Chopra, Spiritual Escapism & Fantasy—Charmed Myths & Feel-Good Prose Don’t Lead to Enlightenment

Deepak Chopra's original success stemmed from his strong

talent for creative writing and bringing together Eastern

philosophy and healing methods with Western Medicine.

Chopra's work tends to be more appealing to those who

like their spiritual concepts to read in a more obscure

yet poetic fashion, including folk-tales and fables.

We respect his early work and like that he has been 

instrumental in introducing Eastern spirituality to many 

Westerners, but feel he's gone off on a totally different 

path. We miss the old Chopra.

Chopra's current approach appears to be targeting 

an audience with a thirst for "spiritual romance" and 

escapism, a lack of understanding of or a refusal to 

acknowledge the dynamics of karma and personal fate, 

and a distaste for reason and critical thinking in favor 

of feel-good prose. This is a group that is easily led 

in circles and guided into hungrily devouring unsupported

assertions and who will gladly embrace fantasy and

self-delusion, expecting (yet will be forever denied)

significant life-changes from magical epiphanies through

poetry and charmed myths.

Regarding the promotional material for one of his recent

books, we are disappointed with the way it reads and feel

the statements made contribute to the bad image the New 

Age and metaphysical field has earned (yes, earned). 

The following are select quotes from the promotional 

email and our comments.

"In just one hour, you can learn what it takes to be 

successful in all areas of your life."

This statement is misleading. He may outline what helps

to be successful in all areas of life, but it would be

impossible to give a formula for everyone to follow in

order to be successful. Based on our experience and

research, "what it takes," in addition to initiating the 

right action at the right time, and having the right 

supportive circumstances, is fate, and everyone's 

personal fate is different.

"You can have material wealth, as well as good health,

energy and enthusiasm for life, and fulfilling 

relationships."

This declaration is also misleading. It implies that 

everyone is entitled to these things and they can have 

them if they read this book. No amount of mediation, 

praying, manipulating, affirmations, seminars, readings, 

or focus on strengthening and magnetizing beliefs will 

lead to those things if it's not someone's fate to have 

them.

"This ‘One Hour of Wisdom' edition of Chopra's most 

popular title offers powerful pearls of wisdom and a 

life-altering perspective on the attainment of success."

We give Chopra credit for how he helps to inspire 

others through this book. This is what he's good at. 

However, whether or not the perspective offered is 

"life-altering" is debatable.

"It shatters the myth that success is the result of hard 

work, exacting plans, or driving ambition."

Also misleading. For some it may be, for others it may 

not be.

"Discover the natural laws that govern all of creation, 

align with these laws, and success comes easily and 

naturally. But first, these principles must become your 

second nature, and repetition is the key to learning 

them!"

This statement implies that if you follow his 

recommendations, success will be yours, easily. 

If this were true, anyone could have anything they 

wanted, despite their personal fate and karma. 

Through our extensive research, we've found this 

belief to be false, no matter if they are beginners

or gurus who already practice such concepts. The 

"second nature" emphasis is cleverly outlined to 

allow the author some breathing room when his 

readers don't get what they want "easily and 

naturally."

"The ancient sages described the most effortless way 

to bond with the universe and fulfill our desires.

Their guiding motto turns out to be exquisitely simple: 

Act in accord with the laws of nature." -Deepak 

Chopra

Chopra is saying that if you act in accordance with 

the "laws of nature," you can have all you desire. He 

peppers his books with spiritual principles to support 

lofty promises, but what he fails to mention, or perhaps 

doesn't fully comprehend, is that there are additional 

laws, some of which completely mitigate some of his 

views.

Also, he erroneously groups select "sages" together 

with the mystics and Gnostics (such as most respectable 

ancient astrologers who regularly predicted personal 

fate) who constantly refuted, through stellar predictive 

work, the notion of anyone being able to "fulfill any 

desire."

We asked a friend of ours, a Chopra fan, for his 

interpretation of a particular (cool-sounding, yet 

erroneous) passage in the book: "The law of intention

and desire: Inherent in every intention and desire is

the mechanics for its fulfillment." He replied, "I

don't know what it means, man, it just feels good!"

Truth be told, everyone has occasional (for some, 

very regular) desires that aren't rooted in reality 

(thus, are unachievable), such as wanting to end 

strife and war on Earth forever, or achieve major 

career goals and become a multi-billionaire without 

effort and the supportive good karma. Perhaps the 

multitudes new to Eastern philosophy and metaphysical 

thought don't really care about truth at this point,

until they realize the emptiness of these supposed

fixes.

Thinking back to the early 1980's when we first began

exploring non-traditional spiritual concepts, we had

to weed through a lot of books to begin to be able to

detect truth. At first, the superficial, sometimes

"channeled," "spiritual" writings, the far-out, empty

rhetoric and gross generalizations lacking substance did

have some appeal, but it's like a destructive, sensually

gratifying habit; it offers an escape from reality, but

ultimately leads you down the path of illusion and

distances you from "enlightenment." If you love

inspirational poetry, fine, but it's in your best

interest to avoid confusing it with spiritual truth.

It's disconcerting, to say the least, to have a very 

commercially successful author imply that you can 

have the success he has enjoyed ($20 million + earnings

in 2006, according to Forbes magazine) if you would

just take the hazy, feel-good approach he promotes,

when that author refuses to acknowledge that everyone

may not be fated for what he promises. The laws of

personal karma and fate dictate that you can't have

what you want unless it's predestined as part of your

destiny and you've earned it through current life and

especially past life actions. Unfortunately, many may

buy this book hoping to reach certain goals. If they

don't reach those goals, they may end up feeling worse 

than before.

We applaud Deepak Chopra for his intelligence and for the

success he's had in reaching people all over the world with

inspiration and encouragement. We just would like to see

more plain truth and fewer false promises, even though

it may result in fewer book sales.

Scott Petullo

http://www.mystictwins.com/

Stephen Petullo

http://www.holisticmakeover.com

Copyright © Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo

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