Mark Hildreth’s Official Site

complex state of attachment

I’m in DC again, spending time working with combat vets who are recovering from injuries sustained in Iraq. I’m truly grateful to everyone here who has opened their minds and hearts to tell me their experiences fighting and dealing with the ramifications of this war. there is a genuine desire to tell their stories and I intend to honor that in my work.

Progess on Pvt. Wars is coming along nicely. the director, Farhad Mann, and the man who wrote the original play, James McLure, have concluded negotiations for the rights to the material, a laborious process to say the least and one that has been carefully worked out for all parties invloved. They are continuing work now on the intensive task of updating the Vietnam-era play to the present day screenplay.

On another important note, I want to talk about something I have just been exploring and realizing in my life. the notion that all suffering is self-imposed, and therefore unneccessary. i’m not talking about actual pain here, the physical hard-wired physiological response your body has in order to keep you alive. But rather the thought-induced, emotional suffering which is so dominant in our world. The I’m not good enough, I’m not worthy, what is the point, I deserve better, reality isn’t good enough for me, us against the world plague of thought that we all (I think) subject ourselves to at some point or another.

Here’s the thing: sometimes being present, being in reality (rather than going into our heads and suffering) is not always easy, and is not always comfortable. But over a lifetime of suffering, the amount of time, energy, and pain we put into this slippery profession cumulatively takes SO MUCH out of us. We can cause ourselves real pain, headaches, backaches, sicknesses, diseases, and cancers. And when there are real things we want to do, things that could build real value for ourselves and others, we have wasted our resources feeling bad about how things “aren’t the way we want them to be.”

What would happen if we all stopped suffering about how things aren’t the way we want them to be, and went out and took steps in the world to achieve our goals in that regard? Imagine…

Achieving this is not easy. It takes effort, and commitment, and emotional fortitude. I have more thoughts on this. I will share.

Your thoughts?

With the utmost love and respect,

Mark.

Happy new year to everyone, hope your new year’s were fun, and your days after’s were less than usually painful.

India was a real eye opener, and I have an appreciation for how that part of the world lives now. It is something you must see to beleive, and I would encourage anyone to go there and see it for themselves. It is a really valuable experiment.

Now, it’s on to making a documentary, getting Pvt. Wars off the ground, writing songs, working on my new album, READING!, and onwards and upwards! Good to be back!!!

With much love,

Mark.

I am in India over the holiday, and what an AMAZING country! This is an incredible place, everywhere you look there is extreme contrast between rich and poor, healthy and sick, happy and discontent. A patchwork dichotomy of culture and poverty. We have so much in the West, and I am finding out exactly what that means here in this crazy world.

Every street is teeming with people, I don’t think I’ve been on a single road where there hasn’t been a throng of human activity. Beggars accost you every time you step out of your car. We are travelling through a few different parts of the country, partly by plane and partly by car, driving 5 hour trips, seeing the country as much as we can. What a history! Forts that have stood the test of time, animals everywhere, dust, and an incredible culture of religion and castism. I must say, the caste system seems ridiculous to me, since it keeps the ruling class in power and effectively destroys any chance of lower caste members increasing their potency in the world, and thereby their self-esteem. So it seems that, as a result, India has maintained much of it’s past, right into the present.

A very lucky boy am I to have this opportunity to see that world, and I wish everyone a beautiful holiday and much love and properity.

PEACE.

Mark.

I am reading Gandhi’s autobiography entitled “My Experiments With Truth.” What a guy! he thought some pretty cool stuff!

It is an unbelievable read. A bit dense right off the bat, but well worth the investment. HIGHLY recommend it!

With love,

Mark.

Hi y’all. I’m so sorry I’ve been so absent with the blogging recently. I’ve been doing many things!

I just want to get back in the swing of things by saying I AM SO STOKED THAT HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!

I am a huge Vancouver Canucks fan, and I’m so excited that hockey season is back. I missed the first 10 or so games of the season, so my excitement is a little tardy. But I’m back in LA and have the stellar Centre Ice Package, and I’m in hockey heaven again.

Woohoooo!!

With love,
Mark.

I’ve gotta tell you, I know some really amazing people who are an inspiration to me to know! I want to post a blog just saying that I really appreciate the people in my life, what they teach me, whether intentional or not, and all that I learn about myself through the depth of all the people in my life!

And thank you for reading this blog, coming to this site, and sharing your thoughts. Please feel free to post anything you like in here, I am a sponge for the thgouhts and feelings of everyone who wants to be a part of my world!

Cheers!
Mark.