The Living Matrix
Last night I got to watch a preview of a new film about healing, called The Living Matrix. It is somewhat reminiscent of “What the Bleep Do We Know?” in its subject, although it is strictly a documentary.
Here are some of the more thought provoking items it presented or referred to.
- The power of intention and belief in healing has been illustrated repeatedly in medical trials of all kinds – via the placebo effect. And yet most people seem to just ignore or discount this, and continue to rely purely on chemical remedies, many of which are only partly effective anyway, or may have unwanted side-effects. There are many stories of dramatic and seemingly miraculous recoveries by people who changed their mental and emotional attitude when drugs have failed.
- Reputable research shows that people start responding emotionally to images before they actually see them. This is prime skeptic fodder, but there is no obvious traditional explanation for these results.
- Living things, including human beings, emit small amounts of light – “biophotons”. Yes, it seems we are truly radiant beings. 🙂
- The heart has its own neuronal network, and can process information on its own before sending it on to the brain. Thus, the concept of thinking with the heart may be as much physical reality as it is a metaphorical concept.
As usual with a presentation of “alternative” viewpoints, I found myself wanting more background information than the film makers were able to include (or than would be of interest to the general audience of the film I suspect). I guess that’s my scientific background at play – I want more details about how the research was done, whether its been replicated, peer reviewed etc. And yet even if some of this research did turn out to be scientifically flawed, there is still some profound re-thinking that needs to be done by many! Keeping an open mind can bring many benefits in life.
I was doing some google-diving tonight and found your comments about The Living Matrix. I published a review of the film here. Today, I drilled down to claims about “instantaneous” shifts in flocks of birds and commented about that here.
It’s extremely difficult to evaluate a film like this from viewing a single theatrical showing. Far too many ideas are thrown up far too quickly. If you noted all of the above from a single viewing, I’m quite impressed. I do not think that tightly-cut documentaries are a good way to communicate science.