WEBVTT - Mind and Medicine with Deepak Chopra 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.760 A folks, today's guest is very very well known. This 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:06.840 is a much different guest than I normally have one. 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.840 And if you had told me that I would be 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 sitting down with one of the leading thought leaders of 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.880 our time, I wouldn't have believed you. It's just definitely 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.239 not my john. The Deepak Chopra is a global leader 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.200 and pioneer in the field of mind body medicine. It's 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:32.120 got so much insight into the spiritual, the physical, mental worlds. 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:45.200 Turn up the volume a bit. I'm glad you're here. Well, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:51.080 I'm very excited to today welcome my guest, Deepak Chopra. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.120 These are words that I never really thought would be 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:59.840 leaving my mouth here on a podcast. First off, I 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.800 never even imagined that I would be doing a podcast 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.920 when I got into this line of work, and certainly 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.280 that I would have such an esteemed guest with me today. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.920 It's very nice to meet you, sir. I know that 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.360 a lot of people, you know, there's a silly six 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.400 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing that has been going on 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.959 for a lot of years, and we actually believed or 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.480 not have a connection through the film business because of 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:31.399 the love Guru. So my first question for you is 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.160 how was how did you feel about acting? What was 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.920 what was your experience with being a performer. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.319 You know, Mike has been a very good friend to me, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:47.240 and when he came out with this idea, I wanted 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.360 to support the idea, but you know, it's not my 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:59.320 kind of humor and spend filming it was quite tiring 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.400 to daddy the truth and I'm not you know, I 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.480 like to speak on stage, but I'm not really an actor. 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.200 But it was an interesting experience. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:11.560 Well, it's interesting that you say that because I think 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.120 that you know, I have listened to you, you know, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:20.360 quite a bit speaking, uh, and and and seeing you 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:25.079 also not in person but online speaking and while you're 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:30.240 not an actor, uh, there is something about your full persona, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:36.280 your voice where it is placed, all those elements of 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.680 what you put out in the world that have a 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.280 very very powerful effect. I guess my point is that 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.680 you know, beyond the words that that you say, there's 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.839 also a there is an element of that's just you 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.840 that is powerful. Are you Are you kind of aware 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.640 of that that it's, for lack of a better word, charismatic. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:01.840 I kind of became a flure through comments from people 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.560 like yourselves, you know. But I was not aware of 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:10.880 that growing up. Although in high school I was a 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.560 professional debater, and I you know, I did a lot 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.640 of that in college and in medical school too, so 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.960 I do have that background of engaging in dialogue and 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.720 debate as a student in school and medical school and 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:28.680 even thereafter. 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:34.200 Well, speaking of background, where are you from? Where were 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:34.560 you born? 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.119 I was born in New Delhi. I went to high 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.720 school in New Delhi, and then I went to the 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.680 medical school that at that time and even now is 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:51.520 considered very prestigious in India. They take only fifty students 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.800 a year from all over India. It's called the All 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.040 India Institute of Medical Sciences. And then as soon as 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:04.400 I finished my school, I was only twenty two, I 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:10.280 came to the United States and worked in community hospital 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:15.400 in New Jersey. But fortunately the next year I got 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:23.960 fellowships and residencies in Boston at various institutions associated with 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.520 Harvard and Boston University and Tufts, and so I did 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:33.400 my training in Boston, four years of residency and three 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.039 years of fellowship, so that was seven years. And then 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:42.120 I started teaching at at the three universities medical schools, 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:47.120 mainly endochronology and neuroindochronology, which is the study of brain chemistry. 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.080 So this was in seventies when people didn't know much 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:57.240 about neurochemicals like serotonin and dopamine and oxytocin and opiates. 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:02.159 But we were right in the frontier. My mentor was 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.440 Simour Reichlan, who was the number one endochronologist in the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:07.360 world at that time. 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:07.840 He was the. