Firstly, I think Deepak Chopra needs to revisit english because procreation doesn't start with the letter F. :P
All those things seem to have survival as the main theme. If we were only concerned about survival, we would never have created everything we have today. We wouldn't care about the beauty in music, in paintings, or books. We would never have created specialty foods or be able to take in the awe of a beautiful sunset. We don't need any of that to survive but we still created it. I would think we should add a few more things to that list. Perhaps curiousity should be the fifth F. I know, it doesn't start with F but neither does procreation. :)
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 21, 2017 8:24 AM MST
Once you start climbing the heights and looking for awe and beauty you're getting away from Chopra and into the realm of Abraham Maslow. He'd back you all the way on that, Stormy. :)
Opps. I guess I joined the wrong part of the discussion although I still think that curiousity is a basic part of humanity. Maybe that's the bridge between the two. :)
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 21, 2017 2:51 AM MST
First it is important to recognize Chopra for the self-aggrandizing hack that he is. A one-time medical doctor become New Age alternative medicine prophet/shill who made a fortune selling herbs, oils and pseudoscience psychobabble by the boatload. He recieves huge sums to lecture against, among other western debaucheries, the evils of materialism and biological evolution.
Personally, I say who gives a good damn what this quack says. Any reasonable assessment of these four assertions would discern that they are entirely too simplistic and laughably inadequate to take seriously. Where does wanting to enjoy the day, expressing one's art, or making the world better appear in his reasoning? Where does charity and hope appear? Where is the quest for opportunity, the attainment of understanding, and the love of family, of life itself ranked in his bleak assessment? What world is this dude living in?
I take exception in that Chopra has rationalized so much of his ceaseless arbitrary blather with metaphysics and impressive sounding jargon that is in no sense based in any facts. I guess he gets a pass on pure dishonesty, as before he began deceiving others, he worked so hard to deceive himself.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 21, 2017 5:50 AM MST
Hi Zee. Well, I asked for an opinion and I sure got one. He's not the only fraudster out there, of course and some of them are in widely respected areas, but I take your point.
Actually I posted this for his fourth F. That was clever and I thought it might get a few smiles.
Hi Didge, Good question. I've been familiar with Chopra for years, read some of his works. BS'er to the nth degree. He's L Ron Hubbard meets Hindu mystic meets carnival barker. Jim Jones without the cyanide. He parlayed his Medical credentials into an empire of speaking fees, honorary titles and books on his dubious personal revelations about consciousness. I watched him destroyed by Sam Harris in a debate some years ago, it was terrible. Fraudster is kind, but, I think the guy truly believes his purpose is sound and his intellect formidable. In that, he's in the minority.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 21, 2017 4:48 AM MST
Mr. Chopra forgets an 'F' - Feeding kids. A man devotes 18 years to feeding a kid with only a slight chance that the kid will support him when he is old. Why does he do that?
Why does an old man plant a tree that he will never sit under?
Mr. Chopra is a short man. Short in a lot of ways.
We fed a lot of kids, Jewels, but the chance that I would ever ask them for support are pretty remote. We get on well but I don't hold my hand out. They have their own lives to live.
Clear the three Fs (ignoring the quip with the fourth) are acknowledged as the prime motivators in primitive human kind. Caring for our kids comes pretty close after those. As we climb the evolutionary scale we can, of course, add all sorts of higher motivations.
Didge, this kinda echoes what others are saying...but I am convinced it's our sense of wonder.
Or, saying the same thing another way, we are drawn along life by the pursuit of happiness...and what makes us happy is beauty, wonder, a sense of oneness with each other and creation...
"We are put on Earth a little space, To learn to bear the beams of love." ~ William Blake (1757-1827) (with whom Virginia is in love with...)
Blake is one of my favourites, Virginia, though I didn't know that quote. I have Bronowski's biography of him and his paintings are strange and stirring.
I've only been on here since early January but find it extraordinary that, in so little time, my reputation for bulldust hasn't produced a better image. I'm astonished that anybody took this question seriously, given that fourth 'F' which is the only reason Chopra got a mention at all. Instead I find myself defending the indefensible.
But it was all worth it just to get the Blake reminder. :)
Hi, Wisdom Tooth. Yes, all those things are worthwhile but they aren't really the point of the quotation. Rather than repeat myself can I refer you to my comment beneath Jewels Vern's answer?
Benedict Arnold 