How to Know God: The Soul's Journey Into the Mystery of Mysteries

[Guest guest]

How to Know God: The Soul's Journey Into the Mystery of Mysteries

by Deepak Chopra

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

You don't have to believe in God in order to experience God.

--- Deepak Chopra

 

The celebrated author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind and The Seven

Spiritual Laws of Success has written his most ambitious and

important work yet, a runaway international bestseller that has

inspired hundreds of thousands of readers to rethink their concept of

God.

 

According to Chopra, the brain is hardwired to know God. The human

nervous system has seven biological responses that correspond to

seven levels of divine experience. These are shaped not by any one

religion (they are shared by all faiths), but by the brain's need to

take an infinite, chaotic universe and find meaning in it. How to

Know God describes the quest each of us is on, whether we realize it

or not. For, as Chopra puts it, " God is our highest instinct to know

ourselves. " This book makes a dramatic and enduring contribution to

that knowledge.

 

Quote from Chapter One

 

" One bald fact stands at the beginning of any search for God. He leaves no

footprints in the material world. From the very beginning of religion in the

West, it was obvious that God had some kind of presence, known in Hebrew as

Shekhinah. Sometimes this word is simply translated as " light " or radiance.

Shekhinah formed the halos around angels and the luminous joy in the face of a

saint. It was feminine, even though God, as interpreted in the Judeo-Christian

tradition, is masculine. The significant fact about Shekhinah was not its

gender, however. Since God is infinite, calling the deity He or She is just a

human convention.(*) Much more important was the notion that if God has a

presence, that means he can be experienced.

 

He can be known. This is a huge point, because in every other way God is

understood to be invisible and untouchable. And unless some small part of God

touches the material world, he will remain inaccessible forever. "

 

* A note on gender: Finding a pronoun for God is not easy. In keeping with

common tradition, this book uses he. But surely God transcends all gender. I

could have rotated three different pronouns--he, she, and it--but that would not

have gotten any nearer to the truth, and it would have made for very clumsy

reading.

 

How to Know God: The Soul's Journey Into the Mystery of Mysteries

page 5

 

ENDORSEMENTS

 

" I congratulate Dr. Deepak Chopra for this wonderful book, reaching out to many,

many readers, on the subject of spirituality, but with a scientific approach.

And I absolutely agree with Dr. Chopra's view that 'if we want to change the

world, we have to begin by changing ourselves.' This is the same message that I

have always been conveying. "

 

The Dalai Lama

 

" The most important book about God for our times. Deepak Chopra is an amazing

combination of William James and Shankara. In this book he has built for us a

magical stairway to ascend to life-changing experience of the sacred, keeping

our scientific outlook and an ever more open heart and mind. "

 

Robert Thurman, Ph.D.,

professor of religion,

Columbia University

 

 

" Deepak Chopra has introduced literally millions of people to the spiritual

path, and for this we should all be profoundly grateful. In How to Know God,

Deepak continues his pioneering outreach, showing that God consciousness unfolds

in a series of stages, each important and remarkable in itself, yet each getting

closer to Source. This is at once a map of Spirit, and a map of your own deepest

Self, for in the last analysis, they are one and the same. "

 

Ken Wilber, author of

Integral Psychology

 

" Spiritual health and moral responsibility are two of the most precious gifts

that any leader can offer. Few thinkers have done as much as Deepak Chopra to

allow millions to embrace the project of personal and social transformation. I

agree completely with Dr. Chopra's insight that 'if we want to change the world,

we have to begin by changing ourselves.' In a world where overcoming poverty,

inequality, greed, and cynicism will be the great human challenges of the

twenty-first century, Deepak Chopra offers life-affirming suggestions for

developing a more just and peaceful society. "

 

Oscar Arias,

president of Costa Rica

(1986-1990), 1987 Nobel Peace

Prize Laureate

 

" Deepak Chopra has blessed the world by spreading the light of vedic knowledge

and the timeless teachings on nonduality. Vedanta has inspired and transformed

the lives of seekers for thousands of years. However, every age needs a voice

that can articulate ancient Wisdom in a contemporary framework. Dr. Chopra has

given the seekers of self-knowledge a clear and scientific road map to

understand and realize the ultimate reality. I congratulate him for his

brilliant work. "

 

His Holiness Vasudevanand Saraswati,

Jagad Guru Shankracharya of

Jyotirmath World Headquarters

established by Adi Shankara

(sage-philosopher of India

A.D. 686-718)

 

" This is a profound and accessible exploration of the experience of God,

including an understanding of it in biological and scientific terms. How to Know

God is both fascinating and uplifting. "

 

Andrew Weil, M.D., director of the

Program in Integrative Medicine at

the University of Arizona

 

" One of the best books ever written about a subject that more people think about

than anything else. "

 

Larry King, host of Larry King Live,

CNN

 

" A renowned physician and author, Deepak Chopra is undoubtedly one of the most

lucid and inspired philosophers of our times. "