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.160 President of the Endocrine Society. He's now ninety seven, by 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.560 the way, and if he catches a snake in his garden, 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:20.320 he still dissects the brain looking for neurochemicals. But it 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.800 was my insight as a result of my training with 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.800 these molecules, was that one day one of my colleagues, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.720 Can Despert, who later became the head of brain chemistry 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.640 at the NIH, She said, these are the molecules of emotion, 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.960 and you know that kind of hit me. I said, 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.839 you should write a book about them. She said, I 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.520 will if you write the forwards. So she wrote this book, 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:51.400 Molecules of Emotion, and I actually did the forward. It 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.200 became a best seller that got me into my book 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.680 Quantum Healing nineteen eighty eight. And even though it was 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:06.960 vilified by my colleagues and medical schools, which they felt 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.440 it was totally outlandish or whatever. It also was very 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.679 popular with the public. So that was my forain into 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.440 mind body medicine, which then became integrated medicine, and then 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:25.240 deeper understanding of what we call consciousness and spirit. And 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.719 this year or thirty five years later, I along with 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:34.920 a couple of colleagues, including a quantum biologist who's at 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:39.000 the University of Calgary also in Poland in Europe, and 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:47.920 another colleague, Brian Fertig, who's neuroindochronologists like myself, we published 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:54.200 last week Quantum Body, which now brings the science into 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.360 what I was saying in nineteen eighty eight. So since 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.880 ninety eight, in eighty eight, there's a lot of science 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:06.640 on what we call epigenetics, neuroplasticity, and even you know, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:13.320 the quantum effects in our body as a result of 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.960 a more fundamental experience of existence, which is going beyond 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.880 the mind into what we call the spiritual consciousness. Somehow 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:27.160 that begins to kick in self regulation and homeostasis in 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.000 the body. And so we have a science, you know, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:34.800 and now the science is easy to check because anybody objects. 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.360 We say, go to AI or go to Google Bard 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.360 or whatever and check out the science yourself. I don't 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.480 have to defend what I was saying thirty five years ago. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.640 Well, I mean that brings up so many thoughts for me. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.160 But I'll just speak from a personal level. I mean, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:57.920 I am someone who kind of goes. I'm sort of 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.160 open to all different ways to stay healthy and to 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:03.119 fix things. 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:03.680 Uh. 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:10.840 If I use traditional medicine. I have a traditional medicine doctor. Uh, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.760 you know, I will if if I feel sick or 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.280 something's going on. I'm I'm very good about showing up 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.880 and taking blood work and you know, doing all those things. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.080 I'm not in any way anti it, but I also 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:30.920 sometimes go to alternative sources whatever they happen to be different, 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:35.640 you know what some people would call, you know, insane 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:43.480 kind of methods, meditation, you know, whatever it happens to be. 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.520 In the course of my life, there's been like, you know, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.720 herbal kind of things and acupuncture, all kinds of stuff. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.080 But what I find a lot of times is that 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.280 both of these sides of this particular issue are sort 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.040 of at odds with each other or disdainful of the 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.320 different kind of practices on both sides that there's a 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.520 lot of people that who are in you know, alternative 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.840 medicines that really you know, pooh pooh are disdained you know, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.400 traditional medicine. And and you know, on the flip side, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.000 you go to the doctor and you say, hey, you know, uh, 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.280 you know, i have this, you know, pain in my throat. 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.800 I've been taking you know, you know whatever, zinc or something, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:26.800 and he goes, yeah, yeah, great whatever, you know it 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.640 doesn't want to hear about it. So I'm wondering, as 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.520 someone who comes from you were trained and you know 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.480 clearly very successful as a as a doctor in internal 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.800 medicine and the chronology, and then you've discovered this kind 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.760 of other connection, how do you balance those two types 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.120 of things? And which world is it that or do 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.800 you feel yourself on a bridge between two worlds? 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.000 Not really, Kevin, So, just to put things in perspective, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.520 I currently have a professorship in three medical schools, University 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.880 of California, San Diego, Mount Sinai in New York, and 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.480 University of Central Florida in Orlando. So I teach, and 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.640 right now it's very popular this what is called integrated 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:19.199 medicine with medical students that they are offered electives and 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:24.480 there's always a waiting list. So I no longer say 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.920 this is alternative, but this is an integrative. 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:27.720 It's old list. 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:32.360 Say I think good medicine is that which works. Spirit 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.920 So medicine that works is good medicine. It doesn't matter 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.000 where it comes from. If it's you know, if it's 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:45.679 Eastern Western to me, doesn't matter. Having said that, what 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:50.520 we call traditional medicine as taught in medical schools for 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.080 the most part, although now medical schools are getting into 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.360 what they call integrated medicine. But in general, it's very 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:08.599 clear that mainstream medical intervention, which includes antibiotics, includes chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:15.360 now immunotherapy, and many other things. Mainstream medicine is extremely 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.720 effective in acute illness. So if you have pneumonia, you 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.800 better take an antibiotic. If you break your leg, you 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:27.199 should see an orthopedic surgeon, et cetera. If you have appendicitis, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:32.440 that's an acute situation which needs intervention. So what we 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.640 call reductionist medicine Western medicine is based on understanding the 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:43.120 mechanisms of illness at a very precise level. So you 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.760 know how bacteria multiplied. Then you have a precision medicine 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:53.000 to interfere with that, whatever it is antibiotics, etc. Now immunotherapy. