Chopra: We Are In God As A Fish Is In Water

I had thought part five was going to be the end, but Deepak Chopra has posted yet a sixth installment in his assault on science and reason. The wonderful thing about posting about Chopra is that it really doesn’t take any work to show what nonsense he is posting when simply quoting him accomplishes this. Part five found the proof of God in yellow flowers. In part six we see him establish his argument that “we are in God as a fish is in water.”

Let’s say God is closer to being a field of consciousness that pervades the universe. Let’s say that this field keeps creating new forms within itself. These forms swirl and mix with each other, finding more combinations and complexities as time unfolds. Such a God couldn’t be imagined because a field is infinite, and there’s nowhere it isn’t. Thus trying to talk about God is like a fish trying to talk about wetness. A fish is immersed in wetness; it has nothing to compare water to, and the same is true of consciousness. We are conscious and intelligent, and it does no good to talk about the probability of not being conscious and intelligent.

We are in God as a fish is in water.

If you follow this argument, you will see that there are “many flaws in current evolutionary theory.” The rest of us will see the fact that fish must live in water as offering neither any evidence that “we are in God” or that the theories of evolution as verified by the scientific method are flawed. Furthermore, reviewing Chopra’s posts demonstrates that anyone desiring understanding of evolution or any other aspect of the universe no more needs Deepak Chopra than a fish needs a bicycle.

5 Comments

  1. 1
    Badger3k says:

    Got to you from a scienceblogs post, and I wanted to say well done. I’ve added you to my many many feeds (rss), so I’ll watch for more with interest. Chopra is a nutjob, to be sure. While reading this, I realized he seems to think that since fish are surrounded by water, they have nothing else to compare it to – nevermind that fish can encounter both solid (the ground at the bottom and/or sides of their environment) and gas (the air at the air/water interface), so they do have something else to compare it to (wet vs non-wet of two varieties). We humans are conscious (well, most of us are), and while we cannot personally know what it is like to be non-conscious, we do have millions of creatures that we do not consider conscious (from microbes on up), so we have a lot we can compare with. I wonder how his idea (apparently) of god equalling consciousness compares with his intelligent-photon idea (that particles (?) of light carry consciousness). In a dark room, or a cave underground, does god not see us, or are we not conscious in those situations, or what?

    This guy almost makes Syvia Brownes “angels celebrating Jesus’ birth in heaven” idea seem sane. Almost.

  2. 2
    Christopher says:

    Deepak Chopra finds the most “God” in his Malibu estate, bought with the profits earned from spouting such drivel.

  3. 3
    Ron Chusid says:

    Badger3k,

    Chopra’s post is so illogical that it can be attacked on so many levels. As you note, his analogy has many holes. Even if you accept the logic that a fish only knows water, this in no way proves any of his other points.

  4. 4
    Ron Chusid says:

    Christopher,

    Yes, perhpas Chopra finds lots of God in the profits from this drivel. It doesn’t even take a Malibu estate to cloud the minds. When I was at Democatic Daily, the blog founder objected to my criticism of Chopra’s attacks on evolution. It turns out that it is because she has a marginally successful business selling new age material and feared criticism would harm her business. Even the thought of a few dollars in sales was more important than defending basic principles such as the scientific method and teaching evolution in the schools.

  5. 5
    homemars says:

    chopra has shown once again how easy it is to earn loads of money in america. you dont need to be a genius. A Little trickery and the company of some well connected people can take you to the top. I believe that chopra has taken alot of information from various religions. It would be interesting to find the connection between his various statements that match exactly with a religious teaching.

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