What the Bleep Do We Know?

I loved this movie. It was quirky, odd, and often hard to believe. I also thought it profound, and often hard to reject.

I found it inspirational. The simple message acted out by Marlee Matlin--who early in the movie shouts "I hate you" at her reflection in her bathroom mirror, and later, looking in the same mirror, writes "I love you" on her body with makeup--is a worthy one for most of us to practice. Love and acceptance of others is grounded in love and acceptance of ourselves.

But there's a lot more in the movie than just that. I enjoyed the animated description of the human neurological system and how repeating patterns reinforces neurological structures. And many of the speakers were very interesting, and had credentials that were hard to ignore. It may be easy to dismiss someone who says she is channeling another being, but it's pretty hard to dismiss professors from universities like Stanford (as I write that, I see how my perspective as an academic has framed it; I have no doubt that there are people in the world--religious or spiritual people--who would find it easier to dismiss a university professor than a channeler).

I mentioned this movie a few posts ago, and someone commented on it (thanks for the comment!), which reminded me of how much I liked the movie and how the movie shares the view that we have the ability to recreate our experience of the world into new patterns. Actually, I think the movie would make a stronger claim: that we have the ability to shape the world through our exertion of will. Personally, I might accept that claim. But in terms of writing an essay that can provide useful ideas to you standard dissertation writer, I think the stronger claim is unnecessary and might be distracting.

You, of course, should view my writing and What the Bleep Do We Know? with the same sort of critical eye that you read academic works: what parts make sense and what parts don't? How strong is the argument? When is it using good evidence? and when poor? And so on. And there I go--I set out to talk about a specific resource--the film I liked--and ended up talking about a general process: how to read.