Why a Mental Universe Is the “Real” Reality

livingbodyBy Deepak Chopra, MD, Menas Kafatos, PhD, Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, Rudolph Tanzi, PhD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science concerns itself with reality, in the form of “real particles”, “real organisms”, and the “real universe”. The tacit assumption is that science can answer the question of reality itself. If this wasn’t the case, science would have a hard time explaining why it holds a special place as a human activity. So one must grant that science concerns itself with the reality of “objects”. What this assumes, of course, is that objects exist independent of conscious experience. In the first two articles of this series, we’ve discussed the evidence that our universe is in fact fundamentally mental. What we call physical things and events, as it turns out, do not exist independently of subjective experience.

 

If they did, how would one even prove such existence? Conscious experience is the only way that reality can be known. The implications of this increasingly unavoidable conclusion—that the universe must be approached as fundamentally mental—are often misunderstood. For this reason, the vast majority of scientists cling to the belief in materialism, regarding anything else as metaphysics and not science. The goal of the present article is to address some of these misunderstandings.

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Biofield Science and Healing: An Emerging Frontier in Health and Medicine

Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, Shamini Jain, Ph.D, David Muehsam, Ph.D., Richard Hammerschlag, Ph.D., John Ives, Ph.D., Wayne Jonas, M.D., Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D., Daniel Vicario, M.D; Rauni Pritten King, RN, MIH, CHTPI, & Erminia Guarneri, M.D., FACC

 

We live in an age of unparalleled technological and scientific progress, juxtaposed with a cascading array of poor social, health, and environmental choices that could bring our species to the brink of catastrophe. Within the past 100 years alone, we have created significant advances in technologies to better control disease outbreaks, extend our lifespan, enhance global communication, increase our work productivity, and improve our overall quality of life.  At the same time, we face major healthcare crises including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental illness. Despite our best efforts and technological advances, we have not yet conquered these and other life and health challenges. In addition, health disparities are increasing and the 100-year rise in life expectancy is flattening. This continuance of human suffering, in the face of all our advancements, is leading to substantial and exponentially growing costs to individuals and to society.

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Want to Lead a Happier Life? Talk to Your Genes

 

wellbeingBy Deepak Chopra, MD, Rudolph E. Tanzi, PhD

 

Genetics may be on the verge of solving a very complex question in a revolutionary but quite simple way. The question is, What does it take to be happy? The question never goes away. It hangs over our heads every day. The possible answers are many, but they follow two general trends whose results, frankly, have been disappointing. One trend is psychological, holding that happiness is an emotional state. The other trend is philosophical, holding that happiness is a mental state. When someone is unhappy, psychologists aim to improve their mood, largely by addressing anxiety, depression, and various psychological wounds from the past. A philosopher, on the other hand, would examine the underlying idea of happiness itself and why it is or isn’t feasible. In the end, happiness is all about health and wellbeing.

 

Yet after thousands of years of deep thinking and a hundred years of psychotherapy, the condition that the vast majority of people find themselves in is marked by total confusion. We muddle through on a wobbly combination of wishful thinking, hope, bouts of high and low spirits, denial, family ties, love, distraction, and the constant pursuit of external pleasures, as if happiness can be cobbled together more or less randomly.

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Chopra Foundation co-sponsors new article on the science of healing – bringing focus to the emerging field of energy and biofield medicine

Leading scientists in major U.S. universities collaborate with clinicians to publish cutting-edge scientific thinking in healing

San Diego, CA:  What is the vital force behind all existence? The first Biofield Science and Healing Conference sponsored by leading not for profit organizations in integrative health, healing and medicine,  The Chopra Foundation, Samueli Institute, Miraglo Foundation, and Institute of Noetic Sciences, addresses this question  in  “Biofield Science and Healing” in a Special Issue of a peer-review scientific journal, Global Advances in Health and Medicine.

 

“We need to move beyond studying the body as a physical machine,” said Dr. Deepak Chopra, Founder of the Chopra Foundation and coauthor with Dr. Rudolph Tanzi of Super Genes.   “Deepening our scientific understanding of the role of consciousness and the biofield in health and healing will help to create a radical shift in medicine that will relieve unnecessary suffering.”

 

This special issue explores the following questions and more:

 

  • What is Global healing traditions such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda?
  • Do energy healing therapies like Healing Touch and Reiki really work?
  • Can healing intention improve health outcomes?
  • What is the scientific evidence for these practices, and can our present scientific and medical models be expanded to account for these healing approaches?

 

In these papers, researchers from top universities, healthcare providers, and healers discuss the science behind biofield healing practices and offer perspectives from physics, psychoneuroimmunology, technology, clinical research, and medicine.

 

“This Special Issue is groundbreaking because it reflects the importance and the willingness of scientists to meet side-by-side with healers and healthcare practitioners, to learn more about how healing works and translate that to healthcare practice.”, said Dr. Shamini Jain, Assistant Professor at UC San Diego, Founding Director of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI).

 

The Special Issue, published by Global Advances in Health and Medicine, released November 17th and can be assessed at http://www.gahmj.com/.

 

 

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