Book Review: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra

Let's make this perfectly clear right now: reading a whole bunch of books from the psychology/self-help section of the bookstore is NOT going to make your life better. However, if you make earnest attempts to incorporate some of what the books say, well, it might. You never know. It certainly can't hurt.

This book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, is no different. This particular version of it, a pocket-sized edition, can be read in less than an hour. Who among us who is suffering can resist the allure of "A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams?"

The cynic in me scoffs at any spiritual attempt to increase one's wealth, and Chopra seems to me to be the spiritual guide for the upper class. There is a lot in this book that helps one ease guilt they might feel over having accumulated gobs of money. As a writer, I know that one's own emotions, feelings and beliefs tend to seep into our work, most particularly with non-fiction, and most certainly with self-help books. I can't help wondering if Chopra is looking for ways to assuage his own guilt over becoming a wealthy man by preying on the insecurities of his readers. But like I said, that's the cynic in me.

When I was a young(er) woman, after having left the Catholic Church, I spent a lot of time and money and effort looking for a new outlook on life, a new way to guide myself. I ended up realizing that I could find my own way, find my own sense of peace, within myself. This book outlines a way of living that is pretty close to what I do already (albeit without the accumulation of wealth part).

So, I'll set aside my inner cynic. Let's take a look at what this book has to say...

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality

Right off the bat here, we've got something something that many people might read and say to themselves, "Now, self. What in the holy hell do you think 'Potentiality' is supposed to mean?" According to the book, "pure potentiality is pure consciousness; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity." Um. Okay. What this Law tells us is to set aside the ego and know our true Self. Who we are. Acknowledge it, be in it, live from it. Feel it's connection to the wider universe. The book tells us that there are three ways to experience this law: 1. Silence and meditation. "Just be." 2. Stop judging other people and things and events as good or bad, right or wrong. When we spend all of our energy judging everything around us, we're mucking up our stillness. We're living externally. 3. Go outside. Yep. Commune with nature. Feel your connection to the earth. I just did this very thing this past weekend when I stood in the river with my son in the morning, before the boats and jet-skis were out, and I told him to be very still and quiet and feel how his body was intimately connected to the earth. Our feet on the rocks, the water around our legs and tummies, the air going in and out of our lungs. I told him to be very quiet and listen to all the sounds of nature--birds and bugs and wind in trees.

Now that my inner cynic is sitting outside with her coffee and cigarettes, reading the paper, I can look at this honestly and think, Now what's so difficult about all this? Isn't this just stuff my mother taught me when I was younger? Aren't we just talking about tolerance, and connection with the Earth (hey! stop and smell the roses!), and knowing one's self? Easy peasy. I'm one seventh of the way towards improving my life and this is already stuff I try to do anyway.

2. The Law of Giving and Receiving

This Law is all about give and take--helping to maintain the flow of energy in the Universe. You want to keep money circulating in your life? Give some away (and freely, mind you. Giving begrudgingly, or only for a tax write-off, screws up the cycle). You want love? Give some.

To live within this law, give freely of all the gifts you have. When I read this chapter, I thought about rwarner, who is so giving of the best gifts--appreciation, blessings, sweetness. Whenever I come across a post of Robin's or a comment, even if it wasn't meant for me, I always feel a surge of good feeling, and feel compelled to give that kind of gift to someone else.

My inner Catholic is knocking--"Hello! Isn't this just The Golden Rule? 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?'" And my inner Catholic is right. Give to others that which you would like given to you, without the expectation that you're going to get it. And you will.

This Law also reminds me of the one word that has come out of my mouth, directed towards my children, the most often over the last 12 years: "SHARE!"

3. The Law of Karma, or Cause and Effect

This chapter is all about becoming aware of all of the infinite choices we make in a day. Many of those choices are unconscious, but they don't have to be. In everything we do, we have the ability to make a choice. If the choice makes you feel good inside, and will bring happiness to those around you, then it's probably the right choice. We can know a bad choice if we pay attention to our bodies. Did you feel a little ill, or a little clutch in your heart after making it? Probably a bad choice. You'll do better next time.

It's Karma, baby. Do what you can in every moment to make choices that make others and yourself feel good and bring happiness, and that will circle around to you. If you don't, well, you know what they say. Payback's a @!$%#.

4. The Law of Least Effort

All this means, to me anyway, is to look on the bright side, and move towards that bright side rather than settling in the muck of resentment, irritation, and the need to defend one's self all the time.

There's one way of living within the Law of Least Effort which I will quote in its entirety, because I think if we all kept this in mind during our time on Newsvine, it'd be a more pleasant place to be than it already is:

Relinquish the need to defend your point of view. In defenselessness, you remain open to all points of view, not rigidly attached to one of them.

5. The Law of Intention and Desire

This is all about letting go of your attachment to the outcomes of your intentions and desires. There's nothing wrong with having them, just don't be too attached to how it all turns out. It might turn out differently than you wanted or expected, but that different outcome might be way better! So why worry about it? Have your intentions and desires, but trust that all those pesky details are going to be worked out, without you fretting over them and obsessing over them, as long as you're living in the moment.

This is a good law for all of the procrastinators among us. You can't, as the book says, act in the future or the past. You can only act in the present. Keeping your eye on your intention or desire, act in the moment, but don't fret about all the other stuff that needs to get done in order for your intention to come to fruition. Just act in this particular moment.

6. The Law of Detachment

"Attachment is the melodrama of the ego, because it is based on fear and insecurity, and this comes from not realizing the power of the Self." Let go of your ideas of how things should be, and be open to the opportunities in every situation. Don't force solutions, but accept uncertainty. Things will eventually work out. They always do.

7. The Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life

You know how they say that if you do what you love, the money will follow? I've always wanted to believe that, and for the most part, I do. I do what I love, and while my bank account isn't bursting, I do have enough money for food and a house and decent clothes.

This Law is all about recognizing what your own innate talents are, and using those to serve and help others, however you can.

I don't know if this book will change your life. I don't know if it will change mine, except to remind me to be aware of all the ways in which I already live within these Laws of Success, and to be aware when I'm not. I'm going to ignore my inner cynic and go ahead and slip this little book into my purse, so it can help to remind me to live in the moment and be detached from the outcomes of my intentions and desires, and to give gifts and smell the roses and all that good stuff.

It'd be an hour out of your life to read it, and some mental energy in order to live within the Laws it sets forth. It won't kill you, and it might even make you and those around you happier, so why not? I'd love to know what you think--can books change lives? Might this book change yours? Do these concepts make sense? Do you live within them already and not even realize it, or do you live within them in every moment, with intention?

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