The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - The Power of Miracles - full transcript
Morgan sets out to discover why we believe in miracles and how they shape our understanding of God. Many believe God does intervene in our world.
*
Morgan Freeman: When I
was 16, I got really sick.
Was run down, working hard
in school, not eating properly,
and I got pneumonia, and an
abscess developed on my lung.
Well one day the abscess
burst and I hemorrhaged.
I needed blood.
Pretty sure everybody
thought I might die,
obviously I didn't.
But some say that
god saved me.
Believers think god communicates
to us through miracles.
That miracles are
proof of the divine.
Now I'm going on a
journey to discover
the power of miracles.
You fell from up there
down to here?
What did the doctors say?
Alcides moreno:
You are a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: To discover
what's luck and what is fate.
Jenny liu: In the Chinese
thought everything has a
reason for why it occurred.
Morgan Freeman: To see how
belief in miracles
can change history.
Rabbi Maya: The miracles
symbolize the beginning
of the Jewish people.
Morgan Freeman: And how
faith can change lives.
Tom Renfro: You are looking
at a true miracle of god.
Morgan Freeman: To achieve
what appears to be impossible.
Losang: The real miracle is
to transform the human mind.
That's the miracle we need.
Morgan Freeman: Most who
believe in god believe
god is watching over us.
Every moment of every day,
guiding us, saving us.
To me it has to be a miracle
that he can look out
for all seven billion of us.
So when I heard about
alcides Marino
I had to come to New York
and hear his story.
Well here we are.
Eight years ago, alcides came
to work as a window washer
at this 47 story tower
in Manhattan.
Tell me about it,
what happened?
Alcides moreno: I woke up in
the morning, take my car in,
commute from New Jersey
and come to the building.
Morgan Freeman: Did you
take the elevator?
Alcides moreno: And go all
the way to the top.
Morgan Freeman: The top
is 47 stories high.
Alcides moreno:
47 stories, yes,
and climb to the platform.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
had just begun to lower the
platform when one of the two
cables holding it snapped.
Alcides moreno: I just
grabbed the scaffold and
just hold up until
another cable snap.
911 operator: 911
what's the emergency?
Emergency services:
9-15 responding,
transport is on the way.
Alcides moreno: The paramedics
they found me right
in the middle, the
scaffold like that.
Morgan Freeman: Between
the two buildings.
Alcides moreno: Yeah
between the two,
it was right in the middle,
they took me out from the.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
fell 47 stories, 500 feet.
He broke ten bones,
his lungs collapsed,
he needed 43 pints of
blood and plasma.
He spent three weeks
in a coma.
Do you remember the day you
woke up from the coma?
Alcides moreno: I
woke up December 24th
right in the bed
and my wife was there.
Morgan Freeman: A fall from
just ten stories is something
hardly anyone survives.
Doctor's say alcides's 47 story
plunge was beyond belief.
Man: I've seen it all,
or at least I think I have,
until something like
this happens.
Morgan Freeman: You fell from
up there down to here?
Alcides moreno: Yes.
Morgan Freeman:
And here you are.
Alcides moreno: Yes sir and look
I'm walking and everything.
Morgan Freeman: Give
me a name for that.
Alcides moreno: I mean
the doctor told me,
"you are a miracle."
He said, "you are a miracle."
Morgan Freeman:
What do you think?
Alcides moreno: I don't know,
still I don't know.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
has a hard time accepting this
as a miracle because he was
not alone when he fell.
His younger brother was on
this platform with him,
he died the moment he
hit the ground.
What was your
brother's name?
Alcides moreno: Edgar.
Morgan Freeman: Edgar.
There we are.
Alcides moreno: There he is.
Morgan Freeman: Yeah.
Alcides moreno:
Still feels the same.
Morgan Freeman: Very nice.
Alcides moreno: My
brother's a big loss.
Morgan Freeman:
Were you close?
Alcides moreno:
Really, really close,
that was a great man.
Morgan Freeman:
I'm sorry alcides,
it must be very painful.
Alcides moreno: Yes, I just
bring him to work with me,
to help out, because.
Morgan Freeman: He's younger.
Alcides moreno: Oh yes he
was younger than me and
he was a good man.
Morgan Freeman: You
think god saved you?
Alcides moreno: I think
so, I believe that yes.
Morgan Freeman: So that
makes you the miracle,
but at the same time,
your brother is gone,
the one you, do you
worry about that?
Do you try to reconcile that,
try to figure out why him?
Alcides moreno: And not me.
Morgan Freeman: Not you.
Alcides moreno: Well yes
I asking why, why, why,
what happened, why?
Morgan Freeman: If it was me,
I would wonder every day.
Alcides moreno: God give
me a second chance,
I mean to keep going, to
keep going with my life.
I still looking forward
to find out what
exactly I have to do.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides is
no longer a window washer;
he and his wife have a
new life in Arizona,
where they're raising
their family.
He's still trying to
understand whether
god has a plan for him.
Why me, does god has
a purpose for me?
Alcides wonders, "why
did I survive when
my beloved brother
did not?"
Why, I mean is there some entity
that makes that choice?
Or is, do we live
with randomness,
just pure mindless
randomness?
For christians, miracles are
proof that life is not random.
They believe god intervenes
in the world for a reason.
Jews also believe in
the power of miracles.
In fact their faith was
built on a bedrock
of divine intervention.
I've come to Jerusalem to
see how Jews celebrate
the miracles of their
exodus from Egypt.
On a night that's different
from all other nights.
Passover.
Aviva: Hi.
Morgan Freeman: Hello there.
Aviva: How do you do?
Morgan Freeman: I'm very well
thank you, this is for you.
Aviva: Thank you very
much, I'm aviva.
Morgan Freeman: Hello aviva.
Aviva: Welcome to my
home, you do.
Morgan Freeman: Oh lord, oh.
Rabbi Maya.
Rabbi Maya: Nice to meet you,
how wonderful.
Morgan Freeman: Maya leibovich
is the first Israeli
born woman ever to
become a rabbi.
I've known a few rabbis,
never a lady.
Rabbi Maya: I hope you
enjoy the seder and
we'll do our utmost
to make it.
Morgan Freeman: If there's
food I'll be okay.
Rabbi Maya: Food, of course.
Aviva: Yes.
This is the charoset, and you
can taste it and you can
decide if it, it's got
to make you feel as
if you're getting drunk,
is it winy enough?
Morgan Freeman: To tell you the
truth I think it's enough.
Aviva: I think
it's enough too.
Yoel zanger: Okay guys
let's get started,
seder pesach is starting.
Come on, everybody sit down.
One of the most important
traditions in judaism
and this has been ordered to
us from our ancestors,
thou shalt not speak on your
cell phone during the seder.
So we have a cell phone
basket here.
Rabbi Maya: The month that
we came out of Egypt
is called in Hebrew Nissan.
And the word Nissan comes
from the word nissim,
which is miracles.
It's the month of
the miracles,
which will symbolize
the beginning of
the Jewish people, and
the people as an entity.
Yoel zanger: The way we go
with the seder is that
we read through the haggadah
so Morgan as our guest
we would welcome you
to start with
the bread of affliction.
Morgan Freeman: This is the
bread of affliction that
our fathers ate in
the land Egypt.
Let all that are hungry
enter and eat,
and all who are in want come
and celebrate the passover.
This year we are slaves,
next year we shall
be free men.
* [all singing].
The passover meal is a
celebration of the bond
Jews feel with god, and it's
an occasion for children
to understand the foundation
of their faith.
The seder recounts how the
Jews escaped slavery.
Thanks to god's striking
the Egyptians with
a series of ten plagues.
So rabbi...
Rabbi Maya: Yes.
Morgan Freeman: Why passover,
what does the word
itself refer to?
Rabbi Maya: When god brought
upon Egypt the tenth plague
of killing the first born,
he told the israelites
to put blood on the thresholds
of their homes and
the angel of death passed over
the homes of the hebrews,
and only took the first
born of the Egyptians.
Morgan Freeman: Many Jews
believe god's sparing
of their children was proof
they were his chosen people.
But this was not the
only divine sign.
Rabbi Maya: The miracle of
getting out of Egypt was
followed by the miracle
splitting of the sea.
God made two miracles,
one was splitting
the sea before the hebrews,
and then closing it
before the Egyptians.
So god wants us to remember
the Egyptians are just his
sons as we are, so by putting
drops of wine on our plates
we're actually putting drops
of sorrow that god had lost
so many of his children
while saving the others.
Morgan Freeman: This
acknowledgement that the
exodus miracles didn't
benefit everyone,
reminds me of
alcides moreno.
Divine will is not
easy to understand.
So what is your take
on the whole idea
of the series of miracles?
Rabbi Maya: I don't think
anybody's gonna split
the sea for us today.
I wish somebody would bring
peace to us today,
but the Bible is not
a book of history.
