Wisdom of The Ages

Wisdom of The Ages
An Interview with Deepak Chopra

by Mary Grace McCord

Physician and metaphysician Deepak Chopra is a neuro-endocrinologist-turned- spiritual guru. His twenty-five books include Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, The Path to Love, and How to Know God. Many who are commuters rather than bookworms can also find his articulate New Delhi accent and heart-ful, melodious audiocassette voice to be an exotic treat unto itself.

His wisdom of the ages can be as expansive as the universal collective consciousness and quantum mechanics, or as detailed as how to choose an Ayurvedic diet to balance your dosha(s) and rev-up your metabolism.

Is meditation truly the path to bliss? Will the vibrational resonance of specific chants help with migraines and blocked sinuses? Is the magnetic entrainment of two heartbeats possible or even to be expected between soul mates? The Deepak Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, California is dedicated to researching and documenting the crucial mind/body/ spirit connection to healing as well as life enrichment. In this Age of Aquarius, the new millennium's powerful new medical model promotes self-reliance and self-awareness as essential personal and societal assets for creating holistic health.

A: How to Know God defines spirituality as a means of transcending skin and bones. How?

DC: In the depths of ourselves, we are warmed by endless love and light. When we perceive it in our consciousness, it orchestrates with a power or energy that radiates out to touch all minds, all bodies, throughout time and space. Spirituality is a domain of awareness in which we experience our collective identity as universal beings. Within this realm, one can neither hurt nor be hurt because everything connects. It is seamless and without separation.

A: If we are the universe, what is the purpose of this journey called life?

DC: Of course, no one really knows but I think we start this path because in order to really find ourselves we must first lose ourselves. Eternal bliss, I imagine, could be boring. Couldn't the lack of stimulation only hasten entropy? The experiencer has to experience; the seer needs scenery. The manifestation process adds to the adventure of exploring the great mysteries of life. Spiritual people are simply destined to seek, because of their divine discontent, which is the mechanics of creation.

A: Destiny. Is that synonymous with fate, or karma?

DC: Karma is the debt of our past actions. Destiny is our true purpose in life, our Dharma. From the non-productive actions of our past, we create physicological toxins, stress that blocks our clear vision. By removing these debts, our true destiny is made obvious.

A: Does this mean that we are born into a pre-determined destiny and if so, why even bother cultivating free will or striving to be faithful?

DC: This connection isn't fixed or automatic, it merely represents numerical probability. Our conscious choices help determine our destiny. The deterministic world is ignorance. When we navigate from awareness, we exercise free will. It's the difference between ignorance or enlightenment.

To surrender to divine intelligence, know that everything both comes from God and belongs to God. If life is a river between the banks of hope and despair, our ultimate destiny is to become independent of both, unmoved by either.

So if it is all bad, simply surrender and detach. Situations don't cause suffering, resistance does. Don't fixate on stopping pain but instead breathe it in deeply. Ask its purpose.

A: As a medical doctor, what is your view on spontaneous remission?

DC: It can only mean that the patient experiences a transformation of consciousness. They lose all fear, including the fear of death. They release attachment to outcome, having glimpsed a part of themselves that is immortal, timeless, even blissful. Independent of outcome.

In this state of total surrender, in the absence of fear and in the presence of ultimate faith in the highest good, the body's self-repair mechanism becomes unstuck. Fear and attachment are damaging emotions that interfere with healing.

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