Faith – A Universal Law

Have you ever been in the flow of life when everything just seemed to fall into place and it felt like you were sitting on top of the world? Everything you touched turned to gold and nothing could take that away from you. Every effort you made blossomed into wonderful experiences full of joy, happiness and success. Life just seemed to unfold in perfect order and everything you hoped, dreamed or wished for became your reality. This is what I refer to as experiencing the original screenplay for your life. The one written by the Infinite Filmmaker, creator of this movie called "Life".

I remember such a time many years ago when I lived in the East Village in NYC and entered my screenplay in the Independent Feature Film Market. This was the first year that the market was accepting submissions for screenplays and I wanted to submit one of my screenplays as a work in progress. 

DOUBTING THOMAS "One Sheet

I had attended the market for many years prior to this time and was familiar with the marketing approaches that filmmakers were using to build a hype over their movies. I wanted to do something uniquely different in the screenplay category. 

In listening to my inner voice, I came up with the idea to rent a theater next door to the film market and stage a reading of the screenplay for interested buyers.  What started out as a bare-boned reading quickly turned into a full stage reading complete with a set, cast, props and a lighting director.  I even created invitations to the reading that looked like a "one sheet" for a movie so as to blend in with the films playing in the market that year. 

How this all came about so effortlessly is a story in itself and one that can be duplicated by anyone who is willing to believe in a Power greater than oneself that is available to all who have a dream and would like support in making that dream a reality. The outcome of my staged reading was even better than I could ever imagine as if something greater than me was directing it.  I later recognized this something greater to be what I now refer to as The Infinite Filmmaker.

INVITATION ON BACK OF "One Sheet"

It all started with a vision, supported by my enthusiasm and excitement to create something new for the Market. My girlfriend at the time was a casting director and she became infected by my excitement. Through her connections in the film industry she was able to bring some amazing actors from Broadway Shows into the project. These actors were so dedicated that they rehearsed for over three weeks and by the time we did the reading at the the market, it looked more like a play than a reading. The screenplay was based on my own experience of writing short stories for "True Confessions" magazines while living in Key West with some friends. Even today it amazes me how much these actors resembled my friends in both looks and character it was almost as if  they were made for the part and somehow that is not too far from the truth.

The next step was to find a theatre close enough to the Film Market that people would be able to stop by for the reading in between films. Although there was a lot of competition for the buyer's time, I trusted that everything would work out and sure enough we had a full house for all four readings. That in itself was a miracle. 

Everything was so rushed because I was so busy rehearsing the actors and discussing the characters with them that I had little time to look for a theatre. Still, I knew that I had tapped into something greater than I that was in control and I had nothing to worry about. It was like there was something inside of me that trusted in the process and allowed everything to unfold in perfect order.

Angelika Film Center, New York City

One week before the film market began, I found a "Black Box" theatre that was right next to the Angelika Film Center where the film market was taking place. The people who rented me the theater said that there was a play going on in the theater during the evenings and I couldn't touch the set or the lighting for my readings. They couldn't tell me what the set would look like and I had to wait until three days before the market to see if it would even work for my readings.

I was so much into the flow at that time that I trusted it would be the perfect set booked it sight unseen. Sure enough when I showed up to view the theatre, it had a couch and a TV set, which was what I had written into my script, and it even had a wall with a window for the scene where my character peers through the window to witness her husband having sex with her best friend. Not only was the set perfect for my reading, but also the day I checked out the set, I met the lighting director for the evenings play and she agreed to do the lighting for all 4 of my readings. Talk about being in the flow, the reading was a big success and I had a lot of interest in the screenplay including someone from New Line Cinema who happened to be at the reading.

I have had this kind of experience many times in my life and have learned to recreate it over and over again by utilizing the principles that I teach on my website "The Infinite Filmmaker". I will discuss one of them here so that you can understand where I am coming from when I say that you can create whatever you desire in your life without limitation... you just have to learn to get into the flow.

One of the principles that I used in the above example is that I had "the faith of a mustard seed"... a quote that I took from the Bible. Matthew 17:20 "For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you." The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds but grows into the largest of plants and so it is with our faith. Just a little faith will take you a long way towards your dreams. I totally walked through the whole process of pulling together a reading in just 4 weeks before the market with the complete faith that it was going to turn out to be better than I could ever imagine and sure enough it did.

I had no control over the stage that was being built, the Broadway cast that I ended up with and even the photographer and the graphic artist who created the most amazing "One Sheet" for the market and it was all done effortlessly. I believe that it was my faith that made it all happen and I never once found myself doubting whether it could be done from the first day of conception to the final reading of the script. I am not talking about faith in myself to pull it off, but the faith in a power that is greater than me to take control of my life and turn it into something quite wonderful at that.

Rev. Michael Beckwith

Oddly enough the name of the script was titled, "Doubting Thomas" and was all about building one's faith and trusting in the universe. Rev. Michael Beckwith from the movie "The Secrets", taught me to, "act as if I already have so that I may receive" and that requires a lot of faith to pull off. Once you experience the infinite Power and Potential of Spirit acting upon your life, it becomes easier to increase your faith to the point of creating whatever you desire.

Richard Smith is an independent filmmaker who teaches metaphysical and spiritual principles to creative individuals in the entertainment industry. He teaches using a metaphor of life being a movie created by an Infinite Filmmaker and everything that the Infinite Filmmaker does in the Universal movie, which is limitless, It also does in our individual life's movie You can learn more about his teachings at http://www.infinitefilmmaker.com.