November 28, 2015 By Admin

Deepak Chopra Ideas on “The Future of God”

Deepak Chopra Ideas on “The Future of God” – Part 1

Deepak Chopra’s new book, The Future of God… (2014) presents some very challenging perspective on spirituality, atheism, and formal religion. Here I will simply present some paraphrased details and my own ideas on these topics.

Basic Foundations

Human beings have special talents for searching and finding spiritual systems to become part of. We crave the reality of some higher power to have faith in. Questions about: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my ultimate purpose in this life? Why do I suffer? Is there a GOD? Even an intelligent view of the tao of the universe suggests that there must be “something” higher out there if not within. Our primary search begins within – the god spot in the brain, the heart, the soul. We need to find something larger, greater than ourselves to believe in. We crave a spiritual awakening to find truth – our personal truth and a higher truth. The peak experience of being in spirit lies only in the present moment experience. Perhaps we are trying to fill a deep hole of inner emptiness, or just trying to make sense of the troubled world and the vast universe of all things in the Ten Directions. Ultimately we HOPE our beliefs and faith will lead to some form of salvation, liberation or true centering inside the core of our self. Mainly we seek safety, protection, security, inspiration happiness, and success within our own being and within our many groups (family, friends, partner/s, ethnic and racial group, nation, world beings). Ultimate we hope belief in something bigger will lead to less suffering, less boredom, and more happiness. We will stop at nothing – even cruel beheadings and the suffering of The Crusades – to validate that our belief (our god, gods, systems) are the true paths to salvation. In the end, however, we seek serious and complete transformation – transformation that leads to inner peace, fulfillment, soulful feelings, compassion, higher consciousness, and transcendence beyond the beyond. Beyond any ego-based self.

To be successful in the pathway we must have strong faith. Our faith is highly personal, often unjustified, and requires our complete attention and participation. Our faith sometimes lands us into spiritual places (inside, outside) where we hope to find deeper meaning. It requires NO scientific proof, just strong faith and regular practice. The “Dark Night of the Soul” has something to offer all of us. Perhaps The Bhagavad Gita is correct in noting that faith originates in perceptions of the mind – mental objects that place “I/Me” at the center of movement toward a more true and secure identity. Then we must pay attention to Mother Theresa’s questions. Agnus Bojaxhiu noted that although Jesus has special love for all people, she experienced only “silence and emptiness.” How did she go on and on to help others? What about wisdom? Wisdom often supports faith in that we learn knowledge and practice in the hopes of making things better for ourselves and for others. Our acts of goodness and compassion take root in the seeds of deep wisdom – wisdom pushed on through faith. From the Buddhist perspective, it has been noted that The Buddha was the master of afflictive spirituality, general dissatisfaction in life. Surely, meaningful life goes beyond simple pleasure and pain; surely, meaningful life includes detached attachment, acceptance of impermanence, no-self (aggrandizements), and the compassion of fearlessness in the vast emptiness. Whether it is through the teaching of Jesus or the Eightfold Path of The Buddha or other deeply spiritual teaching, we can achieve some level of spiritual satisfaction even in this materialistic, troubled life we live. Spiritual belief, faith, wisdom, regular practice, and compassionate actions – all lead us to deeper personal spiritual experience.

In the end of our energetic searching, let’s hope that spiritual faith and wisdom-like actions lead us to patience, kindness, generosity, humility, emotional regulation, sincere truth, and inner peace with joy. Yes, this would be great outcome for all our efforts. See part 2 coming soon.

For more information refer to Chopra, D. (2014). The Future of God: A Practical Approach to Spirituality for Our Times. New York: Harmony Books, pp. 1-142.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts. The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice. Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice. Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times […]

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way Meditations: A way of Being and Knowing Although Gurdjieff developed a whole way of being and knowing, including attentional practices, dance/body movements, group processes, and meditations here I will focus only on some of the suggested meditations. In particular, I include the meditations noted by his primary student (J. DeSalzmann, 2011). […]

Calming Your Self-Critical Self with Mindfulness A core problem for many people is their incessant self (or other) criticism. This is a major part of our psychological mind suffering today. In the past life for most people was more difficult, so human basic needs were the energized priorities; today so many of us have been […]

Are You Happier Yet? Use Practical Mindfulness Skills Two recent books offer sound advice about YOU becoming a happier person. L. Cypers Kamen (2017) Are You Happy Yet: Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life. New York: MFJ Books and D. Altman (2016) Cleansing Emotional Clutter… New York: MFJ Books offer practical ways to improve your personal level of happiness. […]

