"♪ ♪" "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." " Synchronized and corrected by kakanew " "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." " Synchronized and corrected by kakanew "