 

Mikhail Gorbachev, president,

Citation of the Medal of the

Presidency of the Italian Republic

awarded by the Pio Manzu

International Scientific Committee

 

" Deepak Chopra has really done it this time—a brilliant, scholarly yet lyrical

synthesis of neuroscience, quantum physics, personal reminiscence, Eastern,

Western, and spiritual thinking. Dr. Chopra's new theory of seven stages of

understanding God is extremely relevant to the ongoing transformation in

medicine today from the old soul-less paradigm to the new one with spirituality

and emotions occupying center stage. This will be the Bible of the New Medicine,

the scientifically accurate medicine that will replace the dying reductionist

old thinking. "

 

Candace B. Pert, Ph.D., research

professor at Georgetown University

School of Medicine, department

of physiology and biophysics,

Washington, D.C., and author of

Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind

Mind-Body Medicine

 

" How to Know God should be on the night table of every seeker of truth and

Spirit. Even better, every seeker should keep it with them at all times as they

travel on their soul's journey. "

 

Shirley MacLaine, actress and author

of The Camino and Out on a Limb

 

" In the tradition not only of William James but especially Carl Gustav Jung,

Deepak Chopra finds the soul where it belongs, an essential element of being and

links spirituality to human needs. In the spirit of Abraham Maslow's The Farther

Reaches of Human Nature, he carries stages of development/potentiality even

beyond self-actualization and peak experience. Chopra sees the soul as the

culmination of an evolution that enables man to find God. Most importantly, he

puts ways of experiencing God in a development sequence, ontogeny recapitulating

phylogeny spiritually as well as biologically. 'God is a process.' It is

appropriate that Deepak Chopra, who previously dealt with physical health, now

approaches spirituality in a similarly inspired way, since growing evidence

suggests the two may be linked. "

 

George Freeman Solomon, M.D.,

professor of psychiatry and

biobehavioral sciences, emeritus,

University of California, Los Angeles

 

" Deepak continues to lead us even deeper into the mysteries and joys of true

spirituality. "

 

James Redfield, author of The Celestine

Prophecy and The Secret of Shambhala

 

" For the thousand years which preceded modernity, the world was G-d intoxicated.

Theology was man's greatest pursuit embraced by the earth's leading minds. Then

along came mind-numbing sound bites about the deity—'G-d is love,' 'May the

Force be with you'—which propelled the knowledge of G-d back to its infancy.

Deepak Chopra's profound and insightful book inspires us once again to apprehend

G-d in all His majesty and all His glory. Hats off to Deepak for restoring awe

and mystery to the grandest of all subjects. "

 

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of

Kosher Sex and An Intelligent Person's Guide

to Judaism

 

" Deepak Chopra takes a scientific as well as spiritual approach to the ultimate

mystery of life, giving us a breathtaking and awe-inspiring version of Divinity

and ourselves. After reading How to Know God, you'll have a much deeper

understanding of who you are and your role in the universe. "

 

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of Seven

Paths to God and A Woman's Journey to God

 

" Just when I think he can't go any deeper, he does. With How to Know God, Deepak

Chopra makes it clear: we have in our midst a spiritual genius. "

 

Marianne Williamson, author of

Return to Love and Enchanted Love

 

" This book will be a very challenging book for those who read it as it was for

the adventurous author who wrote it. The philosophical and theological

differences raised by scholars from other traditions make the book even more

inviting for reflection and discussion. I personally found the book both

rewarding and exciting and have enjoyed immensely the serious discussion it

provoked. With this work Dr. Chopra moves his many talents from the arena of the

medical to the realm of the spiritual, and in so doing 'awakens' our

consciousness, which is what spirituality is all about in the first place. "

 

Father J. Francis Stroud, S.J., executive

director of DeMello Spirituality

Center, Fordham University

 

" A brilliant mind has created a book which should be read by believers and

nonbelievers. It is a treasure chest of knowledge that everyone should open and

explore regardless of one's belief or faith. The knowledge presented can change

your life. "

 

Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., author

of Love, Medicine and Miracles

and Prescriptions for Living

 

" Deepak offers a fresh, gorgeous, and illuminating approach to the perennial

quest to know God. This work of wisdom beautifully weaves religion, quantum

physics, and neuroscience in practical, powerful ways to awaken the reader. "

 

Harold H. Bloomfield, M.D.,

best-selling author of Healing Anxiety

Naturally and Making Peace with Your Past

 

" This is a very wise book about consciousness and our connection with the

Divine. It is a marvelous advance beyond the morbid, godless messages of

materialistic science. Above all, it is about waking up to who we really are:

infinite, immortal, eternal. No matter what your religious inclinations may be,

you can find affirmation, joy, and fulfillment in these pages. "

 

Larry Dossey, M.D., author of

Reinventing Medicine and Healing Words

 

