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WILLIAM SHATNER:
Ancient practices

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used to ward off evil spirits.

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A community celebration,
in which the guests of honor

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are all dead.

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And an oppressive drought
that was ended

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by the power of prayer.

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Throughout human history,

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diverse cultures
have all used sacred rituals

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to express profound
spiritual beliefs.

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And while some
ceremonial practices

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may appear strange at times,

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there are many rituals
that are thought

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to unlock incredible powers.

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Is it possible that performing
certain acts can, in fact,

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connect us
to a higher plane of existence?

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Well, that is what
we will try and find out.

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♪

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SHATNER: It is home
to one of the world’s

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largest religious structures,
the Grand Mosque.

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In the center courtyard
of this immense edifice

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stands a 43-foot-tall
granite cube

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known as the Kaaba,
the House of God.

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Five times a day, every day,

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almost two billion Muslims
across the world

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turn and pray towards
this striking black monument,

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the holiest and most
sacred site in all of Islam.

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Why?

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Because embedded
in the eastern corner

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of the shrine is perhaps
the most sacred stone

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in all the world,

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the Black Stone of Mecca.

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For the world’s
1.8 billion Muslims,

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this stone is crucial.

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When Muslims face
in the direction of Mecca,

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they face in the direction
of that stone.

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ANDREW COLLINS: This object,
as simple as it might be,

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is of incredible significance
to the Muslim faith,

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because it is said to have
fallen from heaven

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at the commands of Allah

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at the time of Adam and Eve.

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And it was said to have
marked the position

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of the first temple,

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which obviously,
becomes Mecca itself.

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HUSSAIN:
Then the story is that stone

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gets lost during the flood,

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because Muslims have
the same flood story

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that Jews do
from the Hebrew Bible.

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Then that stone for Muslims
is rediscovered by Abraham.

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So, Abraham,
with his son Ishmael,

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build in Mecca
the first place of prayer.

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That’s why Mecca
is important to Muslims,

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is this is the first place
of prayer to the one God.

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Over time, it gets worn away,
the building gets rebuilt.

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In 605, the prophet
Muhammad himself

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is the one that places
that stone in its place.

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That’s part
of what gives it power.

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SHATNER:
Each year, millions of Muslims
make a pilgrimage

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or hajj, to the Kaaba.

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Once there, visitors take part
in a series of rituals

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called Tawaf,

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which includes circling
the Kaaba seven times

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in the belief that it will
bring about true humility

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by linking them with God.

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The Black Stone

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is, therefore,
one of the focal points

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of the Hajj ceremony

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that every Muslim
certainly tries to achieve

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during their lifetime,
and they will then enter

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the central court of Mecca
and, if possible,

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try to kiss the Black Stone
in emulation of Muhammad,

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who was said to have
set it up in this position

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in the year 605 AD.

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This is the most
mystical encounter

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with any material object

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that a loyal Muslim
can possibly have.

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They’re in such
a hypnotic state,

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such a transcendent state,

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and they use
the corner of the building

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to make sure it’s seven times,

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to have the full effect
of the ritual activity.

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With Muslims in Mecca,
the Black Stone has the power

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to communicate with people.

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I mean, literally
talk with people.

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There’s two million people
nowadays

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that make that pilgrimage.

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You might get trampled,
and unfortunately,

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there have been people
who have been trampled to death.

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But that’s so important

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that it connects you back
to the historic past.

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The Black Stone
is a major material focus,

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the most sacred object

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in one of the world’s
most major religions,

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and it also was sacred
to other people.

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HUSSAIN:
So, people who are outside
the Islamic tradition

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may risk their lives
to travel to see this.

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And if they’re found out,
they may well be killed.

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You have
these accounts of people

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like Captain Richard
Francis Burton,

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one of these famous explorers,

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who disguises himself
as a Muslim.

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There’s a power there
for him to see the ritual,

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to see the stone,
to handle this thing.

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Richard Francis Burton
goes in, sees this,

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is able to come back out
and writes about this.

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So, you can see from him
the importance of this place,

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because the connection
to the biblical prophets.

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THOMPSON:
Certainly, the stories

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that have been built around it
really pull people in.

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And some people suggest
that maybe it’s something

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in the stone itself, uh,
that pulls people in.

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SHATNER:
The stone itself
pulling people in?

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But how?

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For the millions,
if not billions of Muslims

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who have made their pilgrimage
to the Kaaba,

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there’s no doubt
that the Black Stone

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has an inexorable power

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that seems to draw them
into its orbit.

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And according to some experts,

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that’s because the Black Stone
is not of this world.

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Muslims believe that this
was sent down by God to Earth.

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If we’re scientific,
we may call that a meteorite.

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If we’re not scientific,
we may call that miraculous.

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You know, here’s this stone
that comes from the heavens.

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AARON CELESTIAN:
When a meteorite hits the Earth
and somebody witnessed the fall

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and-and they were
to go to that location,

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there’s a variety of things
that they might be able to find.

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If the stone falls
in a sandy area, for example,

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there might be a lot of heat
associated with the meteorite

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as it falls,
and that could cause

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a fusion of the sand to cause
some kind of glass to form.

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And so, when you walk up
onto it, you might find

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some interesting new features

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that you probably
wouldn’t have seen

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in that particular part
of the-the world before.

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Meteorites arrive
from outer space

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being exposed to cosmic rays,
they’re slightly radioactive.

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To people not exposed
to electromagnetic radiation,

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they might have been able
to even feel that buzz

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from this rock,
from the radiation.

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Beta particles especially.

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You know, whether you believe
it was sent by God

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or whether you believe
it was a random act,

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it has literally
extraterrestrial origins.

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And so, that creates
a real power there.

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SHATNER:
Could the Black Stone
of Mecca really have the power

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to physically affect people
who come near it?

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Well, the truth is,
we may never know for sure.

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Because no one has ever
been officially allowed

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to inspect or analyze it.

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So, there are a lot of exciting
and interesting questions

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about the Black Stone.

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I think the first initial one
is, is it actually a meteorite?

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A lot of people propose that
and there’s some evidence,

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particularly from a local impact
crater, that it came from there.

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And is there some sort of
radiation energy that it emits

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or is coming from it that
we just don’t understand yet?

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So it would be really amazing
to have the opportunity

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to analyze the Black Stone.

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There are obviously challenges,

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both sort of social
as well as scientific.

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It’s in the Muslim world,
it’s in a very sacred place,

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it’s a very sacred stone.

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So bringing in scientists
and doing careful analyses

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have those social challenges,
and would be difficult.

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HUSSAIN:
Even if you don’t believe,

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as a Muslim,
that this comes from God,

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and has
this religious significance,

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you understand the power
of this object

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that, for at least 1,400 years,

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Muslims have been circling
as they do their prayers.

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There’s a tremendous
power there.

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We want to touch that.

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It’s profound to see
the massive crowds of people

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walking around
a mysterious stone

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that they believe
connects them to a higher power.

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And for people of all faiths,

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making contact
with the spiritual world

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is often achieved by using
the simplest of rituals:

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the practice of prayer.

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SHATNER:
Here, in what is known
as the Holy Land,

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the average temperature
is almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit,

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and water
is a precious commodity.

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But this is no average year.