The Bible is a book
of ideas.
The question is what can
we learn from it?
What can we take into
our own life?
It's a way of saying
thank you, you know.
It's a way of teaching the kids
that every small thing is
not granted, that you
need to say thank you.
It's nice to have parents,
it's lovely to have a roof
above your head.
Morgan Freeman: That probably
the biggest miracle of
all of them that Jews
are still here.
Rabbi Maya: I want them
to come out with the
idea that miracles
can happen.
That's the story.
Morgan Freeman: The israelites
saw these miracles
as proof that god cared
about them.
Not all modern Jews believe in
the miracles of passover,
but these stories still
define them as a people,
and that deep well of tradition
and moral strength
has sustained them, been
called on by them for
thousands of years to get
them through hard times.
Around the world
belief in miracles
gives people strength.
In Mexico City the basilica
of our lady of Guadalupe
marks the spot where the
virgin Mary is said
to have appeared to a
peasant 500 years ago.
In Hong Kong, Buddhist pilgrims
flock to the statue of
guan yin, who they
hope will Grant them
medical cures, a spouse,
or good grades.
And in Rome miracles can turn
ordinary people into saints.
I've come to the Vatican
to understand how
the catholic church
verifies miracles.
I think the first time I was
at the Vatican was about 1983.
I'm meeting monsignor
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo,
the head of the pontifical
academy of sciences.
So let's talk just for a
moment about miracles,
do miracles really exist?
For instance Jesus
walking on water.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo:
In the life of Christ,
if you don't accept
the miracles it's
impossible to understand.
Each page of the gospel
is a miracle of Christ.
To consider a person is Saint
the church needs a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: In order
to have saints you
have to have miracles.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo: Yes.
Morgan Freeman: Unless
you are a martyr,
the only way to sainthood is
to be deemed responsible
for performing two
miracles after you die.
Pope John Paul the second
became a Saint in 2014,
after two women who
prayed to him after
his death claimed to be
miraculously cured.
One of Parkinson's disease,
another of a brain aneurism.
The Vatican spends years
investigating these claims,
sometimes decades.
The church has a devil's
advocate who goes and
whenever anybody claims
to have seen or
experienced a miracle,
the church sends the
advocate to investigate.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo: Yes,
they have to advocate
and have scientific people,
special doctors,
to prove that this is a special
intervention of god.
Morgan Freeman: So if I come
and say I have experienced
a miracle, would the
church then say,
okay well we'll
check that out.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo:
Exactly, we've got to check.
Morgan Freeman: Does the hand
of god really intervene?
Not just in matters
of life and death,
but also in the ups and downs
of our daily lives
or does everything that
happens happen by chance?
Morgan Freeman:
What, if anything,
governs the seemingly random
moments that change
our lives and send us into
different directions?
Like a poor boy
from Mississippi
ending up in Hollywood.
I always loved the movies,
always dreamed I would
be in them.
I was a believer, and
I actually made it,
now was that a miracle?
Most of us have a turning
point in our lives,
a pivotal moment where you
wondered, how did this happen?
Mine was 1989 I
made three films,
'lean on me',
'driving miss Daisy'
and 'glory'.
Did I make it happen?
Was someone up there calling
the shots, or was I lucky?
To try to understand this I've
arranged to meet a psychology
professor who thinks
we often mistake
random chance
for miracles.
Danny Oppenheimer.
Danny Oppenheimer:
Nice to see you.
Morgan Freeman:
How are you today?
Danny Oppenheimer:
I'm good, you?
Morgan Freeman: I'm good.
Danny Oppenheimer: Good.
Morgan Freeman: What
are you doing?
Danny Oppenheimer:
I'm flipping coins.
Morgan Freeman: Why?
Danny Oppenheimer: I'm
looking for streaks.
Morgan Freeman: Streaks?
Danny Oppenheimer: Yeah if you
flip a coin enough times
you're gonna get a streak.
Morgan Freeman: Really?
That's a lot of tails.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well if
I flip a coin twice and
I get heads both times
is that miraculous?
Morgan Freeman: No, if
you do it 50 times
and you get 60 that's
a miracle.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well
yeah if you get more
than you flip certainly.
But how rare does an event have
to be before we would
call it miraculous, one in a
million, one in a billion?
Morgan Freeman: I'll
choose billion.
Danny Oppenheimer: Alright
one in a billion,
well let's try something.
Alright.
Jack of diamonds, 6 of spades,
king of spades, 2 of hearts,
7 of diamonds and
ace of spades.
Is it miraculous to have
gotten this sequence?
Morgan Freeman: No, I
mean it's just a random
selection of cards
off the deck.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well right
but this particular sequence
starting with the Jack
and then getting
the six of spades and
then king of spades,
it only happens one in
about 14 billion times
you draw six cards.
So it's pretty
miraculous by your
one in a billion standard.
Morgan Freeman: So you're
telling me that
this is miraculous?
Danny Oppenheimer: Well no
as you said before
it's just a random
set of cards.
What if it was the first
six digits of your
social security number, what
if it were the last six
digits of your social
security number?
The first six digits of
your phone number?
Sometimes it's not
actually miraculous,
sometimes it's just
probability playing
its tricks on you.
Morgan Freeman: Alright so
how do we include the divine
because there are people who
really do think that
there is divine intervention in
these kinds of interplays.
Danny Oppenheimer: Absolutely
and nothing I'm saying
here rules out the
possibility of the divine.
The fact that probability
predicts certain things
doesn't mean that there can't
be divine intervention.
But miraculous things that
are so unlikely that you
think it can't happen by
chance alone, they do happen,
and they have to happen.
It would be odd if the didn't,
because with six billion
people in the world there
are so many opportunities
for something really
unusual to happen,
we would expect it to
happen to some of them.
Morgan Freeman: Mmm.
It's human nature to make a
symphony out of
the cacophony of events
going on around us,
doesn't mean that divine
Providence doesn't exist.
In fact as I learned
when I was in Rome,
in the past chance
and god co-existed.
The ancient romans had a
different take on miracles.
Before they became christians
romans had many gods.
They believed the gods
controlled their fate and
everything that happened
was decided by them.
Archaeologist Valerie Higgins
tells me the gods even
determined the outcome
of sporting events.
Valerie Higgins: So we're
here in the circus Maximus,
this was the largest
circus in Rome,
in fact in the
Roman empire,
and this was where they
did chariot racing.
Morgan Freeman: We are actually
standing on the track?
Valerie Higgins: Yeah the
starting gates were down there,
and they would race
through here up to the other
end where they would turn
around and then go
back down that end, and they
would do that seven times.
At least a quarter of a million
people could fit in here.
Morgan Freeman: Bedlam.
Valerie Higgins: Yeah right,
so this was a place
that was full of life
and full of action.
Morgan Freeman: Well it
must have been quite a lot
like modern day horse racing,
you know, betting,
and wagering, and.
Valerie Higgins: For sure yes,
we know there was lots of
betting, and lots
of gambling.
Morgan Freeman: Gambling
particularly on dice games
was frowned upon because
you were betting on the
will of the gods, but
widespread gambling
began to change the way
romans thought about fate,
and opened the way for
belief in miracles.
How did gambling fit with
the idea that your fate
was already set no matter
what you did,
you were going to wind up the
way you were gonna wind up.
Valerie Higgins: They did very
much believe that their
fate was set, but, you know, it
didn't make them passive.
They certainly did
everything they could
to get the gods behind
their riders.
Morgan Freeman: Well if I were
to ask like for instance
the day of a big race, you know,
and the ancient romans were
thinking well it's in the
hands of the gods,
but we need to know
what the gods want.
Valerie Higgins: Right.
Morgan Freeman: How would
we figure that out?
How did they go about figuring
out what the gods wanted?
Valerie Higgins: What
the gods wanted,
well you had to go to a
priest who was specialized
in this sort of thing.
Morgan Freeman: Just around the
corner from the race track,
hidden in an alleyway and
down in a basement,
Valerie takes me to see the
remains of the temple
that dates back to the
third century.
A place where romans may
have tried to twist
the will of the gods.
This is spectacular.
Valerie Higgins: Yes it is,
what we're coming into
now is a mithraeum.
Morgan Freeman: A mithraeum.
Valerie Higgins:
Yeah that's right,
it's a special kind of ritual
space for the cult of mithras.
He's the god, he's
killing the bull.
Morgan Freeman: Mithras was
a god for men, tough men,
soldiers, powerful
business men.
Valerie Higgins: So we're here
in this mithraeum which is
kind of like the
original man cave.
We know they did a lot
of feasting.
Morgan Freeman: Would
there be any of the
priests down here
with them?
Valerie Higgins: There would
be priests down here
yes I think for sure, who would
be overseeing the feasting,
'cause it was quite essential
that you did the ritual,
you know, correctly to
ensure that your team
was going to be successful
in the circus Maximus.
