1 comments about Science And Soul: The Survival of Consciousness After Death, A Dialogue Between Gary Schwartz and Deepak Chopra, M.D..

1. Survival of consciousness after death is a topic of great interest to all of us who have lost loved ones that we cherish. As Linda Russek's poignant question to Gary Schwartz, "do you think my father Henry Russek is still alive?" captured Gary's interest and developed into a love for not only Linda's love for her father, but Linda as well. Linda's love for her father was great...and she had a desire for understanding this and who does the universe send her? Gary Schwartz...see how this works? Neat! And Gary had discovered several years earlier, before Linda asked this question, a controversial and challenging theory that he did not wish to risk his well respected reputation on by presenting it at the time it was so "far out" he feared he would be ridiculed and did not want to risk this by presenting this...so now it seems it is not "far out" at all but "far in"...

   Where do our loved ones go? Vanished...disappeared? How can this be?... I hope this dialogue with Gary and Deepak at the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, Ca. is one of many that we will be gifted with by such respected men as Deepak Chopra and Gary Schwartz to help us understand where science and spirituality have interconnected at this juncture in time...all of us will benefit by this heartfelt research,in a easily understandable language, that people who are not in these fields of awareness can understand. Both Deepak and Gary are very well respected and have HUGE credentials towards their credibility that are too numerous to mention but let's just say they are both distinguished and caring...knowledgable and sharing... we are definitely in good company!

   Deepak Chopra and Gary Schwartz are to be congratulated for being able to integrate such huge life experiences and knowledge from all their lifelong studies in a dialogue that is easy to comprehend and lead us to an astonishing conclusion that gives huge hope to all of us searching, listening for the words that say science is able to prove that survival of consciousness is not just wishful thinking but actually exists... his research has been subjected to a high degree of scrutiny and no flaw exists in the logic...again...hopeful to hear.

   So...Gary and Linda had a secret and a "big secret" at that! And now the time has come to share with all of us and it is a beautiful secret! What better time than the present for such a gift? Thank you both for being so deligent in your passionate pursuit that you would both study it to such a degree with such heartfelt endeavor that the discovery sounds so delightful even now after all of the years that have accumulated waiting for mainstream consciousness to "catch up"...and now we see that Deepak is also able to integrate his wealth of knowledge to successfully integrate all of his lives experience to share this at this moment. And who do I think brought Deepak and Gary together? Deepak's father and Linda's father are both distinguished cardiologists and we hear that they are very caring, as well, and who better than two doctors in Heaven watching over and helping their children on earth accomplish outstanding scientific advancements...both caring and compassionate on earth and now able to bring all of this together because they can! Both heart doctors! I find this extremely interesting that this goes full circle from love from our hearts on earth and extends to the Heavens and back continuing that love...how beautiful is that?

   Thank you all for this enlightening discussion...delightful and full of enthusiasm for what the future holds and is ready to reveal...definitely hopeful!

No comments about The Book of Secrets.

3 comments about On the Shores of Eternity: Poems from Tagore on Immortality and Beyond.

1. I was very disappointed in this translation. Bringing the language into modern form distorted the meanings and lost the beauty and simplicity of the original. I recommend Gitanjali if you want to experience real Tagore.



2. This book begins with a narrative written by Dr. Chopra. His words were humble as he noted that he dared to tamper with the wisdom of Tagore. When I passed through his words and started reading the poetry of Tagore, I was mesmerized. The poetry is not really about death, but the immortality of life which begins each day when the eyes are opened and ends each day with the onset of sleep. It is a book which addresses how we, as humans, can look at what is going on around us and then decide what choice(s)to make. What is so incredible is that, each day, we are given the chance to make new choices for the same old problems. (Just like in the movie GroundHog Day starring Bill Murrey.) The trick is to selectively forget how yesterday's choices were unsuccessful and painful as we accept, within our bones, not our minds, our new choices. Conversely there are those of us who refuse to allow the beauty of a successful choice to preceed us as we broadcast our success(es) in bright primary colors. In our glee, we stamp out the memory of that natural process which allowed us to step into the universe and be filled with the knowledge which is aready there; knowledge which is just patiently waiting to be used.