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It’s been almost five years

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since more than
a few drops of rain

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fell upon Israel’s
thirsty sands,

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and the people
are beginning to panic.

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TZADOK:
The spring season
in the Middle East

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is the time
for the rains to come.

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As such,
if the rains are not there,

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you don’t have your agriculture,

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which is a life and death
type of experience.

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Even in modern times, with
all of our modern technology,

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rain makes the crops grow.

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No crops, no food.
No food, no life.

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So, when we have a drought,

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this creates crisis.

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SHATNER:
Israel is one of the wealthiest

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and most technologically
advanced countries in the world.

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It is also
one of the most religious.

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So when facing its worst drought
in close to 100 years,

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with the fate of the entire
country hanging in the balance,

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what is their solution?

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Prayer.

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TZADOK:
In our Judaic tradition,

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we have had
a long-standing history

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that when there is drought,
the chief rabbi of the country

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can call the entire nation
to prayer,

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and you can have
a gathering in Jerusalem

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of literally thousands or tens
of thousands of minds, souls,

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that will come together and pour
out their collective energy,

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calling upon God in heaven
to literally manipulate

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the forces of nature
and bring rain.

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THOMPSON:
In 2018, Israel was
in a major drought.

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And this was really beginning
to cause problems.

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At this point, uh,
Chief Rabbi David Lau

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organized a massive ritual,

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put out a call
for believers to come

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to one of the most sacred sites
in Judaism, the Wailing Wall.

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They went to the Wailing Wall,
and you had thousands of Jews

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praying for rain to come.

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(all praying)

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TZADOK:
When the individual
Torah-observant Jewish man

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wraps himself
in his tallit prayer shawl

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and puts on
the boxes of the tefillin,

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he creates for himself
a psychic bubble of energy

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which unites
the individual mind and heart

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with the collective power
of the word of God,

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literally materialized
before him in the form

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of the fringes
of the prayer shawl,

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and literally in the form
of the scrolls

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that are upon his arm
next to his heart

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and on his head
close to his mind.

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SHATNER:
It is one thing for us
to believe the ritual of prayer

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has the ability
to affect our world.

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But can the act of praying

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actually connect us
to a higher power?

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A ritual is a very predictable
sequence of-of events.

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The interesting thing is,
if you have two things,

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you have a boundary
between them.

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And prayer and prayer rituals
might be a way

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of influencing that boundary
between the physical

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and the non-physical,
in a way that the non-physical

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then interacts again
with the physical world.

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SHATNER:
To those more secular
and cynical-minded,

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praying is a rather quaint
if not irrelevant pastime.

247
00:13:38,651 --> 00:13:43,241
There’s no reason
it should work, right?

248
00:13:44,782 --> 00:13:49,542
Except that in the case of
ending Israel’s drought in 2018,

249
00:13:49,662 --> 00:13:53,542
many believe it did.

250
00:13:53,624 --> 00:13:55,924
(thunder rumbles)

251
00:14:16,731 --> 00:14:19,611
HUSSAIN:
You can say that
it’s just simply correlation.

252
00:14:19,734 --> 00:14:21,574
Yes, you prayed and yes,
three days later,

253
00:14:21,694 --> 00:14:24,414
there was rain, but the one
thing didn’t cause the other.

254
00:14:24,530 --> 00:14:27,410
I mean,
that’s the scientific approach.

255
00:14:27,492 --> 00:14:29,082
The religious approach is
a little bit different to say,

256
00:14:29,202 --> 00:14:31,752
"Well, maybe we did, maybe
we did influence, uh, this.

257
00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:35,999
Maybe God listened
to these prayers."

258
00:14:41,214 --> 00:14:43,054
TZADOK:
In Judaism, there are rituals

259
00:14:43,132 --> 00:14:47,142
that augment
the power of the individual.

260
00:14:47,261 --> 00:14:51,101
The passion, the desire,
the thought, the idea.

261
00:14:51,224 --> 00:14:54,394
Creating, if you will,
a psychic field,

262
00:14:54,477 --> 00:15:01,277
which combines to give
great psychic spiritual energy

263
00:15:01,359 --> 00:15:04,779
for the fulfillment of that
which the individuals seek.

264
00:15:04,862 --> 00:15:08,162
But when we come together
as a collective,

265
00:15:08,282 --> 00:15:13,542
we find that it does have
the power to influence change.

266
00:15:13,621 --> 00:15:18,381
They prayed for rain,
and the prayers were answered.

267
00:15:21,671 --> 00:15:25,051
Were the prayers of Israel
answered by God?

268
00:15:25,133 --> 00:15:28,303
Or was the rainfall
simply a coincidence?

269
00:15:28,386 --> 00:15:32,596
It would seem the answer
is a matter of faith.

270
00:15:33,266 --> 00:15:34,806
But not all sacred rituals

271
00:15:34,892 --> 00:15:37,192
involve the fate
of millions of people.

272
00:15:37,311 --> 00:15:39,191
Some are thought
to have an effect

273
00:15:39,313 --> 00:15:41,193
on the life of a single person,

274
00:15:41,315 --> 00:15:55,905
such as the ancient
healing practice of voodoo.

275
00:15:55,997 --> 00:15:58,207
SHATNER:
32-year-old author Julia Buckley

276
00:15:58,332 --> 00:16:02,422
is writing in her office
when she experiences a pain

277
00:16:02,503 --> 00:16:05,593
unlike any she has
ever felt before.

278
00:16:05,673 --> 00:16:09,643
I was just at my desk
one day at work, typing away,

279
00:16:09,719 --> 00:16:12,679
um, reached out
for a cup of coffee,

280
00:16:12,805 --> 00:16:17,265
and suddenly, it was as if
my right arm was on fire,

281
00:16:17,351 --> 00:16:19,441
as if someone
had laid out fireworks

282
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,770
all the way from my fingers
up to my armpit,

283
00:16:22,857 --> 00:16:24,187
and across to my neck.

284
00:16:24,317 --> 00:16:27,107
I was really pretty
disabled by the pain,

285
00:16:27,195 --> 00:16:31,375
’cause it was getting worse
day by day, week by week.

286
00:16:31,449 --> 00:16:35,579
I couldn’t do anything
with this right arm at all.

287
00:16:35,703 --> 00:16:39,713
I saw three general doctors,
I saw eight specialists.

288
00:16:39,832 --> 00:16:43,632
I was doing everything
that I was told to do.

289
00:16:43,711 --> 00:16:49,431
So after two years, I was
completely at my wit’s end.

290
00:16:49,550 --> 00:16:53,050
So I was pretty desperate
and in quite a dark place.

291
00:16:53,137 --> 00:16:55,887
SHATNER:
With her life
virtually in shambles,

292
00:16:56,015 --> 00:16:58,095
Julia was willing
to try anything.

293
00:16:58,226 --> 00:17:01,016
Turning away
from conventional medicine,

294
00:17:01,103 --> 00:17:03,563
she began to investigate
alternatives,

295
00:17:03,689 --> 00:17:09,609
and this led her down
a, shall we say, unusual path.

296
00:17:09,737 --> 00:17:12,027
Voodoo healing.

297
00:17:12,114 --> 00:17:15,954
And I was reading
a book about voodoo.

