The subtler one's awareness, the more powerfully it can heal.
Deepak ChopraRead
I think seriousness is a mask of self-importance and self-importance in turn is a mask for self-pity. So if you're really going to pursue a spiritual way of living in the world, you must be lighthearted and carefree, have humor, be able to tolerate ambiguity and embrace uncertainty, and be forgiving of yourself and everybody else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Seriousness often hides self-importance, which is rooted in self-pity, while a spiritual life requires a lighthearted and forgiving attitude.
In this quote, Deepak Chopra suggests that taking oneself too seriously is often a façade for deeper insecurities such as self-importance and self-pity. To truly live a spiritual life, one must cultivate a lightness of being, embracing humor, tolerance for uncertainty, and forgiveness towards oneself and others, thereby lifting the weight of seriousness and self-importance.
Themes
SeriousnessSelf-ImportanceSelf-PitySpiritualityHumorLightheartedness
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a workshop focused on personal growth and spirituality.
More from Deepak Chopra
All quotes →To promote the healing response, you must get past all the grosser levels of the body - cells, tissues, organs and systems -- and arrive at a junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.
Deepak ChopraRead
It is only because you take your mind to be yourself, and make it dwell on what you are not, that you lose your sense of well-being.
Deepak ChopraRead
The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.
Deepak ChopraRead
According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.
Deepak ChopraRead
I will practice acceptance. Today I will accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. I will know that this moment is as it should be, because the whole universe is as it should be. I will not struggle against the whole universe by struggling against this moment. My acceptance is total and complete. I accept things as they are this moment, not as I wish they were.
Deepak ChopraRead
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