From Siddhartha To Deepak Chopra

The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar W... That's Some Guitar Pickin'!

From Siddhartha To Deepak Chopra

I read Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, in the heady days of my youth, some forty years ago. I read it again just recently. I can't remember much of my first reading, but I do remember that my mind wandered off as I read this or that passage, just as it did this time around. The difference was that this time those passages didn't hold my attention because I got bored, whereas I'm fairly certain that the youthful me got hooked by the mysticism (which pervades the whole book), and no doubt spent a good deal of time thinking "right on!" and "far out!"

If you are not familiar with the book, the story goes something like this:

Good, middle-class boy, who wants to know what it's all about, gets frustrated with traditional life at home (he feels he's not getting anywhere), and goes off to join a cult, giving up all his possessions and spongeing off society in order to survive. Gets fed up with it after a while - still feels he's not getting anywhere - and goes off to listen to a celebrity guru type of chap who's supposed to have 'the secret'. He listens to and chats with the guru chappy, decides guru chappy probably does have 'the secret', but thinks he can't learn it just by listening to him. So, off he goes again, this time to the bright lights of the big city, where he experiments with sex and business (he's very lucky - really falls on his feet). Does that for a long time, very successfully, but eventually decides he's still not getting anywhere, so he dumps his long time lover, and his business partner, and goes off again, this time into 'the wilderness'. Shacks up with a simple ferryman, learns his trade, spends a lot of time sitting around doing not very much, except listening to the river flowing by, and comes to believe the river is intelligently communicating with him. Ferryman dies so he takes his place, and spends practically all his time listening to the river, eventually reaching the conclusion that it's all about the 'oneness' of everything, the realisation of which he feels is the enlightenment he had been looking for.

That's roughly (very roughly) the story. There is more to it, but I haven't bothered to mention any of that because it's just padding, there to bolster up the idea that everything in existence is all connected, all 'one', but the parts are meaningless, it's the 'whole' that's 'where it's at, man!'

Mysticism. It's just great, isn't it. You can feel like you really know something important but you don't have to go through all that tedious evidence stuff. You can just wing it, make it up as you go along. Assert something and support your assertion with another assertion, and another, and ... shazzam! You're one of the cognoscenti!

And when you're one of the cognoscenti, you can say stuff like this: While the body appears to be material, it is really a field of energy and intelligence that is inextricably connected to the mind. We now know that what used to be considered the “normal” experience of aging – a progressive descent into physical and mental incapacity – is in large part a conditioned response. The mind influences every cell in the body and therefore human aging is fluid and changeable. It can speed up, slow down, and even reverse itself. [source]

Or maybe you could talk about ways to tap into your inner reservoir of unlimited energy. [source]

If you're really switched on, you could set up a 'lifestyle workshop' (why not call it an 'event'?) and tell potential attendees: We will discuss the science of mythology and archetypes – powerful energies that are within us and demonstrated within our cultures. We will learn how to activate these archetypal energies within us to inspire, guide, and transform our lives. [source]

It doesn't matter that there doesn't appear to be a science of mythology, just making reference to it, as if it exists, is all you have to do. Of course, one might be tempted to cite a book entitled Contributions to the Science of Mythology (Max Müller, 1897), and another entitled Essays on a Science of Mythology: The Myth of the Divine Child and the Mysteries of Eleusis (C. G. Jung & C. Kerényi, 1969), as evidence of such a science. Unfortunately, the evidence isn't very convincing when Princeton University Press (the publishers of the latter book) include the following, about the authors, in their description: Both men hoped, through their collaboration, to elevate the study of mythology to the status of a science. Methinks you'd probably be wise not to do any citing at all.

Deepak Chopra seems to be wise. I'm not entirely certain if it's the wisdom which comes from a Siddhartha-esque understanding of what it's all about, or just a shrewd business head, but the stuff on the Chopra Center website undoubtedly strives to give the impression that he knows what he's talking about. It's not scientific, but it sounds as if it is. And that's what counts.

It's an odd thing that the phrase "blinded me with science" rarely applies to real science, but is almost always applicable to the bucketloads of pseudo science bullshit one can easily find.

Cue musical interlude...

She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby
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I was most intrigued by the claim that human aging is fluid and changeable. It can speed up, slow down, and even reverse itself. I did a little research and came up with this corroborating evidence.

Deepak