BOOK REVIEW Timeless wisdom, heedless world Peace is the Way. Bringing War and Violence to an End by Deepak
Chopra
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Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia
Deepak Chopra needs no introduction. The most famous New Age guru who brought
back community and spirit to our decadent times, he is read, quoted and
followed by millions worldwide. In his latest writing venture, the Indian-born,
US-based celebrity doctor goes beyond faith healing and alternative medicine to
the greatest scourge of history - war. This optimistic how-to guide to peace
couples metaphysical nuggets with psychological case studies. It reinstates
humanistic truths in a climate of terror and counter-terror.
To end war, the idea and habit of war have to be eschewed. War has worn a
groove on American minds - a secret pleasure that brings excitement and pumps
up the adrenalin. Although the 20th century took more than 100 million lives in
violent conflict, Americans still think war does some good. Chopra's substitute
is the way of peace, conscious evolution to "love in action", one person at a
time. War begins in the human heart and can only
end there. If we can demonstrate that peace is more satisfying than war,
collective consciousness will shift, because "society takes a direction that
the individual wants". (p 5)
Adventure, power and expansion are primary values in life, all of which are
better serviced by peace than war. The world may be constructed on greed and
fear, but intimidating blocks are unsustainable. If one enters the realm of
peace, consciousness expands without having to invade and occupy other
countries. Ancient Vedic texts demonstrate how peace uplifts the perceiver and
brings unique satisfactions of having no enemies.
Chopra's personalized practicum to attaining a peaceful conscience runs as
follows: free up emotions to feel the anguish of war survivors; relate to
others non-violently and bond with mutual trust; love and respect the
environment with awareness; give up outworn militarized ways and encourage
evolutionary impulses; relinquish grievances and send out forgiveness; offer
help without expecting gratitude or recognition.
Dehumanizing and demonizing the "other" is propaganda "so that more of 'them'
can be killed with a clear conscience". (p 33) Chopra nudges seekers to get out
of the trap of separation, bringing otherness to closure. Echoing the Advaita
Hindu philosophy, he urges us to "escape the divisions that duality imposes".
(p 48) Instead of blaming victims (eg "they deserved to be bombed"), we should
look inward to discover our own darker sides. To be liberated at the level of
soul and reclaim the hijacked part of our identities, "examine the layers of
false identity" that we mistakenly call "us" and keep unraveling until the core
gets closer.
Toxic nationalism keeps Americans in the grip of unreality. A society dominated
by the military, where arms outstrip culture, is "the opposite of freedom". (p
58) Chopra asks his fellow countrymen to sidestep rationalist hegemony and
"realize who you really are" through technologies of peace such as
spoon-bending, telekinesis, magic, healing and clairvoyance.
One of the core beliefs in arms buildups is the masculine illusion that
military might is essential for feeling secure in a dangerous world. Old
realist beliefs persist in the age of record defense budgets and depleted
uranium weapons. Chopra logically argues how "American militarism is utterly
futile and useless against terrorists." (p 87)
Notions of efficiency, rationality and free markets have disrespected Mother
Nature. If we abandon the claim of conquerors, the universe freely offers gifts
and bounties. Chopra holds reason and objectivity responsible for the hellish
machinery of war. They disconnect people from emotions, instincts, feelings and
intuition by shutting off and condemning the lower brain's nobler functions.
Chopra's golden preaching is to overcome rigid scientific prejudices and learn
to access the soul, which lies deeper than anger and hate. "Pay attention to
messages that come from some place deeper than the superficial layer of
personality and ego." (p 120) As divisions between outer and inner melt, pure
consciousness will spring into action. Sharing the consciousness with others,
as practiced in the Indian tradition of Satsang, ignites the highest purpose
and constructs an ideal peace movement.
Memory keeps long-held resentments inflamed. It occludes new information and
holds old rages captive until they fester. Chopra advises the victimized to
follow Mahatma Gandhi's manner of inner guidance to "integrate old hurts and
new experiences". (p 131) If we choose the intent to forgive and heal, new
energies come in. We must patiently discard masks and be willing to be touched
by beauty and truth.
Chopra rues the impotence of the churches in the US to bring war to an end.
More believers are convinced that "God supports war and is on the side of
America." They avoid self-confrontation, judge others outside the Christian
faith as sinners and claim to be on the one and only correct path. In the least
evolved state of consciousness, God appears harsh, unyielding and vengeful. In
the next stage, He is comfortable with violence to secure land, money and power
for the "chosen ones". In stage three, He is kind and lenient but does not
welcome humans as "co-creators of their own reality". The God of stage four is
a mysterious presence who is revealed through insight, but cannot resolve war
because believers are detached from others. The stage five God is a pure
creator unable to change the world. In stage six, God is grace personified and
has vehicles in the form of saints and visionaries. At the capstone of
evolution, God loses attributes and presides over a completely unified world
that is beyond opposites. This state is described in the Rig Veda as one where
"no one is ever at war with anyone else". (p 168)
Chopra addresses peacemakers not to ignore the inhuman cruelty of jihadis.
Terrorists create a false sense of self as virtuous and utopian due to
ideology. A rival brand of ideology has arisen in the form of fundamental
Christianity. Both show no mercy in the holy war to wipe out "evil". In the
absence of distorting authorities and ideologies, "the natural course of
awareness is deep need for love". (p 185) Love will endure much longer than
terrorism.
The current style of diplomatic negotiations comes in for criticism from
Chopra. Opponents pretend to be friends across the table but remain enemies in
their hearts with no fundamental respect for each other. Genuine forgiveness,
of the sort that Japan displayed for the US since World War II, has healing
power. It clears the obstacles that prevent love from coming through and
establishes an emotional comfort-level based on trust.
Hope for peace has often been a cloak for violence. Chopra insists that war and
pummeling adversaries to submission never yield real peace. Violence "pollutes
the emotional body" to imagine dangers and threats everywhere. Wars are in fact
"eruptions from the unconscious" loaded with fear and anger. Contrary to the
likening of homo sapiens to beasts, humans are not hard-wired to go to war.
Sharing, altruism and other higher emotions are very much present in us and
actually have survival benefits. Compassion is the innate quality that could
save humanity from mechanized death and violence. The body at peace is less
burdened with random uncontrollable stress and has stronger immune systems. The
key is to "find a spiritual center, a core, and hold on to it". (p208)
At the bottom, a violent person is hopeless, living in an environment where
hopelessness is a daily fact. Only a form of suffering can motivate someone to
desperate measures. Chopra offers real hope founded on "self-knowledge". It
uncovers denial, inspires an end to apathy or emotional numbness, and assists
in relating to the world through soul rather than trauma. Absolute
consciousness is connecting to pure being. Our task is to find "the timeless
region, that seed ground beyond right and wrong, where you add to the peace of
the world". (p 235)
Devoid of claims to originality of thought, Chopra has masterfully distilled
timeless wisdom in this easily comprehensible book that proposes alternatives
to activist and humanitarian approaches to peace. To the heedless world, the
endorsement I can humbly submit is: read it and be transformed.
Peace is the Way. Bringing War and Violence to an End by Deepak Chopra.
Random House, London, 2005. ISBN: 1-8441-3019-3. Price: US$23, 264 pages.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
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peace
couples metaphysical nuggets with psychological case studies. It reinstates
humanistic truths in a climate of terror and counter-terror.