298
00:17:16,077 --> 00:17:18,157
And reading it, I hadn’t
seen anything like it

299
00:17:18,246 --> 00:17:19,956
in any of the other research
that I’d done.

300
00:17:20,081 --> 00:17:23,831
I just got this impression
that the voodoo priests

301
00:17:23,918 --> 00:17:28,208
were probably the people
who had the most kind of grasp

302
00:17:28,297 --> 00:17:30,717
of the mind-body relationship.

303
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,890
And I just thought, if anyone’s
gonna be able to help me,

304
00:17:33,970 --> 00:17:35,850
it’s gonna be someone in Haiti.

305
00:17:37,431 --> 00:17:39,681
SHATNER:
Still fighting
debilitating pain,

306
00:17:39,767 --> 00:17:41,847
Julia Buckley flew to Haiti,

307
00:17:41,936 --> 00:17:45,606
and, once there, arranged
to meet with Richard Morse,

308
00:17:45,690 --> 00:17:48,190
a voodoo practitioner.

309
00:17:48,276 --> 00:17:51,026
BUCKLEY:
I’d actually read interviews
and knew

310
00:17:51,112 --> 00:17:55,702
that he was a voodoo priest
as well as a hotel owner,

311
00:17:55,783 --> 00:17:57,703
and so I’d already thought,
"Oh, I need to try and ask him

312
00:17:57,785 --> 00:18:00,035
whether he can,
he can do anything for me."

313
00:18:00,121 --> 00:18:03,621
So, I checked in
to the hotel, met him,

314
00:18:03,749 --> 00:18:05,789
and then we started
talking about voodoo

315
00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:08,296
and its capacity for healing.

316
00:18:08,379 --> 00:18:10,549
And so, I told him
exactly why I was there,

317
00:18:10,631 --> 00:18:12,931
and I just said,
"Can you help me?"

318
00:18:13,009 --> 00:18:16,469
I think he said, "Are you--
are you sure you want this?"

319
00:18:16,554 --> 00:18:19,474
And I was like, "Absolutely."

320
00:18:20,308 --> 00:18:21,768
MORSE:
No one taught me how to do this.

321
00:18:21,851 --> 00:18:24,481
I didn’t go to school
to do this.

322
00:18:24,562 --> 00:18:27,902
But I have a c-certain capacity

323
00:18:27,982 --> 00:18:30,482
for something of this sort.

324
00:18:31,694 --> 00:18:34,494
My mom was a voodoo priestess,

325
00:18:34,572 --> 00:18:37,872
and my father’s family
goes back to the Puritans.

326
00:18:37,992 --> 00:18:40,242
I like to call my thing
"puritan voodoo,"

327
00:18:40,328 --> 00:18:42,658
because I’m a mix.

328
00:18:43,706 --> 00:18:45,496
SHATNER:
After learning
about her symptoms,

329
00:18:45,583 --> 00:18:47,463
Morse led her into a dark room,

330
00:18:47,543 --> 00:18:49,923
one meant to summon spirits

331
00:18:50,004 --> 00:18:53,224
and extract
whatever was harming her.

332
00:18:53,341 --> 00:18:58,101
BUCKLEY:
There were candles and bottles
all around the room.

333
00:18:58,179 --> 00:19:00,429
There were strips of cloth,

334
00:19:00,514 --> 00:19:02,314
different-colored cloths,
that now I know represent

335
00:19:02,391 --> 00:19:05,061
the different loa, all the
spirits, all around the room.

336
00:19:05,186 --> 00:19:07,516
There were
these terra-cotta pots

337
00:19:07,605 --> 00:19:10,615
that he said were filled
with the souls of the dead.

338
00:19:10,691 --> 00:19:12,151
And there were
these little bottles

339
00:19:12,234 --> 00:19:14,284
of what I found out afterwards
were holy water

340
00:19:14,362 --> 00:19:17,282
brought from shrines
all over the rest of the world.

341
00:19:18,532 --> 00:19:20,282
He went around me
a couple of times.

342
00:19:20,368 --> 00:19:22,368
Then he stopped
at the back of my neck

343
00:19:22,453 --> 00:19:27,543
and started feeling
from the bottom of my skull

344
00:19:27,625 --> 00:19:29,465
down to my neck.

345
00:19:29,543 --> 00:19:31,503
Kind of pressing on it,
almost like what a chiropractor

346
00:19:31,587 --> 00:19:35,667
might do before they
really start going for it.

347
00:19:36,384 --> 00:19:39,804
I was scared, because that’s
where all my problems were

348
00:19:39,887 --> 00:19:41,967
and I didn’t want him to hurt me
and I didn’t want my neck

349
00:19:42,056 --> 00:19:43,926
to be cracked
or anything like that.

350
00:19:44,058 --> 00:19:45,308
I was terrified.

351
00:19:45,726 --> 00:19:49,306
He told me that he had found

352
00:19:49,397 --> 00:19:52,647
a demon in the shape
of a black cat on my neck.

353
00:19:52,733 --> 00:19:56,743
So when he had been dragging
his fingers down my neck,

354
00:19:56,862 --> 00:19:58,202
he was literally picking up

355
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,740
and detaching this black cat.

356
00:20:00,825 --> 00:20:02,875
He said he didn’t know
how I’d got it,

357
00:20:02,952 --> 00:20:04,582
when I’d got it
or how long it had been there,

358
00:20:04,662 --> 00:20:06,752
but he said it was nasty and...

359
00:20:06,831 --> 00:20:08,541
that he’d got rid of it.

360
00:20:09,667 --> 00:20:11,877
It was only when I got
to the airport,

361
00:20:11,961 --> 00:20:13,751
decided I needed a cup of coffee

362
00:20:13,838 --> 00:20:16,548
and jumped up the stairs
to the coffee bar

363
00:20:16,632 --> 00:20:18,722
carrying
my little carry-on suitcase.

364
00:20:18,801 --> 00:20:20,551
I was standing with the coffee,

365
00:20:20,636 --> 00:20:22,006
and I kind of looked down
and thought,

366
00:20:22,096 --> 00:20:23,556
"Hang on,
I can’t normally do that."

367
00:20:23,639 --> 00:20:25,309
And I checked in with my body
and I realized,

368
00:20:25,433 --> 00:20:28,193
"Actually,
nowhere is hurting right now.

369
00:20:28,269 --> 00:20:29,519
This is really strange."

370
00:20:29,603 --> 00:20:33,443
It was the first time
in nearly three years

371
00:20:33,566 --> 00:20:35,776
that I hadn’t been in pain.

372
00:20:35,860 --> 00:20:38,820
SHATNER:
As far as Julia Buckley
was concerned,

373
00:20:38,946 --> 00:20:40,026
voodoo had worked

374
00:20:40,114 --> 00:20:43,624
after everything else
had failed.

375
00:20:43,701 --> 00:20:45,081
But how?

376
00:20:45,161 --> 00:20:47,541
THOMPSON:
Voodoo is a fabulously
interesting tradition.

377
00:20:47,621 --> 00:20:49,251
We see it in the Caribbean,

378
00:20:49,331 --> 00:20:50,711
primarily, perhaps, in Haiti,

379
00:20:50,791 --> 00:20:52,081
although certainly
in other places

380
00:20:52,168 --> 00:20:53,588
around the Caribbean as well.

