Filmmaker Frank Huguenard has received a degree in computer science and has worked in Silicon Valley for 30 years. For his latest documentary "Beyond reason" he conducted a series of interviews with scientists as well as with spiritual teachers to investigate the realm where science and spirituality meet. The people interviewed for this documentary include Kenny Felder (math teacher), Dr. Gary Felder (physicist), Swami Sharanu (Art of Living Foundation), Swami Yogatmananda (Providence Vedanta Society) and Swami Tyagananda (Boston Vedanta Society).
The first segment of this film (from 0:05:05 to 0:32:25) is more science-based and is really worth watching. The following segment (from 0:32:25 to 0:51:40) is more spirituality-based while the last segment (starting 0:51:40) tries to tie in both aspects into a holistic picture.
Frank's website : http://www.beyondmefilm.com
Time stamps for this documentary :
0:00:50 Introduction by filmmaker Frank Huguenard
0:05:05 Science and the scientific method, science is about making predictions
0:09:55 Limitations of science : Questions science can not answer
0:14:35 A fundamental shift of our worldview : Newton's breakthrough regarding rational laws
0:15:55 Scientific revolutions : Overturning an old paradigm, Newton, Maxwell, Einstein
0:19:30 Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, non-locality
0:23:00 Entanglement, our intuition of the world versus hard science
0:26:00 Einstein & Bohr, problems in understanding quantum physics
0:29:00 What is real ? Science versus philosophy, avoiding of implications
0:32:25 Limitations of science - happiness and fulfillment as better measures ?
0:33:55 The Vadantic approach from India - Attaining knowledge through personal experience
0:36:40 Defining Vedas and Vedanta, theory and practice, the 4 aspects of Yoga
0:39:50 Seeking truth through science and Vedanta, reality versus dreams, mind and ego
0:44:45 How real is reality ? Inner world & outer world, practicing mindfulness & breath
0:48:30 Prana, life energy, focusing the mind, "The Force"
0:51:40 Seeking spiritual truths, consciousness and matter, consciousness in quantum physics
0:56:10 Consciousness as a product of the brain ? Matter and thought
0:59:40 Collapse of the wave function in quantum physics, experiments and observation
1:02:05 Dogma in science, rigid beliefs as an obstacle, building on prior knowledge
1:07:40 Split between science and religion, science as a process in seeking the best theory
1:10:55 Our true identify, who am I ?, inner guidance on the spiritual path
1:15:00 The Vedanta path, applying reason, limits to reason, going beyond reason
1:19:20 Layers of mind : instinct, reasoning and super-conscious
1:22:20 What is real ? Awakening to a deeper reality, going beyond illusion
1:25:10 Scientific paradigms limit what experiments scientists are willing to do
1:26:20 Examining our own beliefs, the important answers are beyond reason
Frank's documentaries used to be freely available but he recently changed that and now you can only watch them for a fee of 2 Dollars. I think they are worth it, so if you want you can view them on Frank's website https://www.beyondmefilm.com by clicking on "Watch now" in the upper right corner.
Additional information :
Filmmaker Frank Huguenard has created two other documentaries in this series. Part 1 (Beyond Me) can be found in the Resource section.
The second part (Beyond Belief) mainly covers the topics of religion and Jesus but in a slightly odd way. Probably neither faithful Christians nor people not interested in religion will take much away from this part. The first group because they will not be able to accept the message of the film, the second group because the message of the film simply won't matter to them.
