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Deepak Chopra, M.D., On Consciousness, Connection & Waking Up To The World
Deepak Chopra, M.D., is one of the most renowned spiritual teachers of our time. The author of more than 80 books, including 25 New York Times bestsellers, Deepak's groundbreaking work on metaphysics and the mind-body connection has touched millions of lives.
At this year's revitalize event, Deepak joined me on the main stage to discuss consciousness and its role in longevity. You could hear a pin drop as the crowd listened attentively to his nuanced take on some of life's biggest questions. One topic that kept surfacing was this idea of "waking up," which Deepak writes about extensively in his upcoming book, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential.
There are many things keeping us from true awakening, stuck in a state that Deepak describes as "a lucid dream in a vivid now," and the rise of social media is a big one. From his perspective, social platforms actually often encourage us to focus on the self—and in the process only make us feel more separate from one another. They take us away from our shared humanity and cause a lot of suffering, self-loathing, and jealousy in the process.
Waking up to our shared experience is the key to freedom, joy, and a life of possibility. Though it's easier said than done, here is what Deepak had to say about achieving this higher, more connected consciousness.
You don't have to let go of your stuff. But you don't identify with it. You don't have to let go or stop taking care of your body. But you don't identify with it. And that comes through contemplative ways to do it, reflective self-inquiry, self-realization, and awareness of perceptual experience without identifying and breaking it down.<br><br>[It's about] mindful awareness of perceptual experience, mindful awareness of the body, mindful awareness of what's happening inside mindful awareness of mental space, mindful awareness of the web of relationships. And ultimately, awareness of being aware. The more we practice these—slowly building up—the more our identity shifts from body, mind, world to the source of body, mind, world.
Over the course of the 30-minute interview, Deepak also names the one higher purpose we all share, says what's wrong with today's wellness world, and explains how anxiety is a modified form of consciousness. Tune in for more thought-provoking—and sometimes mind-blowing—insights from the spiritual leader and latest recipient of mindbodygreen's annual Lifetime Achievement Award.
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