381
00:20:54,378 --> 00:20:56,588
It’s a part
of a much larger assemblage

382
00:20:56,672 --> 00:20:59,422
of religions
with a shared sort of worldview.

383
00:20:59,508 --> 00:21:01,968
This traces back to West Africa,

384
00:21:02,052 --> 00:21:03,892
uh, and to several, uh, groups

385
00:21:03,971 --> 00:21:05,761
and several different religions
there.

386
00:21:05,848 --> 00:21:08,308
The West African
religious tradition, uh,

387
00:21:08,392 --> 00:21:09,982
was brought over
via the slave trade

388
00:21:10,060 --> 00:21:12,150
to the Caribbean,
to the Southern United States,

389
00:21:12,229 --> 00:21:14,689
where it flourished
and took on different forms

390
00:21:14,815 --> 00:21:19,315
and blended somewhat easily
with the Catholic faith.

391
00:21:25,159 --> 00:21:29,199
You can call it God
or you can call it, uh,

392
00:21:29,330 --> 00:21:32,000
how you... how you want...

393
00:21:40,508 --> 00:21:42,798
(singing)

394
00:22:00,986 --> 00:22:02,566
SHATNER:
Perhaps one of the reasons

395
00:22:02,696 --> 00:22:05,776
voodoo’s followers believe
in its incredible power

396
00:22:05,866 --> 00:22:10,036
is because they know
it not only can be used to heal

397
00:22:10,162 --> 00:22:12,122
but also to harm.

398
00:22:12,915 --> 00:22:14,965
We hear this phrase, uh,
"voodoo death," you know,

399
00:22:15,042 --> 00:22:16,632
that people
may have cast a spell

400
00:22:16,710 --> 00:22:18,050
or done some kind of ritual

401
00:22:18,128 --> 00:22:20,128
that causes the death
of other person.

402
00:22:21,173 --> 00:22:23,843
And if we’re scientific, well,
that’s ridiculous. That has

403
00:22:23,926 --> 00:22:25,506
no causal relationship here.

404
00:22:25,594 --> 00:22:26,894
But if we dig a little deeper,

405
00:22:26,971 --> 00:22:29,011
there have been cases
of voodoo deaths

406
00:22:29,098 --> 00:22:31,848
where someone has said something
or done something

407
00:22:31,934 --> 00:22:34,694
that literally affects
another person.

408
00:22:35,396 --> 00:22:37,856
NICK HOBSON: Most scientists,
doctors or researchers

409
00:22:37,940 --> 00:22:40,110
would just call it an anomaly.

410
00:22:40,234 --> 00:22:42,654
A physical
or psychological anomaly

411
00:22:42,736 --> 00:22:45,986
that we can’t quite explain

412
00:22:46,073 --> 00:22:49,583
with the data or the information
that are presented before us.

413
00:22:50,411 --> 00:22:52,041
BUCKLEY:
I think there’s a lot of value

414
00:22:52,121 --> 00:22:54,751
in things being unexplained.

415
00:22:54,832 --> 00:22:56,502
Something like voodoo,

416
00:22:56,584 --> 00:23:00,174
you’re never gonna be able to
have the proof of what happened.

417
00:23:00,254 --> 00:23:02,514
I don’t know what happened
in that room, and I was there.

418
00:23:02,590 --> 00:23:04,930
♪

419
00:23:07,636 --> 00:23:10,886
Can voodoo healing practices
involving candles,

420
00:23:10,973 --> 00:23:13,563
pieces of cloth and holy water

421
00:23:13,642 --> 00:23:19,402
cure ailments that modern
medicine can’t even diagnose?

422
00:23:20,441 --> 00:23:21,821
It’s an intriguing idea.

423
00:23:21,942 --> 00:23:24,782
And the truth is that,
throughout history,

424
00:23:24,862 --> 00:23:27,532
many seemingly ordinary objects

425
00:23:27,615 --> 00:23:29,875
have been used
in mystical rituals.

426
00:23:29,950 --> 00:23:31,870
For instance, there’s a stone

427
00:23:31,952 --> 00:23:33,582
that plays an important role

428
00:23:33,662 --> 00:23:46,432
in the coronation
of England’s kings and queens.

429
00:23:46,508 --> 00:23:48,428
SHATNER:
Here on Saint Andrew’s Day,

430
00:23:48,510 --> 00:23:50,720
Scotland’s
official national holiday,

431
00:23:50,804 --> 00:23:54,524
a long-awaited ceremony
is finally taking place.

432
00:23:54,642 --> 00:23:57,812
The occasion
will finally see the return,

433
00:23:57,937 --> 00:23:59,227
after more than 700 years,

434
00:23:59,313 --> 00:24:02,073
of one of Scotland’s
most important artifacts--

435
00:24:02,149 --> 00:24:05,439
a roughly two-by-one-foot
sandstone block

436
00:24:05,527 --> 00:24:08,027
weighing 335 pounds

437
00:24:08,155 --> 00:24:10,985
called the Stone of Scone.

438
00:24:11,075 --> 00:24:14,165
Or as it’s known
according to legend,

439
00:24:14,244 --> 00:24:16,834
the Stone of Destiny.

440
00:24:16,914 --> 00:24:19,254
THOMPSON:
The stone itself
is just a stone,

441
00:24:19,333 --> 00:24:21,253
uh, somewhat
unremarkable-looking.

442
00:24:21,335 --> 00:24:24,845
And yet the stories of that
stone have been so powerful,

443
00:24:24,964 --> 00:24:26,384
reflecting so many wars

444
00:24:26,507 --> 00:24:31,427
and-and contests between nations
for hundreds of years.

445
00:24:31,512 --> 00:24:34,392
And another fascinating aspect
of this is that we know

446
00:24:34,515 --> 00:24:37,185
that this stone was
religiously important.

447
00:24:37,267 --> 00:24:41,267
The Stone of Scone has really
interesting religious roots.

448
00:24:41,355 --> 00:24:44,025
And this goes back
to the biblical tradition.

449
00:24:44,108 --> 00:24:47,278
The patriarch Jacob
in the Book of Genesis

450
00:24:47,361 --> 00:24:50,951
has this dream
at this place called Beit El,

451
00:24:51,031 --> 00:24:52,621
literally "the house of God."

452
00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:57,160
He’s sleeping and he uses stones
to rest his head on.

453
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,830
There’s a tradition that says
Jeremiah, a later prophet,

454
00:25:00,916 --> 00:25:03,076
takes this stone to Ireland.

455
00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:07,010
The stone then finds its way
to Scotland.

456
00:25:08,257 --> 00:25:11,337
SHATNER:
In 840 AD, a nobleman
named Kenneth MacAlpin

457
00:25:11,427 --> 00:25:15,637
brought the sandstone slab
to the medieval town of Scone.

458
00:25:15,723 --> 00:25:18,233
According to Scottish legend,
it was the stone itself

459
00:25:18,308 --> 00:25:20,518
that proclaimed him "Kenneth I,"

460
00:25:20,602 --> 00:25:23,402
the original king of Scotland.

