A warped view of spiritualism

Kudos to The Nation for publishing this article, which delves deeper than most. Deepak Chopra’s claim to be “spiritual” is compromised not so much by his enormous wealth, but his evident attachment to it. When truly spiritual people have more than they need, they give it away. Why? Because they know that hanging onto it will breed attachment. 

Chopra is selling a glitzed-up, commercialised version of Hinduism. Hinduism holds that the most fundamental reality is consciousness. It is opposed to scientific materialism, which holds that the most fundamental reality is matter. At present we do not know how or why consciousness generates matter (if the Hindus are right) or how or why matter generates consciousness (if the scientific materialists are right). Maybe they’re both wrong – or they’re both partly right. The answer may some day be discovered, most likely by the neuroscientists. 

William Page

Samut Prakan