3. Most of the poems in this book were translated by Tagore himself with the help of Yeats. On the Shores of Eternity complements rather than replaces Gitanjali. Especially interesting are the fragments from Tagore's notebooks which are not in Gitanjali. E.g. "Words cling to the dead like dust / Silence washes their souls." Tagore's poetry still shows him to be a worthy recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature.

   On the other hand, I was not impressed by the introduction by Chopra ... whether it is helpful to you will depend upon your background in mysticism and literature. He makes too much of Tagore's friendly relationship with death - St. Francis wrote of "our Sister Bodily Death". Tagore's mysticism is in the long tradition of the collective world - east or west - his uniqueness is the superb poetry in which he shares his experience; this is not the emphasis of the introduction. But who cares - the poems are well worth pausing over.

No comments about The Ultimate Deepak Chopra Collection.

No comments about Deepak Chopra Presents India Authentic Volume 3 (India Authentic).

3 comments about The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want (Deepak Chopra).

1. Wizardry and sorcerory have had negative conotations. Carlos Castenada helped to portray sorcerors in a better light. This reveals Merlin as a Seer (like the prophet Samuel). This book is filled with terrific insights. It may be the universe teaching us about the next step.



2. I found myself relating not only the symbolism of the Arthurian Lengend to my own real life in this time, but also other symbols that had been in my life but without interpretation until after listening to the book version of Chopra's "Way of the Wizard." So much more of my life became clear to me. I might have preferred another reader (perhaps I will read the written version). Nonetheless, I found the book quite inspiring and highly recommend it.



3. from what I hear, this is a great book. However my puppy pulled it of the counter the day I got it and chewed it into a million pieces. Once I order another I will give a better review.

1 comments about The Way of the Wizard.

1. Recently a friend of mine recommended, and in fact lent me, "The Way of the Wizard", by Deepak Chopra. The first thing that struck me about the book and style of writing in general was how familiar it all sounded. It sounded familiar for a good reason: books promoting a type of "popular spirituality" have been around for at least twenty years (though it seems the peak of their popularity was in the 90's).
   
   The ideas are a kind of mish-mash of Buddhism, Hinduism, Far Eastern Philosophies with a garnish of Freudianism (The Ego). Wendy Kaminer points out why such books are so popular: "mass-market advice books do not succeed unless their underlying message is mundane". In other words, they achieve popularity not just because they promote ideas which most of us would like to believe in, but mainly because these ideas are so familiar and widely accepted. It could be argued that the consumer market as been primed for the reception of these ideas.
   
   On the surface the ideas are easy to understand, and make some sort of sense. On deeper reflection their sense dissolves. Of course the meaning of many statements can dissolve when looked at closely. The difference is that some statements are original and can strike us with the force of their original use of language (Baudrillard and Kristeva for example) and others are so well known, so clichéd that they have no power left in them (except the power to pander to our most basic desire for meaning in our lives).
   
   The whole book is structured like a story or fable, using the legend of Kind Arthur (why was an English myth chosen?) as a kind of literary scaffolding. The wizard is of course the mythical figure of Merlin (Deepak) - the pupil is King Arthur (the reader). The implicit equation of the author with the all powerful Merlin, and the reader (or "spiritual student") as Arthur already sets up a clear relationship between author and reader, between him and us. We are led to see ourselves as progressing from a simple innocent child into a powerful king who has discovered his supernatural powers. Similarly, we are led to view the author (Chopra) as the all-knowing magician Merlin (though the Merlin in the book is more of the Yoda variety than the magician of ancient English legend). In this structure there is already a kind of paternalism set up with Chopra as the father, and the reader as the child.
   
