How Does It Feel? - ACE056.6

Arthur Balaskas (naked) performing yoga exercises on Silbury Hill, with thermal imaging views of his body as it moves. Commentary: "I sing the body electric … O I say, these are not the parts and poems of the Body only, but of the Soul, O I say now these are the Soul! [Lines from Walt Whitman’s "I Sing the Body Electric" (Leaves of Grass, 1900)]. Balaskas performing cartwheels intercut with shots of female gymnast on asymmetric bars, cheetah chasing gazelles. Joseph Beuys, holding a mouse, says he believes in a level of existence "higher" than that of humans, in invisible powers co-operating with human beings as in old myths and fairy tales, etc. Black and white film of Beuys squashing a lump of fat behind his knees; contemporary footage and VO explaining his Eurasienstab action (first performed 1967), shown in black and white – of investigating "the unknown senses", using a bent copper rod to seek "power" in the "outer world". Views of the Lovell radio-telescope at Jodrell Bank. Commentary: "With clarity and quiet I look upon the world and say, All that I see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are the creations of my mind … The mind shouts: ‘Only I exist! Deep in my subterranean cells my five senses labor; they weave and unweave space and time, joy and sorrow, matter and spirit.’" [From The Saviors of God – Spiritual Exercises by Nikos Kazantzakis]