The film, \u201cA Quest for Meaning\u201d follows two childhood friends as they travel the globe in search for the meaning of life. Questions about the collective beliefs that have shaped Western civilization are investigated, as are the changes in consciousness we now see as more and more people are becoming inspired to live more in harmony with themselves, each other, and the natural world.<\/p>\n
Where do we, as humans, belong, if we\u2019re not part of the natural world? And if we\u2019re part of the natural world, how can we survive its destruction?<\/p>\n
Marc, a\u00a0bottled water<\/a>\u00a0salesman in New York City, was living the American dream. His job \u2014 convincing Americans that bottled water was a worthy luxury \u2014 paid well; he had everything he thought he wanted. After a 10-year separation, Nathana\u00ebl (the film\u2019s director and cameraman) visits Marc in New York City. Thinking Marc seemed a bit out of place in this \u201chigh-life,\u201d Nathana\u00ebl left him with several environmental documentaries \u201cto shake him up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Marc admits he had no intention of watching any of them. But, as fate would have it, a broken foot left him with little else to do. Right after that, the financial meltdown of 2008 hit and, along with the rest of us, he realized that the greed of a few had placed the future of the entire planet in jeopardy. \u201cI was now convinced that the system was incapable of providing a solution to the problems it had created,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd as a water salesman in Manhattan, I was also part of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n To ward off cynicism and\u00a0depression<\/a>, Marc left everything behind and began to search for the answers to his questions. On the way, he convinced Nathana\u00ebl to join him and record their travels, and together they set off on a journey that shook the foundations of their beliefs and the principles by which they lived.<\/p>\n In the film, their journey takes them to India, where locals have managed to revitalize the economy following the closing of mines by investing in agricultural education and tools. As followers of Gandhi, they promote the concept of \u201cswaraj,\u201d which is the idea that you are responsible for yourself and the world around you. You must be a good steward. To learn more about Gandhi and his views on economy, they attend a seminar on \u201cGandhi and Globalization\u201d held by Dr. Vandana Shiva.<\/p>\n Originally trained as a physicist, Shiva became involved in a movement to protect the forests of the Himalayas. She began writing about ecological problems, and the rest, as they say, is history. Shiva is now one of the most well-recognized faces of the\u00a0organic farming<\/a>movement.<\/p>\n \u201cThings are changing,\u201d she says, \u201cbut they\u2019re changing in the wrong direction because the most prominent change is driven by giant corporations [that] are turning everything into a commodity. There\u2019s no people, no nature, no culture, no values. The change we need is a change that helps us recognize that if we continue on this present path \u2026 humanity will annihilate the conditions for its living on this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n As noted by Shiva, large corporations are very good at eliminating small farmers, but they have no viable plan for how to feed the world once all small farmers are gone. \u201cRecognition that nature is the condition of our being alive is the shift we need to make. We have to stop thinking about nature as wilderness, and think of it as the condition for life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For many, the way they reconnect with nature is through food \u2014 planting, tending, harvesting and eating what they\u2019ve grown. Or, at the very least, it\u2019s knowing where the food comes from and how it was grown, \u201cmaking sure nature\u2019s contribution has not been abused by corporate greed.\u201d In other words, it\u2019s about making sure the food you buy has not been genetically engineered (GE) or doused with chemicals that destroy the environment and harm wildlife and the farmers themselves.<\/p>\n One of the most harmful effects of\u00a0GE seeds<\/a>\u00a0is often overlooked. By making seed sharing illegal, large GE seed corporations have made farmers completely dependent on their GE seeds \u2014 and the chemicals designed to accompany them.<\/p>\n The financial strain has led to an epidemic of farmer suicides in India, as crop failures can quickly lead to financial ruin, burying the farmers in debt they cannot pay off. Historically, you could always trade seeds with your neighbors, but patented seeds must be bought anew each year, and prices just keep going up.<\/p>\n As noted in the film, \u201cYou cannot have unlimited economic growth on a limited planet. You cannot have infinite growth in a finite world.\u201d The current system cannot be fixed; it must be replaced with a new system that takes only that which is required, and returns to the earth something that supports the continued cycle of growth.<\/p>\n Shiva notes that nowadays we hear a lot about \u201cgreen consumerism,\u201d but what needs to be questioned is the very idea of consumerism itself. \u201cThe reduction of our identities to that of consumers is part of the problem,\u201d she says. \u201cRecovery of our identities \u2014 as creators, users and makers of things \u2014 is part of the solution.