Reprinted from The Globe & Mail
BY ALEXANDRA GILL
Friday, August 12, 2005 - Page R8
Laura Kynnersley was an early Bleeper. The first time she saw What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (commonly referred to as What the Bleep?), the indie sleeper hit was screened at a small community centre in Bellingham, Wash., where patrons sat on fold-out chairs and interest had spread by word of mouth.
The executive assistant from Tsawwassen, B.C., who has since seen the film 10 times, recalls being "blown away" by the dramatized documentary, which draws parallels between quantum physics and spirituality. Before long, Kynnersley started up an on-line forum where she and likeminded local Bleepers could discuss the film's metaphysical messages about reality being a construct of the mind, one that can be manipulated with positive thought.
"You see the world differently than I see it, and I see it differently on different days," Kynnersley enthuses. "But underneath all that, there's a reality going on that links us all together. I want to be better connected to it so I can use my energy in more positive ways."
Released in 2004, the $5-million film played at a single theatre in Yelm, Wash., before it moved to art houses and gathered speed under a marketing campaign aimed at yoga studios and health-food stores. It was then picked up for distribution by Samuel Goldwyn Co., and as of April, the film had grossed nearly $11-million in the United States, making it one of the most popular documentaries of all time (excluding those made by Michael Moore).
With any luck -- or the combustion of some really powerful positive energy -- mountains just might move at Simon Fraser University today, when Bleepers from all over Western Canada converge for a three-day conference called The Great Rethinking.
The event features lectures from many of the film's talking heads, including Fred Alan Wolf, a physicist from San Francisco, author of Taking the Quantum Leap and one of the more respected voices in the film. The most woo-woo of them all is J. Z. Knight, the throaty-voiced, bottle-blond founder of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, who sincerely believes she is channelling the spirit of a 35,000-year-old warrior from the long-lost city of Atlantis.
The film was co-produced and funded by William Arntz, an Internet multi-millionaire who has studied at the Ramtha School, which also counts co-director Mark Vicente and co-producer/director Betsy Chasse as its students. The fact that this cozy connection to the Washington State school, which some consider a cult, was not made explicit in the film has aroused the suspicion of critics in the press. What the Bleep? has also raised the ire of many well-known scientists.
"I despise [the film], because it distorts science to fit its own agenda, it is full of half-truths and misleading analogies, and some of its so-called scientific claims are downright lies," declared physicist Simon Singh, author of Big Bang, in a Guardian op-ed.
Such blasphemy, rational or not, is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the film's devotees, who include celebrities Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Barrymore and Madonna. Since its March 15 release, the DVD has remained a top seller on Amazon.com. A companion book called What The Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality will be published this fall.
"The world is full of fear and negative self-talk," says Kynnersley, who will attend this weekend's conference in Vancouver, the only Canadian stop on a six-city tour that has attracted 2,300 people so far. "But once you start learning about all this stuff, you can use the power of intention and positive self-talk to move past your past conditioning and try to be more aware of all the other stuff that's going on."
The Great Rethinking runs from today until Sunday at Simon Fraser University. Registration costs $375 (U.S.); single-day passes are $125 (U.S.). Call 1-888-777-5981 or see http://www.greatmystery.org
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