Living in the Light
By Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, FRCP
Dear Friends,
I’m delighted to be invited to write a weekly column for Substack. This seems like the ideal time and place to take this new direction. First of all, a high percentage of Americans say they have unfulfilled spiritual needs. What they desire is direct experience and a practical path. We are in a unique spiritual climate where creating your own path is more possible than ever. Going beyond meditation and yoga, which are now well established, the way is open for diving deeper into self-awareness.
One of the great teachings of Buddhism and Vedic India is that a person contributes the most to the world through self-awareness. Higher consciousness contributes to peace and creativity at every level, personal and social. The reason this teaching is true in all ages is that each person was designed to be whole, conscious, and free. Our very essence is bliss consciousness.
Yet modern life pulls this vision of possibilities into the background. All of us are preoccupied with everyday duties, demands, and distractions. We get glimpses of joy, love, peace, compassion, and clear self-awareness, which point to who we really are.
My goal at Substack is to take our true nature—yours, mine, and everyone we know—and move it from the background to the foreground. By focusing on new, practical topics every week, which will be supplemented with meditations and in the future live Q&A sessions, real transformation is possible. Revive your awareness and you resurrect your soul.
Nothing is more worthwhile than exchanging an unconscious life for a conscious one. An unconscious life is beset with old habits, outworn beliefs, hidden anxiety, and constant stress. A conscious life rests upon a default state that is simple, open, calm, and ready to receive impulses of love, compassion, and creativity from your deeper self.
In my column, I won’t simply cover spiritual topics for their own sake. I will be talking to that deeper self. It is always there, always listening. What is needed is simply a connection, and I am confident we can make that connection together. In the time-honored Vedic tradition, we will be experiencing Satsang, a gathering for spiritual discourse.
But this needs to expand into Sangha, a term well known in Buddhism for a spiritual community bonded by a shared spiritual path. This brings up the wider purpose of my new venture at Substack. It has the reach to form a global community focused on healing and resolving the troubling issues all of us are deeply concerned about. The only solution is to raise consciousness above the present level of confusion and conflict.
The need couldn’t be more urgent, and I invite you to test whether the time is ripe. Is this the fabled darkness that precedes the dawn? The only viable answer is to arrive at the dawn in ourselves and then to live in the light. On that basis, the actions we take to bring about solutions will be based on deep awareness instead of anxiety and foreboding.
In your life, it is possible to use your path to achieve peace, harmony, joy, love, physical well-being, and creativity. Because these things are within your reach as an individual, they are within the reach of the world—in fact, there is no other way. As an old adage declares, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”
This invitation is brief, but I hope you see the value and importance of the project I’ve outlined. It’s been a heartfelt project of mine for forty years, and nothing gives me more fulfillment than unfolding the path for others, both old friends and newcomers. Please join in Satsang to see what is possible for you here and now.
Namaste, Deepak
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To get through the darkness, we must see through the darkness — not as an enemy to escape, but as a teacher revealing the light within.
Entering Human Resources | Background in Technical Writing, Instructional Design, and Tutoring mathematics and writing |
3dLiving a life of self awareness can sometimes be confused with selfishness. Why meditate when you should be doing something, working, gaining skills, being productive. Those are the things society seems to value. It’s hard go against the norm, or to find some kind of balance.
Consultant at Self-Employed
1wThe light started my heart. It’s there when I need it and show up when my heart is in control, Deepak❗️🌈❗️
Ex-broker turned Conscious Business Coach | Corporate Trainer | Meditation Teacher | From burnout to mental health advocate | 16+ yrs in wellness | B1G1 Ambassador
3wI think embracing vulnerability can really lead to deeper connections and authenticity. It's amazing how showing our true selves can light up the path for others too. 🙌
Clearview Demolition at Marcon
3wEveryone seems to be waking up. Future is among us. And I'm feeling the love And yes reality check has been marked off on my side. It's tough, but I love learning to build... Both within me and on construction sites, 🥰 But more better, we are all different, electricians, carpenter and painters, same as the rest of the world... Long story but hey 👋 sending love, I'm glad I got to meet you in paradise. Much love and respect 💕