\u201d Part of this also involves regaining respect for physical work, which you gain when working in the fields or in your garden, growing your food.<\/p>\n The common view that corporations are our sole means of support is equally fallacious. We don\u2019t need corporations to live, eat and put a roof over our head. Nature \u2014 fields, forests, plants, rivers, rain \u2014 and human communities working together, are what provide lasting security and generate livelihood. \u201cMoney is just a means of exchange, it\u2019s not real security. So, people don\u2019t need to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n While Marc set out to make a film about alternative lifestyles, just a few days at Shiva\u2019s ashram completely changed how he viewed the world. \u201cIt completely reformatted my hard drive,\u201d he says. \u201cBlinded by progress and technology, [the Western world] has completely lost touch with the essential things in life.\u201d These essentials include not only respect for the natural world, but also the spiritual world.<\/p>\n An Indian yoga teacher stresses the idea that modern science and spiritual science are not mutually exclusive, but need to be balanced because, while you can buy the things you need, you cannot buy happiness. That you must find and generate from within, and there are spiritual principles, spiritual sciences, that can help you find what you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n From India, the journey continues to France, where they interview a farmer who again stresses the importance of reconnecting with nature. They also talk to a sociologist who reviews the history of human connection to nature. While man\u2019s fate used to be closely intertwined with nature and hinged on the ability to live in harmony with natural laws, over time we learned to dominate nature, and our dominance eventually led to our becoming disconnected from it.<\/p>\n In Mexico, the pair investigate Central American culture and spirituality, and talk to a medicine man who points out that societal change always begins with individual change. We have become indoctrinated by corporate advertising and have largely forgotten how to think properly. For example, if you do not want to be ill, you must stop thinking about how to treat disease and start thinking about what it takes to be healthy. Thoughts are a creative force, so be mindful of where you place your focus.<\/p>\n The investigation into consciousness and self-awareness continues in Guatemala, where they speak to Chaty Secaira, a meditation instructor and mystic, about the nature of reality. \u201cWe see only one side of creation,\u201d she says. \u201cWe see only what is visible. But there\u2019s a whole other side that is invisible, that can only be seen with the eyes of the soul. You have to open your heart and open your mind in order to allow this level of perception.\u201d<\/p>\n Meditation is one way of connecting with your authentic self and the invisible part of creation, and the filmmakers set out on a rigorous spiritual program of\u00a0meditation<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0fasting<\/a>\u00a0in the Guatemalan jungle. \u201cInside every person, there is some of [the] divine element,\u201d Secaira says. \u201cOur mission is to unify ourselves with this divine element.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in San Francisco, the pair follow the path of reason, searching for answers in modern science. Astrophysicist Trinh Xuan Thuan agrees to answer a few of their questions. \u201cTwentieth-century science has only just discovered, or rediscovered, what Buddhism has been telling us for 2,500 years, namely the concept of interdependence,\u201d Thuan says. \u201cEverything is connected.\u201d<\/p>\n Ever since the 1950s, scientists have increasingly been confronted with evidence that we are \u201cmade of stardust; we are children of the stars.\u201d The atoms that make up your body \u201care made from the nuclear reactions of the stars.\u201d According to Thuan, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for the stars, we wouldn\u2019t even exist.\u201d What this means is that we\u2019re not only interdependent with nature here on planet Earth, we\u2019re also interdependent with the universe as a whole.<\/p>\n Quantum mechanics also tells us that there\u2019s no way of breaking this intrinsic unity. Once two particles have interacted, you cannot break their connection. Separate them by millions of light years, and they still respond in tandem; what happens to one happens to the other \u2014 instantaneously, and without any information transfer between them.<\/p>\n In other words, there is only one thing in this universe, and we are all \u201cit.\u201d \u201cThe conclusion I draw from this is that science is not the only way to observe reality,\u201d Thuan says. \u201cThere are other windows into reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Cassandra Vieten, director of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, adds, \u201cMany of the problems we face \u2026 are grounded in limitations in our human consciousness.\u201d While egotism is rampant, we\u2019ve not taken it to the next logical step, which is to realize that self-preservation demands that we include everyone, not just a few that we deem worthy.