by John Cargile

Created on: June 01, 2008

I had my first opportunity to watch the film, What the Bleep Do We Know? Actually, I found it so enthralling that I have now watched it three times, and still I want to watch it more to see what I missed the first three times.

For over 60 weeks, the film played in theaters across America. I always wait for a movie to come out on DVD, and never go to a movie theater. I guess the last real movie I saw at a movie house was Ole' Yeller. But, it was worth the wait!

One of the featured segments in the movie (which by the way has its own study guide now on my website) focused on an experiment conducted by well-known quantum theorist from Harvard, Dr. John Hagelin. He has published over 100 scientific papers in his field.

In What the Bleep Do We Know? Dr Hagelin describes a rather unconventional social experiment in Washington D.C. where 4,000 people came together to meditate over a two-month period (June 7-July 30, 1993. Based on quantum physics and 48 similar studies, it was theorized that the ?coherence? that would be produced by 4,000 people meditating would dramatically lower crime and violence.

Statistically, crime rates increase sharply during the summer months due to intense heat, and this has been a record-setting year for heat in the U.S.

Washington D.C.'s police chief, Emanuel Ross, at the time, went on TV and said it would take "20 inches of snow" to lower crime that summer.

The effect of the 4,000 meditators produced dramatic results. The crime rate in D.C, for those two months was reduced 23.6 per cent. Since that experiment, Dr. Hagelin and his peers have repeated this experiment 48 times in venues from inner-city schools, to prisons, to war-torn areas like Nicaragua, Iran, Israel and Lebanon.

Perhaps the meditators need to return to the war-torn crime scenes immediately with the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon to still the peace. The world needs to meditate and pray instead of only a group of 4,000 people. But, you have to know how to meditate to send that sort of mass energy into the heads and hearts of those who do battle.

War begins in the minds of men. It is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. That's not what I made up, that is what is in the Constitution of the United Nations.

Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as saying, "The chain reaction of evil wars producing more wars must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

While the film lacks the phonyism of your ordinary run-of-the-mill Hollywood cinema, it is rich in content. But, you have to watch it several times to get the full impact. It's nice to know that Hollywood is actually putting some good films together these days and, I for one, hope more spiritually evolved productions will take place.

When a multitude of people join in a unifying celebration, wonder what the bleep we can do for our world?

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