   Chopra throws in popular science as well as pop-psychology by introducing the notion of Einstein as wizard, as a kind of Merlin. This notion panders to the all-pervading myth (in Barthes sense of the word) of Einstein in our culture. The man behind the famous equation E=MC². Both the equation and the name are cultural signifiers, what they signify is clear to most of us: the power and meaning of science as something that cannot be grasped by most, and the eccentric scientist with an unruly hairstyle who's every word is holy-writ. This view of Einstein dehumanised him, and has now reduced him to a mere signified, an icon - like poor old Che Guevara, the passionate revolutionary who has been transformed by mass marketing into a pathetic tee-shirt. I happen to know Einstein's neice. She was my neighbour. I once (and only once, because I saw how upset she became when talking about it) talked to her about Einstein the Icon - the famous photo of him sticking his tongue out - the ultimate signifier of genius. She is horrified by what has become of his image, of the fact that he has been reduced to the status of an icon - that there is nothing in left in our popular imagination of the human being he once was.
   
   Chopra writes "Besides looking a bit like Merlin, Einstein must have actually slipped into the wizards world to come up with this astonishing notion". Chopra goes on about how Einstein discovered the relativity of time concluding with a completely inappropriate example "A day in love seems like a second, a morning in the dentists chair feels like an eternity (Chopra, p. 44). This statement by Chopra goes to show both his ignorance of the Einsteinian figure as popular myth ("looking a bit like Merlin") and his complete misunderstanding of what Einstein meant by relativity (I'm leaving aside the fact that there is a difference between the special and general theories of relativity). What Chopra is talking about here the relativity of our personal perceptions of time, which are more to do with conscious perception of time than it has to do with physics (See Henri Bergson's "Time and Free Willy" for more on this problem of conscious perception of time). Einstein's special theory concerned the relative motion of objects (intuitive and quite easy to understand) and more specifically object (or particles) moving at speeds close to the speed of light (unintuitive and not easy to understand). His "general" theory concerned gravity, and the effects of the latter on time, which more generally led to the idea of a space-time continuum that is curved to the effects of massive bodies. It predicted things like the effects of the gravitational bending of light. It is usually his "special" theory which is thought of when quoted, though neither have anything to do with the effect states of consciousness have on our personal perception of time.
   
   Chopra promotes the idea of immortality: "consciousness survives the death of the molecules on which it rides". Ignoring for a moment the fact that we hardly know what consciousness is, it is clear that this statement can't be disproved or proved (and its not a new idea either, it goes back at least as far as the ancient Egyptians). What can be said about this idea though is that everyone would like it to be true or at least would like to believe in it. The idea of immortality seems to be a strong theme in Chopras book and the pull it may have on us is quite understandable. Nobody likes the idea of life coming to an end. He goes on to say "What was once a bundle of energy turns into a leaf only to fall and change again into soil". What Chopra seems to be confusing here are the idea of immortality and the interchangablity of energy and matter (Einstein and Newton). These are two completely different ideas, the second of which has incidentally been demonstrated to be true.

No comments about A Healthier You!: Fabulous Ideas to Help You Live A Healthier Life!.

1 comments about Molecules of Emotion.

1. Candace Pert is amazing, a great and courageous scientist. Her book shows how emotions and cells work together. She presents all the scientific evidence, which can be a bit hard to comprehend. If you need hard, scientific evidence for understanding body-mind-spirit connection, Pert and Bruce Lipton are a great combo.

1 comments about Magical Mind, Magical Body: Mastering The Mind/Body Connection For Perfect Health And Total Well-Being.

1. In this audiocassette program, Deepak Chopra, M.D., reveals how you can achieve any result in life through the power of your own awareness.
   
   Dr. Chopra's writings on how people can change their lives using the mind-body connection have been translated into 22 languages and inspired thousands. He has made hundreds of radio and television appearances, includung visits to the "Donahue" show and "Geraldo!" His lectures and seminar tours take him around the world several times each year. His exciting message - "The field of human life is a field of infinite possibilities. Inside every person is a god in embryo. It has only one desire. It wants to be born" - has been enthusiastically received in Europe, India, Australia, Japan and the Soviet Union, as well as throughout the United States.
   --- from case's back cover