Deepak Chopra at the Parliament of the World's Religions

in our Global world right now there are just a multitude of challenges and there's a tremendous urgency right now to meet those challenges as we move into the 21st century so do you feel that the religious Traditions can meet those challenges or how do they have to change if they're going to be those challenges I think we have to depend on the religious traditions because you know as a populace people across the world are not going to transform into a scientific perspective of spirituality immediately uh in the short term um which means several decades and even possibly another 100 years religions are going to be playing an important role at the same time I think we have to acknowledge that uh religions have been divisive and quarrelsome and frequently based on idiotic ideas at least here and there there's lots of idiotic ideas if I had to believe everything in religion I would have to deny all of evolution biology physics astrophysics Big Bang Etc so like everything else our religions will have to evolve as we evolve and have to be consistent with our current map of what we think is reality I mean we're still going to have the same questions do I have a soul what happens to me after I die does God exist but I think our a view of of the spirit or God or reality has to expand it's very ethnocentric it's racist very frequently bigoted and Prejudiced and you know in fact if anything diminishes the magnificence of what we call God right right if you had to say what are those particular what what what are those elements of religious tradition that must change that we're not going to make it unless these things change God is one if God is infinite if God is unbounded eternal if God is the source of all the information energy space time and matter if God is the potential for all that was all that is all that will be then he can't be exclusively mine or exclusively yours I think religions have to say and really confront the fact that we might have different rituals that bind us to the source which is what religion means religio is to bind back to the source um that we're all actually doing exactly the same thing and the most fundamental tenants of religion are still an experiential understanding of our inseparability of our connection of Love of compassion of understanding religions have to be contextual in their understanding of world problems the fact that we are now a global village the fact that you know religions have to address problems like conflict resolution they have to address the environment ecology they have to address economic disparities they have to address social justice if they don't do that then they're not relevant when when you look at the Traditions now and you see the way they're evolving do you think is it do you think it's fast enough or does it have are we going to are we going to make it in time it's not fast enough it's not fast enough in fact you know reading the news it seems to be regressing so I think it is our responsibility for those of us who see that if any way we can contribute is to actually um create a critical mass of connectivity we have the technology I mean that's what you're doing right now you know your magazine but I think we have the technology to take Media news networks information Technologies movies entertainment and bring them all together and there are enough responsible intelligent people today that if we don't do it it's then we're not responsible because you know ultimately it take a critical mass of connectivity of people who feel responsible to bring about a shift even if it doesn't happen in our generation you know it happens way maybe two generations down the line but if we can set the conditions for seeding these ideas in our Collective psyche they they'll take they'll take form at some point or not but you know what's the thing if you want a new crop you have to sew new seed right well well in terms of a new crop I mean because many people are saying well or some people are saying at least we need a new whole new tradition we really we need to be untied from the past or decoupled from the past the danger we need some kind of new tradition or do we need a new tradition to lead the edge or I think the new tradition might evolve but if we start saying we need a new tradition then we have the same danger you know we'll be classified as ideology and dogma and another religion in a sense and that'll antagonize people I think new tradition needs to evolve which is more unifying which is more Global which is consistent with our scientific world view but I don't think it has to have a a prophet or a messiah or an institution built around it you know the moment you do that you you run the danger of doing what other people have done in the past if we move for 25 50 years what do you see as the future of religion both in terms of how the religion is the we have now are going to evolve and what might evolve in terms of a new I think there should be much I see the future as religions beinging a lot of importance in community and um nurturing their communities but at the same time working together to address practical issues you know to create economic incentives for conflict resolution to really participate in the healing of the environment to recognize that as long as there are economic disparities in the world there's going to be conflict and the fundamental religions not the fundamental religions but the fundamentalists in every religion are going to take advantage of that you know when there is when there is poverty when there is fear when there is ignorance then that's when these conflicts Thrive and fundamentalism starts to wreak havoc right right if you look at if you look at religion now or religious thought or spiritual thought and you see okay that that is the emerging Edge that in in 50 years that's going to be mainstream what what do you see what is the emerging Edge for bi I'm biased the emerging Edge for me is science you know the emerging Edge for me is the understanding understanding of non-locality okay and for me that but that's my bias you see you really see science and religion coming together in that some kind of Science and spirituality syn yes definitely and do you see that it's a new synthesis or do you think it's still still to be fleshed out or still to be kind I think the basis of that synthesis is there already uh the basis the reductionist model doesn't work in ecology it doesn't work in biology it does not explain evolution so everything that scientists have taken for granted is falling apart okay so it's inevitable that you know that we are going to see a model emerge in science that takes into account what I'm calling nonlocality but others would call Consciousness as the ground of existence and once we start doing that across the board in science it's going to change the way the world thinks you know science is a my is also a mythology that creates uh the patterns of behavior in which we find ourselves you know so I look at human beings having gone through the inter gatherer age then horiculture and then agriculture then industry then information and then entering a knowledge based and ultimately a WIS wisdom based society I think that's natural the evolution and by wisdom I mean knowledge that actually looks at each of us as ecosystems within ecosystems uh which is what we are really even the DNA is nothing but an ecosystem okay one one last question if if you have all the the religious leaders the really the influential people the most influential people in the religions in a room together and you could and you could speak to them in a way where they were they were really going to listen to you about where where we need to go as we move in the future what what was the most important thing what would you say really in really in if they're really influential influential influ religious leaders they would tell their congregations they would tell their flock that if anyone is intolerant towards anyone in another religion they're not practicing their religion and know we are willing to believe that Christ got resurrected that he healed people that he brought them back from the dead that he walked on water but we don't follow even one precept of The Sermon on the Mount which is the essence of Christ teaching so I would say to Christians be be have Christ conscious to Buddhist you know understand the Awakening that he spoke of these are great Universal teachings we we made schisms out of them right right because you come from the Hindu tradition I just apprach that what do you see in terms of the Hindu tradition CU I'm asking people depending on what tradition they come in how does the hind tradition Hindu tradition have to move forward what does it have to change to move forward the Hindu tradition Hindus are interesting paradoxical people they're vegetarians but they don't mind killing people you know I mean you should have seen what happened in aabad you know scorching Muslims to death and at the same time saying we believe in aimsa and we won't hurt an animal or you know we're strict vegetarians I think the Hindus has surmount the same problems that anybody else does the rituals have corrupted the essence of teaching they have surpassed the experiential knowledge that these uh great Traditions have had Hinduism is based on vedantic thought or what we call satat DH and the Hinduism comes from the teachings of great rishis of the upanishads where you were encouraged to dialogue encouraged to be skeptical and cynical encouraged to have a uh open attitude encouraged to uh self- inquiry we've lost that I mean you know I travel all over India there are a few wonderful places you can go to and visit people of great knowledge but by and large it's become ritualistic and um uh I fear the recent Resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism which is as bad as any other fundamentalism