The Book of Secrets - Deepak Chopra [5]
I couldn’t escape the feeling that he had completely and utterly disappeared, this man who had been the most loved person in my life and the last one I thought of losing so soon. But the fact that he had passed with such clear, calm awareness kept all of us from feeling the deepest pangs of grief. Although I was certain Krishan Chopra was gone in the form of the body and personality I knew, my emotions couldn’t rest until I articulated, in every detail possible, what he had become. The mystery was changing him from one state to another, and I realized that the same transformation is happening in myself and in everyone. We are all held together and we all dissolve according to mystery, nothing else.
Instead of investigating the mystery of life as an intimate part of ourselves, we’ve been acting as if it doesn’t exist. Everyone has suffered for this neglect, and more suffering, perhaps on an unheard-of scale, is looming over the horizon. My father departed from a world sunk in the depths of gloom. When the evening news comes on tonight, trouble will be breaking out everywhere, as it always is, and the answers being offered won’t be anywhere close to the wisdom of a single cell. Many people lose heart and withdraw from the challenge of so much suffering. Others assume that they must leave where they are and find something they do not yet have—a new relationship, a new job, a new religion or teacher—before they can feel alive again.
Would the cells in your body accept such defeatist logic? If where you are isn’t good enough, then love and healing and God will remain forever out of reach. After generations of life spent in chaos, are we ready to let the mystery save us now? Is there any other way?
CHANGING YOUR REALITY TO ACCOMMODATE THE FIRST SECRET
Each secret will be matched with an exercise to allow you to apply it to yourself. Reading about a secret has an effect at the level of thinking; the level of feeling and the level of doing remain untouched. All three have to merge before you are actually changing your personal reality.
The first secret is to let your body’s wisdom point the way. Today, write down the ten qualities of this wisdom mentioned earlier, and for each one, think of a way you could live that quality. Note it down and make this your guide for the day. You can pursue one quality per day or list them all and try to follow as many as you can. Don’t strain for self-improvement; don’t write from a sense that you are weak or inadequate. The purpose here is to extend your body’s comfort zone into behavior and feeling. Let your words express aspirations near your heart that make you feel like your true self. For example:
Higher purpose: I am here to serve. I am here to inspire. I am here to love. I am here to live my truth.
Communion: I will appreciate someone who doesn’t know that I feel that way. I will overlook the tension and be friendly to someone who has ignored me. I will express at least one feeling that has made me feel guilty or embarrassed.
Awareness: I will spend ten minutes observing instead of speaking. I will sit quietly by myself just to sense how my body feels. If someone irritates me, I will ask myself what I really feel beneath the anger—and I won’t stop paying attention until the anger is gone.
Acceptance: I will spend five minutes thinking about the best qualities of someone I really dislike. I will read about a group that I consider totally intolerant and try to see the world as they do. I will look in the mirror and describe myself exactly as if I were the perfect mother or father I wish I had had (beginning with the sentence “How beautiful you are in my eyes”).
Creativity: I will imagine five things I could do that my family would never expect—and then I will