The first law of Deepak Chopra’s “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” is the law of pure potentiality. He starts with this statement, “The source of all creation is pure consciousness…pure potentiality seeking expression from the unmanifest to the manifest. And when we realize that our true Self is one of pure potentiality, we align with the power that manifests everything in the universe.”

Where to begin? Well, pure consciousness, if I understand the author correctly, is defined as the very essential part of what makes me, me and you, you. Our true Self at the very core. This is what makes us all unique (which reminds me of a funny saying, You are unique like everybody else. Funny, no?). The very core of who we are, according to Dr. Chopra, is “infinite and unbounded”. Also included in this list is “pure knowledge, infinite silence, perfect balance, invicibility, simplicity, and bliss”. Through my lens of understanding, this sounds very much like what I would call my spirit, or the part of me that lives on past the body. Growing up, I understood that this part of me would be what goes to heaven when the body dies.

Let me stop here and ask, isn’t this just a different name for the same thing, pure consciousness and spirit? I don’t mean this sacastically. When I went to college for a brief time after being out of school for almost a decade, one of my teachers told me something that for some reason I haven’t forgotten. He said that everything is pretty much the same only the terms/names of changed, meaning, don’t worry about the words/terms, what is being taught is the same. Ok. Is this the same thing? A new label on an old bottle. (Not that that is bad, just wondering)

On with the post.

Deepak says that if we can find our “pure consciouness” and connect to it, we have unlimited potential, hence the name of the law. When we are connected to our pure consciouness, we are connected to the universe. When we are connected to the universe, we have access to unlimited power to be a ”success” at being your true self. He states that our true natures are “immune to critisism, unfearful of any challegne, and it feels beneath no one. And yet, it is also humble and feels superior to no one, because it recognizes that everyone else is the same.”

Again, to me, this sounds very much like what I grew knowing as my eternal spirit. Chopra definitly defines a whole lot better than the Sunday School answer, ”Oh, your spirit is you, only fuzzier”. Fuzzier? What does that mean? I can understand a little better about what I was learning as I was growing and maturing about my spirit. It isn’t just “fuzzy”, its the essence of who I am and that makes sense to me.

Now the obvious question, how does one get in touch with our pure consciouness/spirit? One of the good things about this book is it doesn’t leave you hanging when it comes to application. Dr. Chopra says, “One way…is through daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgement” also, “spending time in nature” is suggested. This sounds alot like daily quiet time as I once practiced. The difference here is what I do in my quiet time. Before, I would read the bible, listen for God, and talk to God/pray. I don’t think Deepak would say that this is not a good thing, but he suggests more silence. Have you ever tried to sit still and quiet for more than five minutes without falling asleep? Or if not falling asleep, never really attaining absolute silence. Dr. Chopra says this is to be expected. When you first start trying to experience silence, your “internal dialouge becomes even more turbulent”. He says stick with it, eventually you will be able get to the point were you experience silence.  

Meditation, as I understand Deepak, is once you have spent time in silence (he suggests an hour or two and also whole days as you can), you should also incorporate focusing on the consciousness or field of energy. Meditation is suggested for both morning and evening.

I like this last one the best, practicing non-judgement. “Judgement is the constant evaluation of things as right and wrong, good and bad. When you constantly evaluating, classifying, labeling, analyzing, you create a lot of turbulence in your internal dialouge.” This put a new twist on it for me. Not only am I to eliminate thinking this or that is bad or wrong but also this or that is good or right. When I focus on saying things are right and good, their polar opposites are also in my thoughts, wrong and bad. Makes sense to me, but this will be much more difficult than silence and meditation for me.

Now to complete this section, Deepak says that once we are able to attain access to our true self through silence, meditation, and non-judgement, we have to now learn to take the silence with us where ever we go. No matter how turbulent the outside world is, we have to learn to maintain peace and tranquility within our spirit. Again, easier said than done.

Yon prophet Yoda of Dagobah once said, “Do or do not. There is no try” and I guess that is the attitude to have here.  Also, as stated in the first post on this subject, how is teaching the same/different from traditional Christian teachings? Before I share what I think, what do you think?