461
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,070
According to the stories, uh,

462
00:25:25,190 --> 00:25:27,730
when the rightful ruler would
place their foot on the stone,

463
00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:30,200
the stone would speak out
and proclaim them

464
00:25:30,279 --> 00:25:32,359
as the rightful ruler
of the land.

465
00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:39,245
HUSSAIN:
It’s used in Scottish rituals
as a way of coronation.

466
00:25:39,997 --> 00:25:42,577
It’s this stone
that is really key,

467
00:25:42,666 --> 00:25:45,206
and the idea here
is that the monarch

468
00:25:45,294 --> 00:25:48,054
isn’t just selected
by the people--

469
00:25:48,130 --> 00:25:51,340
God has chosen the monarch.

470
00:25:52,593 --> 00:25:55,263
SHATNER:
For centuries, the Stone
of Destiny was considered

471
00:25:55,345 --> 00:25:58,515
not only one of the greatest
treasures in all of Scotland

472
00:25:58,599 --> 00:26:00,479
but also a legitimate means

473
00:26:00,601 --> 00:26:02,851
by which someone
could rule the country.

474
00:26:02,936 --> 00:26:05,356
Which is why, in 1296,

475
00:26:05,439 --> 00:26:08,439
the English monarch Edward I
wanted it

476
00:26:08,525 --> 00:26:12,315
and the Scottish throne
for himself.

477
00:26:12,446 --> 00:26:15,156
In the 13th century,
the English come in

478
00:26:15,282 --> 00:26:16,912
-and conquer.
-(horse neighs)

479
00:26:16,992 --> 00:26:19,162
We always talk about conquerors
taking out valuable objects,

480
00:26:19,286 --> 00:26:22,536
and we think of gold,
diamonds, jewels.

481
00:26:22,623 --> 00:26:23,963
We don’t think about stones.

482
00:26:24,041 --> 00:26:25,501
But what’s one of
the first things that they take?

483
00:26:25,626 --> 00:26:28,586
Well, they take this stone,
the Stone of Destiny.

484
00:26:28,670 --> 00:26:31,720
YOUNG:
The reason Edward I
took the stone

485
00:26:31,799 --> 00:26:33,719
was to demoralize the Scots.

486
00:26:33,801 --> 00:26:35,971
This was the treasure
of Scotland.

487
00:26:36,095 --> 00:26:38,105
This was the center
of their power system.

488
00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:42,020
And now he controlled it and had
himself crowned on this stone

489
00:26:42,142 --> 00:26:45,192
and then could declare
that he was not only the king

490
00:26:45,312 --> 00:26:48,862
of the English but the king
of the Scots as well.

491
00:26:49,817 --> 00:26:52,487
COLLINS:
It was placed
in Westminster Abbey

492
00:26:52,569 --> 00:26:58,369
beneath a coronation chair
known as Edward’s Seat.

493
00:26:58,492 --> 00:26:59,872
And thereafter

494
00:26:59,993 --> 00:27:05,503
it was used in the coronations
of all English rulers.

495
00:27:06,708 --> 00:27:08,788
HUSSAIN:
Edward basically builds it
into a chair.

496
00:27:08,877 --> 00:27:10,207
Covers it over with-with wood

497
00:27:10,337 --> 00:27:12,337
and it becomes a throne,
essentially.

498
00:27:12,464 --> 00:27:16,474
But the idea is that the power
comes from this stone,

499
00:27:16,552 --> 00:27:18,092
the Stone of Destiny.

500
00:27:18,178 --> 00:27:19,548
SHATNER:
Destiny--

501
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,770
the idea that the course
of one’s entire life

502
00:27:22,850 --> 00:27:27,650
has been predetermined by a
power beyond our understanding.

503
00:27:27,729 --> 00:27:28,939
Back in the Middle Ages,

504
00:27:29,022 --> 00:27:30,732
it might make sense
that people would think

505
00:27:30,858 --> 00:27:35,648
that greatness could be bestowed
upon someone by a divine force.

506
00:27:36,488 --> 00:27:40,368
But what is it about
this unremarkable slab of rock

507
00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:43,910
that still holds
such importance today?

508
00:27:44,621 --> 00:27:46,041
We tend to think
of these rituals

509
00:27:46,123 --> 00:27:48,423
as somehow going back
to older, superstitious people,

510
00:27:48,542 --> 00:27:52,002
but the fact that the British
in the 21st century

511
00:27:52,087 --> 00:27:57,047
still will proclaim the monarch
on the throne of this stone,

512
00:27:57,134 --> 00:27:58,554
that becomes really important.

513
00:27:58,635 --> 00:28:00,925
These are not ancient,
archaic people

514
00:28:01,054 --> 00:28:02,394
who don’t know anything
about the world.

515
00:28:02,514 --> 00:28:05,894
These are modern,
21st century Brits

516
00:28:05,976 --> 00:28:07,556
who are still saying, you know,

517
00:28:07,644 --> 00:28:11,404
that we still need to be able to
show that our queen or our king

518
00:28:11,523 --> 00:28:13,533
comes from this divine,

519
00:28:13,609 --> 00:28:16,699
God has chosen this person.

520
00:28:17,613 --> 00:28:20,493
SHATNER:
Nearly every British king
or queen since the 14th century

521
00:28:20,574 --> 00:28:23,414
has been coronated
on the Stone of Destiny.

522
00:28:23,535 --> 00:28:25,155
It was last used in 1953,

523
00:28:25,245 --> 00:28:29,745
during the coronation ceremony
of Queen Elizabeth II.

524
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:32,920
But-- as a growing number
of Scottish people

525
00:28:33,003 --> 00:28:34,423
have begun to speculate--

526
00:28:34,504 --> 00:28:37,424
was Elizabeth’s coronation
legitimate?

527
00:28:37,549 --> 00:28:40,549
Because--
as many have come to believe--

528
00:28:40,636 --> 00:28:43,176
the Stone of Destiny

529
00:28:43,263 --> 00:28:45,893
may not be the real thing.

530
00:28:47,267 --> 00:28:50,397
NEWSMAN:
A Christmas Day sensation
at Westminster Abbey.

531
00:28:50,479 --> 00:28:51,649
The Stone of Destiny,

532
00:28:51,772 --> 00:28:53,062
which had been there
for some 600 years,

533
00:28:53,148 --> 00:28:55,858
was stolen
from the Coronation Chair.

534
00:28:55,943 --> 00:28:57,863
COLLINS:
In 1950,

535
00:28:57,945 --> 00:29:00,915
a group of Scottish students

536
00:29:00,989 --> 00:29:04,029
actually got
into Westminster Abbey

537
00:29:04,117 --> 00:29:06,577
and stole the Stone of Scone

538
00:29:06,662 --> 00:29:09,962
and took it back to the altar

539
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,540
of Arbroath Abbey in Scotland

540
00:29:13,627 --> 00:29:17,087
and thus giving it into the
hands of the Church of Scotland.

541
00:29:17,172 --> 00:29:22,092
The Church of Scotland then gave
the stone back to England.

542
00:29:22,177 --> 00:29:25,257
However, there is a strong rumor

543
00:29:25,347 --> 00:29:29,977
that the original stone
never reached Westminster

544
00:29:30,060 --> 00:29:35,360
a-and that the one that is there
was a fake.