Morgan Freeman: So here
we are down here and
we're doing all of
the rituals and so
are we really adjusting
the fates to
take care of what we
want taken care of,
or do we do a little?
Valerie Higgins: No that
doesn't stop you giving fate
a helping hand.
Certainly we know there
was a lot of cheating
that went on in the
circus Maximus.
Morgan Freeman: No.
Valerie Higgins:
Oh I'm afraid so,
they did everything they
could to make things work,
to make them successful,
and they certainly
weren't above cheating.
The fact that you were allowing
the gods to decide your fate,
didn't mean that you couldn't
help them along.
If you could.
Morgan Freeman: If you
could help them along.
Valerie Higgins: Yeah,
yeah, you know,
because their idea is that
the god works for you,
and that's in every aspect
of your life including
of course your team racing
in the circus Maximus.
The romans don't have faith,
they just follow the rituals.
Morgan Freeman: Have fates.
Valerie Higgins: They have
fates, quite right,
they have fates not faith.
That h makes a
big difference.
Morgan Freeman: The ancient
romans believe that if you
were good to the gods,
they would be good to you.
Every single event from
winning a chariot race to
rolling of the dice could
be the result of
divine intervention,
a minor miracle.
I'm just trying to work out
how a couple of millennia of
catholicism might have changed
the way the romans think.
Do they still think
god will intercede?
And reward their fate with
a royal flush perhaps?
The idea that nothing in
our lives happens by
chance did not die with the
culture of ancient Rome.
It remained alive and well in
the Chinese philosophy
and religion daoism.
Daoism dates back nearly
two millennia.
Gods are not the
focus of daoism,
the focus is the dao.
The ultimate creative
energy of the universe
to which we are
all connected.
This interconnectedness
means our fates are
all set at birth.
So do daoist's believe
miracles are possible?
To find out I'm heading
to the heart of the
Chinese community in
Los Angeles to meet
a fourth generation daoist fate
calculator named Jenny liu.
Jenny liu?
Jenny liu: Morgan Freeman.
Morgan Freeman: Yes ma'am.
Jenny liu: Nice to meet you.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
Jenny liu: Come on in please.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
So did you do my life chart?
Jenny liu: I did, we had
you here as June 1st,
so 6-1, 1937; 2 am,
is that correct?
Morgan Freeman: Yes.
Jenny liu: Your life map
lets us know what over
120 stars are located at
your time of birth.
These stars configure a
certain energy field that
impact the quality and
success of your life.
So in China we don't call
this astrology actually,
we call it fate calculation,
fate calculation.
Morgan Freeman:
Fate calculation.
Jenny liu: Covers your
life in ten year periods,
and we see from age six
to 15 is one, 16 to 25,
and so on and so forth.
Morgan Freeman: So what
now between 76 and 85?
Jenny liu: Right now you're
in your friendship sector.
In the friendship sector
the star that's there
is called wun-zong.
This star represents scholars,
learned people.
These are the people
that you want
to surround yourself with.
Morgan Freeman:
So far so good.
Jenny liu: So far so good, and
one of the reasons why maybe
you have not come here yet
until today is one of the
stars in your personal
sector is called din-sun
and din-sun is
the adventurer,
somebody who likes to take
things as they come.
Morgan Freeman: So if my
fate is already laid out,
does that leave room
for like miracles?
Jenny liu: Absolutely, we
don't think of astrology
chart as predestined that
it's your only fate
that's carved in stone.
We see a life map, just like
we say life is a journey,
and you go on any journey
you need to have a map.
There's gonna be dead ends,
there's gonna be multiple
pot holes.
If you know where they are
you're still in charge
of your own car, this is just
a navigation system.
You can turn.
If you understand how you're
connected to everything
around you, that is the
miracle waiting to happen.
Morgan Freeman: So is this
connected to feng shui?
Jenny liu: Feng shui this is
based on the daoist thought,
everything around
us is connected.
Everything is made
of energy,
we're all connected
through this energy.
Feng is wind,
shui is water.
It's an energy that we cannot
destroy or create,
it's always there.
But we can divert it,
we can harness it.
In China we say.
Morgan Freeman: We ride it.
Jenny liu: We can
ride it exactly.
I was gonna say in Chinese
they'll say birds
do not fly they
are flown.
Fish do swim they are.
Morgan Freeman: Carried.
Jenny liu: They are carried,
they are swum by water.
Morgan Freeman:
We always think,
particularly in
christianity,
that a miracle is a result
of divine intervention.
Jenny liu: In the Chinese
thought everything
is connected.
Everything has a reason
for why it occurred.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
Jenny liu: Thank you.
Morgan Freeman: Feng
shui, wind, water.
Birds don't fly,
they ride the wind.
Fish don't swim,
they're carried.
Everything that happens
to us is a result of
all the things that we
are connected to.
What we call divine
intervention is merely
connections we
weren't aware of.
Makes me wonder if we
shouldn't maybe stop
trying so hard to
control our lives
and learn to ride
the wave of life.
Our lives are filled with
unexpected twists and turns.
Some believe there's nothing
beyond randomness.
Others say we are propelled
by the will of god
or the energy of
the universe.
Both those beliefs could make
the difference between
life and death because the
human mind could have
a hidden power to
unleash a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: I'm travelling
the world trying
to understand the power
of miracles.
And I've come to Cairo to
find out if that power
could come from our
own minds.
I'm visiting one of the world's
oldest hospitals,
a place that was famous for
combining medical science
with the healing
power of belief.
Ahmed ragab: So the writings
around the building describe
the founding of this hospital,
and of the entire complex.
Morgan Freeman: Harvard
historian of islam and
physician Ahmed ragab
has brought me
to the qalawun complex,
which first opened its
doors around 1285 ad.
Ahmed ragab: This would be
the entrance through
which patients would
normally walk.
Morgan Freeman: Wow, this is a
dramatic change from outside.
Ahmed ragab: This is
actually by design.
When you walk into this corridor
from the outside the
sunny and the dirty street,
and it's very noisy.
You walk in here and it's a
dark, calm, shaded corridor.
Morgan Freeman: Patients
came here hoping to be
cured by both cutting edge
medicine and
a miraculous intervention
from god.
Ahmed ragab: I want to
show you something here.
Morgan Freeman: Oh okay.
Oh my goodness.
The construction here is the
most impressive thing
I think I've seen anywhere.
Ahmed ragab: This is the
shrine of sultan qalawun,
the founder of this hospital.
Patients would have come
in and offer prayer
of thanks for the sultan.
Slowly qalawun himself
becomes connected to
the idea of healing.
It's like in this history
we're looking at
the making of a healing Saint.
Morgan Freeman: Does that
mean that there becomes
a connection between
faith and healing?
Ahmed ragab: Medicine as a
whole was seen as
the conduit of the
will of god.
So at the end of the day we
fall sick in part this is
something that god wills, and
we would only be healed
through medicine but only
by the will of god.
Morgan Freeman:
If god wills it.
Ahmed ragab: Exactly.
Morgan Freeman: So actually
everything that happens
is a will of god.
Ahmed ragab: Exactly.
Morgan Freeman: Centuries ago
muslims believed faith
and medicine worked
hand in hand.
But can belief in divine
intervention actually help
medicine heal us today?
* [church members singing].
Tom Renfro is familiar with
the cliché the miracle of
modern medicine, because he's
a practicing physician,
but he also believes
in divine miracles
and that one happened to him.
Tom Renfro: It was 18 years
ago that I stood there
to give thanks to god for
healing me and what I told you
at that time was, "you are
looking at a true miracle."
"A miracle of god."
Morgan Freeman: The hunt for
miracle stories has brought
Indiana university scholar
candy Gunther brown to
Norton, Virginia to meet Tom.
She's studying whether faith
and prayer can actually
improve medical outcomes.
Candy Gunther brown: The
question that really interests
me is what happens when
people prey for healing.
Tom Renfro: Candy it was in
1996 in the fall of that year,
that I found a nodule
on the back of my neck.
Later on that fall I found
more nodules under my arm,
and I sought
medical attention,
and the biopsy under my
arm showed that I had
an unusual form of lymphoma
called mantle cell lymphoma.
The prognoses was very poor,
and they gave me months to
live, and basically told me
enjoy what time you have left.
And the goal is to hopefully
keep me alive through Christmas.
I was a physician, I knew
the objective evidence
that was there.
I was in multi organ failure.
I had a disease that there
was no medicine or cure for
that would wipe
this disease out.
Instead of despair the lord
wants us to remember,
I brought you all this way
I'm not gonna leave
you here by yourself.
Candy Gunther brown: Did you
have medical treatments?
Tom Renfro: No I did not
have medical treatments,
not at that time.
