Coming Soon
QUEST
or "How the Bleep did that Happen?!"
a memoir by Mark Vicente
What if you were fooled into believing up was down… and down was up?
Mark Vicente, a seeker, accomplished filmmaker, and most notably, Director of the sleeper hit “What the Bleep do we Know?!" chronicles his journey with NXIVM, a ‘science based’ human potential group. Ultimately, he would become a key witness for the government against the organization, in the high profile federal trial of 2019.
When Mark first joined, this group and its leader; Keith Raniere, seem to provide answers for his lifelong questions about consciousness, reality and the human behavior equation. Over a 12 year period, believing it was a noble pursuit, he worked his way up their ranking system to become an owner of two NXIVM Centers, a trainer of Sales People, a leader of a Mens Movement, the head of their Media Company, a member of the Executive Board and a man who saw Keith Raniere as both a profound mentor and older and wiser role model.
In his twelfth year, he discovered illicit and morally abhorrent activities occurring in the belly of the organization. A secret underground, BDSM Sex Slavery ring, fueled by coercive blackmail enforcement… that had trapped and enslaved many of his dearest friends. The entire thing, strategically orchestrated by Raniere.
Part love story, we witness his wife’s desperate and soulful attempts to help wake him up, even while the entire organization tries to destroy her. The last thing Raniere wants, is Mark learning the truth.
Horrified and confused, he embarks with his wife, on an investigative journey and asks himself the most terrifying of all questions; What if everything he has been doing for 12 years has not served nobility and goodness but has been a front for evil? And… what if the man he considers his greatest mentor and most cherished example of nobility, is actually a malignant, narcissistic sociopath... posing for decades as a saintly scientist? A scientist who taught him about ethics, sociopathy and the dangers of losing empathy and conscience. Teasing him in plain sight… as to his true nature. What if Mark has been duped? What if for 12 years, he has unknowingly been in a Cult, led by a seemingly gentle …. maniac?
This is a journey from innocent pursuit… to the shattering collapse of his psyche… to a sobering awakening about the levels a leader with anti-social disorder will go for control and malevolent dominion over others. ‘QUEST’ is a cautionary tale of how the best intentions of good people, can be deeply abused. Mark has been living in the ‘Upside Down’, thinking he was reaching up… when in fact he was reaching for his annihilation.
In an attempt to reclaim his life and seek justice, and with the help of his wife and a small plucky band of whistleblowers, Mark would implore numerous law enforcement agencies in multiple countries to take action… and when all else failed, they would risk their safety and reputation, to go public…. This would start the engines of NXIVM’s revenge.
While negotiating fear, betrayal and the implanted self-doubt from a decades long campaign of gaslighting, Mark attempts to find the strength to bring this monster to justice. This will mean fighting against some of his former best friends… who are now zealous ‘true believers’, willing to cause harm to anyone Raniere targets. Inevitably, he will have to face Raniere (his former mentor) and his army of lawyers, in federal court.
On this rocky and circuitous road he will re-assess EVERYTHING. His life-long pursuit of spirituality, the message of his film “What the Bleep”, the nature of covert sociopathy and an analysis of the true intent of NXIVM’s ‘Tech’, now understanding precisely how the coercion worked. The educational model had codified abuse, baked into it.
At the end of the road, he will find the asset which Raniere tried with all his might to destroy. Goodness. The pursuit of which, has been the driving force of Mark’s life since he was a small boy, growing up in apartheid South Africa.
What the BLEEP Do We Know!? - The Book
As the movie did, this book compels readers to ask themselves Great Questions that will recreate their lives as they know them. With the help of fourteen leading quantum physicists, scientists and spiritual thinkers, this book guides readers on a course from the scientific to the spiritual, and from the universal to the deeply personal. Along the way, it asks such questions as :
Are we seeing the world as it really is?
What are thoughts made of?
What is the relationship between our thoughts and our world?
Are we biologically addicted to certain emotions?
How can I create my day every day?
What the Bleep answers this question and others through an innovative, new approach to self-help and spirituality that’s far different—and more exciting—than anything else on bookshelves. More than twenty short, focused, interactive chapters take readers on a journey that will integrate the answers to these Great Questions into every aspect of their lives.