545
00:29:35,482 --> 00:29:40,402
However, whether this story is
true or not, we may never know.

546
00:29:40,487 --> 00:29:43,987
SHATNER:
A fake Stone of Destiny?

547
00:29:44,074 --> 00:29:45,624
It’s an interesting claim

548
00:29:45,701 --> 00:29:47,621
but one that is
not without its problems.

549
00:29:47,703 --> 00:29:50,543
Because when the English
returned the Stone of Destiny

550
00:29:50,664 --> 00:29:51,834
to the Scots,

551
00:29:51,915 --> 00:29:53,785
they did so on one condition.

552
00:29:53,875 --> 00:29:58,165
HUSSAIN:
In 1996, when the stone
is returned back to Scotland,

553
00:29:58,297 --> 00:30:00,087
there’s an agreement
that, okay, you have it,

554
00:30:00,173 --> 00:30:03,013
but we’ll use it the next time
we coronate a monarch.

555
00:30:04,052 --> 00:30:08,062
COLLINS:
The point is
that we believe in its power.

556
00:30:08,181 --> 00:30:10,851
We believe in its potency.

557
00:30:10,934 --> 00:30:12,104
The heritage,

558
00:30:12,185 --> 00:30:13,685
the traditions,

559
00:30:13,770 --> 00:30:16,900
the history of the stone
gives it energy.

560
00:30:17,024 --> 00:30:19,154
And that’s
what’s important here.

561
00:30:19,234 --> 00:30:22,784
If people believe
strongly enough in an object,

562
00:30:22,863 --> 00:30:26,163
that can create a reality.

563
00:30:26,241 --> 00:30:28,621
♪

564
00:30:30,787 --> 00:30:34,457
King Charles III is the latest
English monarch to participate

565
00:30:34,541 --> 00:30:38,801
in the coronation ceremony
using the Stone of Destiny.

566
00:30:38,879 --> 00:30:42,299
It’s a sacred rite that
the royal family has honored

567
00:30:42,382 --> 00:30:44,052
for over 700 years.

568
00:30:44,134 --> 00:30:45,594
But half a world away,

569
00:30:45,719 --> 00:30:49,969
the Malagasy people show
reverence to their ancestors

570
00:30:50,057 --> 00:30:53,227
in an entirely different ritual,

571
00:30:53,310 --> 00:30:55,020
one that involves

572
00:30:55,103 --> 00:31:04,203
digging up the dead.

573
00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:08,069
SHATNER: On this large island
in the Indian Ocean

574
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,580
some 250 miles
off the eastern coast of Africa,

575
00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:15,753
the indigenous Malagasy people
gather every few years

576
00:31:15,874 --> 00:31:21,594
for a multigenerational
celebration known as Famadihana.

577
00:31:21,713 --> 00:31:25,383
But this party is not
a typical family get-together.

578
00:31:25,467 --> 00:31:27,257
Because the Malagasy
don’t just invite

579
00:31:27,386 --> 00:31:29,926
their living relatives
to this reunion--

580
00:31:30,055 --> 00:31:31,605
they also invite

581
00:31:31,723 --> 00:31:33,933
the dead ones.

582
00:31:34,059 --> 00:31:36,519
STEAVU: Famadihana,
or "the turning of the bones,"

583
00:31:36,603 --> 00:31:39,063
is a ritual that is performed

584
00:31:39,147 --> 00:31:41,317
usually once every five
to seven years

585
00:31:41,441 --> 00:31:45,031
in which a...
the family or the relatives

586
00:31:45,112 --> 00:31:48,742
of a deceased person
will get together from all over

587
00:31:48,824 --> 00:31:51,874
and celebrate
the life of the deceased.

588
00:31:52,744 --> 00:31:55,254
They exhume the body,
they carefully lay it out,

589
00:31:55,330 --> 00:31:58,920
they clean it and then change
the death shrouds

590
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,210
on the basis of this idea
that the living

591
00:32:02,295 --> 00:32:05,005
can intervene
on behalf of the dead

592
00:32:05,132 --> 00:32:06,802
to improve their lots

593
00:32:06,925 --> 00:32:08,795
or their level of comfort
in the afterlife.

594
00:32:08,885 --> 00:32:12,005
One part of the celebration
also involves

595
00:32:12,139 --> 00:32:14,639
basically shouldering
the bones of the deceased,

596
00:32:14,724 --> 00:32:17,694
and the turning of the bones
will take place,

597
00:32:17,811 --> 00:32:19,561
sometimes dancing with them.

598
00:32:19,646 --> 00:32:21,516
(whooping)

599
00:32:21,648 --> 00:32:23,018
Usually the ceremony concludes

600
00:32:23,150 --> 00:32:26,360
when they re-entomb
the remains of the deceased.

601
00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:30,066
But they’re not cutting off
the memory of this person

602
00:32:30,157 --> 00:32:33,237
from their lives. They will keep
them present in their lives

603
00:32:33,326 --> 00:32:34,866
until the next time
they see them,

604
00:32:34,995 --> 00:32:38,415
which is periodically
every five to seven years.

605
00:32:38,498 --> 00:32:41,378
And this is a way to really...

606
00:32:41,501 --> 00:32:45,381
reinforce the connection
between the living and the dead.

607
00:32:45,505 --> 00:32:47,215
YOUNG:
People will come to honor

608
00:32:47,340 --> 00:32:49,260
the lost ancestors, to be sure,

609
00:32:49,342 --> 00:32:52,392
but also to work
on coming to terms with death

610
00:32:52,512 --> 00:32:54,062
that hovers around our lives.

611
00:32:54,181 --> 00:32:57,851
Some cultures deal with it
more directly than others.

612
00:32:58,602 --> 00:33:00,522
And the value of this tradition

613
00:33:00,604 --> 00:33:02,734
is that it’s a different way
of thinking

614
00:33:02,856 --> 00:33:07,106
about how death ends a life but
it does not end a relationship.

615
00:33:07,194 --> 00:33:11,114
So it is lovely,
even though it’s a little eerie.

616
00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:15,078
It reminds us
the dead aren’t entirely gone.

617
00:33:15,202 --> 00:33:18,202
There are many belief systems
that suggest

618
00:33:18,330 --> 00:33:21,040
the soul is attached
to the body,

619
00:33:21,166 --> 00:33:22,916
particularly the bones,

620
00:33:23,043 --> 00:33:25,463
and that,
as long as bones exist,

621
00:33:25,545 --> 00:33:27,705
some trace presence of soul,

622
00:33:27,839 --> 00:33:30,679
the soul of the person
that lived in that body,

623
00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:32,889
will still remain
with the bones.

624
00:33:33,637 --> 00:33:35,347
SHATNER:
Could it be true that our souls

625
00:33:35,430 --> 00:33:38,310
really remain in our bones
after we die?

626
00:33:38,391 --> 00:33:41,441
While that idea
may sound far-fetched,

627
00:33:41,561 --> 00:33:44,901
there are some people around
the world who believe it’s true.

628
00:33:45,023 --> 00:33:48,403
In fact, it’s often thought
that our souls

629
00:33:48,485 --> 00:33:52,615
lie within the most recognizable
part of the human body,

630
00:33:52,739 --> 00:33:54,949
the skull.