The tumors continued
to progress,
and as they progressed the
people came together more and
more intense with prayer.
My pastor organized a
weekend prayer to where
people would come and pray
perhaps even all night,
and it was a
remarkable time.
By now the tumors were the
size of apples on my neck.
My arms stuck out because
of the massive
adenopathy under my arms.
My abdomen was expanded,
I was dying.
The lord actually spoke
to me and said,
"now is the time to
go to the hospital."
Morgan Freeman: Chemotherapy
typically only delays
the progress of mantle
cell lymphoma.
It's not a cure.
Tom Renfro: So they started
an infusion and it was
like the rock that David
threw at Goliath.
Before the infusion even
completed there was something
that changed in
me physically.
The tumors they became like
a nerf ball, like a sponge,
and very soft, and they
started disappearing
in front of your eyes.
And all of this massive
adenopathy just disappeared
over the next 24, 48 hours.
It was gone.
Candy Gunther brown: Do
you ever wonder did the
chemotherapy just work
better than the doctors
expected it to work?
Tom Renfro: The chemotherapy
it wasn't designed to cure.
No one expected the tumors
to utterly start
disappearing or melting.
I should have died multiple
times during this illness
from pulmonary embolisms,
from pneumonia,
from renal failure.
But I had faith.
I had people that poured their
words into me to encourage me,
and I believe through that that
god intervened and healed me,
and here we are 18 years later
me talking to you.
To me that is a miracle.
It is a miracle that I'm here.
Morgan Freeman: Why did
Tom Renfro survive when
so many people who prey
for healing don't make it?
Tom believes the power
of his faith and that of
the people around him helped
the chemotherapy achieve
the impossible.
It strikes me that much of
what we call miraculous
starts right here
in the mind.
We close our eyes in
prayer don't we,
and I think that's because the
goal is to focus the mind.
To transcend the distractions
of everyday life.
To set our minds to
achieve what at first
we might fear is impossible.
I've come to India to explore
a religion that believes
we all have the mental power
to perform miracles.
This is the mahabodhi
temple in bodh gaya.
According to Buddhist
tradition 2,500 years ago
a man named siddhartha
gautama came to the
realization that the
human mind had
immense untapped powers.
In doing so he founded an
entirely new religion,
buddhism, and tradition
says he did it right here
under this tree.
I want to understand what
Buddhists believe
happened to siddhartha as
he sat under the tree.
Tibetan monk losang tenpa has
promised to help me find out.
Losang: So.
Morgan Freeman:
Glad to be here.
Losang: I'm glad
you could come.
Morgan Freeman: Oh me too.
Losang: So this is our
holy spot where the
Buddha obtained awakening.
Morgan Freeman: Losang tells
me he'll get me to understand
the miracle of the Buddha's
enlightenment,
and he will do it by
challenging my mind
to get me to see
the light myself.
Losang: So what
do you know about?
Morgan Freeman:
Siddhartha, I mean.
Losang: What do they
teach you in America?
Morgan Freeman: I learned
that he was of noble birth,
and he grew up very,
very sheltered,
and then one day he wondered
out of the compound.
Losang: That's right.
Morgan Freeman: And began to
see life as it really was.
Losang: Why did he do that?
Morgan Freeman: That's
the question you're
going to answer.
Losang: Well how would you
like it if your father
had decided as soon as you
were born that this
baby of mine's gonna
be the king?
So I've got to keep him in
this palace surrounded by
beautiful sense objects,
flowers that never drooped,
beautiful young ladies
who never look old.
Morgan Freeman:
Sounds perfect.
Losang: Isn't that perfect
yeah, but this guy wasn't
satisfied with that.
Buddha left
the palace, right?
Morgan Freeman: Yes.
Losang: And do you know what
he saw when he left the palace?
Morgan Freeman: Well as I
understand it he saw suffering.
He saw real life.
Losang: And what for?
Morgan Freeman: Well there
were old people, cripples.
Losang: Yeah.
Morgan Freeman: Beggars.
Losang: Yeah.
Morgan Freeman: People
who had nothing,
people who were hungry.
Yeah it's like an eye opener,
it's like a wow.
Losang: He saw death.
Morgan Freeman: Yeah.
Losang: His father didn't
want him to see death.
He made him think so strongly,
he felt I've got to
leave this place and find out
what is the cause of this.
Why do people suffer?
Morgan Freeman: Siddhartha
roamed for six years
seeking to understand the
cause of suffering.
Until he finally came to the
shade of a ficus tree,
and decided that he would
stay right on that spot,
focusing his mind, until
he discovered how
to end human suffering.
After sitting motionless
for an entire night,
siddhartha achieved a
mental transformation.
Buddhists say he became the
Buddha, the enlightened one.
Losang: He taught us, he
said you know what a good
doctor would tell a patient,
"man you're sick, you're sick,
you're suffering, you know,
you have a problem."
Second, I know the cause,
basically craving attachment.
Morgan Freeman: The Buddha
realized that by letting
go of his desires and
his attachment
to the material world,
he could rid himself
of suffering.
But the Buddha and for
generations of Buddhists
after him, this freedom from
attachment seems to
allow a remarkable perhaps
even miraculous mental
and physical focus.
Losang: You know he was so
grateful to this tree under
which he'd sat and achieved
this amazing realization,
he sat in this are for seven
weeks and for one of those
weeks just gazing,
unwinkingly they say.
Morgan Freeman: Unmoving and
unblinking for seven days.
Losang: It's
possible, why not?
We haven't exercised
our minds.
We're so busy with
external things,
buying and selling, and
doing all the things.
Morgan Freeman: We've
never actually seen
a yogi in action.
Losang: Well in a sense
it's an amazing thing
but you and I can do it.
Morgan Freeman: For Buddhists
years of mental training
and showing love and
compassion to others
can free them from
suffering.
Walking around this
temple you feel like a
miracle really could happen.
The miracle of people being
content with their lives.
People getting
along together.
Losang: Do you want to
just come and
see how a Tibetan llama
teaches western students?
Morgan Freeman: Sure.
Tibetan lama: How are you?
Morgan Freeman: I am
well, how are you sir?
Tibetan lama: I'm very
good, I saw your movie.
Morgan Freeman: Oh
you did, which one?
Tibetan lama: I don't know.
Morgan Freeman: Who
else likes my movie?
Bravo.
Tibetan lama: Shortcut we
all need to care and
love and respect
each other.
That is the source
of happiness.
Whoever had that their
journey's good.
Whoever not keep this in their
heart, journey's not good.
Thank you, from today
you are my friend.
Okay.
Morgan Freeman: I like you.
Tibetan lama: I like you.
Morgan Freeman: So a lot
of religions are pretty
much miracle based.
I mean christianity,
judaism.
Losang: Right.
Morgan Freeman: Really.
Losang: Right.
Morgan Freeman: You
don't do miracles?
Losang: What's a miracle?
I mean flying in the
sky is that a miracle?
Morgan Freeman: It
is, it is, it is.
Losang: Birds do it,
birds do it.
Morgan Freeman: But we
normally think of miracles
as some sort of divine thing,
something that gives us proof of
god or something, you know.
Losang: Okay so that we
could ask where is god?
We ask the mystics or
the yogi's were is god?
They'll point here, they
won't point up there.
They'll say it's in here.
So then if you're being
inspired by your inner god,
Buddha, Christ, you know,
Christian or whatever
you want to call it,
maybe then you can perform
what's called a miracle.
What does this world
need the most?
It needs healing, right, love,
it needs reconciliation.
I think that's a miracle, and
that's the miracle we need.
We don't need people levitating
three inches off
their butts, you know, while
meditating that's stupid.
Morgan Freeman: Right.
Losang: So let's stick to
the real miracle which
is to transform the
human mind really.
Morgan Freeman: Alright, you
know what you did there?
Losang: What?
Morgan Freeman: Solved
the problem of miracles.
Losang: Thank you, walk on.
Morgan Freeman: You're
alright in my book.
It's ironic that a man who
wanted us to tap
into the power that we all
have within ourselves,
is thought of as some sort
of divine being.
The point of buddhism
as far as I can see,
is to teach us that we're
all capable of much
more than we might
believe we are,
if we just concentrate on it,
just put our minds to it.
I used to struggle to make
sense of miracle stories.
How oceans could be parted.
How it was possible
to walk on water.
But I think I was
missing the point.
To believe in miracles is
to believe there is more
to life than meets the eye.
To accept there could be
something that connects us,
unites us.
So many souls pass
through this world,
and as our paths cross
miraculous things can
and do happen.
People get the breaks
they always wanted,
people inspire one another,
people fall in love.
And whether these events
are orchestrated
by the hand of god,
the power of the mind,
or just a one in a
million chance,
I believe we should
believe in miracles.
Because miracles however
you define them help us to,
well they give us hope.
They drive us to create
reality out of possibility.
