Mark Allan Kaplan

Mark Allan Kaplan

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is a Transdisciplinary Artist, Filmmaker, Researcher, Consultant, Educator and Media Psychologist focusing on Integral, Transpersonal, and Transformative approaches to Art, Media, and Spirituality. Mark has advanced degrees and certifications in the fields of Cinematic Media, Transpersonal Psychology, Integral Theory, Creative Expression, Spiritual Guidance, and Hypnotherapy. He has also studied and worked extensively in the Fine Arts, Architectural Design, Photography, and Poetics. Mark has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a Motion Picture Producer, Writer, Director, Editor, Researcher, and Consultant. His creative works have been shown on television, in theaters, schools, and colleges, and at expositions around the world. Mark has also conducted and published seminal research on the integral and transpersonal dimensions of the cinema and the experience of divine guidance across religious traditions and cultures. Mark is currently exploring various applications of Integral Theory, including the research and development of an Integral approach to cinematic media theory and practice. He has received the Integral Institute Integral Life Award in recognition of this work and has been named one of the TransTech200 key innovators who are driving the advancement of media and technologies for personal growth and transformation.

Personal Statement

I have danced many dances within this world of form, including that of student and teacher, artist and researcher, healer and patient, spiritual seeker and spiritual guide, theorist and practitioner.

For most of this multi-domain dance I have been a filmmaker, having made my first film when I was 16 years old. Prior to this I began my lifelong experimentations with various forms of artistic expression, from drawing and painting, to photography and architectural design, to writing and poetics. My early explorations in these artistic domains were deeply driven by my search for a way to speak without using my speaking voice, since I was haunted by a severe stutter through these formative years.

When I created and projected my first film, I knew I had finally found my voice. This lead to my sojourn away from my Midwestern home to California for film school, where I learned the craft of filmmaking from some of the great Hollywood masters. I made several award-winning films and graduated with a B.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts; and an M.F.A. in Motion Picture Directing from the American Film Institute. After film school I worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a motion picture producer, writer, director, editor, researcher, and consultant.

During my quest through film school and the entertainment industry, I also began my search to heal my stuttering, which lead me down the paths of psychology and spirituality. Eventually, my dance took me back to school for an M.A. and Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; and a Certificate in Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University and Integral Institute.

Along this path I have had the grace to have studied with many great teachers and mentors; conducted and published personally transformative research on the integral and transpersonal dimensions of the cinema and the experience of divine guidance across religious traditions and cultures; and had my creative works recognized with various awards and honors, and exhibited in schools, colleges, festivals, conferences, expositions, theaters, and broadcast media around the world.

My current dance within this world of form is that of an transdisciplinary artist, researcher, consultant, educator, and spiritual director. One of my current projects is the development and application of Integral and transdisciplinary approaches to cinematic media theory, development, production and distribution. I was honored with the Integral Life Award from Integral Institute in recognition of this work, and named one of the TransTech 200 key innovators who are driving the advancement of media and technologies for personal growth and transformation.

Posts by Mark Allan Kaplan

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Integral Cinema Studio

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In this remarkable exploration, Mark walks us through all of the main elements of Integral theory—using some of our favorite movies to illustrate the basics of the Integral approach, while noting how each of these elements has shaped the cinema experience since the invention of film itself. Not only does this series offer a wealth of perspective and insight to film, filmmakers, and audiences alike, but it also brings more color, more sound, and more awesome explosions to Integral thought and practice.

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The Complexity Lens

We now enter the complex domain of tetra-enmeshment and tetra-evolution with what I am calling the COMPLEXITY LENS. On a basic level we could say that tetra-enmeshment refers to the complex inter-relationship or tetra-enmeshment between the four quadrants or “the subjective, objective, intersubjective, and interobjective dimensions of existence” whereby “all four dimensions arise simultaneously and tetra-evolve

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The Methodology Lens

We now shift focus to that space between theory and practice where we find the constructs, paradigms, and approaches used to examine and enact our world and the world of cinema, using what I am calling the METHODOLOGY LENS. With this lens we can attempt to look at what methodological constructs are behind how we look and how we act, what method or approach we are using at any given moment to comprehend and relate to self, others, and world.

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The Energetics Lens

Since art in general and cinema in particular communicate through the transmission of light and sound, which both operate through frequency spectrums that transfer energy through space, every moment of projected image and sound of a cinematic work can be said to essentially have its own particular energy signature. Some film theorists have explored the dynamics of what can be called cinematic or kinetic energies that are inherent in the perceptual reception of moving imagery.

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The Altitudinal Lens

When we look at a cinematic work and endeavor to discern if it is “integral” or not, what we are doing is attempting to use the term in an evaluative mode as a kind of typological categorization tool. One of the major ways of typologically mapping the Integral structure of consciousness is as a particular level or altitude on the worldview line of development (the Integral Worldview altitude).

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The Zonal Lens

We are now ready to delve into the more advanced integrally-informed cinematic lenses, starting here with the ZONAL LENS.

The Zonal Lens aids us in applying eight (8) indigenous human perspectives (zones) and their corresponding methodologies for gaining verifiable and reproducible knowledge to the realm of perceivable realities.

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The States Lens

In a cinematic work, at the most basic level, these various human reality states can be captured and replicated to some degree through text, image, and sound. For example, we can visually and auditorily capture a storm (a weather state), and add the text/story of a person trying to get out of its way, including how this person is reacting (i.e., a fearful emotional state).

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The Quadratic Lens

This time we explore the QUADRATIC LENS. This lens helps us look upon everything we perceive as being made up of four distinct yet equal and interrelated essential dimensions of perceptual reality. These dimension-perspectives can be labeled in various ways to represent the form of existence we are looking at.

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The Holonic Lens

The first Integral lens I will explore is the HOLONIC lens. This lens helps us look upon everything we perceive as a HOLON; a whole that is part of another whole. Holons are the essential building blocks of our reality. A whole atom is part of a whole molecule, which is part of a whole cell, which is part of a whole organism

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Toward an Integral Cinema: The Application of Integral Theory to Cinematic Media Theory and Practice

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Defining characteristics of what may constitute an integral cinematic work are mapped out and developed into a set of evaluation criteria using the works of Dulac, Gebser, and Wilber. A test of these evaluation criteria with the viewing of several motion pictures is summarized; the results suggest that several past and recent films demonstrate qualities that could be said to constitute an integral cinematic work.