Deepak Chopra Lecture in Vancouver Review
Last Friday, June 4th, we attended the Deepak Chopra talk at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver. It was a packed house of enthusiastic, like-minded people.
Dr. Chopra began with an ice-breaker explaining the time he had just graduated from medical school in India and arrived in New York City with no money in his pockets. Language barriers created confusion (British English vs. American English). For example, he asked for a torch (flashlight in American English) to inspect a dead body and the nurse thought he wanted to preform a cremation! Roars of laughter erupted from the audience and their feedback continued throughout the over 3 hour informative talk.
He spoke of many ideas, including Quantum physics, genes being undeterministic, and the unity of consciousness.
Here are some quotes from his lecture which I felt were important ideas to think about:
“Consciousness is a singular that has no plural.”
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change. A choice in consciousness determines perception.”
“Your body is your subconscious mind. Your mind is not in your brain, it is everywhere, all cells are communicating with each other.”
“Don’t confuse the horse with the rider. You are riding the molecules, but you are not the molecules. You are not your physical body.”
“Your body is just the place were your memory and dreams call home for the time being.”
“Consciousness: water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it, fire cannot burn it, weapons cannot shatter it, it’s ancient, it’s unborn…it does not die.”
“I am not in the world, the world is in me. I am not in the body, the body is in me. I am not in the mind, the mind is in me.
“There are 4 divine qualities: Love + Kindness, Compassion, Joy in the success of others, and Equanimity. See yourself as inseparable from the whole universe.”
“Happiness formula: H= S + C + V
S (Set point, in the brain…do you see problems or opportunities in a particular situation?) partly determined by genetics and conditioning during your early years of life.
How do you change the set point? Meditation…it re-sets the set point and activates the prefrontal cortex.
C (conditions of living, are you rich or poor?) If you win the lottery and it makes you very happy, set point will take you back to your baseline state after about a year or so.
V (voluntary choices/actions) personal pleasure i.e. sex, shopping, going out, etc.
But real happiness comes from fulfillment, choices that make other people happy.”
“The fastest way to be happy is to make other people happy.”
“Spend money on experiences rather than things: because first you look forward to the experience, you enjoy the experience, then you reminisce about the experience.”
“Spiritual well being begins with:
Yoga of being (meditation)
Yoga of feeling (love)
Yoga of thinking (creativity and understanding)
Yoga of doing (service)”
“Your body is a process, not a structure.”
“You can change your relationship with time (time is an illusion).”
Overall, it was a great experience and I’m really glad I attended. It was definitely awesome being there in the audience as there was such an amazing energy in the theatre.
Have you ever had the opportunity to attend one of Deepak Chopra‘s lectures?
Follow Deepak on Twitter for uplifting tweets!