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.000 There are major breakthroughs. 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:56.880 In medicine right now. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.520 The first one is AI, which can put together every 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:05.280 biomarker and link it to everything that's happening in your life, 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.640 your sleep patterns, your stress, et cetera. So AI is 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:13.400 a breakthrough in modern medicine. Gene editing is a breakthrough 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.800 in modern medicine. You'll be able to cut and paste 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.640 genes the same way you cutt and based emails. You 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.360 metaphorically speaking, you'll be able to read the barcode of 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.600 a gene and delete the gene that's causing say, baraka 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.559 gene cancer. You replace it with a normal gene Wallah. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:40.079 So that's second major breakthrough. The third major breakthrough in 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:44.760 modern medicine is what we call messenger RNA, where you 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:50.160 can create, hopefully in the near future, vaccines for chronic 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:56.120 illness everything from heart disease to cancer, to diabetes to Alzheimer's. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.880 So that's another major breakthrough. The fourth major breakthrough is 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:04.000 what we call the microbiome, which is the two million 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.600 extra genes you have in addition to human genes. We 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.960 can change the population of the genes through diet and 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.760 many other interventions. So that's a breakthrough. And the fifth 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.600 breakthrough is psychedelics, and you know that's happening in the 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:24.560 consciousness research. Those are very important breakthroughs in modern medicine. However, 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.440 when you look at the spectrum of disease, ninety five 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.840 percent or more disease is not due to what we 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.800 call fully penetrent genes. They are only less than five 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:43.199 percent of all disease, which includes cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:48.000 you name it. Ninety five percent or more is not 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.240 due to what we call fully penetrent genes, for which 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.800 you will have this gene editing and so forth. Ninety 0:13:55.080 --> 0:14:02.480 percent of disease is epigenetically or strated epigenetic. Above the genes, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.960 there's a sheet of proteins called his stones, and so 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.840 imagine my fist as this his stone protein DNA is 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.880 wrapped around this, and every experience you have doesn't matter 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.040 what the experience is. Right now, we are having an 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:24.120 intellectual conversation. Your genes in your brain frontal godix are 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:29.560 being activated. Sure, not only those genes, but anyone who's 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.520 listening to us. Their genes are being activated, which means 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:38.280 our minds are affecting energy information, genetic activity in different 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.640 parts of our body depending on the experience. So if 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.760 this was an emotional experience, you know, then you know 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.440 you're in love, then some other part of your brain 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.160 would be activated, and gene activity would be activated and 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.800 neural networks would change. This is something we did not 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.880 know twenty years ago. You know, intuitively, these Eastern tick 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.880 niques have tapped into it, you know, and Iveda and 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:10.320 Chinese medicine even and indigenous medical practices. They tapped into 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.440 the idea that when you change experience, you change biology. 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.080 And so you know, Western medicine's being dismissive of this 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.680 because they say, oh, you're not it's place ebo. But 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.080 that's a term that we use when you don't know 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.960 what's happening. Now we know what's happening. Genes are being 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.520 activated precisely. So when you sleep, certain genes get activated. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.359 When you have an emotional experience, certain genes get activated. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.800 When you manage your stress. Either way, it stress causes 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:44.720 genes to activate that cause inflammation. But when you have joy. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:50.280 Other genes are activated. Every experience modulates the activity of 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.600 the change. What happens is these proteins they move around, 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.440 and then certain genes get closer to each other, certain 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.479 genes get far from each other. They're literally genetic switches. 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.600 Like the lights in my room. Now you know, I 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.640 have a computer, I have a light, I have a microwave, 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.280 let's say, and depending on what I need, the appropriate 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:17.360 appliances will get activated. There's a computer in consciousness, call 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:22.360 it a cosmic computer whatever, that is constantly monitoring your 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.520 experience in trying to regulate your body, you know. But 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:31.040 we kind of sometimes interfare with that through lack of sleep, 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:35.600 for example, or a dysfunctional relationship or an improper diet. