[...]... level which vision of life you are following The spiritual view leads to spiritual solutions The nonspiritual view leads to a host of other solutions Clearly this is a critical choice because, whether you realize it or not, your life is unfolding according to the choices you have made unconsciously, dictated by your level of awareness This sketch of what a spiritual solution can achieve will sound very... Chop_9780307719171_5p_01_r1.indd 16 1/21/12 8:02 AM Spiritual Solutions 17 catchphrase: genes are not nouns, they are verbs Dynamism is universal You aren’t floating in a mindless environment, either Your surroundings are being affected by what you say and do The words “I love you” have an entirely different effect on others than the words “I hate you.” An entire society is galvanized by the words “the enemy is attacking.”... stories seem to be unique, as viewed by each of them, but the way forward isn’t unique It consists of addressing their state of awareness What refuses to move must be shown how to move That’s another reason why the solutions being offered are spiritual: they first involve seeing, waking up, becoming open to new perceptions The most practical way to reach a solution is spiritually, because you can only... Healthy as that sounds, why is it spiritual? Self-awareness isn’t the same as praying, believing in miracles, or seeking God’s favor The vision I’ve sketched in is spiritual because of the third level of awareness, which I’ve labeled pure awareness This is the level that religious believers know as the soul or spirit When you base your life on the reality of the soul, you hold spiritual beliefs When you go... fear, anxiety, anger, resentment, or Chop_9780307719171_5p_01_r1.indd 14 1/21/12 8:02 AM Spiritual Solutions 15 suffering of any kind isn’t able to experience expanded awareness, much less pure awareness If the mind worked like a machine, it wouldn’t be able to recover from the state of suffering Like gears worn down by friction, our thoughts would get worse and worse until the day arrived when suffering.. .Spiritual Solutions 9 mother, and when you turn around, you can’t see your child At work you are sitting at your computer when someone casually mentions that there are going to be layoffs, and by the way, the boss wants to see you You open your mailbox and find a letter from the Internal Revenue Ser... they can with a swirling confusion of fear, anger, mood swings, and everyday struggle It doesn’t even occur to them to pair the two words spiritual and solution in the same sentence This points to a limited vision about what spirituality really is, and what it can do If spirituality can change your awareness, nothing is more practical Awareness isn’t passive It leads directly to action (or inaction) The... attacking.” At the most expanded level, the whole planet is influenced by the global exchange of information; you are participating in the global mind by sending an e-mail or joining a social network What you eat on the run in a fast-food restaurant has implications for the whole biosphere, as environmentalists are at pains to show us Spirituality has always begun with wholeness Lost in a world of specifics,... Chop_9780307719171_5p_01_r1.indd 12 1/21/12 8:02 AM Spiritual Solutions 13 if you challenge a person’s assumptions, the outcome is likely to be volatile Although our assumptions shift all the time, we usually don’t like to be told that they need to change Expectations: What you expect from other people is linked to desire or fear Positive expectations are ruled by desire, in that you want something and expect... we think we want So what would it take to adopt a spiritual vision of your own life? In this book we won’t be following the path of conventional religion Prayer and faith, while not central to the vision that needs to unfold, aren’t excluded, however If you are religious and find comfort and help by turning to God, you are entitled to your version of a spiritual life But here we will be consulting a much . Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Chopra, Deepak. Spiritual solutions : answers to life’s greatest challenges / by Deepak Chopra. —1st ed. p. cm. 1. Spiritual life. I. Title. II. Title: Answers. level which vision of life you are fol- lowing. The spiritual view leads to spiritual solutions. The nonspiritual view leads to a host of other solutions. Clearly this is a critical choice because,.