The Book of Secrets

September 6, 2004
Assuring readers that "finding the hidden dimensions in yourself is the only way to fulfill your deepest hunger," bestselling author Chopra shares 15 spiritual secrets for enlightenment. These secrets may sound easy—"the world is in you," "what you seek, you already are," "freedom tames the mind"—but Chopra offers sophisticated thought to challenge a reader's spiritual status quo. Blending science and spirituality, he shows how the mystery of life can be illustrated by the wisdom and workings of one's body, as "every secret in this book goes back to the existence of an invisible intelligence that operates beneath the visible surface of life." The most important secret is transcending one's egocentric viewpoint and accepting a single, unified reality: "you are not in the world; the world is in you." Each well-written chapter offers a vibrant discussion of these distilled principles, including exercises to help readers apply these secrets to their lives. For example, Chopra focuses a chapter on how death makes life possible: "Only by facing death can you develop real passion for being alive." Chopra recasts death as a way to "imagine yourself into a new form with a new location in space and time." To do this, he suggests exfoliating one's self-image by imagining oneself at various stages of life, past and future: "When you see every earthly vestige of yourself vanish," he concludes, "you realize you will never succeed in extinguishing yourself." This isn't easy enlightenment. Chopra pushes his readers to do hard spiritual work in this thoughtful and thought-provoking book.