<\/p>\n \u201cInequity of resources, violence, war, climate change \u2014 they spring from the way we view the world,\u201d Vieten says. She also points out that we typically don\u2019t realize we\u2019re looking at the world through our own filter, our own world view; we simply believe we\u2019re seeing the truth. One of the things contemplative practices such as meditation allows us to do is recognize that \u201cthoughts are just thoughts, beliefs are just beliefs, and they\u2019re not truly who we are. They\u2019re just \u2026 working hypotheses.\u201d<\/p>\n She gives the following example: During meditation, you may come to realize that you view the world as a dangerous place, and that this view has colored your actions since childhood. This insight then offers you the opportunity to choose to see differently; to shift your world view. What if the world isn\u2019t a dangerous place? Then what would I see, think and do?<\/p>\n This kind of self-awareness automatically leads to shifts in thought patterns and behavior. Values change, and along with it, your relationship to yourself and others change too. \u201cListening to Cassandra \u2026 I realized the beliefs I had built my life on had totally collapsed during this trip,\u201d Marc says.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had been replaced by new hypotheses, like the gut feeling that the world is not just made of matter, [and] that chasing after money and social status leads us away from what is really important.\u201d However, the world around him didn\u2019t conform to these new ways of looking at the world. Everywhere he looked, he saw messages \u201cinciting people to consume and pollute.\u201d<\/p>\n The next stop on their journey is a visit to Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., who discusses how collective beliefs emerge and take shape. In a nutshell, there are three perennial questions that drive collective world views:<\/p>\n When the population accepts the answers to these questions provided by some authority, that authority by default becomes the \u201ctruth provider\u201d to all other worldly questions as well. The church was the truth provider for a long time, and the spiritual reality was paramount. Once science began providing the answers, the spiritual world was relegated to the proverbial broom closet.<\/p>\n Science said, you don\u2019t need spirituality because the world is just a big machine. There\u2019s no evidence \u201cspirit\u201d is anywhere to be found. We got here through random mutations, and there\u2019s no purpose for our being here since the whole of creation was a big accident. To top it off, we were given the evolutionary theory of \u201csurvival of the fittest.\u201d It\u2019s a tough, mean world out there and you have to fight to survive. So, life became all about the struggle to get to the top and stay there. The world of today is the end result of these beliefs.<\/p>\n Fortunately, these beliefs are now changing. We\u2019re starting to see that we got here through adaptive mutations \u2014 the ability of an organism to adapt to its environment. Since we\u2019re an interdependent part of nature, it becomes obvious that, as creative thinkers, we are here to create and maintain harmony, and that the only way we can survive is through cooperation. Competition and separatism is what\u2019s killing us, both individually and as a collective.<\/p>\n We still live in an oligarchy where a few people make a lot of important decisions, most if not all of which are driven by capitalism. These rulers naturally promote their own continuation, but their days are numbered. Slowly but surely, we\u2019re starting to transition into a whole new world view built on cooperation and interdependence. It\u2019s up to you to be this change. As Marc says, \u201cTo change the world, you have to change your vision of it. And in order for this change to take place, we are all called to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n About The Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Mercola is an osteopathic physician, also known as a DO. DOs are licensed physicians who, similar to MDs, can prescribe medication and perform surgery in all 50 states. DOs and MDs have similar training requiring four years of study in the basic and clinical sciences, and the successful completion of licensing exams. But, DOs bring something extra to the practice of medicine. Osteopathic physicians practice a “whole person” approach, treating the entire person rather than just symptoms. Focusing on preventive health care, DOs help patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don’t just fight illness, but help prevent it, too. Dr. Mercola is also board-certified in family medicine and served as the chairman of the family medicine department at St. Alexius Medical Center for five years, and is trained in both traditional and natural medicine.<\/p>\nWithout Nature, There Is No Life<\/h3>\n
Creating a Cyclical Economy<\/h3>\n
\u2018Reformatting the Hard Drive\u2019<\/h3>\n
Connecting Mind-Body-Spirit \u2014 Becoming a Human Being Rather Than Being a Human Doer<\/h3>\n
Science Confirms Our Interdependence<\/h3>\n
The Root of the Problem<\/h3>\n
How Collective Beliefs Take Shape<\/h3>\n
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