Apr 07 2010

Magic Man – Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra believes that he is magic. He thinks he can affect reality with his thoughts alone, and that is as good a definition of “magic” as any.

On Sunday there was a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Baja CA. This is a serious quake, and on the Mexico side of the border where construction quality is not as good, there was substantial devastation and some loss of life.

Following the quake Deepak tweeted:

“Had a powerful meditation just now — caused an earthquake in Southern California,”

and then:

“Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake. Sorry about that.”

Chopra’s tweets have caused a bit of a stir. The immediate speculation is – was Chopra just kidding, or was he seriously claiming that he caused the quake in Baja? Either possibility is disturbing.

If he were just kidding (which is what I suspect will ultimately be his spin) then it was a callous and confusing comment, especially in light of the severity of the quake. It may have just been a bad joke or a moment of poor judgment, but less charitably it was an expression of supreme arrogance from someone who thinks he is a master of the universe.

But, regardless of what spin Chopra chooses to put on this, we reveal much when we “joke” – it is often a way to express our true feeling without being held accountable for them. It’s a moment of honesty with an escape hatch.

In Chopra’s case it is entirely reasonable to conclude that he actually believes he can affect reality with his thoughts. Regarding meditation (referring specifically to achieving “god consciousness”), he has written:

…you see the whole world as an expression of yourself and you see that the ground of your being is also the ground of all existence.

“Ground” here is an ironically appropriate metaphor. He has also said of meditation:

“the field of possibilities, creativity, correlation … where intention actualizes its own fulfillment.”

Intention actualizing its own fulfillment is a fancy way of saying “magic” – affecting reality with your wishes alone. This is because, according to Chopra and other gurus, reality is just your intention; your consciousness is the universe. It all has something vaguely to do with quantum mechanics – or at least that is what Chopra assures us.

Chopra’s multi-million dollar empire built in his intention will survive this faux pas. What he is selling many people want to buy – magic.

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