While I love your show and find interviewing an expert in detecting bullshit important, especially in regards to Fox News, I did not care for such negative opinions on Deepak Chopra without acknowledging that there are many out there who align with him regarding spirituality. It actually made it hard for me to finish listening to this podcast and I love your shows. I do believe meditation, which has a valid place in the scientific world, is something I do subscribe to along with humanitarianism, personal transformation and many other things spiritual - this is what he subscribes to as well (all identified from his website). I am curious what about his beliefs cause you to believe he is a charlatan?
I am remembering a bit better from the book - it was basically Chopra's specific claims about anti-aging that he couldn't back up with any evidence. Petrocelli had more criticism of him but that was the real sticking point. I'd have to have the physical book to look it up but Chopra had made some claims about changing his body at a cellular level that Petrocelli had a real problem with. I would too.
If you love Chopra then by all means keep following him on social media, buy his books, pay for his seminars or support him however you want. I'm skeptical of most religious or spiritual leaders/promoters (I'm not even sure how to refer to him). I'm agnostic and a skeptic to the core of my being. It's my nature not to buy into someone like him. We are all different. If you connect with his teachings that's great.
Chopra has a number of critics especially in the scientific community. I'm currently in St. Louis with my family and I don't have the book in front of me but from my memory Petrocelli pointed out some of the "mind control" techniques that Chopra has used on television as basic parlor tricks.
Holding a ring on a string and then making the string move in certain directions is one thing Chopra has done on camera with people and it's an old trick that was done long before he had a career. Magicians have also used the same technique. It's not profound and it doesn't prove anything. A lot of his sayings are recycled from others or just world salad that doesn't mean much of anything.
If you get something from his teachings that's great but religious and spiritual leaders are always something where people will have differing opinions. Petrocelli had more specifics in his book about Chopra but I don't have it with me so I can't look them up right now. That interview was recorded a couple of weeks ago and I spent last night cleaning up the transcript as it's not formatted in a way people can read it easily.
Mediation wasn't mentioned in the book or in my podcast and I would never connect it Chopra. It's much older and has been studied at length. There is evidence to back up the positive aspects of the practice of meditation. It's probably one of the oldest practices used by humans that has proven to be beneficial. I could list hundreds of other people who promote the practice of mediation many who aren't even religious. It's legit no doubt.
Petrocelli views these things from a place of - where is the evidence? He's critical of a number of things in his book that have nothing to do with spirituality or religion. We had a brief back and forth about intermittent fasting which is something I practice and I ultimately agreed with him that there is no evidence to some of the wilder claims made about IF. I only bring this one up because it's an example of Petrocelli thinking something I practice is bullshit. He is correct is that there is no strong evidence to backup some of the wilder claims made about IF so I ultimately agreed with him.
While I love your show and find interviewing an expert in detecting bullshit important, especially in regards to Fox News, I did not care for such negative opinions on Deepak Chopra without acknowledging that there are many out there who align with him regarding spirituality. It actually made it hard for me to finish listening to this podcast and I love your shows. I do believe meditation, which has a valid place in the scientific world, is something I do subscribe to along with humanitarianism, personal transformation and many other things spiritual - this is what he subscribes to as well (all identified from his website). I am curious what about his beliefs cause you to believe he is a charlatan?
I am remembering a bit better from the book - it was basically Chopra's specific claims about anti-aging that he couldn't back up with any evidence. Petrocelli had more criticism of him but that was the real sticking point. I'd have to have the physical book to look it up but Chopra had made some claims about changing his body at a cellular level that Petrocelli had a real problem with. I would too.
If you love Chopra then by all means keep following him on social media, buy his books, pay for his seminars or support him however you want. I'm skeptical of most religious or spiritual leaders/promoters (I'm not even sure how to refer to him). I'm agnostic and a skeptic to the core of my being. It's my nature not to buy into someone like him. We are all different. If you connect with his teachings that's great.
Chopra has a number of critics especially in the scientific community. I'm currently in St. Louis with my family and I don't have the book in front of me but from my memory Petrocelli pointed out some of the "mind control" techniques that Chopra has used on television as basic parlor tricks.
Holding a ring on a string and then making the string move in certain directions is one thing Chopra has done on camera with people and it's an old trick that was done long before he had a career. Magicians have also used the same technique. It's not profound and it doesn't prove anything. A lot of his sayings are recycled from others or just world salad that doesn't mean much of anything.
If you get something from his teachings that's great but religious and spiritual leaders are always something where people will have differing opinions. Petrocelli had more specifics in his book about Chopra but I don't have it with me so I can't look them up right now. That interview was recorded a couple of weeks ago and I spent last night cleaning up the transcript as it's not formatted in a way people can read it easily.
Mediation wasn't mentioned in the book or in my podcast and I would never connect it Chopra. It's much older and has been studied at length. There is evidence to back up the positive aspects of the practice of meditation. It's probably one of the oldest practices used by humans that has proven to be beneficial. I could list hundreds of other people who promote the practice of mediation many who aren't even religious. It's legit no doubt.
Petrocelli views these things from a place of - where is the evidence? He's critical of a number of things in his book that have nothing to do with spirituality or religion. We had a brief back and forth about intermittent fasting which is something I practice and I ultimately agreed with him that there is no evidence to some of the wilder claims made about IF. I only bring this one up because it's an example of Petrocelli thinking something I practice is bullshit. He is correct is that there is no strong evidence to backup some of the wilder claims made about IF so I ultimately agreed with him.
A master class. Thanks.