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Whose
America Is It, Anyway?
By William
Arntz and Betsy Chasse
Is this your America we're living in?
When you watch TV, do you see yourself represented?
When you go to the movies, do you see yourself?
Do you feel like you and a few of your friends are 'the only ones,'
fish out of water?
 It's
no secret that the U.S. is now an almost totally polarized society.
Look at the results of any opinion poll, and the outcome will almost
invariably be around 50-50. Half in favor, half against What’s
going on here? Some are calling it 'the culture wars,' but what
does that really mean?
For the past six months, we’ve been traveling, opening our film
in Western theaters. The film, What the #$*! Do We Know?!,
is an award-winning feature exploring the growing convergence between
leading edge science – quantum physics, neurology, neurobiology
– and spirituality.
Don't be ridiculous!” everyone in Hollywood told us. “No
one's going to go to see a movie on quantum physics and spirituality!”
Well, so far, more than 250,000 people have seen the film. 250,000 people
that Hollywood and the media insist do not exist!!
So what are these two different worldviews and why are we writing about
them?
One of them is clearly, obviously present throughout American society.
It's held by a group we'll call The Traditionals, quoting the
groundbreaking book, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million Americans
Are Changing the World (Harmony Books, 2000) by social researchers
Paul Ray, Ph.D. and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D.
Signs of The Traditionals' worldview are everywhere: the Bush administration,
politically conservative talk radio, TV's Fox News Channel, the
Christian Right, all the fundamentalist programming on religious television,
the pro-life movement, and most recently, and spectacularly, The
Passion of the Christ...
However, according to Drs. Ray and Anderson, another worldview has as
many passionate adherents, but hasn't organized and expressed itself
with the kind of unified voice that The Traditionals have. And that
is why when we approach theaters to show What the #$*! Do We Know!?
we always hear: “There is no market for a film like this.”
We – you – are invisible.
We are members of that invisible-no-longer group, the one the Rays call
the Cultural Creatives. And if you are too, isn't it about time
we all got together and voiced our alternative, more inclusive values
in a way that impacts American society the way The Traditionals have?!
We didn't originally set out to produce a film that would magnetize
and galvanize our cultural group, but to our surprise and delight it
is doing just that. Our motivation was our own profound interest in
the subject matter – science and spirituality. We were fascinated
by the question: Is modern science making discoveries that prove the
views of life and the Universe held for thousands of years by the world's
great spiritual traditions?
If so, we wanted to expose this astounding information to mass audiences,
using the language of science – instead of religion – to describe
the non-physical world. In the process, we discovered that many of the
world's great spiritual teachings are now being proved by science.
For instance, from the great enlightened teachings -
1. The world is Maya - Illusion
2. Time does not exist; everything exists at once in the NOW.
3. We are One!
4. We create our Reality. We are Gods at play in the illusion
we call real.
5. The root cause of all suffering is attachment to desire.
And from results of the latest scientific research -
1. The physical world, matter, is basically not solid. It's
a fluffy cloud of potentials. The appearance of solidity is an illusion.
2. Time is fluid. In the Quantum world it goes forward, AND backward.
At the base level of our physical reality (the Planck scale), everything
and everyone is connected.
3. We are One!
4. Our minds directly affect physical reality.
5. The cause of our repetitively boring lives is the biochemical
addiction to emotions.
So, if this is all true, where does it leave us as individuals?
Incredibly empowered. Especially with the focused energy of the group.
If you're tired of allowing The Traditionals to set the political
and cultural agenda, do something. If you're tired of one particular
worldview being foisted upon all of us as “the Truth and the Right
Way to Live,” do something. If you're unwilling to continue
to be force-fed the perspective that has been promulgated increasingly
over the last 35 years by a minority of Americans, do something.
Gather. Write. Call.
How did we get our film in theaters for all the 'Invisible Ones'
to see? The Invisible Ones appeared. They stood in lines around the
block. They called their local theatres demanding to see the film. They
called friends in other cities. And then, the theaters called us...
Voice your opinion, your beliefs. And know that you are not alone. There
are millions more like us, finally supporting a unified, more inclusive,
holistic, and personally responsible view of life and of our place in
it. You can't not vote. Silence is a vote. You can't not choose.
So choose now. And we'll see you at the movies!
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R.
Thomas Grill
Self-Realization
Fellowship
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Movie