How To Know God

By Deepak Chopra

Available on DVD

Deepak Chopra has plunged into the world of metaphysical filmmaking with his daughter Mallika, his son Gotham, and co-producer Ron Frank to create a DVD based on one of his best-sellers, one that goes straight to humankind’s most fundamental issue: How to Know God.

If you want to know God, you have to know how humankind has reached to the heavens to connect a vision of God with an inner spark of divinity. The DVD opens with scripture read from an Apollo spacecraft and sweeps through a panorama of the reflections of God throughout history—Isis, Krishna, the Great Pyramid, the human gods of Greece and Rome, the mighty waters of the Ganges. As Madonna sings Om Shanti, Deepak narrates the timeless dance between Humankind and God from a place where all of these manifestations come to life, where fantasy is real and you can see a pyramid in one direction and ancient Rome in another, where lava flows from volcanoes and water pours in the middle of a desert, a place where everything seems to be made of light.

That place is Las Vegas. Chopra tells us God’s story as he alternates between sitting by a fire pit like a quantum shaman and roaming through the Vegas strip like a man who’s suddenly found himself on a new planet. There’s an interesting aside about his early days as a medical resident in Las Vegas, and his first encounter with the mystery of life and what happens when it leaves the body. 

Major religions may disagree on the nature of God, but their holy texts seem to be in agreement on one point. God, they tell us, is light. 

How To Know God gives a sense of timelessness. The DVD’s running time is relatively short, but you’re not really sure how much time has elapsed as you’re watching it, because there’s so much information.

How to Know God takes you on a stroll with Deepak through the images in his mind—or maybe in your own mind, or the mind of God. Since we’re all co-creators, as he points out, there’s not really a difference.

Chopra’s next film project is “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”, with Olivia Newton-John, is scheduled for release in May 2007.

Conversations With God

Available on DVD

The movie, Conversations with God is faithfully based on the life of Neale Donald Walsch. It focuses intensely upon the period of time when Neale was descending into homeless status, and is a riveting portrayal of a man whose ego is slowly and painfully being eroded so that something finer can flow through him. Ultimately his journey is a healing one, eventually leading to the publishing of the enormously popular Conversations with God books.

The movie is an excellent telling of this epic story of spiritual realization. And epic it is. As Cate Montana, our What the BLEEP newsletter editor, said: “It’s amazing what spirit has to put us through before we’re ready to listen.” All of the elements of a great storytelling are here…fine acting, photography, direction, all combine to maximize the impact of this very human story. And because it is so effectively told, it’s a story that I’ve gone back to in my mind for days afterwards.

For me it’s great to watch a film about a true hero. Not some “hero” who miraculously dodges 20,000 bullets to shoot everyone else, but someone who wrestles with the self-bullets, and comes out the other side to help millions (7 million + books sold!).

On a more personal note, there are really two people behind this film. The one in front of the camera (as acted by Henry Czerny) is Neale. The one behind the camera is producer/director Stephen Simon. Stephen has been on his own journey to get these films made for decades. Mark Vicente, one of the BLEEP filmmakers, even took a film class 15 years ago taught by Stephen about making mystical movies. Stephen has produced spiritual movies, written books and articles about it, created a new way of distributing films, via the Spiritual Cinema Circle, and finally made this film. For his unrelenting passion to make this all happen, we fellow filmmakers are all most grateful.

For more information about the Spiritual Cinema Circle, click here.