Arntz: It's the idea that you create your own reality and that there is an interface between mind and matter, as quantum physics suggests. We don't quite understand it all yet, but it seems to be there. That sort of idea is very huge. We're getting away from Newton and Descartes, where the world was set up with a physical universe "out there" and our minds have no interface with it.

Basically that the universe happens to you, and you have no control over it.

Arntz: Right. We're saying exactly the opposite. We happen to the universe. We create the universe; we spin it out from what's inside of us. And that's a completely 180-degree turn. It has a lot of ramifications as to how people live their lives and how they react to so-called external events.

If we accept this idea that we create our reality by our thoughts, our intentions, what we choose to focus on, all that stuff you talk about in the film, what does this say about society as a whole? We must be creating a collective reality, right? Did we create George W. Bush as president?

"What the Bleep Do We Know?!"

Directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente

Starring Marlee Matlin

Mark Vicente: Absolutely.

Why?

Vicente: American society is all about blame. We love to be victims and we don't want to take responsibility. I know this is an unpopular idea and, listen, I don't like George Bush and I don't like Republicans, and by saying this I am not saying we should just be quiet and not do anything about it. But I am saying that we should take responsibility for the idea that when you want to be a victim, when you want to have something to complain about because you become addicted to it, you'll need to find a tyrant to fulfill that need to feel victimized and feel like you have no power. That man, in my opinion, currently fills that need.

Talk about filling needs -- people are really responding to your film.

Arntz: Yeah, the response has been pretty overwhelming. Now we're even getting invited to talk at churches. A lot of bizarre things are happening. The film opened in Denver at one of these big United Artists Regal Cinemas where they even have an IMAX. And last week "What the Bleep" did more box office than the other eight films playing in that theater combined.

What do you think explains its appeal?

Vicente: People are so tired of living this old reality they've been fed. They're tired of trying all these things that haven't worked. And when they think about their problems, they feel helpless and don't think they have the power to change. What this film does is say: There is a science and there are ideas that are so wonderful that suggest that we have enormous power locked within us. What we're suggesting is that you have divinity inside you, that it's leaking out all the time and you have the power to change. People love that idea. It's much more interesting than thinking you're just a mindless speck on the face of the planet that has no say, and that there's a god outside of you keeping score and you have to supplicate yourself in front of that god before you get what you want. That's a stupid idea. This other idea -- that maybe you are that god -- is far more enticing.

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