What the Bleep Do We Know? is the name of a popular and award-winning documentary that came out in 2004. (In 2010, it was released in a book form by Health Communications Inc.) It sought to explore the spirituality embedded in and emanating from quantum physics and mechanics. (So much for those who say that science and faith are incompatible!) Admittedly, most of it went right over head!

Still, it forced (and still forces) a necessary and worthwhile dialogue—testing and expanding my notion of spirituality.

Take, for example, the film’s reference to the research of Dr. Masuru Emoto of Japan. Emoto, a graduate of the Yokohama Municipal University and the Open International University as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Hidden Messages in Water — first published in Japan, with over 400,000 copies sold internationally.

What has put Dr. Emoto at the forefront of the study of water is his proof that thoughts and feelings affect physical reality… [Developing a technique using a very powerful microscope in a very cold room along with high-speed photography], Dr. Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. The implications of this research create a new awareness… of how our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as humans deeply impact the environment.

—from the website, www.whatthebleep.com
(see also Dr. Emoto’s website at http://www.masaru-emoto.net/)

Of course, there was (and there remains) a healthy dose of skepticism about it all. It’s a skepticism shared and expressed by various scientific voices out there—voices who discredit Emoto and his methodology as “pseudoscience.” Yes, there are good reasons to be cautious—very cautious—here.

But, then, I take pause. I remember all those times positive words have built me up and established peace in me… and all those times when negative words have torn me down, created anxiety, and left me disordered.

No, I don’t know what to do with Emoto and a lot of “Bleep,” but I do believe in the power of our words… and the power (both for good and bad) of the images and words we daily give ourselves to and we daily give others.

It’s one of the reasons that the spiritual disciplines –  “Means of Grace,” “Means of Intimacy with God” – are so important: they are means by which we surround ourselves and fill ourselves with the positive, loving nature of Christ, the “Word of God”—“filling our cups” to the end that we can be a blessing (and not a curse) to those around us!