Friday, May 27, 2016

SUNDAY TIMES ARTICLE: THE STORY of GOD - MORGAN FREEMAN & 17th KARMAPA



MORGAN FREEMAN GOES in SEARCH of GOD



Morgan Freeman and His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa
(Image: National Geographic)



People still talk about how convincing Morgan Freeman was as a benevolent God in the 2003 film "Bruce Almighty."

Sue de Groot spoke to Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman about "The Story of God," his new six-part documentary series that seeks to understand humanity's search for a higher meaning.

When Morgan Freeman steps on to the stage to introduce the premiere screening of his new six-part film, the first instalment of which is about to be shown in the Frederick P. Rose Hall of Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle opposite Central Park in New York, the audience gives out a sound, a mix between a mmmm and an oooh, the sound of a collective smile. This is swiftly followed by respectful silence.

Freeman has that effect on humans. People still talk about how convincing he was as a benevolent God in the 2003 film Bruce Almighty. (Some people still think he is God.) Academy Award winner, Golden Globe winner, second on the list of top-grossing actors of all time, permanent fixture on the Forbes list of Most Trustworthy Celebrities, an intellectual equally fascinated by the frontiers of science as he is by human behaviour - if Hollywood had to put forward a candidate for a god election, Freeman would most likely be it.

This project, probably the most ambitious and demanding of Freeman's career (and he is 78), has taken him to more than 30 cities around the globe, on a journey of more than 100,000 miles. The series is called The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, which could be interpreted to mean the story of God and Morgan Freeman and what they did together, or the story of how God behaves when around Morgan Freeman. It is neither of these, of course. To avoid confusion, the title really should be The Story of God, with Morgan Freeman as producer, investigator and narrator, but that would be clumsy, and Freeman is the very opposite of clumsy.

When you are Morgan Freeman, it is difficult to announce a series called The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (watch the trailer below) without sounding as though you are talking of yourself in the third person, so he inserts a comma into the title when he says it on stage, with a pause that elicits a laugh. "I hope you enjoy the story of God, with me," he says.

When you are Morgan Freeman, it is difficult to announce a series called The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (watch the trailer below) without sounding as though you are talking of yourself in the third person, so he inserts a comma into the title when he says it on stage, with a pause that elicits a laugh. "I hope you enjoy the story of God, with me," he says. lol




But that came later. A few hours earlier, Freeman is holding court in a suite on the 43rd floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel next door to Jazz at Lincoln. Through the glass wall the sky is freshly minted and across the road, way down below, the trees of Central Park are flexing gaudy branches off which the sun has melted a light snow that fell overnight. Debutante daffodils have appeared in yellow flounces and hyperactive squirrels run hither and thither in aimless joy.

Read the entire article at:

Website for the 17th Karmapa with Morgan Freeman:
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1.) WHY the DALAI LAMA MATTERS & VEGETARIANISM
http://scottsbuddhisttveg.blogspot.com/2015/05/why-dalai-lama-matters-vegetarianism.html

2.) DALAI LAMA: Buddhist Monks Reflections on Ecological Responsibility
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment/buddhist-monks-reflections

3.) PETA: THE DALAI LAMA CALLS for an end to ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS
http://www.peta.org/blog/dalai-lama-calls-end-animal-experiments/

4.) KARMAPA: LIKELY SUCCESSOR to the DALAI LAMA
http://www.scottsbuddhistiveg.blogspot.com/2015/03/karmapa-likely-successor-to-dalai-lama.html

5.) THE KARMAPA IS A STRICT VEGETARIAN
http://www.scottsbuddhisttveg.blogspot.com/2015/03/17th-karmapa-is-strict-vegetarian.html

6.) THE HEART is NOBLE: KARMAPA'S WRITINGS on VEGETARIANISM, FEMINISM, ENVIRONMENT, COMPASSION
http://www.scottsbuddhistiveg.blogspot.com/2015/04/an-excerpt-from-heart-is-noble-changing.html

7.) LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE: ON HELPING ANIMALS & VEGETARIANISM
http://www.scottsbuddhistiveg.blogspot.com/2015_09_01_archive.html

8.) AN INSIGHTFUL VEGETARIAN ESSAY & MANIFESTO - by Supreme Master Ching Hai  http://www.scottsbuddhistiveg.blogspot.com/2015/07/supreme-master-ching-hai-httpwww.html

9.) KILLING is BAD KARMA: EASTERN VS. WESTERN VIEWS of ANIMALS
http://www.scottsbuddhisttveg.blogspot.com/2015/03/this-essay-wasoriginally-posted-on.html

10.) AUTOBIOGRAPHY of a SEEKER of SAINTS - A MUST READ
http://www.scottsbuddhisttveg.blogspot.com/2015/03/autobiography-of-seeker-of-saints-must.html
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