Deepak Chopra: By soul I mean our core consciousness. And this is a level of existence where we find meaning. Here we face the concept of our living and where we act out the stories of our life. And your body is a projection of meaning, context, relationships and archetypal stories. Your body exists in your consciousness or in your soul so by shifting your level of consciousness you can actually change the focal structure of your body because your body is not a structure it's a process.
Why do you propose resurrecting our soul?
Deepak Chopra: Resurrecting means bringing back the memory of our soul because when you access that level of your consciousness, it gives you insight, it gives you intuition, it allows you to make choices consciously, it gives you unlimited creativity and imagination, it makes life a state of grace.
After you suffer a personal loss, why do you think it is easier to connect with our soul?
Deepak Chopra: I think people want to connect with their soul any time there is a crisis, any time there is a loss and any time there is also the fear of death because at some intuitive level, people know that this part of themselves can give them peace, consolation and even some answers.
You have been accused by some people, probably quite wrongly, of giving those who are sick, or terminally sick, false hopes. How do you answer those critics?
Deepak Chopra: First of all, you know, I don't mind being criticised. If I was doing what everybody else was doing, I would not be criticised so criticism is actually good feedback for me because number one I like to know if I am doing something that I shouldn't be doing. You know, I use criticism as good feedback and I frequently say that my worst critics are my best friends because through them I see a point of view that I may not be seeing myself. Now having said that, I think false hopes is an oxymoron - you either have hope or you don't have it. Hope is one of the things that human beings have as a unique expression of their souls and to deprive somebody of hope is doing them a great deal of injustice. Also medical prognosis is based on statistics and you know we have this false idea that statistics somehow tell us what's happening.
If you come from New York City and the average income of a person in New York city is 100'000 dollars it still doesn't tell me how much you individually make.
If the average temperature in London for the year is 72 degrees, it doesn't tell me what the temperature is right now. I say that statistics is like a girl in a bikini - what she reveals is obvious, what she conceals is much more interesting.
How do you find the time, because obviously you're a very busy man, to do all the things that you do?
Deepak Chopra: first of all, it's all creative playfulness for me and so I really enjoy it. I find that if I have the time to exercise and to meditate and to have a good night's sleep, then my energy is almost inexhaustible.
Do you meditate daily?
Deepak Chopra: I meditate daily, yes, about an hour and a half early in the morning.
How would you solve some of the world's problems?
Deepak Chopra: The only way to solve the world's problems really, is to give people tools for their wellbeing. If you're physically and mentally well, then you are less likely to be a terrorist or take recourse to social injustice and more likely to be successful in life. Now as part of an organisation called Gallup where I am a senior scientist, we have recently done a worldwide survey of what creates wellbeing. And there are in fact a number of areas that one needs to focus on: financial well-being, social well-being, community well-being, physical well-being and spiritual well-being. And you know thanks to this participation at Gallup we are developing something called a well-being finder and well-being tracker so by May of this year you will be able to go on-line and you will be able to first of all find out what your well-being level is, whether you are thriving or just managing or whether you are suffering. And not only that, you can track your well-being hour by hour through the day and then it will also give you tools as to what you can do to improve these areas of your life. I think that if people are happy in their careers, if they feel financially secure and they are physically well and engage in the social network of communities that they are part of, then they are not going to be contributing to the problems of the world.
In the West, we say that we have everything but there are a lot of people who are not happy. Why do you think that comes about?
Deepak Chopra: Well happiness research shows that there are three components to happiness. The first is something called the brain set point. Happy people have a brain conditioning that goes back to their childhood where instead of problems they see opportunities. Unhappy people instead of seeing opportunities, they see problems. This conditioning can be changed through what is called cognitive therapy which is a deep reflective questioning of your beliefs. This brain conditioning contributes about 50 percent to your happiness experience. Your material goods, all the things that you have and even the amount of money that you have contributes about 10 percent to your total happiness experience so that if you win the lottery today, and win 20 million dollars, you will be ecstatic for a while but at the end of one year you will have returned to your base line status which means you will be as happy or as unhappy as you were before you won the lottery. So that 50 percent plus 10 percent adds up to 60 percent. The remaining 40 percent of happiness experience comes from the choices you make every day. If the choices are merely for pleasure, that adds very little to happiness, but if the choices are meaningful which means they give rise to creative expression or they improve the quality of your relationships, then you are going to be a happy person. In fact the research shows that the easiest way to be happy is to make someone else happy.
Is that the tip you would give to someone who wants to be happy?
Deepak Chopra: Yes, if you want to be happy, make someone else happy. But I give that tip to everyone. If you want to try it, make somebody else try it. If you want to be successful, make someone else successful. Everything you want you can get by making somebody else happy.
Why do you think it's like that? Aren't human beings quite selfish?
Deepak Chopra: Well people apart, our souls are not selfish at all. Our ego has conditioned our self to be selfish. That's why I say you've got to resurrect the soul.
What do you think the biggest challenge we face at the moment is?
Deepak Chopra:The biggest challenge in the world is radical poverty. We live in a world where 50 percent of the world's population lives on less than 2 dollars a day, 20 percent on less than 1 dollar a day. As long as there are economic disparities of this kind, it will lead to conflict, it will lead to wars, it will lead to social injustice, it will lead to unsustainability where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I think we have got to start looking really at the deeper causes of global instability which lie in the selfish behaviour of the very affluent. I was just looking at the statistics this morning on the weapons industry and the United States is the largest trader, the largest broker, the largest manufacturer of weapons in the developing world where there are so many problems. This is all black money, it is very corrupt.
The Church used to be an organisation, charged - for want of a better word - with looking after our souls, but no one goes to Church anymore. Who are the modern day pastors or priests, who do you think they are?
Deepak Chopra: I think you have really got to take responsibility for yourself now. And, you know, it is dangerous to put power into other people's hands because power leads to cronyism and corruption and ultimately to all kinds of problems. You know, I think people have to take time and responsibility for their own personal and spiritual growth.
Last question, you are due to come to Majorca in May this year. Have you ever been to the island before?
Deepak Chopra: No I have not and that is why I am so excited. I am really looking forward to it. I have heard so much about it from all the friends that have been there and I know a lot of people who have been there for vacation from England.
And what message will you be trying to get across?
That you can be a happy, healthy person and by doing that you are contributing to the well-being across the world.
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