An Exclusive Interview With Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is one of the few people in this world that truly needs no introduction. He is an accomplished doctor, author, and public speaker who has impacted the lives of so many people through his work in fundamental sectors such as, but not limited to, alternative medicine, consciousness, and science.
It should come as no surprise that we were more than grateful to have the opportunity to interview him at this year's Science and Non-Duality (SAND) Conference in San Jose, California.
As an event, the SAND conference brings together some of the greatest minds in both the scientific and conscious communities to encourage healthy discussion and to bring us closer to a natural merger of these two key understandings of life.
As Deepak himself discusses in the interview below, on the surface, a merger between science and non-duality is a juxtaposition of two words, since science by definition is dualistic. However, events of this nature are still fundamentally important to stage.
Deepak took the time to answer an assortment of questions that we had prepared for him, including:
What is the most difficult part of trying to stay mindful daily?
What inspired him to get involved in the world of consciousness?
Why is mainstream science so resistant to the incorporation of consciousness? Could the two ever be openly merged?
Is it safe to say that we should begin to think galactically?
Do you believe that there is extraterrestrial life out there?
What is the importance in events such as this taking place regularly?
You can check out all of his answers in this exclusive interview:
A World Full Of Distractions
In my opinion, one of the most powerful responses that Deepak gave was also one of the simplest, identifying distraction as the biggest obstacle to being mindful — or awareful — daily.
We undoubtedly live in a world filled with distractions. Whether we preoccupy ourselves with social media, texting conversations, professional sports, or anything else of that nature, very few us are comfortable with being left alone with ourselves for an extended period of time. It's certainly not to say that these things are inherently bad, but rather it is our addiction to them that is worth looking into.
There is a lot to be gained through awareness. I personally found an entirely different way of looking at life through practicing it, a way filled with far less 'drama' than I previously surrounded myself with. I will admit that at first (and still at times), being aware seemed both tedious and scary, but as Deepak himself argues, it eventually becomes natural, and when it does, the process of getting there makes that much more sense.
We Need A New Science
Science is an incredibly powerful tool which continues to help us discover more and more about our existence and the planet. Without the scientific world of Newtonian and material physics, we would still be in the dark about an abundance of fundamental understandings which have paved the way to many incredible accomplishments. As Deepak puts it: "What science has done ... is brought us to the door of the sub-empirical."
What science is potentially lacking, however, is an openness to studying phenomenon without the foundational perspective of a subject-object split. The world of consciousness will never be understood within the current scientific lens because, as Deepak reminds us, it cannot be imagined, measured, conceptualized, or seen.
Rather than seeing it as the need for an entirely new science, which is bound to ruffle the feathers of many, I prefer to see it as the need to expand science into the realm where all experience occurs, and that realm is consciousness.
