Friday, January 2, 2009

Deepak Chopra on the Mental Field

The mind has remained a metaphysical riddle
For centuries because it inhabits
The physical world like a ghost.

But that’s a Western perspective
Based on our bias for solid, tangible things.
We insist that the brain
Must be the source of mind
Because the brain is a visible object,
Which is like saying that a radio
Must be the source of music
Because it is a visible object
From which music emerges.
The Vedic rishis adopted the opposite perspective,
Insisting that visible objects couldn’t be the source
Of mind since the physical plane
Is the least conscious of worlds.
Our Western prejudice against the invisible
Isn’t easy to overcome.
Mind will only be proved to exist outside the brain
If it leaves some kind of footprint,
A visible sign that is as convincing as the MRIs
That provide concrete evidence of neural activity.

Right now you are a bundle of information
In mind and body.
You have unique memories;
Your cells have undergone chemical changes
Shared by no one else in the world.

When you die, none of this information will vanish,
Because it can’t.
There is nowhere for plus and minus,
Or positive and negative to go
Since the field contains nothing but information.

Therefore their only alternative is to recombine.
There is growing evidence that in fact
We do share the same mind field.
The brain belongs to “me,”
But if ideas belong to “us,”
Then we are participating together in a field,
Sometimes quite mysteriously