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.520 And now we not only know the gene activity, but 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.800 also the part of the autonomic nervous system, which we 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.680 call the parasympathetic nervous system, which is activated by all 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:49.880 these techniques, whether it's yoga or breathing, or chanting or 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:54.960 singing or meditation or mind body coordination or tai chi 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.840 or chigong or what you call you know, acuper pressure. 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.359 So looking at the new era where we can combine 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.879 everything that we know in Western medicine, with everything that 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.480 we know in these healing traditions, and there's a science. 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:12.199 I love it. 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:13.960 That's that's I love the book. 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.359 Now want to body. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:17.159 I love that. You know. 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.760 I had a experience many years ago where I was 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:28.359 a young man, uh and I was, you know, suffering 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.600 from a tremendous amount of back pain, low back pain, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.080 and uh, you know, to the point where like I'd 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.040 be driving down the road, I had to pull the 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.119 car over and lie on the ground that it was 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.000 but just it would literally like make me cry. And 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:46.439 I heard about this book, the Sarno Book, and I 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.320 remember I was on vacation. My back was killing me, 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.200 and I started reading this book and literally as I'm 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.159 reading it, my backstart stopped hurting. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.720 And you know, back book. 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:00.800 Was a good friend of mine, do it was? 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.800 He yeah, yeah, I mean it changed my life, honestly, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.280 and I've I've continued to you know, share that book 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.840 with with people, you know, because especially with backs. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:13.359 You know, he talked about. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.879 The you know, the fear that we have around and 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.040 we always think that it's there's something wrong with your 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.080 spine or you know, whatever it is, and this is 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.560 not the ascount people that have true spin as you've 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.920 pointed out, true things that need to be fixed, you know, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.800 true spinal injuries. But once I started to think about 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.120 it and to think about, you know, what was actually 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:38.320 going on in my life that that I wasn't quite 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:44.080 dealing with, things got a lot better. I mean, my 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:45.639 back got better. I don't know, I don't know my 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.280 life necessarily got better, but my back back got better 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.919 for that time. And I think about that, you know, 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.480 quite a bit now. But I have to ask you, 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:59.840 you know, I I sometimes when i'm I'm not I'm 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:04.560 not what I would call a spiritual person, right, I don't. 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:09.320 I don't have a religion. I don't have a religious practice. 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:18.960 I don't I do things, for instance, like meditate, and 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.439 sometimes I'll use you know, apps or or or you know, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.359 you know, voices or things that I've subscribed to to 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:31.280 kind of walk me through it. But when it starts 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:38.560 to dip a little too far into some spirituality, I 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.359 kind of find myself pulling back from that. So I'm wondering, what, what, 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.320 what kind of advice you would have for somebody like me. 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:46.120 Let me. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.280 Actually take you a little deeper on this, Okay, because 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:57.120 you shouldn't be afraid of exploring spirituality for the following reasons. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:03.160 This is going in to the heart of two very 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.720 big scientific conundrums that we have today. If you go 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.040 on the Internet and you type out the following question, 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.440 what are the one hundred and twenty five open questions 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:14.479 and science today? 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.760 There are one hundred and twenty five open questions and science. 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:19.800 By the way, you know, how did life begin? 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.960 E said, But the first thing that comes up is 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.399 what is the universe made of? And I won't go 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.320 detailed into it. You would think that, you know, most 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:34.440 of the universe is gravity and particles and force fields, 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:39.120 and you know what we call atoms and molecules. Well, 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:43.920 that's point zero one percent of the universe, which is atomic. 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:48.119 The rest is dark energy doc matter, non atomic. We 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.840 can't even interact with it, so we have no idea 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:54.280 what it is point zero one percent of the visible universe, 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.479 which is two trillion galaxies one hundred you know, seven 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:03.400 hundred sixtillions. That's seven hundred followed by twenty one zeros. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.960 And now they say uncountable trillions of probably habitable planets, 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.960 including sixty billion habitable planets just in the Milky Way 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:17.359 galaxy atomic. But the problem with atoms is or particles, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.840 when you're not observing them, they disappear. They're not physical anymore. 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:26.639 They disappear into mathematical space, and they're called wave functions. 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:32.040 That's therefore the first question in size today's what's the 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:34.760 universe made of? And nobody knows what it's made of? 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:38.280 Zero They say it's made of nothing, which leads to 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.240 our second question in science, Then why does it. 