Reflections on Bernt Capra's Movie "MindWalk"

by: Irina Trubetskova

“Mindwalk” by Bernt Capra is definitely a remarkable film. I am amazed, first of all, at how the author and his team managed to put together a number of immeasurable concepts, and produced a complete, harmonic, and powerful artistic work of great educational importance.

I was moved by many facts and ideas embodied in this film, but the strongest general impression is of the wholeness and completeness of the film message. The main idea is that our world is an inseparable whole, and we are an integral part of the whole. If there is a disturbance somewhere, the whole system will be affected. The film is about interdependence, interconnectedness, and the vital need for global ecological thinking and the importance of our responsibility (as the “pinnacle of evolution”) for future generations and the Biosphere.

This movie is a sound calling for the need of educational reform. The fact is that contemporary education at all levels provides students with only fragmental knowledge (pieces of information) and lacks the systematic approach. However, when people do not see the whole picture of the world, they are doomed to tunnel thinking and narrow-mindedness. Thus, organized effort on national and international levels is needed for implementation of a new world view on Earth, humanity, and our existence in the Universe. Ecological literacy must be a mandatory part of education beginning from elementary school through college and should involve mass media as a part of a national program.

The only way for the further progressive and safe development of human civilization is through creative cooperation of the most conscious representatives of the human race from the following key areas: science and philosophy (information and knowledge), arts (feelings, understanding, and their expression), and politics (the ways of realization). Each of these important components is not sufficient alone, but their joint interaction could ensure a sustainable environment and further successful evolution of humanity, which is Vladimir Vernadsky’s interpretation of the Noosphere. So, let it be!