"What the Bleep" came out on video a few weeks ago, and I found it even more enlightening on the second viewing. This film exposes fundamental truths about our condition and our role in creating reality, truths that will inevitably become as commonplace and mainstream as the roundness of the earth and the law of gravity. Hopefully this will occur in our lifetime. The sooner the better.

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If you don't believe in your influence in the creation of reality, then try this experiment. Part one of the experiment is this: the next time you are in a store and you encounter a busy, harried, stressed out store clerk, avoid eye contact with the clerk while demonstrating angrily that the clerk has a bad attitude and should treat customers with more respect. Be rude, self-righteous and self-important. What is the reaction of the clerk? Does the clerk's attitude change? Does the clerk tell you that you are right and that he or she ought to change? Watch how what you have created spreads as the clerk deals with the next customers. Hopefully you won't have to actually do this to know what will happen.

Now try part two of the experiment. The next time you encounter a store clerk just as busy, harried and stressed make eye contact and smile as you ask questions and make requests in a polite, friendly and open manner. Do not address the clerk's poor attitude directly. Simply shine forth your own attitude of respect and forbearance. Notice how the clerk reacts. Notice how he or she treats the next customer. What have you created?

I've been reflecting on this famous quote by Marianne Williamson for the past several weeks:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves -- Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people do not feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

Regardless of who or what you believe God is or isn't, the metaphor of lightness and darkness is relevant and informative in understanding our will to create peace in the world. The nature of light is to traverse, to illuminate, to penetrate and to keep darkness at bay. Darkness, on the other hand, does not propagate or "shine". The nature of darkness is to engulf, to obscure and to conceal. Darkness can only exist when there are barriers to block the light. It must hide from the light because when lightness and darkness meet, lightness penetrates and prevails. By setting up barriers, shadows are cast and darkness gains a foothold in spite of the light. No barrier is permanent as it is illuminated and enlightened by the light from which it shields darkness. Eventually the barriers are broken down by the light they were blocking. Darkness needs new barriers to cast shadows and block the light. And so it goes, on and on.

Keep following the metaphor. Lightness represents peace, understanding, tranquility, forbearance, equanimity, abundance, trust, fulfillment, hope and love. Darkness is the opposite: conflict, violence, agitation, scarcity, futility, hostility and fear. The later are the shadow sides of the former. A barrier in the light of understanding casts the shadow of conflict. A barrier in the light of forbearance casts the shadow of violence. A barrier in the light of hope casts the shadow of futility. A barrier in the light of love casts the shadow of fear. But by standing in the path of light, these barriers are illuminated and are inescapably exposed for examination and removal. As the barrier blocking the light of understanding is illuminated we can gain understanding, eliminating the barrier and resolving the shadow of conflict. As the barrier blocking the light of love is illuminated we can gain understanding, eliminating the barrier and vanquishing fear.

The responsibility for the barriers is shared among all of us. When we rage against the darkness we see around us (for example, when we rage against those who push for war), we are ourselves creating barriers, casting shadows and allowing the darkness, just as when we treat the store clerk with distain, impatience and rudeness. Our rage toward the war makers is not unlike their hostility toward those with whom they wage war. However "justified" our anger toward the war makers seems it simply is not going to produce the results we ostensibly desire.

So if lashing out is not the way, what is? I think we must shine our light forth onto the barriers that we see. Only then can they be examined and dismantled, driving away the shadows behind them. This can't be done by thrashing about and shouting. It can only be done with the light of forbearance, equanimity, trust, hope and love, just as the attitude of a stressed out store clerk can be changed and propagated to the following customers with a smile and some kind words. It is a cliché, but there is truth to the notion that world peace must begin within ourselves, our homes, our families and our communities. Peace will be achieved from the inside out, from an ever growing acceptance and inclusion, from removal of the barriers that block light.

If you have not seen "What the Bleep", go out and rent it today. This is a must see for anyone really interested in finding and resolving the root causes of the world's ills. The simple message is that it is within our power and the human race is, as always, on the cusp of deeper understanding.