Currently I’m reading a biography about a Biblical scholar named E.W. Bullinger.
I’ve been reading his stuff since 1996, at least.
But I didn’t know his two biggest “red pill” moments when just starting to preach were:
1. After delivering his first sermon a snarky old lady left a comment about his sermon:
“Poor blind young man”
Something that really messed with his head.
So much so, he said it radically changed the seriousness of how he approached the manuscripts and his faith to the point where it ultimately led to his life’s work which, without any exaggeration, has changed the (after)lives of multiple millions of people.
He also said one of his regrets was never tracking the snarky old lady down to thank her.
2. Later he did a sermon at another church he got a job at that everyone enjoyed, but he also got a bit of feedback that it needed more “vigour”, and also that:
“…nothing tends more to this than the impression on the mind of the hearer that the preacher feels what he says. It is the strongest proof of the heart being in the work as well as the head.”
The AI geek chorus all thinks they’re ascot-wearing movie directors lately.
But ain’t nobody feeling anything they’re putting out there.
Except, maybe, boredom.
More:
This also reminds me of what Arnold Schwartldhkdjhkher says in his book “Be Useful” about James Cameron when he made Titanic. Like the movie or despise it, you can’t argue with the box office gross.
And Arnold specifically talks about how Cameron:
* Used all his clout and powers of persuasion to get the studio to spend $200 million on making it (almost half a billion in today’s money)
* Did deep dives into the ocean to see and personally experience (the wreckage himself so he could make the audience FEEL what he felt when he saw it, not just imagine it.
* Immersed himself as much into the history and back stories behind the Titanic, and the people on it, as he did into the ocean depths to see, experience, and viscerally understand it.
* Painstakingly and expensively built his own Titanic inside a gigantic $40 million water tank – 775 feet long, a full-scale, nearly exact replica of the real thing, with the same front & rear sections to get the exact gravitational “tilt” inside and outside.
* Ensured every single detail of the sets were as historically accurate as he could get it no matter how expensive, frustrating, or time consuming it had to be to get it right, with no half measures or skimming corners of even the smallest details literally nobody would notice.
* Like, for example, as Arnold put it:
“The carpet, the furniture, the silverware, the chandelier glass, the type of wood for the railings—it was all exactly as it would have been in 1912. He had all the dishes stamped with the White Star Line emblem.”
* Personally talked with each and every extra – even if they only had “blink & miss” screen time – and painstakingly gave THEM their own backstories… so even a split second of an NPC’s body language, for instance, if nothing else, would convey realism.
* The result was $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office ($3.6 billion in today’s money).
* The punchline was when Arnold said:
“Did Jim’s willingness and ability to go all in like he does make the difference for Titanic and then for Avatar? I don’t know. But I guarantee you it would have been the difference if he didn’t.”
A lot of people think Cameron is full of it.
And he is in a lot of ways, imo.
He frankly says some of the dumbest things imaginable.
And in many aspects of life he is demonstrably not exactly the brightest bulb in the drawer.
Yet, the guy always gets what he wants from people.
Including whatever outrageous sums of money he needs to make his movies. Or, in a truly extreme case: when he was directing Piranha 2 where he literally broke into the locked studio after hours to re-cut the movie the way he intended, and breaking God-only-knows how many laws in France where he was at the time, just to get what he wanted.
That’s passion.
And if you watch James’ interviews, and read his stuff, one thing is obvious:
He absolutely does go “all in.”
He doesn’t half ass anything – and does whatever it takes to win.
Doesn’t mean he always wins.
But he is always in the game, fighting, at least.
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Ben Settle
