During the current film tour, we are in Provence, enjoying a brief interlude between lecture-screenings.
This means putting aside the enterprise of a film tour, with all the planning, communications, offerings of content, etc.
I find myself in dream states much of the time, on a kind of slow drift … my mind emptying itself out … not because I am thinking of anything in particular … nor even because I am not-thinking of anything.
Here, in Avignon and Arles, I am in the present moment … brought down to the tiniest essence of a person, like a mere dot … centred in a world swirling with colour and movement.
The dream states come from the natural environment, the umbrella pines and cypresses and cedars so typical of the Mediterranean. And also from the colours … azure, olive, orange, ochre … even though these days, a harsh northwest wind is blowing and it is actually as cold here in Avignon as it would be in Montreal.
Strange to say, these dream states have a way of teasing themselves into patterns, where unknown people and things find their proper place, and I just follow along.
The dream states come from the doorways in Avignon, each a portal leading into a new world. I sense a big creative door is opening right now, during this film tour.
We went to Arles, and saw the amphitheatre there. Most of all, the light touched me in Arles, and the pleasure of meeting friendly people at Actes Sud, the bookstore and publishing house.
We are moving on to Toulouse tomorrow.