November 24, 2004

• Over on MeFi there's a thread about this movie that's an underground hit, called 'What the bleep do we know?'

  The movie is basically a bunch of folks telling you what you've already heard: That your state of mind makes your reality. But it says this in the language of quantum physics, which a lot of newage folks are doing in order to lend themselves legitimacy. Oh, and the movie is also produced by a bunch of the Ramtha cult folks. Ramtha is an entity being channeled by a woman here in Washington state, named J.Z. Knight. So goes the story, anyway.

  What interests me about the thread on MeFi is that the commenters easily default to assuming it's a piece of propaganda for the cult, and/or that it's trying to trick the unsuspecting. Now, I haven't seen the movie, but I'm familiar with the newage arguments about quantum mechanics, so I want to say this:

  These newagers are using the scientific language they hear as a metaphor for another phenomenon. It's like if I tell you that my blood runs cold, I'm not actually saying that my blood is literally cold, I'm conveying an idea through language and imagery that's available to me. This is important because if these newagers, including the Bleep producers, were to have chosen a better metaphor than quantum mechanics, they might have a better chance of making some kind of sense.

  However: 1) There isn't a better metaphor out there at the moment, which is why so many newagers flock to this quantum mechanics explanation for their beliefs. QM points some strange and mysterious directions, and even scientists talk about it in those terms. And 2) They aren't aware that they are using quantum mechanics as a metaphor for what they believe. In order to adopt a new metaphor, they'd have to throw away their own ignorance of the real science. And since their argument is that you should single-mindedly pursue only what you want in order to effect positive change in yourself and the world, it seems unlikely that these folks are going to become physicists any time soon.

  It's a certain kind of self-deception, but JZ Knight herself says in the film that you can't know, so make up a good story. That seems reasonable if you accept the premise that you 'can't know.'

  I used to keep up with the newage stuff. It's a poor substitute for a workable culture-based non-religious spirituality, but it's a valiant attempt at growing one. I gave up when I realized there was very little that any newage guru was going to be able to teach me. For instance, I'd love to get drunk with JZ Knight, but whatever I'd end up learning from her wouldn't come from the fact that she channels a 35,000 year old being from Atlantis, or that she knows some terminology from the field of physics. What I'd learn would come from simply being two people getting drunk and hanging out. I wonder if she's up to that challenge.

  • 5:31 am
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