Before moving to Joshua Tree in 2000, I lived for eighteen years in a house on the cliffs of Pacific Palisades overlooking the Pacific Ocean. From the windows of my living room, I could see the waves of the ocean and the beautiful Self Realization facility directly below. To the left, on winding Sunset Boulevard, was writer Deepak Chopra’s organizational headquarters. However, I never visited the Chopra building because I had heard a rumor that Chopra was selling an immortality pill for $30,000 and I didn’t have that kind of money to spend. (Or it may have been $3,000; I don’t quite remember).

In any case, although I did occasionally see Chopra on television, I now regret that I didn’t at least visit the Chopra facility and possibly make his acquaintance when I had the opportunity to do so. So in this installment of my weekly Living Longer column I am pleased to present a too brief review of Chopra’s 2009 book, “The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: 7 Keys To Joy And Enlightenment.”

Chopra, of course, is the author of more than fifty books translated into more than thirty-five languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. It’s obvious that I cannot conceivably do justice to his clearly-expressed and wise beliefs in this 800 word column However, we can at least begin and come back to the subject in future columns. Also, at the end, I have a proposal to make for at least a few of you who live nearby to Joshua Tree.

“The Ultimate Happiness Prescription” opens with the statement that “The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness. Happiness is the goal of every other goal. Most people are under the impression that happiness comes from being successful, accumulating wealth, being healthy and having good relationships. There is certainly enormous social pressure to believe that these accomplishments are the same as achieving happiness. However, this is a mistake. Success, wealth, good health and nurturing relationships are by-products of happiness, not the cause.”

Chopra then goes on to say: “When you are happy, you are more likely to make choices that lead to all these things. The reverse isn’t true. Everyone has observed people who are deeply unhappy even after they have attained incredible wealth and success…” Therefore, Chopra suggests, “Let’s shift our gaze beyond external indications to inner happiness, which we all want to attain and yet which remains elusive.”

Chopra then observes that in the last few years psychologists have undertaken the first serious research into happiness, moving their attention away from the previously prevailing medical-type focus on treating unhappiness as a disease. Chopra states that the leading researchers in the new field of positive psychology such as professors Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, in his opinion, don’t go deep enough to discover the real secret of happiness.

This book goes on to present excellent practical advice for what people can do to improve their lives, far more than the usual platitudes about happiness. Therefore, I recommend that you do read and even re-read this book. However, in my opinion, Chopra does not present a full answer for accomplishing happiness. Also, there is no indication here or elsewhere that I know of in Chopra’s writings that he really has a “pill” that will stave off death.

Unfortunately, Chopra seems to avoid the real spiritual-psychological problems presented by physical death. On the surface, in fact, he seems to resort to the vague and insufficient (for me at least) so-called hope of the after-life offered by religious belief. Nevertheless, I do have reason to believe that Chopra is not fully expressing what he really knows as his own full prescription for happiness. I believe this to be the case because he is obviously a truly wise man of our times and is a product of important Eastern traditions little known to Westerners. I suspect, therefore, that he doesn’t want to impose on Westerners some of the Hindu practices he himself has been taught, specifically the methods that the old tradition has for accomplishing rebirth or reincarnation with memory. However, this is only my opinion and I would like to know yours after you have looked at his work yourself. Perhaps we can even eventually ask Chopra himself if he is holding back.

Meanwhile, if this column has “tickled your interest,” do get on my mailing list at www.immortality-is-possible.com, read my blog at artkunkin.com and, if possible, come to one of my weekly stop aging classes in Joshua Tree starting July 8 at the Mentalphysics Retreat Center, 59700 29 Palms Highway every Thursday, 7 to 9pm. Phone 760-365-8371 to find out the location of the Meditation Building. This Thursday gathering is where we can talk more completely about Chopra, the positive psychologists, how to become self-actualized and how to have frequent peak experiences without drugs. My plan for these Thursday gatherings is that they be an opportunity for all attending to make new friends devoted to real personal development, real success and real happiness.

Art Kunkin is the journalist who founded the alternative weekly newspaper, The Los Angeles
Free Press in 1964. A free download of a magazine cover story interview with Art about his current
research into stopping aging is available at www.immortality-is-possible.com. (“ The Last Alchemist: Has The King Of The Hippies Discovered The Secret Of Everlasting Life?”) Art’s book, “Life Extension
Alchemy: The Secret Of Immortality Finally Revealed” is available at a reduced sale price of $9
at his web site www.alchemyrevealed.com.
Please email Art at artkunkin@gmail.com with your questions or comments.