Reconciling Contradictions When Speaking of the Soul and Free Will

By on October 27, 2009 in Spirituality

Question:

I have read many of your books; my favorites are Ageless Body Timeless Mind and Buddha.  The story of Buddha and the teachings were enlightenment and a great understanding.  The one question I do not fine in your writings is that I have never understood how one could believe that the soul or truth and light is not independent in its sphere in which it has been placed to act for its self.  If we are all part of a higher being/universe/life force and do not have our independence then we are but mere extensions of this life force and do not exist.  Where is our agency or our condemnation? Where is our Anger or our Joy? How are we to then not exist and find happiness and joy in this non-existence?

Answer:

Even though the soul is connected to the wholeness of life and in essence our higher Self is  that  universal consciousness, still we also  experience ourselves as individuals in a sensory physical existence acting and making decisions. That is our everyday experience.

It is important not to get carried away with discussions of higher states of consciousness to the point where we become disconnected from life as we know it. We do experience individuality, independence, existence and agency in our own sphere. Just the fact that you wrote this email demonstrates that.

Your confusion stems from your thinking that life can only be one way or another, not both. In fact, life is both individual and universal, free and determined, independent and dependent, one and many.

Love,

Deepak 

 deepakchopra.com

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About Deepak Chopra

Time Magazine heralded Deepak Chopra as one of the 100 heroes and icons of the century, and credited him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine." Entertainment Weekly described Deepak Chopra as "Hollywood's man of the moment, one of publishing's best-selling and most prolific self-help authors." He is the author of more than 50 books and more than 100 audio, video and CD-Rom titles. He has been published on every continent and in dozens of languages. Fifteen of his books have landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. Toastmaster International recognized him as one of the top five outstanding speakers in the world. Through his over two decades of work since leaving his medical practice, Deepak continues to revolutionize common wisdom about the crucial connection between body, mind, spirit, and healing. His mission of "bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east" remains his thrust and provides the basis for his recognition as one of India's historically greatest ambassadors to the west. Chopra has been a keynote speaker at several academic institutions including Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Business School and Wharton.His latest book is "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul."
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6 Responses to Reconciling Contradictions When Speaking of the Soul and Free Will

  1. VIDYA October 26, 2009 at 10:29 pm #

    I think we have to go away from duality to realize unity and so we'll be connected to our universal consciousness.

    love

    jocelyne

  2. ardverk October 27, 2009 at 12:56 am #

    Think of yourself as a folded fan that can unfold all the way out to full circle where its dual edges can meet as one continuous whole. (a folded Christmas paper globe, an even better analogy)

    Get the 'breeze' from wielding that exquisitely decorated fan……stepping in to the power of its creation is an endless Joy…………

    Love,

    ed

  3. Diablo October 27, 2009 at 6:09 am #

    The wiseman speaketh…but where is crazee simon?

  4. ardverk October 27, 2009 at 7:17 am #

    He's got swine flu, Diab ;)

  5. mahabn October 27, 2009 at 9:02 am #

    was writing about the folded universe on another thread yesterday – origami… :)

  6. Diablo October 27, 2009 at 4:23 pm #

    Damn, Granpa!