“Ignorance” of Requirements Could End Your Clinical Career Recently various insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare fraud cases have been in the national headlines. Although these fraud cases grab headlines, the truth is that many clinically licensed helpers still do not understand clinical/legal documentation requirements. In Buddhism, “ignorance” gets in our way; we never approach true liberation […]

I Have Questions Our spiritual traditions have many sources of powerful spiritual origination: Shiva, Buddha, Jesus, Saint Francis to note just a few. The Roman thinker Seneca noted that our most feared day is our last on earth, but this is also the beginning of our eternity. As a practicing Buddhist, a secular meditation teacher, […]

College Students – Mental Health in The US R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC The Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors has released data on the mental health status of American college students. Two survey between 2016 and 2018 yielded results from as far back as 2014. Here are some selected statistics (rounded): Anxiety 47-61%; […]

Using Meditation, Yoga and Breathing… You can Anchor your Choice Making A key outcome of serious practice is that you now reduce auto-pilot reactivity to people, places, things, emotions, sensations, craving, and memories and at the same time notice your mind CAN BE in charge of your brain-body reactions. Yes, regular daily mindfulness practice allows […]

Risks and Solutions for Compassion Fatigue Perhaps nothing more than compassion fatigue causes more helpers to prematurely exit their fields. First responders are generally seen as the most at risk for compassion fatigue (and possibly PTSD), followed by emergency room medical staff. A third group, medical and clinical staff working with high risk terminally-prone patients is […]

Honoring First Nation – Native American Spirited-Wisdom American First Nation or Native American People (according to how they wish to be named) have a strong spiritual traditions honoring life, the earth and the heavens. Naming these wise peoples is a problem; out of respect one would call them First Nations, Native American, or a specific […]

A Primary Source of Unhappiness Self-medication to reduce or avoid pain and suffering is a major unhelpful habit in the United States. It is a desperate human effort to reduce pain and suffering in physical and psychological experiences. Therefore, we humans may be hard-wired for it. When we suffer and do not utilize effective wise […]

Using Your Compassionate Mind in Psychotherapy For you to become a more compassionate therapist, follow the details noted below. These preconditions, skills, and practices are required as a baseline for compassionate practice. You need the ability to access calmness in an environment of emotional suffering, chaos, or conflict. Most people do this by breathing in […]

Human Needs and Spiritual Experience and the Need for Supportive Rituals From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Recently the Human Givens Blog in the United Kingdom presented a post about human needs. I will paraphrase their information as well as information from other sources for Mindful Happiness. Having such […]

Expanded Information about Your Compassion Practices and Benefits Compassion Practice Tips and Exercises The Buddha noted that one should not dwell on the past, become too attached to future outcomes, but instead concentrate our mind only on the present moment of our experiences. The Dalai Lama noted that compassion is a necessary condition for inner […]

Failure and Success: After We Fail, We Succeed Humans tend to get very discouraged when things do not go our way. This may be especially true for younger people, who have grown up attached to their instant gratification digital devices. Below I will list several highly successful people, but I will also note their many […]

The Meaning of the Present Moment in Mindfulness & Meditation Many mindfulness and meditation experts have commented on the meaning of the present moment. Below I have noted some of the ideas presented by Eckhart Tolle. In some cases I have added my own interpretations. What is the Present Moment? What is the experience about? […]

Emptiness – Meditation Practice The Brahma-Viharas (higher abodes) include four powerful meditation practices ( Loving Kindness/Maitri or Metta; Compassion/Karuna; Sympathetic Joy/Mudita; and, Equanimity/Upekkha) that involve boundless radiation outwardly all the way into the infinite universe. These boundless or infinite space meditations, working with deep absorption and projecting kindness outwardly, may lead to positive changes. Experienced […]

Effective Clinical Supervision Perhaps other than the mental health status of the therapist and her/his ethical clinical skills, there is no more important variable in successful clinical work than effective CLINICAL supervision. I emphasize “clinical’ because in today’s bureaucratic systems, so much supervision tends to be about required procedures like utilization level, reporting requirements, and documentation for services […]

The Heart Sutra – Thich Nhat Hanh “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” This ultimate mantra is one of the most important in Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s new translation of The Heart Sutra offers a great deal of enlightened, sometimes more advanced, information and process. Avalokitesvara and other great Bodhisattvas present important views of this […]

Tips for Improving Your Mindfulness Practices The following practices may improve your mindfulness skills. It all depends – it all depends on whether or not you will do regular, daily practices. If you desire to improve your mindfulness skills, consider following the tips noted below. Most of the practices below involve sitting meditation. Likewise, regular […]