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:42.760 Look like this? 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.480 You know, like you and me and the computer and 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:49.960 the Milky Way galaxy and stars and trees and rocks 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.680 and animals. That's called the hard problem of consciousness. Now, 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.760 in the short time we have right now, we can't 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:01.639 go into detail, but there's an emerging science which we 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:06.760 call consciousness, which might be fundamental reality. Conscious not the mind, 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:10.800 it's not the body. It's that in which we experience 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.160 the mind and body. So if I ask you where 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:16.639 are you having this experience right now listening? You probably 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.359 point to your ears or your brain, But there's no 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.680 sound in your ears or your brain either. If I say, 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:26.240 where are you seeing my image the park on your screen? 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:30.280 Where is this experience happening? You might point to your eyes, 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:32.879 your brain, but there's no experience in your eyes in 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:36.960 your brain either, there are only chemical activities eellectual So 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:43.600 there's a growing body of evidence that experience happens, for 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.080 lack of a better word, in what we call awareness 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:51.640 or consciousness. Without awareness or consciousness, there's no experience. There's 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.560 no sound, there's no touch, no sight, no say it tastes, 0:22:54.960 --> 0:23:01.320 no smell, no thought, no feeling, no emotion, no no ideas, 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:06.560 no creativity, no any no experience. So consciousness is that 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.280 which makes experience happen, and we don't know where it is. 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:13.840 So the spiritual traditions have said, if you go really 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:19.560 deep beyond your mind, you do encounter and experience where 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:23.000 you feel connected to everything ineffable, You lose the fear 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:26.960 of death, you have spontaneous emergence of what is called 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:32.680 platonic values like truth, goodness, beauty, harmony, and you actually 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:36.560 find your identity beyond space and time. Now this was 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:40.359 very difficult for people to explain in the past, because 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:43.719 you know, it did sounds so esoteric and so vague. 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:46.879 But now with all that we're learning from psychedelics and 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:49.800 so on, it looks like your brain is not the 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.120 orchestrator of experience. It's like it's like a radio set 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:58.560 which receives experience from another domain beyond space and time. 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:00.840 You don't have to call it God, you don't have 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:04.160 to call it spirit. Just call it it whatever it is. 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:08.359 But we are on a little planet, little planet in 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:12.160 the junkyard of infinity, and we think we figured it out. 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:12.960 We have it. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:18.560 So the biggest experience you can have is a spiritual being. 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:25.560 Is astonishment, is wonder, is curiosity, and it's almost bewilderment. 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:30.000 Those are spiritual experiences because we don't know why there 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:34.200 is existence, or why there's awareness of existence. Because if 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:38.920 you weren't aware that you exist, then what's the point. 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:41.880 So these are very big questions and I think they 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:46.520 deserve exploring in every which way possible, whether it's through 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:52.560 Web three or artificial intelligence, or psychedelics or meditation, or 0:24:52.680 --> 0:24:57.480 even the rituals that go with religion. Because those people 0:24:57.520 --> 0:25:01.040 had an experience which was ineffable and they couldn't explain it, 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.760 and you know, the followers just were believing in the experience, 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:09.320 not having that experience on their own. If Buddha had 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:11.639 an experience, I don't want to worship the Buddha. I 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:14.520 want to know what that experience was or Jesus so well, 0:25:15.040 --> 0:25:17.879 you know. So that's my take on spirituality. I would say, 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:19.840 take the plunge and explore it. 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:21.399 You'll be surprised. 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:30.080 If you are inspired by today's episode. Please join us 0:25:30.080 --> 0:25:33.000 in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word 0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:37.200 bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift 0:25:37.240 --> 0:25:40.359 empowers us to continue to produce programs that highlight the 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:43.760 incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us to 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:46.720 provide essential resources to those that need it the most. 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:52.320 Once again, text b a Con to seven zero seven 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:56.359 zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org to 0:25:56.480 --> 0:25:56.960 learn more. 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:03.480 Hey want to bring on Punacha Machaya. 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:05.160 I love this name. 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:11.720 He is the CEO of the Chopra Foundation, and I 0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:14.600 want to talk about the work that you are doing 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:19.160 and that relates to everything that we're talking about here. 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:21.920 No, thank you Kevin for the opportunity. 0:26:22.119 --> 0:26:24.920 I think Deepak when he started the foundation, Yeah, in 0:26:24.960 --> 0:26:27.879 one vision he said, I want to reach a billion 0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:33.280 plus people or a more peaceful, just sustainable, healthier and 0:26:33.359 --> 0:26:37.000 joyful world as the sign me up. And so the 0:26:37.040 --> 0:26:39.199 purpose of the Triple Foundation is to really make this 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.640 vision a reality. But where we really focused on right 0:26:42.720 --> 0:26:46.119 now is in three areas as we speak in this 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:49.040 one hour podcast, more than sixty plus people would have died. 0:26:49.760 --> 0:26:53.320 Mental health is one of the silent pandemics every forty 0:26:53.440 --> 0:26:57.240 seconds blue some of the suicide globally in this great 0:26:57.240 --> 0:27:01.080