" There is a paradigm shift going on, and Deepak Chopra, M.D., is one of its most

popular and eloquent spokespersons. In this new paradigm, consciousness,

popularly called God, is the ground of all being. Opponents often ask, So how do

I know this consciousness? Certainly my ego is nothing like you describe! Now

Chopra has given a very readable response in How to Know God. It is not easy to

know God, says Chopra correctly, because God is separated from us by a

discontinuity. Chopra explains this beautifully using quantum physics and

relativity theory. But you can know God with God's Grace, assures Chopra, as he

gives many steps to follow. If you want to investigate Reality or God,

especially if you are a beginner, this book will be of real help. "

 

Amit Goswami, professor, department

of physics, University of Oregon, and

author of The Self-Aware Universe and

Quantum Creativity

 

" The ultimate how-to book! Brilliant! "

 

Dean Ornish, M.D., founder and

president of the Preventive Medicine

Research Institute; clinical professor of

medicine, UCSF School of Medicine,

and author of Love & Survival and

Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing

Heart Disease

 

" Very simply, the most profoundly enlightening book I have ever read. I am in

awe at the depth of feeling on these pages—Astounding—Brilliant—A course in

knowing God, rather than knowing about God. "

 

Wayne W. Dyer

 

" This book opens the door to the new millennium with a quantum leap into the

world of Infinite creativity. Who is God? Are you God? Can you experience God

directly? In this groundbreaking road map to the ultimate awakening, Deepak

Chopra emerges as the scientist of the inner world. He shows us step by step how

we can meet God face-to-face. This book is a must for those who are ready to

enter the new millennium as blissful, creative, multi-dimensional beings. "

 

Margot Anand, author of

The Art of Everyday Ecstasy

 

" In his personal search for spiritual truths, Deepak has discovered definitions

so simple and pure that they can change a life in the blink of an eye. I promise

that there are readers who will need to do nothing more than open this book at a

random page and read any line on which their eye lights—and that line will

rewrite their lives. An extraordinary claim? Try it for yourself. "

 

Uri Geller, author/paranormalist,

Sonning, England

 

" It is a cri de coeur by one of the most brilliant minds of our time. "

 

Rustum Roy, Evan Pugh Professor of

the Solid State; professor of science,

technology and society; and professor

of geochemistry; Pennsylvania State

University

 

" The true gift of How to Know God is that it is about getting to know ourselves.

God is the mirror in which we reveal ourselves to ourselves. Deepak Chopra shows

that we cannot have an angry righteous god without being governed inwardly and

unconsciously by fear. Likewise if we have a loving god we ourselves have a

visionary sense of our own infinite potential. The legacy of this book is the

true legacy of every human life: the depths to which we have made God in our own

hearts. "

 

Richard Moss, M.D., author of Words

That Shine Both Ways, The Second Miracle,

The Black Butterfly, and The I That Is We

 

" In How to Know God, Deepak Chopra teaches us to recognize our everyday lives as

the raw material of our spiritual evolution. By reclaiming science as a thread

through our spiritual labyrinth, he connects the big questions of meaning, God,

and immortality—once the exclusive province of theologians and philosophers—with

our daily existence. And he does it all with his infectious sense of awe and

wonder. "

 

Arianna Huffington, syndicated

columnist and author of

The Fourth Instinct

 

" With astonishing insight and breathtaking clarity, Deepak Chopra has here

answered the only question that has ever really mattered. The human race will

remember this time in our history as the moment when the final veil was lifted

from the face of God. "

 

Neale Donald Walsch, author of

Conversations with God

 

" With childlike awe and wonder, in words of elegant simplicity, Deepak Chopra

invites us to effortlessly discover the mystery of life. Embracing the challenge

in gratitude for every grace-filled moment, readers are irresistibly drawn to

enjoy the fulfillment of Life's all-encompassing purpose: 'To know, love, and

serve God with our whole mind, our whole soul, our whole heart, and to love our

neighbor as ourself.' This work of love offers an 'in-the-body' transformative

experience assessible to all who choose to accept it. "

 

Sister Judian Breitenbach, Catholic

Order of the Poor Handmaid of Jesus

Christ, The Healing Arts Center on

the River, Mishawaka, Indiana

 

" This remarkable book, called How to Know God, expresses so profoundly a

universal message of the unity of spiritual ideals. It also generously offers a

glimpse of the 'Divine' which becomes more and more accessible to readers of all

beliefs as the words gradually disclose magic nourishment to mind, heart and

soul. While turning the pages, one by one, cascades of revelation come flowing

out, washing away all preconceived ideas and dogmatic hindrances which have

dominated religious thinking all down the ages. As all barriers between the

material and the spiritual worlds crumble through the power of the all-pervading

light shining into the heart, the reader is placed face to face with the

greatest of all mysteries, losing thereby the illusion of the self, a process

which Deepak Chopra illustrates with sublime inspiration. "

 

Hidayat Inayat-Khan

Pir-o-Murshid, spiritual head and

representative general,

International Sufi Movement