Deepak and the Third Jesus

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http://www.adishakti.org/_/deepak_chopra_and_the_third_jesus.htm

 

Deepak Chopra and The Third Jesus

By Shannon Alderman

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Life

 

Deepak Chopra, former chief of staff at Boston Regional Medical

Center and author of more than 50 books on topics ranging from

spirituality to the mind body connection, spoke to a sold-out crowd

at Unity North Atlanta Church about his latest book with a

controversial title, " The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore. "

In Chopra's tome, he suggests there's not one Jesus but three: a

historical Jesus who lived more than 2,000 years ago with little

supporting historical documentation to account for his life; a

mythical and theological Jesus brought up by centuries of stories,

sacraments and traditions to " fulfill the churches' agenda; " and a

third Jesus, a more real one, a " cosmic Christ and spiritual guide

whose teaching embraces all humanity " not just the church built in

his name. " By fusing Eastern thought, including terms like karma and

meditation with interpretation of the New Testament Bible and the

Gnostic Gospels, it's this third Jesus that piques Chopra's interest

as he shares his views on how one can learn to connect with what he

calls a more authentic Jesus " who is an example of what a totally

transformed person could be like. " The Sunday Paper sat down with the

author to discuss his recent book.

 

Q How have various Christian denominations responded to your

book, " The Third Jesus—The Christ We Cannot Ignore "

A Some very well. Extremely well if you look at some of the quotes

from Christian theologians, but [recently] on the Catholicism.org Web

site, there was an article calling me the antichrist and an enemy of

the Christian church. So it is mixed.

 

In the book, you talk about the mask of hypocrisy that institutions

and dogma have placed on Jesus. Churches do incredible good around

the globe too. Surely, you don't see churches as all bad?

One of the advantages of institutions and churches is that they

create communities of caring, of compassion, for humanitarian

reasons. So, that is the good side of institutions. The bad side is

the bureaucracy, the corruption, the power mongering, influence

peddling and control that comes with it and the generation of fear

because even religious institutions are like corporations except they

deal with the human soul so there is much more control and it becomes

fear based. So, there is a good side to it and a dark side to it.

 

So, then, the problem is not with the church, per se, but with people

themselves?

Insecure people will hang on to traditional institutional religion.

If people are free inside and willing to explore, they do not need it.

 

You are the head of the Chopra Center, a big institution. What's the

difference between that and a church?

A It's not a big institution. I have given up my medical practice to

my colleagues, and they own it. I spend 20 percent of my time over at

the Chopra Center. I am mainly involved in a nonprofit called the

Alliance for a New Humanity, which is very decentralized. There is no

control. I spend my time mostly writing and speaking, and I travel by

myself. No group.

 

In your book, you write, " Jesus exists in our own awareness at the

level of God consciousness. " God consciousness. You use that term a

lot. What is that?

God consciousness is when you can experience the spirit in other

people and everything else that you behold. So, you are fully of the

spirit within and fully aware of the spirit everywhere and that gives

you an experience where the divine is not difficult to find but

impossible to avoid. And you experience God everywhere which is God

being omnipresent because he is everywhere.

 

You also ask the question, " Can any authority however exalted, really

inform us about what Jesus would have thought? " Isn't that what you

are doing in this book? You are informing us of what Jesus thought by

reinterpreting the New Testament?

I am not saying I am an authority in this book. I am sharing my point

of view. It is up to you whether it resonates with you or not.

 

Why did you write this book?

Whenever I write, I am, at that moment, passionately exploring that

subject, and I like to share it with other people in case they are

interested. I don't have a specific mission because that reminds me

of missionaries and I am not trying to convince anyone of anything. I

write with the goal of sharing my point of view.

 

For a large portion of this book, you quote heavily from the New

Testament Bible as well as the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (of which no

major Christian group accepts as canonical or authoritative). How

well do you know the Bible?

Very well. I have been reading the Bible since I learned to read.

 

You have written more than 50 books on topics ranging from overcoming

addiction to world peace and achieving affluence. You even have a

cookbook. Why did this book take you 30 years to write?

Because I was trying to correlate what I know of the Bible with what

I know from Eastern traditions and therefore it was more of a

challenge. But I have read the Bible since I started to read. I know

it better than most Christians.

 

I heard you on a religious radio channel on Sirius Radio the other

day, and you said with perfect calm that you live in the present. How

does one live in the present?

By being in the moment. By embracing uncertainty. By not being

attached to an outcome and by being independent of the opinions of

others. Just being yourself.

 

But in a culture obsessed with image and having things microwave-

quick, how do we not attach ourselves to the outcome?

When a gardener puts a seed in the ground, does he dig it up every

day to see how it is doing? Or does he wait for the right season? He

lets it be. Jesus says " Do not worry about tomorrow. Look at the

lilies in the field. They are more glorious than Solomon in all his

glory. "

 

Is it harder or more difficult for the 21st century soul to be quiet?

It is all conditioning. My six-year-old granddaughter can be still.

You can become still, really still, and that is when you can

eavesdrop on the mind of the universe.