Introduction

Gatekeeper: In the name of God, I am at your service for the third program of our new chapter. A gap occurred between our talks, but perhaps this very gap provided better conditions for us to establish a connection with other teachers. I mean that during this time, I have not been idle and have been continuously seeking to invite another teacher to put fresh materials at our disposal.

For this program, our reference will be indirect to a film about a legendary tree, with a name close to "A Monster Calls." My emphasis is that we do not intend to speak about the film itself, its style of production, or its dialogues; we want to make it a pretext to invite one of the teachers to speak for us and see, like the two previous programs, what the main subject in his expression is and how he decodes the main text of the film for us. If you agree, we will step back and see what he will say.

The Teacher's Discourse

Greetings to you, I accept your invitation to speak with you as a teacher. Something that I must raise as an introduction for entering the discussion is the discussion of "Foundational Imprints" (Bonymāye-hā). See in what situation you live, what behavior you have in your life, with what subjects you are confronted, how you analyze and examine them, and how you choose your way of life; when we return to these bases, we must bring up the discussion of "Foundational Imprints".

To establish a connection with this concept, we must speak of several terms; write them down and ponder them yourselves too. They say that every human lives in a "Domain" (Existential Domain / Paradigm / Sāhat); this word can perhaps be considered close to the meaning of "paradigm." Its small definition is that you can define the "Components" (Muallefe-hā), meaning the important factors of your life, as a human; recognize them, determine them, and then examine their precedence and sequence; how much these parameters and Components are effective and functional in your life.

This is one side of the subject. The other side is that when we live in such a space and Domain, our behaviors and functions relate to the "Discourse" (Goftmān) dominant in our life; this is the second important definition. Discourse is the relationship between these very Components; if this relationship is established, it gives a specific identity and meaning to that structure of Components and eventually brings about a special function. This became the introduction on which you yourselves can also work. I began from Foundational Imprints.

I wanted to say that each of you, as a human who from the time of birth traverses your growth stages, what happens to you in your family and in your environment of life relates to these very definitions; ponder it a bit. See, perhaps you remember your infancy less, but the reality is that even before you put foot on this earthly world, it is now clear that the connection you established with your mother in the embryonic period, and then that state of growth that you experienced in your mother's womb, everything your mother was engaged with, the various states she experienced, even the words she said to herself or to you, and even the thoughts that passed through her mind without expressing them in tongue, have influenced you. My reference is to this important point: with what experiences was the starting point of your entry into this world accompanied?

These very things direct you toward Foundational Imprints. Let us come forward: even the songs, melodies, and lullabies that your mother hummed become part of your Foundational Imprints; the events that were raised before your birth, the places where perhaps sadness existed—my meaning is not even mechanical and physical blows—but rather my meaning is that perhaps one day your mother suffered from despair or sadness, or on the contrary, was very happy; these feelings have influenced you. After birth too, follow these same cases; for example, what connection did your father and mother actually establish with you? Did they take you in their arms? Did they sing a song for you? Did they tell you stories later? What connection did they establish with you? My effort is to say from where the Foundational Imprints of your personality begin.

The core of the story is here: certainly pay attention to this point that children who grow up in peaceful environments, establish a good connection with their father, mother, and those around them, and find opportunity to experience affection above all else, know that they possess suitable Foundational Imprints. This was the introduction that occurred to me to raise, because after that, I want to present a point with reference to what you see in the film. The interesting point that attracts my attention in this film is the drawing of that little boy, "Conor O'Malley." You see that he defines a vivid and manifest Foundational Imprint for us; through a person whom we later understand was his mother, he took a specific influence from his mother and benefited from painting/drawing as a medium of expressing what was important to her, to transfer it to her child. Now, in the story that is perhaps the main subject of the film, namely, his mother's illness, you see that the refuge of this boy, the place where he can reach his inner peace, is taking refuge in drawing and expressing what passes in his mind in that form.

But we also see a weakness on the other side: who is going to be his conversation companion? His mother who is in the hospital no longer has that previous state. It is true that he can contain himself with his drawing and pour his dreams into that mold, but the role of the father is not seen at all in this; in the entire film, you do not observe that the father plays a special role, and even the presence he has is not very successful. Thus we can say that one of the problems we see here is that Conor O'Malley has no one but his mother with whom to establish a connection; and as if he is trapped in a space where he raises his dream and request; where? In the mind, in his own mind he is wandering.

There he seeks a subject, but because he is a child and has no companion and counselor, those requests and those mental and spiritual pressures of his lead to the emergence of nightmares. Now we understand that nightmares relate to the blockage of the expressive and emotional connection of the individual with their surroundings, particularly for children who have many nightmares in childhood; this is precisely the demonstration of this very fact that they cannot establish a suitable connection with their surroundings, because they want to solve the subject themselves, they want to ponder it themselves in the mind, and consequently, they reach nightmare-like dead ends.

Now we enter the part where the human mind, the mind belonging to every human, begins to activate in the face of these very nightmare-like requests in Conor O'Malley's life. Suddenly you realize that from that side, actions are occurring: he looks at the old yew tree from behind the window and suddenly the mind begins to activate, in the form of signs, like a specific hour. Suddenly you see that from the mental aspect, he is separated from the space in which he lives, and events happen that he sees only in his mind, but for the viewer, it appears in another form. Yes, in his mind, he is confronted with a guide; a guide who appeared in the shape of that tree. Be sure that the Foundational Imprint of this subject had been placed in his mind beforehand, perhaps without Conor O'Malley knowing, by his mother.

The rest of the story you see yourselves: the continuous conversations between that tree, which represents the Shapeless/Formless Space and has shaped itself to save Conor O'Malley, but Conor O'Malley, in his nightmare, meaning in that whole collection of his mental space, is in pursuit of saving his mother: "You called me to save her, to cure her." My question is: you who listen to my words, do you know that you also possess the Foundational Imprints of this very subject? Without taking any specific shape, I establish a connection with you from behind a door; as if you hear my voice from behind this very door. Perhaps some of you have seen me in other shapes too.

Your mistake was also this: you imagined that I wanted to solve your wishful problems; for example, make you rich, solve your educational problems, solve your marriage problems. But I did not intend to interfere in a formal shape in solving the problems of your life; I wanted you to possess a mind and one day realize that the Shaped Space is not a space that will leave you without problems; every day you will be confronted with a form of difficulty. I wanted you to understand the transience/temporariness of each of these stages. I had come to organize the Foundational Imprints of your mind, to cast away the nightmares; it is true, all our effort was to be beside you in these very topics of life too, but it was not intended for me to be the expense of solving your formal/apparent problems.

Later, I taught you poetry, painting, song, and music; I did this very work to be able to build a paradigm/Domain for you, a place full of light, so that you find the main Components of your life and I change the prevailing Discourse; distance imitation from you, take blind life from you, and build a fresh Discourse based on dialogue, thought, pondering, asking, and traveling. Whether you want it or not, the result of those meetings is stored in your mind. I like many parts of this film; for example, where the monster says: "I will be with you beside your mother." The boy asks: "Will you come for those last moments?" He says: "Yes, I will be by your side and I will accompany that difficult stage." It is interesting that the mother herself, at that moment, feels the presence of that monster. I want to tell you, whether you ask me or not, I will be present at the moment of your displacement/transition and will prepare you for entering the next stage; your lover, the Monster.