Morgan Freeman: When I
was 16, I got really sick.
Was run down, working hard
in school, not eating properly,
and I got pneumonia, and an
abscess developed on my lung.
Well one day the abscess
burst and I hemorrhaged.
I needed blood.
Pretty sure everybody
thought I might die,
obviously I didn't.
But some say that
god saved me.
Believers think god communicates
to us through miracles.
That miracles are
proof of the divine.
Now I'm going on a
journey to discover
the power of miracles.
You fell from up there
down to here?
What did the doctors say?
Alcides moreno:
You are a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: To discover
what's luck and what is fate.
Jenny liu: In the Chinese
thought everything has a
reason for why it occurred.
Morgan Freeman: To see how
belief in miracles
can change history.
Rabbi Maya: The miracles
symbolize the beginning
of the Jewish people.
Morgan Freeman: And how
faith can change lives.
Tom Renfro: You are looking
at a true miracle of god.
Morgan Freeman: To achieve
what appears to be impossible.
Losang: The real miracle is
to transform the human mind.
That's the miracle we need.
Morgan Freeman: Most who
believe in god believe
god is watching over us.
Every moment of every day,
guiding us, saving us.
To me it has to be a miracle
that he can look out
for all seven billion of us.
So when I heard about
alcides Marino
I had to come to New York
and hear his story.
Well here we are.
Eight years ago, alcides came
to work as a window washer
at this 47 story tower
in Manhattan.
Tell me about it,
what happened?
Alcides moreno: I woke up in
the morning, take my car in,
commute from New Jersey
and come to the building.
Morgan Freeman: Did you
take the elevator?
Alcides moreno: And go all
the way to the top.
Morgan Freeman: The top
is 47 stories high.
Alcides moreno:
47 stories, yes,
and climb to the platform.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
had just begun to lower the
platform when one of the two
cables holding it snapped.
Alcides moreno: I just
grabbed the scaffold and
just hold up until
another cable snap.
911 operator: 911
what's the emergency?
Emergency services:
9-15 responding,
transport is on the way.
Alcides moreno: The paramedics
they found me right
in the middle, the
scaffold like that.
Morgan Freeman: Between
the two buildings.
Alcides moreno: Yeah
between the two,
it was right in the middle,
they took me out from the.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
fell 47 stories, 500 feet.
He broke ten bones,
his lungs collapsed,
he needed 43 pints of
blood and plasma.
He spent three weeks
in a coma.
Do you remember the day you
woke up from the coma?
Alcides moreno: I
woke up December 24th
right in the bed
and my wife was there.
Morgan Freeman: A fall from
just ten stories is something
hardly anyone survives.
Doctor's say alcides's 47 story
plunge was beyond belief.
Man: I've seen it all,
or at least I think I have,
until something like
this happens.
Morgan Freeman: You fell from
up there down to here?
Alcides moreno: Yes.
Morgan Freeman:
And here you are.
Alcides moreno: Yes sir and look
I'm walking and everything.
Morgan Freeman: Give
me a name for that.
Alcides moreno: I mean
the doctor told me,
"you are a miracle."
He said, "you are a miracle."
Morgan Freeman:
What do you think?
Alcides moreno: I don't know,
still I don't know.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides
has a hard time accepting this
as a miracle because he was
not alone when he fell.
His younger brother was on
this platform with him,
he died the moment he
hit the ground.
What was your
brother's name?
Alcides moreno: Edgar.
Morgan Freeman: Edgar.
There we are.
Alcides moreno: There he is.
Morgan Freeman: Yeah.
Alcides moreno:
Still feels the same.
Morgan Freeman: Very nice.
Alcides moreno: My
brother's a big loss.
Morgan Freeman:
Were you close?
Alcides moreno:
Really, really close,
that was a great man.
Morgan Freeman:
I'm sorry alcides,
it must be very painful.
Alcides moreno: Yes, I just
bring him to work with me,
to help out, because.
Morgan Freeman: He's younger.
Alcides moreno: Oh yes he
was younger than me and
he was a good man.
Morgan Freeman: You
think god saved you?
Alcides moreno: I think
so, I believe that yes.
Morgan Freeman: So that
makes you the miracle,
but at the same time,
your brother is gone,
the one you, do you
worry about that?
Do you try to reconcile that,
try to figure out why him?
Alcides moreno: And not me.
Morgan Freeman: Not you.
Alcides moreno: Well yes
I asking why, why, why,
what happened, why?
Morgan Freeman: If it was me,
I would wonder every day.
Alcides moreno: God give
me a second chance,
I mean to keep going, to
keep going with my life.
I still looking forward
to find out what
exactly I have to do.
Morgan Freeman: Alcides is
no longer a window washer;
he and his wife have a
new life in Arizona,
where they're raising
their family.
He's still trying to
understand whether
god has a plan for him.
Why me, does god has
a purpose for me?
Alcides wonders, "why
did I survive when
my beloved brother
did not?"
Why, I mean is there some entity
that makes that choice?
Or is, do we live
with randomness,
just pure mindless
randomness?
For christians, miracles are
proof that life is not random.
They believe god intervenes
in the world for a reason.
Jews also believe in
the power of miracles.
In fact their faith was
built on a bedrock
of divine intervention.
I've come to Jerusalem to
see how Jews celebrate
the miracles of their
exodus from Egypt.
On a night that's different
from all other nights.
Passover.
Aviva: Hi.
Morgan Freeman: Hello there.
Aviva: How do you do?
Morgan Freeman: I'm very well
thank you, this is for you.
Aviva: Thank you very
much, I'm aviva.
Morgan Freeman: Hello aviva.
Aviva: Welcome to my
home, you do.
Morgan Freeman: Oh lord, oh.
Rabbi Maya.
Rabbi Maya: Nice to meet you,
how wonderful.
Morgan Freeman: Maya leibovich
is the first Israeli
born woman ever to
become a rabbi.
I've known a few rabbis,
never a lady.
Rabbi Maya: I hope you
enjoy the seder and
we'll do our utmost
to make it.
Morgan Freeman: If there's
food I'll be okay.
Rabbi Maya: Food, of course.
Aviva: Yes.
This is the charoset, and you
can taste it and you can
decide if it, it's got
to make you feel as
if you're getting drunk,
is it winy enough?
Morgan Freeman: To tell you the
truth I think it's enough.
Aviva: I think
it's enough too.
Yoel zanger: Okay guys
let's get started,
seder pesach is starting.
Come on, everybody sit down.
One of the most important
traditions in judaism
and this has been ordered to
us from our ancestors,
thou shalt not speak on your
cell phone during the seder.
So we have a cell phone
basket here.
Rabbi Maya: The month that
we came out of Egypt
is called in Hebrew Nissan.
And the word Nissan comes
from the word nissim,
which is miracles.
It's the month of
the miracles,
which will symbolize
the beginning of
the Jewish people, and
the people as an entity.
Yoel zanger: The way we go
with the seder is that
we read through the haggadah
so Morgan as our guest
we would welcome you
to start with
the bread of affliction.
Morgan Freeman: This is the
bread of affliction that
our fathers ate in
the land Egypt.
Let all that are hungry
enter and eat,
and all who are in want come
and celebrate the passover.
This year we are slaves,
next year we shall
be free men.
* [all singing].
The passover meal is a
celebration of the bond
Jews feel with god, and it's
an occasion for children
to understand the foundation
of their faith.
The seder recounts how the
Jews escaped slavery.
Thanks to god's striking
the Egyptians with
a series of ten plagues.
So rabbi...
Rabbi Maya: Yes.
Morgan Freeman: Why passover,
what does the word
itself refer to?
Rabbi Maya: When god brought
upon Egypt the tenth plague
of killing the first born,
he told the israelites
to put blood on the thresholds
of their homes and
the angel of death passed over
the homes of the hebrews,
and only took the first
born of the Egyptians.
Morgan Freeman: Many Jews
believe god's sparing
of their children was proof
they were his chosen people.
But this was not the
only divine sign.
Rabbi Maya: The miracle of
getting out of Egypt was
followed by the miracle
splitting of the sea.
God made two miracles,
one was splitting
the sea before the hebrews,
and then closing it
before the Egyptians.
So god wants us to remember
the Egyptians are just his
sons as we are, so by putting
drops of wine on our plates
we're actually putting drops
of sorrow that god had lost
so many of his children
while saving the others.
Morgan Freeman: This
acknowledgement that the
exodus miracles didn't
benefit everyone,
reminds me of
alcides moreno.
Divine will is not
easy to understand.
So what is your take
on the whole idea
of the series of miracles?
Rabbi Maya: I don't think
anybody's gonna split
the sea for us today.
I wish somebody would bring
peace to us today,
but the Bible is not
a book of history.
The Bible is a book
of ideas.
The question is what can
we learn from it?
What can we take into
our own life?
