Is the cacophony outside us or more within us?
Cynicism and utilitarianism are two weeds that are deeply rooted in the heart of many humans, especially in those living in the so-called advanced societies. They are rooted at different levels in the heart of every one of us, and in order to eradicate them, as Mario Pascariello suggests, we need to be humble and willing to listen to the many teachings that the great Philosophers and Humanitarians have left us through the centuries. But sadly, the words of Dante Alighieri are still true even after 700 years from his death: “Laws exist, but who makes sure they are abided to?” The Elevated Moral and Spiritual Principles can be found in many books, and today, through a clever use of technology, also in many videos on YouTube. But the problem of all problems is how to transmit them into the minds and hearts of human beings to stimulate that internal transformation that is with no doubt the conditio sine qua non to regenerate our “uncivil society” which, to paraphrase Nietzsche, is inhumane, too inhumane. We will try to do our part in solving this problem in the next theatre piece we are working on, and that we hope to bring to the scenes next autumn: it is a monologue of anthropological constructive satire written and interpreted by Mario Pascariello and directed by myself.
A question for both Mario and Tommasso, in times where climate change is a serious
problem, how important and immediate do you think is the movie? How much time do you
think we have before it’s too late? Do you think it is time we marvel at the sight of Mother Nature? Is it time we started listening to what nature has to tell us as we have ignored
Mother Nature all this while?
The arrogance of Mankind does not raise hopes about the possibility of restoring an authentic contact with Mother Nature. For instance, the Covid-19 tragedy could have at least one positive effect: to make us understand the importance of slowing down the activities of a civilized society, at least for some days every month, in order to make air, water, and earth purer and reduce the stress of the so-called civilized life which, dulling our consciences, does not allow us to appreciate all the magnificent gifts that Mother Nature gives us, convincing us to take for granted all that comes for free…
Actually human beings, especially in industrialized civilizations, always think, apart from a few exceptions, from a utilitarian and economic point of view. According to the Vedas, Sacred Scriptures of ancient India, we have only just entered into the Kali Yuga era, a dark time of contention and hypocrisy. And if you take a look around, it would seem just like that. However, all the great Sages of all times, regardless of the path they teach, tell us that in any Age, the individual, meaning the eternal soul that inhabits the temporary body, always has the opportunity to start a journey of spiritual evolution leading to the discovery of his true identity in communion with God, and thus be truly happy.