631
00:33:59,871 --> 00:34:02,371
Each year, on November 8,

632
00:34:02,457 --> 00:34:06,877
the indigenous Aymara people
gather for an ancient custom--

633
00:34:06,962 --> 00:34:09,802
a colorful procession

634
00:34:09,923 --> 00:34:12,433
known as Día de las Ñatitas,

635
00:34:12,551 --> 00:34:15,601
or the Festival of Skulls.

636
00:34:16,930 --> 00:34:20,430
STEAVU:
The Aymara indigenous people
of Bolivia and Peru

637
00:34:20,559 --> 00:34:23,559
keep skulls, uh,
in shrines in the home.

638
00:34:25,272 --> 00:34:27,942
They keep ’em in places of honor
in the household

639
00:34:28,024 --> 00:34:30,364
and make regular offerings
to them.

640
00:34:30,443 --> 00:34:33,243
The skulls are thought
to bring harmony to the family.

641
00:34:33,321 --> 00:34:37,531
They’re thought to protect
people from illness and death.

642
00:34:37,617 --> 00:34:40,367
And they also ask them
for advice.

643
00:34:40,453 --> 00:34:42,663
They ask them
for support or for help.

644
00:34:42,789 --> 00:34:44,539
-(ringing)
-And once a year,

645
00:34:44,624 --> 00:34:46,634
they will take out the skull

646
00:34:46,710 --> 00:34:49,130
and parade them
in this festival.

647
00:34:49,212 --> 00:34:53,382
PAUL KOUDOUNARIS:
You’ll get 20,000, 30,000 people
down in the cemetery.

648
00:34:53,466 --> 00:34:54,796
It’s really quite a spectacle,

649
00:34:54,926 --> 00:34:55,966
’cause you’ll get
people bringing

650
00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:58,144
five or more skulls down
in big boxes

651
00:34:58,263 --> 00:34:59,603
and they dress them up.

652
00:35:01,266 --> 00:35:04,476
If it’s cold in the morning,
they’ll put on a hat.

653
00:35:05,186 --> 00:35:06,846
They’ll put sunglasses on ’em.

654
00:35:07,689 --> 00:35:10,399
And there are certain offerings
that are pretty typical--

655
00:35:10,483 --> 00:35:11,983
cigarettes,

656
00:35:12,110 --> 00:35:13,820
alcohol,

657
00:35:13,903 --> 00:35:16,453
little bits of money,
coca leaves, things like that.

658
00:35:16,531 --> 00:35:17,741
You know?
And it’s kind of a thank you

659
00:35:17,824 --> 00:35:19,744
to make sure
the dead will continue

660
00:35:19,826 --> 00:35:20,866
to assist the living.

661
00:35:20,994 --> 00:35:22,584
STEAVU:
These skulls are perceived

662
00:35:22,662 --> 00:35:24,122
as a kind of portal

663
00:35:24,205 --> 00:35:26,705
between the realm of the living
and the dead,

664
00:35:26,833 --> 00:35:29,423
a site where the spirit
of the deceased can manifest.

665
00:35:29,502 --> 00:35:31,552
And it’s through these skulls
that the living

666
00:35:31,671 --> 00:35:33,131
can communicate with the dead,

667
00:35:33,214 --> 00:35:36,594
as if they are living
and as if they are present,

668
00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:39,216
there and then, in those skulls.

669
00:35:39,346 --> 00:35:45,386
There’s something about the way
that the skulls are presented

670
00:35:45,518 --> 00:35:48,598
that you feel like these
individuals are being venerated.

671
00:35:48,688 --> 00:35:53,318
We’re a species
that communicates with our face.

672
00:35:53,401 --> 00:35:57,911
So it shouldn’t surprise us that
we really fixate on the skull

673
00:35:58,031 --> 00:36:02,491
as being a way
to honor and communicate

674
00:36:02,577 --> 00:36:04,867
with those ancestors.

675
00:36:04,996 --> 00:36:10,326
Can ceremonies involving
the bones of the deceased...

676
00:36:11,044 --> 00:36:12,304
...actually bring us
into contact

677
00:36:12,379 --> 00:36:14,049
with the spirits
of our loved ones?

678
00:36:14,172 --> 00:36:18,432
And if so, is it possible
that sacred rituals

679
00:36:18,551 --> 00:36:21,511
can actually preserve the soul

680
00:36:21,596 --> 00:36:22,806
for eternity?

681
00:36:22,889 --> 00:36:25,429
Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining

682
00:36:25,558 --> 00:36:29,018
a fascinating
and strange practice

683
00:36:29,104 --> 00:36:39,914
known as the art
of self-mummification.

684
00:36:40,031 --> 00:36:43,281
SHATNER: Just outside
the Tsuruoka city limits

685
00:36:43,410 --> 00:36:45,200
sits Churen-ji Temple.

686
00:36:45,286 --> 00:36:48,496
Surrounded by 200-year-old
cherry blossom trees,

687
00:36:48,581 --> 00:36:51,461
Churen-ji is similar
to many other rural temples

688
00:36:51,584 --> 00:36:53,424
throughout the region,

689
00:36:53,503 --> 00:36:55,923
with one notable exception.

690
00:36:56,047 --> 00:36:57,837
The monk who presides here

691
00:36:57,924 --> 00:37:00,474
has been seated
in meditative prayer

692
00:37:00,593 --> 00:37:03,183
for almost 200 years.

693
00:37:04,013 --> 00:37:05,683
KEN JEREMIAH:
Among the mummified monks

694
00:37:05,765 --> 00:37:06,925
of Yamagata, Japan,

695
00:37:07,058 --> 00:37:09,348
Sunada Tetsu
is perhaps the most famous.

696
00:37:09,436 --> 00:37:13,726
And his body is currently
located at Churen Temple

697
00:37:13,815 --> 00:37:15,865
in northern Yamagata Prefecture.

698
00:37:15,942 --> 00:37:19,532
Sunada Tetsu is
an 18th century Buddhist monk

699
00:37:19,612 --> 00:37:21,862
who wasn’t
a religious person at all.

700
00:37:21,948 --> 00:37:24,778
He didn’t plan
on entering religion.

701
00:37:24,909 --> 00:37:27,699
However, he ended up
killing two samurai.

702
00:37:27,787 --> 00:37:30,667
♪

703
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,210
And at the time,
19th century Japan,

704
00:37:36,296 --> 00:37:39,626
if you kill two samurai
and you’re a commoner,

705
00:37:39,716 --> 00:37:41,086
you’re gonna be killed.

706
00:37:41,968 --> 00:37:45,138
But local temples
were exempt from that law.

707
00:37:45,263 --> 00:37:47,273
So he joined Churen Temple

708
00:37:47,348 --> 00:37:49,348
and, over time,
became a believer

709
00:37:49,476 --> 00:37:52,846
and one of the most holy people
in Japan,

710
00:37:52,979 --> 00:37:55,519
traveling throughout
the Japanese countryside,

711
00:37:55,648 --> 00:37:56,818
repairing bridges,

712
00:37:56,900 --> 00:37:58,650
doing anything he could
to help people.

713
00:37:59,819 --> 00:38:03,489
SHATNER:
Sunada Tetsu was so dedicated
to serving the Japanese people

714
00:38:03,573 --> 00:38:05,743
that the one-time outlaw
earned a reputation

715
00:38:05,825 --> 00:38:07,155
as a miracle worker.