It's a way of saying
thank you, you know.
It's a way of teaching the kids
that every small thing is
not granted, that you
need to say thank you.
It's nice to have parents,
it's lovely to have a roof
above your head.
Morgan Freeman: That probably
the biggest miracle of
all of them that Jews
are still here.
Rabbi Maya: I want them
to come out with the
idea that miracles
can happen.
That's the story.
Morgan Freeman: The israelites
saw these miracles
as proof that god cared
about them.
Not all modern Jews believe in
the miracles of passover,
but these stories still
define them as a people,
and that deep well of tradition
and moral strength
has sustained them, been
called on by them for
thousands of years to get
them through hard times.
Around the world
belief in miracles
gives people strength.
In Mexico City the basilica
of our lady of Guadalupe
marks the spot where the
virgin Mary is said
to have appeared to a
peasant 500 years ago.
In Hong Kong, Buddhist pilgrims
flock to the statue of
guan yin, who they
hope will Grant them
medical cures, a spouse,
or good grades.
And in Rome miracles can turn
ordinary people into saints.
I've come to the Vatican
to understand how
the catholic church
verifies miracles.
I think the first time I was
at the Vatican was about 1983.
I'm meeting monsignor
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo,
the head of the pontifical
academy of sciences.
So let's talk just for a
moment about miracles,
do miracles really exist?
For instance Jesus
walking on water.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo:
In the life of Christ,
if you don't accept
the miracles it's
impossible to understand.
Each page of the gospel
is a miracle of Christ.
To consider a person is Saint
the church needs a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: In order
to have saints you
have to have miracles.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo: Yes.
Morgan Freeman: Unless
you are a martyr,
the only way to sainthood is
to be deemed responsible
for performing two
miracles after you die.
Pope John Paul the second
became a Saint in 2014,
after two women who
prayed to him after
his death claimed to be
miraculously cured.
One of Parkinson's disease,
another of a brain aneurism.
The Vatican spends years
investigating these claims,
sometimes decades.
The church has a devil's
advocate who goes and
whenever anybody claims
to have seen or
experienced a miracle,
the church sends the
advocate to investigate.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo: Yes,
they have to advocate
and have scientific people,
special doctors,
to prove that this is a special
intervention of god.
Morgan Freeman: So if I come
and say I have experienced
a miracle, would the
church then say,
okay well we'll
check that out.
Marcelo Sanchez sorondo:
Exactly, we've got to check.
Morgan Freeman: Does the hand
of god really intervene?
Not just in matters
of life and death,
but also in the ups and downs
of our daily lives
or does everything that
happens happen by chance?
Morgan Freeman:
What, if anything,
governs the seemingly random
moments that change
our lives and send us into
different directions?
Like a poor boy
from Mississippi
ending up in Hollywood.
I always loved the movies,
always dreamed I would
be in them.
I was a believer, and
I actually made it,
now was that a miracle?
Most of us have a turning
point in our lives,
a pivotal moment where you
wondered, how did this happen?
Mine was 1989 I
made three films,
'lean on me',
'driving miss Daisy'
and 'glory'.
Did I make it happen?
Was someone up there calling
the shots, or was I lucky?
To try to understand this I've
arranged to meet a psychology
professor who thinks
we often mistake
random chance
for miracles.
Danny Oppenheimer.
Danny Oppenheimer:
Nice to see you.
Morgan Freeman:
How are you today?
Danny Oppenheimer:
I'm good, you?
Morgan Freeman: I'm good.
Danny Oppenheimer: Good.
Morgan Freeman: What
are you doing?
Danny Oppenheimer:
I'm flipping coins.
Morgan Freeman: Why?
Danny Oppenheimer: I'm
looking for streaks.
Morgan Freeman: Streaks?
Danny Oppenheimer: Yeah if you
flip a coin enough times
you're gonna get a streak.
Morgan Freeman: Really?
That's a lot of tails.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well if
I flip a coin twice and
I get heads both times
is that miraculous?
Morgan Freeman: No, if
you do it 50 times
and you get 60 that's
a miracle.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well
yeah if you get more
than you flip certainly.
But how rare does an event have
to be before we would
call it miraculous, one in a
million, one in a billion?
Morgan Freeman: I'll
choose billion.
Danny Oppenheimer: Alright
one in a billion,
well let's try something.
Alright.
Jack of diamonds, 6 of spades,
king of spades, 2 of hearts,
7 of diamonds and
ace of spades.
Is it miraculous to have
gotten this sequence?
Morgan Freeman: No, I
mean it's just a random
selection of cards
off the deck.
Danny Oppenheimer: Well right
but this particular sequence
starting with the Jack
and then getting
the six of spades and
then king of spades,
it only happens one in
about 14 billion times
you draw six cards.
So it's pretty
miraculous by your
one in a billion standard.
Morgan Freeman: So you're
telling me that
this is miraculous?
Danny Oppenheimer: Well no
as you said before
it's just a random
set of cards.
What if it was the first
six digits of your
social security number, what
if it were the last six
digits of your social
security number?
The first six digits of
your phone number?
Sometimes it's not
actually miraculous,
sometimes it's just
probability playing
its tricks on you.
Morgan Freeman: Alright so
how do we include the divine
because there are people who
really do think that
there is divine intervention in
these kinds of interplays.
Danny Oppenheimer: Absolutely
and nothing I'm saying
here rules out the
possibility of the divine.
The fact that probability
predicts certain things
doesn't mean that there can't
be divine intervention.
But miraculous things that
are so unlikely that you
think it can't happen by
chance alone, they do happen,
and they have to happen.
It would be odd if the didn't,
because with six billion
people in the world there
are so many opportunities
for something really
unusual to happen,
we would expect it to
happen to some of them.
Morgan Freeman: Mmm.
It's human nature to make a
symphony out of
the cacophony of events
going on around us,
doesn't mean that divine
Providence doesn't exist.
In fact as I learned
when I was in Rome,
in the past chance
and god co-existed.
The ancient romans had a
different take on miracles.
Before they became christians
romans had many gods.
They believed the gods
controlled their fate and
everything that happened
was decided by them.
Archaeologist Valerie Higgins
tells me the gods even
determined the outcome
of sporting events.
Valerie Higgins: So we're
here in the circus Maximus,
this was the largest
circus in Rome,
in fact in the
Roman empire,
and this was where they
did chariot racing.
Morgan Freeman: We are actually
standing on the track?
Valerie Higgins: Yeah the
starting gates were down there,
and they would race
through here up to the other
end where they would turn
around and then go
back down that end, and they
would do that seven times.
At least a quarter of a million
people could fit in here.
Morgan Freeman: Bedlam.
Valerie Higgins: Yeah right,
so this was a place
that was full of life
and full of action.
Morgan Freeman: Well it
must have been quite a lot
like modern day horse racing,
you know, betting,
and wagering, and.
Valerie Higgins: For sure yes,
we know there was lots of
betting, and lots
of gambling.
Morgan Freeman: Gambling
particularly on dice games
was frowned upon because
you were betting on the
will of the gods, but
widespread gambling
began to change the way
romans thought about fate,
and opened the way for
belief in miracles.
How did gambling fit with
the idea that your fate
was already set no matter
what you did,
you were going to wind up the
way you were gonna wind up.
Valerie Higgins: They did very
much believe that their
fate was set, but, you know, it
didn't make them passive.
They certainly did
everything they could
to get the gods behind
their riders.
Morgan Freeman: Well if I were
to ask like for instance
the day of a big race, you know,
and the ancient romans were
thinking well it's in the
hands of the gods,
but we need to know
what the gods want.
Valerie Higgins: Right.
Morgan Freeman: How would
we figure that out?
How did they go about figuring
out what the gods wanted?
Valerie Higgins: What
the gods wanted,
well you had to go to a
priest who was specialized
in this sort of thing.
Morgan Freeman: Just around the
corner from the race track,
hidden in an alleyway and
down in a basement,
Valerie takes me to see the
remains of the temple
that dates back to the
third century.
A place where romans may
have tried to twist
the will of the gods.
This is spectacular.
Valerie Higgins: Yes it is,
what we're coming into
now is a mithraeum.
Morgan Freeman: A mithraeum.
Valerie Higgins:
Yeah that's right,
it's a special kind of ritual
space for the cult of mithras.
He's the god, he's
killing the bull.
Morgan Freeman: Mithras was
a god for men, tough men,
soldiers, powerful
business men.
Valerie Higgins: So we're here
in this mithraeum which is
kind of like the
original man cave.
We know they did a lot
of feasting.
Morgan Freeman: Would
there be any of the
priests down here
with them?
Valerie Higgins: There would
be priests down here
yes I think for sure, who would
be overseeing the feasting,
'cause it was quite essential
that you did the ritual,
you know, correctly to
ensure that your team
was going to be successful
in the circus Maximus.
