Deepak Chopra - The Deeper Wound

C ONTENTS

Creating Health

Return of the Rishi

Quantum Healing

Perfect Health

Unconditional Life

Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

Journey into Healing

Creating Affluence

Perfect Weight

Restful Sleep

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

The Return of Merlin

Boundless Energy

Perfect Digestion

The Way of the Wizard

Overcoming Addictions

Raid on the Inarticulate

The Path to Love

The Seven Spiritual Laws for

Parents

The Love Poems of Rumi

(edited by Deepak Chopra;
translated by Deepak Chopra and
Fereydoun Kia)

Healing the Heart

Everyday Immortality

The Lords of the Light

On the Shores of Eternity

How to Know God

The Soul in Love

The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook

(with David Simon)

Grow Younger, Live Longer

Following the events in New York in early September 2001, Deepak Chopra addresses the feelings that have come out of them for all of us: fear, the meaning of death and how to find your higher self under catastrophic circumstances. The sort of questions he asks are: is there a deep wound at the heart of humanity? Will revenge salve this wound or aggravate it? He also comments if you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world. Although this book has grown out of a tragedy that has affected us all, it is also of general application in situations where one might be feeling extremely vulnerable, frighteningly angry, deeply sad and trying to make sense of a terrible situation.

Deepak Chopra is the author of more than fifty books translated into over thirty-five languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers in both fiction and nonfiction.

Visit him at www.DeepakChopra.com.

F OR R UTH AND P AIGE AND J ULIANA

I know the day will come

When my sight of this world shall be lost.

Life will take its leave in silence,

Drawing the last curtain before my eyes.

Yet stars will still shine at night,

And mornings rise as before,

And hours will still heave like sea waves,

Casting up pleasures and pains.

When I think of this end of my moments

The barrier of the moment breaks,

And I see by the light of death

Your world with its careless treasures.

Rare is its meanest of lives,

Rare is its lowliest seat.

Things that I longed for in vain,

And things that I gotlet them pass.

Let me but truly possess

The things that I ever spurned and overlooked.

R ABINDRANATH T AGORE , 1913

ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, as fate would have it, I was leaving New York on a jet flight that took off 45 minutes before the unthinkable happened. By the time we landed in Detroit, chaos had broken out. When I grasped the fact that American security had broken down so tragically, I couldnt respond at first. My wife and son were also in the air, on separate flights, one to Los Angeles, one to San Diego. My body went absolutely rigid with fear. All I could think about was their safety, and it took several hours before I found out that their flights had been diverted and both were safe.

Strangely, when the good news came, my body still felt as if it had been hit by a truck. Of its own accord it seemed to feel a far greater trauma that reached to the thousands who would not survive and the tens of thousands who would survive only to live through months and years of hell. And I asked myself, why didnt I feel this way last week? Why didnt my body go stiff when innocent people died through violence in other countries? Around the world my horror and worry are experienced by others every day. Mothers weep over horrendous loss, civilians are bombed mercilessly, and refugees are ripped from any sense of home or homeland. Why did I not feel their anguish enough to call a halt to it?

As we hear the calls for tightened American security and a fierce military response to terrorism, it is obvious that none of us has any answers. However, we feel compelled to ask some questions.

Everything has a cause, so we have to ask, what was the root cause of this evil? We must find out not superficially but at the deepest level. There is no doubt that such evil is alive all around the world and is even celebrated.

Does this evil grow from the suffering and anguish felt by people we dont know and therefore ignore? Have they lived in this condition for a long time?

One assumes that whoever did this attack feels implacable hatred for America. Why were we selected to be the focus of suffering around the world?

All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its basis. Isnt something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isnt God invoked with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America?

Can any military response make the slightest difference in the underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity? If there is a deep wound, doesnt it affect everyone? If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will punishment in any form toward anyone heal the wound or aggravate it? Will an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a limb for a limb leave us all blind, toothless, and crippled?

Tribal warfare has been going on for thousands of years and has now been magnified globally. Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is it possible, as we move into the future, that all of us, regardless of our race, religion, or even nationality, can transcend our tribal nature?

What are you and I as persons going to do about what is happening? Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer?

This was a horrible attack on America, but is it not also a rift in our collective soul? Isnt this an attack on civilization from without that is also from within?

When we have secured our safety once more and cared for the wounded, after the period of shock and mourning is over, it will be time for soul searching. I only hope that these questions are confronted with the deepest spiritual intent. None of us will feel safe again behind the shield of military might and stockpiled arsenals. There can be no safety until the root cause is faced. It is imperative that we pray and offer solace and help to each other. In this moment of deep sorrow for the wounding of our collective soul, the only healing we can accomplish as individuals is to make sure that our every thought, word, and deed nurture humanity.

Although the idea for this book was born out of the tragic incident on September 11, 2001, the intent of this book evolved so that it has become a manual that can be used to heal the deeper wound no matter what the cause. Great wisdom traditions tell us it is possible to go beyond suffering to reach expanded states of awareness where our personal transformation can not only bring joy to us but also heal the larger web of life. It is my hope that as you create the state of spontaneous joy for yourself by reaching into the depths of your soul, you will also contribute to the restoration of harmony in the world. Because you are the world.