716
00:38:07,285 --> 00:38:10,285
But as old age
began approaching,

717
00:38:10,371 --> 00:38:12,871
Sunada Tetsu realized
that there was only one way

718
00:38:12,999 --> 00:38:16,459
for him to continue his good
works well into the future--

719
00:38:16,544 --> 00:38:20,594
the ancient art
of self-mummification,

720
00:38:20,673 --> 00:38:23,343
known as sokushinbutsu.

721
00:38:24,135 --> 00:38:27,465
In this particular tradition
of, uh, Buddhism

722
00:38:27,555 --> 00:38:29,015
that we find in Japan,

723
00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:32,310
there’s this practice
of sokushinbutsu,

724
00:38:32,393 --> 00:38:35,403
which is basically
a mummification practice

725
00:38:35,522 --> 00:38:39,442
the practitioner undertakes
when they’re still alive.

726
00:38:40,235 --> 00:38:43,575
People who engaged in the
process of self-mummification,

727
00:38:43,696 --> 00:38:46,366
they wanted to preserve
the flesh because they thought

728
00:38:46,491 --> 00:38:49,081
there was a divine merit
that could be of use

729
00:38:49,202 --> 00:38:51,252
of people who are still alive.

730
00:38:51,371 --> 00:38:53,161
SHATNER:
In order for a monk’s soul

731
00:38:53,248 --> 00:38:55,578
to shed his body
in the proper manner,

732
00:38:55,708 --> 00:38:58,088
the practitioners
of sokushinbutsu

733
00:38:58,211 --> 00:39:01,881
were required to undergo
a very specific process,

734
00:39:02,006 --> 00:39:03,626
a process which--

735
00:39:03,716 --> 00:39:05,216
as one can imagine--

736
00:39:05,343 --> 00:39:08,393
isn’t exactly pleasant.

737
00:39:09,556 --> 00:39:11,266
JEREMIAH: The process
of self-mummification

738
00:39:11,391 --> 00:39:15,731
is to gradually decrease the
amount of food you’re ingesting

739
00:39:15,854 --> 00:39:17,194
and, in place,

740
00:39:17,272 --> 00:39:20,112
start ingesting things
that are preservative in nature.

741
00:39:20,233 --> 00:39:22,033
And in the case
of the self-mummified monks,

742
00:39:22,110 --> 00:39:25,240
they were pine bark, pine resin

743
00:39:25,321 --> 00:39:27,491
and urushi tea.

744
00:39:27,574 --> 00:39:30,124
Urushi tea, which comes
from the lacquer tree,

745
00:39:30,243 --> 00:39:32,913
is considered
to be extremely toxic

746
00:39:33,037 --> 00:39:36,077
but also lacquers the body
from inside out

747
00:39:36,207 --> 00:39:40,037
and it removes moisture
at the same time from the organs

748
00:39:40,128 --> 00:39:43,088
and presents some kind
of embalming faculties.

749
00:39:43,172 --> 00:39:47,052
When the monks have completed
their pre-mummification diet,

750
00:39:47,135 --> 00:39:51,435
they would be placed
into a box made of pinewood

751
00:39:51,556 --> 00:39:55,016
and buried underground
with a little bell.

752
00:39:55,101 --> 00:39:57,521
(tinkling)

753
00:39:57,604 --> 00:39:59,814
Once the bell stopped ringing,

754
00:39:59,939 --> 00:40:02,189
the other monks
would know that...

755
00:40:02,275 --> 00:40:04,945
the self-mummifying practitioner

756
00:40:05,028 --> 00:40:07,108
had, uh, deceased
inside the box.

757
00:40:07,238 --> 00:40:10,238
SHATNER: According
to historical accounts,

758
00:40:10,325 --> 00:40:13,415
Sunada Tetsu spent 3,000 days--

759
00:40:13,494 --> 00:40:14,954
which is more than eight years--

760
00:40:15,079 --> 00:40:18,829
starving himself in preparation
for his living burial.

761
00:40:18,958 --> 00:40:22,168
After his body
was eventually unearthed,

762
00:40:22,295 --> 00:40:24,965
it showed no decay whatsoever,

763
00:40:25,089 --> 00:40:27,879
signifying that his spirit
was indeed pure.

764
00:40:27,967 --> 00:40:31,637
But as morbid
as Sunada Tetsu’s tale may be,

765
00:40:31,721 --> 00:40:34,931
he was not the first
to attempt the extreme ritual

766
00:40:35,016 --> 00:40:36,476
of sokushinbutsu,

767
00:40:36,601 --> 00:40:38,521
nor the last.

768
00:40:38,645 --> 00:40:41,025
The founder
of Esoteric Buddhism in Japan

769
00:40:41,147 --> 00:40:43,937
was believed to have,
uh, studied in China

770
00:40:44,025 --> 00:40:46,445
and, uh, learnt
about this practice there

771
00:40:46,527 --> 00:40:49,357
and subsequently brought it
to Japan,

772
00:40:49,489 --> 00:40:52,119
upon which some Japanese monks,
the most intrepid amongst them,

773
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,040
would have picked it up
and applied it.

774
00:40:55,161 --> 00:40:57,621
But the
self-mummification practice

775
00:40:57,705 --> 00:40:59,705
was outlawed in the 19th century

776
00:40:59,832 --> 00:41:02,422
because it was
rarely successful.

777
00:41:03,294 --> 00:41:05,804
JEREMIAH:
They actually wanted
to cause their own death

778
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,300
so they could be
in meditative posture

779
00:41:08,383 --> 00:41:09,723
so they could direct their soul

780
00:41:09,842 --> 00:41:11,182
where they wanted it
to go afterwards

781
00:41:11,302 --> 00:41:13,642
and they’d be lucidly aware
of the change

782
00:41:13,721 --> 00:41:14,931
between life and death.

783
00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:17,434
That’s why they’re considered
living Buddha.

784
00:41:17,517 --> 00:41:19,307
These mummies were still alive

785
00:41:19,394 --> 00:41:23,114
because they are in between
the realm of life and death

786
00:41:23,189 --> 00:41:25,569
and perhaps they can influence
the two of ’em.

787
00:41:25,692 --> 00:41:27,992
♪

788
00:41:29,529 --> 00:41:33,199
Could the slow process
of turning yourself into a mummy

789
00:41:33,324 --> 00:41:36,084
actually be the secret
to living forever?

790
00:41:36,202 --> 00:41:39,462
Well, if nothing else, these
actions reinforce the belief

791
00:41:39,539 --> 00:41:43,289
that human beings
can be transformed

792
00:41:43,376 --> 00:41:45,786
through the power
of sacred rituals.

793
00:41:45,878 --> 00:41:48,798
And while
the practice of rituals

794
00:41:48,881 --> 00:41:52,511
may be an intentional act
that connects us to each other

795
00:41:52,593 --> 00:41:54,933
and to a higher power,

796
00:41:55,054 --> 00:41:58,314
the mystery of how they work
remains...

797
00:41:58,391 --> 00:42:00,601
unexplained.

798
00:42:00,727 --> 00:42:03,227
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