Morgan Freeman: So here
we are down here and
we're doing all of
the rituals and so
are we really adjusting
the fates to
take care of what we
want taken care of,
or do we do a little?
Valerie Higgins: No that
doesn't stop you giving fate
a helping hand.
Certainly we know there
was a lot of cheating
that went on in the
circus Maximus.
Morgan Freeman: No.
Valerie Higgins:
Oh I'm afraid so,
they did everything they
could to make things work,
to make them successful,
and they certainly
weren't above cheating.
The fact that you were allowing
the gods to decide your fate,
didn't mean that you couldn't
help them along.
If you could.
Morgan Freeman: If you
could help them along.
Valerie Higgins: Yeah,
yeah, you know,
because their idea is that
the god works for you,
and that's in every aspect
of your life including
of course your team racing
in the circus Maximus.
The romans don't have faith,
they just follow the rituals.
Morgan Freeman: Have fates.
Valerie Higgins: They have
fates, quite right,
they have fates not faith.
That h makes a
big difference.
Morgan Freeman: The ancient
romans believe that if you
were good to the gods,
they would be good to you.
Every single event from
winning a chariot race to
rolling of the dice could
be the result of
divine intervention,
a minor miracle.
I'm just trying to work out
how a couple of millennia of
catholicism might have changed
the way the romans think.
Do they still think
god will intercede?
And reward their fate with
a royal flush perhaps?
The idea that nothing in
our lives happens by
chance did not die with the
culture of ancient Rome.
It remained alive and well in
the Chinese philosophy
and religion daoism.
Daoism dates back nearly
two millennia.
Gods are not the
focus of daoism,
the focus is the dao.
The ultimate creative
energy of the universe
to which we are
all connected.
This interconnectedness
means our fates are
all set at birth.
So do daoist's believe
miracles are possible?
To find out I'm heading
to the heart of the
Chinese community in
Los Angeles to meet
a fourth generation daoist fate
calculator named Jenny liu.
Jenny liu?
Jenny liu: Morgan Freeman.
Morgan Freeman: Yes ma'am.
Jenny liu: Nice to meet you.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
Jenny liu: Come on in please.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
So did you do my life chart?
Jenny liu: I did, we had
you here as June 1st,
so 6-1, 1937; 2 am,
is that correct?
Morgan Freeman: Yes.
Jenny liu: Your life map
lets us know what over
120 stars are located at
your time of birth.
These stars configure a
certain energy field that
impact the quality and
success of your life.
So in China we don't call
this astrology actually,
we call it fate calculation,
fate calculation.
Morgan Freeman:
Fate calculation.
Jenny liu: Covers your
life in ten year periods,
and we see from age six
to 15 is one, 16 to 25,
and so on and so forth.
Morgan Freeman: So what
now between 76 and 85?
Jenny liu: Right now you're
in your friendship sector.
In the friendship sector
the star that's there
is called wun-zong.
This star represents scholars,
learned people.
These are the people
that you want
to surround yourself with.
Morgan Freeman:
So far so good.
Jenny liu: So far so good, and
one of the reasons why maybe
you have not come here yet
until today is one of the
stars in your personal
sector is called din-sun
and din-sun is
the adventurer,
somebody who likes to take
things as they come.
Morgan Freeman: So if my
fate is already laid out,
does that leave room
for like miracles?
Jenny liu: Absolutely, we
don't think of astrology
chart as predestined that
it's your only fate
that's carved in stone.
We see a life map, just like
we say life is a journey,
and you go on any journey
you need to have a map.
There's gonna be dead ends,
there's gonna be multiple
pot holes.
If you know where they are
you're still in charge
of your own car, this is just
a navigation system.
You can turn.
If you understand how you're
connected to everything
around you, that is the
miracle waiting to happen.
Morgan Freeman: So is this
connected to feng shui?
Jenny liu: Feng shui this is
based on the daoist thought,
everything around
us is connected.
Everything is made
of energy,
we're all connected
through this energy.
Feng is wind,
shui is water.
It's an energy that we cannot
destroy or create,
it's always there.
But we can divert it,
we can harness it.
In China we say.
Morgan Freeman: We ride it.
Jenny liu: We can
ride it exactly.
I was gonna say in Chinese
they'll say birds
do not fly they
are flown.
Fish do swim they are.
Morgan Freeman: Carried.
Jenny liu: They are carried,
they are swum by water.
Morgan Freeman:
We always think,
particularly in
christianity,
that a miracle is a result
of divine intervention.
Jenny liu: In the Chinese
thought everything
is connected.
Everything has a reason
for why it occurred.
Morgan Freeman: Thank you.
Jenny liu: Thank you.
Morgan Freeman: Feng
shui, wind, water.
Birds don't fly,
they ride the wind.
Fish don't swim,
they're carried.
Everything that happens
to us is a result of
all the things that we
are connected to.
What we call divine
intervention is merely
connections we
weren't aware of.
Makes me wonder if we
shouldn't maybe stop
trying so hard to
control our lives
and learn to ride
the wave of life.
Our lives are filled with
unexpected twists and turns.
Some believe there's nothing
beyond randomness.
Others say we are propelled
by the will of god
or the energy of
the universe.
Both those beliefs could make
the difference between
life and death because the
human mind could have
a hidden power to
unleash a miracle.
Morgan Freeman: I'm travelling
the world trying
to understand the power
of miracles.
And I've come to Cairo to
find out if that power
could come from our
own minds.
I'm visiting one of the world's
oldest hospitals,
a place that was famous for
combining medical science
with the healing
power of belief.
Ahmed ragab: So the writings
around the building describe
the founding of this hospital,
and of the entire complex.
Morgan Freeman: Harvard
historian of islam and
physician Ahmed ragab
has brought me
to the qalawun complex,
which first opened its
doors around 1285 ad.
Ahmed ragab: This would be
the entrance through
which patients would
normally walk.
Morgan Freeman: Wow, this is a
dramatic change from outside.
Ahmed ragab: This is
actually by design.
When you walk into this corridor
from the outside the
sunny and the dirty street,
and it's very noisy.
You walk in here and it's a
dark, calm, shaded corridor.
Morgan Freeman: Patients
came here hoping to be
cured by both cutting edge
medicine and
a miraculous intervention
from god.
Ahmed ragab: I want to
show you something here.
Morgan Freeman: Oh okay.
Oh my goodness.
The construction here is the
most impressive thing
I think I've seen anywhere.
Ahmed ragab: This is the
shrine of sultan qalawun,
the founder of this hospital.
Patients would have come
in and offer prayer
of thanks for the sultan.
Slowly qalawun himself
becomes connected to
the idea of healing.
It's like in this history
we're looking at
the making of a healing Saint.
Morgan Freeman: Does that
mean that there becomes
a connection between
faith and healing?
Ahmed ragab: Medicine as a
whole was seen as
the conduit of the
will of god.
So at the end of the day we
fall sick in part this is
something that god wills, and
we would only be healed
through medicine but only
by the will of god.
Morgan Freeman:
If god wills it.
Ahmed ragab: Exactly.
Morgan Freeman: So actually
everything that happens
is a will of god.
Ahmed ragab: Exactly.
Morgan Freeman: Centuries ago
muslims believed faith
and medicine worked
hand in hand.
But can belief in divine
intervention actually help
medicine heal us today?
* [church members singing].
Tom Renfro is familiar with
the cliché the miracle of
modern medicine, because he's
a practicing physician,
but he also believes
in divine miracles
and that one happened to him.
Tom Renfro: It was 18 years
ago that I stood there
to give thanks to god for
healing me and what I told you
at that time was, "you are
looking at a true miracle."
"A miracle of god."
Morgan Freeman: The hunt for
miracle stories has brought
Indiana university scholar
candy Gunther brown to
Norton, Virginia to meet Tom.
She's studying whether faith
and prayer can actually
improve medical outcomes.
Candy Gunther brown: The
question that really interests
me is what happens when
people prey for healing.
Tom Renfro: Candy it was in
1996 in the fall of that year,
that I found a nodule
on the back of my neck.
Later on that fall I found
more nodules under my arm,
and I sought
medical attention,
and the biopsy under my
arm showed that I had
an unusual form of lymphoma
called mantle cell lymphoma.
The prognoses was very poor,
and they gave me months to
live, and basically told me
enjoy what time you have left.
And the goal is to hopefully
keep me alive through Christmas.
I was a physician, I knew
the objective evidence
that was there.
I was in multi organ failure.
I had a disease that there
was no medicine or cure for
that would wipe
this disease out.
Instead of despair the lord
wants us to remember,
I brought you all this way
I'm not gonna leave
you here by yourself.
Candy Gunther brown: Did you
have medical treatments?
Tom Renfro: No I did not
have medical treatments,
not at that time.
