An Interview with Fred Alan Wolf about

What the Bleep Do We Know!?

Early this year, a unique independent film called What the Bleep Do We Know!? began popping up in limited theaters across the country, often staying over weeks due to sell-out crowds. Months later, the film has garnered numerous awards and recently acquired a national distributor (Samuel Goldwyn/Roadside Attractions) who will begin releasing this sleeper hit nationally due to its growing popularity. (Click here to find a showing in your area.)

The film features Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, West Wing) who finds herself in a fantastic Alice-in-Wonderland experience when her uninspired life literally begins to unravel, revealing the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality. Her story illustrates, in narrative form, the ideas woven together by a Greek chorus of top scientists, physicians, mystics, and theologians who are interviewed throughout the course of the film. Visual effects and animation are also employed to illustrate tricky quantum concepts.

Fred Alan Wolf is one of the scientists included in the documentary portion of the film. In this interview he gives his take on the phenomena that is What the Bleep do We Know!?

Describe how you came to be apart of What the Bleep Do We Know!?

Fred Alan Wolf: The producers and director were, believe or not, fans of mine who had heard me lecture several times in the Pacific Northwest. I was given a special invitation to speak to the mystery school run by Ramtha and the producers were all students of Ramtha and heard me. My books are used by all of Ramtha's students. Hence, they contacted me and asked me to be in the movie.

You were one of many interviewed for the film. Were you surprised when you saw the finished version?

FAW: I was delighted with the movie and how well they had crafted it. After all they interviewed 14 scientists/mystics, produced very effective animation to illustrate their points, and put together a story line. That's a lot of balls to keep in the air, and it worked very well. All I can say is that I completely endorse the effect and the efforts made by the filmmakers.

What's your favorite part of the film?

FAW: Of course I like me! Only half-kidding. I hadn't realized how funny I came off in the film. I love the part where the shaman pokes Amanda (Marlee Matlin) in the head with his finger to awaken her to see what's going on in her life. Having been with shamans in Peru, all I can say is the film carefully showed what it's like to go through an awakening process. I still get chills when I see that part. I also liked when Amanda gets on the basketball court with young Reggie (Robert Bailey, Jr., who is quite good and fun to watch). Reggie takes Amanda into the quantum physics world using the parallel universes idea and shows her how her consciousness makes a choice. I thought this bit of animation was superb.

What do you make of the response to the film, the great number of people flocking to see the movie in limited theaters?

FAW: I suspect that there has been a growing spiritual hunger "out there" that current religions don't really satisfy. This is a spiritual movie and as such, it hits a tender spot in the movie-goer's psyche. People who see it inevitably come back for a second, third, and, sometimes, n-th viewing, where "n" approaches infinity. It's really a first of its kind, wrapping together spirituality, modern science, consciousness, and best of all, the idea that we can change the world through acts of consciousness.

Why is the film so controversial, drawing strong, but mixed reviews? It seems like it struck a chord with critics as well.

FAW: Some viewers, including critics, simply do not believe in the message of the movie, and as a result, simply do not understand the scientific facts that back up the story and what the story eludes to. Amazingly, if you suspend your disbelief while watching the film, you will begin to grasp what quantum physics is all about. But if you can't suspend disbelief, the message and the science of the movie flies over your head. After all, quantum physics is a strange business and the fact that human observation plays a role in what quantum physics has discovered about the workings of the atomic, molecular, and subatomic world is itself controversial, even though the most conservative scientist cannot escape the fact that it is true. Today, the role played by consciousness in the physical world is so compelling, but there are still numerous interpretations of quantum physics that try to get around this fact. In the end these interpretations introduce more mystery than what is already there.

I understand that you spoke at several openings. How has that been? Is it much different from promotional efforts for your books?

FAW: I am continuing to speak to groups after the film and I really enjoy the opportunity. The audience is well into the mystery by this time and eager to ask me, "What the bleep is going on?" When I appear with the filmmakers after the movie, I am surprised at how I seem to get more questions than they do! Not always, mind you, but often enough that the filmmakers are now asking me to appear by myself after openings in new cities to handle the post-film experience. It is never a dull moment, as so many people want to know more and are amazingly interested.

The after-film Q&A experience is very different from book promotion because people who have read me and get off on my books approach me, typically, from an intellectual or thinker's point of view. Movie-goers, on the other hand, have just been through a feeling experience which also makes them think, but their feelings are so profound after the film that they are eager to talk about them.

Also, I come off in the film as a zany and interesting character. I even appear as the hero, Dr. Quantum, on the cover of a comic book held by Reggie! So people are not intimidated by me as they would by a physicist in general. People typically assume that physicists are supposed to be so smart that everyone else feels dumb in comparison. Of course, the message of the movie is just the opposite; people are a lot smarter than they may even know and that fact together with my film appearance makes asking me questions not a fearful occasion at all but a fun one.

How does the film tie into your work in physics or your latest book, The Yoga of Time Travel? In other words, why would fans of the film find the your new book equally appealing?

FAW: You know, I was surprised that there are any tie-ins to The Yoga of Time Travel at all (and there are many), because I wrote the book at least a year or two after I was filmed. In The Yoga of Time Travel I explain how the ego can be changed and by doing so it allows one's mind access to minds that have been in the past and those that will be in the future, including one's own mind. The film asks the viewer to imagine what it would be like to see oneself through the eyes of another, the eyes of the "fundamental observer." There is a scene in the film where Amanda sees herself as other people and through this experience gains empathy and compassion for herself and others. Hence the book would be a compelling read for anyone who wants to know more after seeing the movie. The Yoga of Time Travel follows up on the quantum physics ideas portrayed in the film and offers some spiritual and scientific insights as well.

Quest Books



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