The tumors continued
to progress,
and as they progressed the
people came together more and
more intense with prayer.
My pastor organized a
weekend prayer to where
people would come and pray
perhaps even all night,
and it was a
remarkable time.
By now the tumors were the
size of apples on my neck.
My arms stuck out because
of the massive
adenopathy under my arms.
My abdomen was expanded,
I was dying.
The lord actually spoke
to me and said,
"now is the time to
go to the hospital."
Morgan Freeman: Chemotherapy
typically only delays
the progress of mantle
cell lymphoma.
It's not a cure.
Tom Renfro: So they started
an infusion and it was
like the rock that David
threw at Goliath.
Before the infusion even
completed there was something
that changed in
me physically.
The tumors they became like
a nerf ball, like a sponge,
and very soft, and they
started disappearing
in front of your eyes.
And all of this massive
adenopathy just disappeared
over the next 24, 48 hours.
It was gone.
Candy Gunther brown: Do
you ever wonder did the
chemotherapy just work
better than the doctors
expected it to work?
Tom Renfro: The chemotherapy
it wasn't designed to cure.
No one expected the tumors
to utterly start
disappearing or melting.
I should have died multiple
times during this illness
from pulmonary embolisms,
from pneumonia,
from renal failure.
But I had faith.
I had people that poured their
words into me to encourage me,
and I believe through that that
god intervened and healed me,
and here we are 18 years later
me talking to you.
To me that is a miracle.
It is a miracle that I'm here.
Morgan Freeman: Why did
Tom Renfro survive when
so many people who prey
for healing don't make it?
Tom believes the power
of his faith and that of
the people around him helped
the chemotherapy achieve
the impossible.
It strikes me that much of
what we call miraculous
starts right here
in the mind.
We close our eyes in
prayer don't we,
and I think that's because the
goal is to focus the mind.
To transcend the distractions
of everyday life.
To set our minds to
achieve what at first
we might fear is impossible.
I've come to India to explore
a religion that believes
we all have the mental power
to perform miracles.
This is the mahabodhi
temple in bodh gaya.
According to Buddhist
tradition 2,500 years ago
a man named siddhartha
gautama came to the
realization that the
human mind had
immense untapped powers.
In doing so he founded an
entirely new religion,
buddhism, and tradition
says he did it right here
under this tree.
I want to understand what
Buddhists believe
happened to siddhartha as
he sat under the tree.
Tibetan monk losang tenpa has
promised to help me find out.
Losang: So.
Morgan Freeman:
Glad to be here.
Losang: I'm glad
you could come.
Morgan Freeman: Oh me too.
Losang: So this is our
holy spot where the
Buddha obtained awakening.
Morgan Freeman: Losang tells
me he'll get me to understand
the miracle of the Buddha's
enlightenment,
and he will do it by
challenging my mind
to get me to see
the light myself.
Losang: So what
do you know about?
Morgan Freeman:
Siddhartha, I mean.
Losang: What do they
teach you in America?
Morgan Freeman: I learned
that he was of noble birth,
and he grew up very,
very sheltered,
and then one day he wondered
out of the compound.
Losang: That's right.
Morgan Freeman: And began to
see life as it really was.
Losang: Why did he do that?
Morgan Freeman: That's
the question you're
going to answer.
Losang: Well how would you
like it if your father
had decided as soon as you
were born that this
baby of mine's gonna
be the king?
So I've got to keep him in
this palace surrounded by
beautiful sense objects,
flowers that never drooped,
beautiful young ladies
who never look old.
Morgan Freeman:
Sounds perfect.
Losang: Isn't that perfect
yeah, but this guy wasn't
satisfied with that.
Buddha left
the palace, right?
Morgan Freeman: Yes.
Losang: And do you know what
he saw when he left the palace?
Morgan Freeman: Well as I
understand it he saw suffering.
He saw real life.
Losang: And what for?
Morgan Freeman: Well there
were old people, cripples.
Losang: Yeah.
Morgan Freeman: Beggars.
Losang: Yeah.
Morgan Freeman: People
who had nothing,
people who were hungry.
Yeah it's like an eye opener,
it's like a wow.
Losang: He saw death.
Morgan Freeman: Yeah.
Losang: His father didn't
want him to see death.
He made him think so strongly,
he felt I've got to
leave this place and find out
what is the cause of this.
Why do people suffer?
Morgan Freeman: Siddhartha
roamed for six years
seeking to understand the
cause of suffering.
Until he finally came to the
shade of a ficus tree,
and decided that he would
stay right on that spot,
focusing his mind, until
he discovered how
to end human suffering.
After sitting motionless
for an entire night,
siddhartha achieved a
mental transformation.
Buddhists say he became the
Buddha, the enlightened one.
Losang: He taught us, he
said you know what a good
doctor would tell a patient,
"man you're sick, you're sick,
you're suffering, you know,
you have a problem."
Second, I know the cause,
basically craving attachment.
Morgan Freeman: The Buddha
realized that by letting
go of his desires and
his attachment
to the material world,
he could rid himself
of suffering.
But the Buddha and for
generations of Buddhists
after him, this freedom from
attachment seems to
allow a remarkable perhaps
even miraculous mental
and physical focus.
Losang: You know he was so
grateful to this tree under
which he'd sat and achieved
this amazing realization,
he sat in this are for seven
weeks and for one of those
weeks just gazing,
unwinkingly they say.
Morgan Freeman: Unmoving and
unblinking for seven days.
Losang: It's
possible, why not?
We haven't exercised
our minds.
We're so busy with
external things,
buying and selling, and
doing all the things.
Morgan Freeman: We've
never actually seen
a yogi in action.
Losang: Well in a sense
it's an amazing thing
but you and I can do it.
Morgan Freeman: For Buddhists
years of mental training
and showing love and
compassion to others
can free them from
suffering.
Walking around this
temple you feel like a
miracle really could happen.
The miracle of people being
content with their lives.
People getting
along together.
Losang: Do you want to
just come and
see how a Tibetan llama
teaches western students?
Morgan Freeman: Sure.
Tibetan lama: How are you?
Morgan Freeman: I am
well, how are you sir?
Tibetan lama: I'm very
good, I saw your movie.
Morgan Freeman: Oh
you did, which one?
Tibetan lama: I don't know.
Morgan Freeman: Who
else likes my movie?
Bravo.
Tibetan lama: Shortcut we
all need to care and
love and respect
each other.
That is the source
of happiness.
Whoever had that their
journey's good.
Whoever not keep this in their
heart, journey's not good.
Thank you, from today
you are my friend.
Okay.
Morgan Freeman: I like you.
Tibetan lama: I like you.
Morgan Freeman: So a lot
of religions are pretty
much miracle based.
I mean christianity,
judaism.
Losang: Right.
Morgan Freeman: Really.
Losang: Right.
Morgan Freeman: You
don't do miracles?
Losang: What's a miracle?
I mean flying in the
sky is that a miracle?
Morgan Freeman: It
is, it is, it is.
Losang: Birds do it,
birds do it.
Morgan Freeman: But we
normally think of miracles
as some sort of divine thing,
something that gives us proof of
god or something, you know.
Losang: Okay so that we
could ask where is god?
We ask the mystics or
the yogi's were is god?
They'll point here, they
won't point up there.
They'll say it's in here.
So then if you're being
inspired by your inner god,
Buddha, Christ, you know,
Christian or whatever
you want to call it,
maybe then you can perform
what's called a miracle.
What does this world
need the most?
It needs healing, right, love,
it needs reconciliation.
I think that's a miracle, and
that's the miracle we need.
We don't need people levitating
three inches off
their butts, you know, while
meditating that's stupid.
Morgan Freeman: Right.
Losang: So let's stick to
the real miracle which
is to transform the
human mind really.
Morgan Freeman: Alright, you
know what you did there?
Losang: What?
Morgan Freeman: Solved
the problem of miracles.
Losang: Thank you, walk on.
Morgan Freeman: You're
alright in my book.
It's ironic that a man who
wanted us to tap
into the power that we all
have within ourselves,
is thought of as some sort
of divine being.
The point of buddhism
as far as I can see,
is to teach us that we're
all capable of much
more than we might
believe we are,
if we just concentrate on it,
just put our minds to it.
I used to struggle to make
sense of miracle stories.
How oceans could be parted.
How it was possible
to walk on water.
But I think I was
missing the point.
To believe in miracles is
to believe there is more
to life than meets the eye.
To accept there could be
something that connects us,
unites us.
So many souls pass
through this world,
and as our paths cross
miraculous things can
and do happen.
People get the breaks
they always wanted,
people inspire one another,
people fall in love.
And whether these events
are orchestrated
by the hand of god,
the power of the mind,
or just a one in a
million chance,
I believe we should
believe in miracles.
Because miracles however
you define them help us to,
well they give us hope.
They drive us to create
reality out of possibility.