Bibliofreakblog

The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore by Deepak Chopra

Isn’t this a pretty cover?  I have green eyes, so these shades of green are colors I wear a lot, and I love matte golds, so the colors were what attracted me initially.  The tree is obviously the tree of wisdom from Genesis, though that is never mentioned in the book.  I was at Costco, looking for my “judge a book by its cover” book for the Take a Chance Challenge, and my husband was rushing me.  He never ever goes to Costco with me, but it was kind of good that he was there, because it meant that I really did just pick up a book I liked because of its cover.  

I knew that Chopra wrote both fiction and nonfiction about religion, but I didn’t know which this would be, though I was pretty sure it was the latter, as I knew I’d heard of it before, despite never reading Chopra.  I happened to be right, which was nice because I was able to double dip and use this for the Nonfiction Challenge as well.

Deepak Chopra grew up in India (as his name suggests) but went to a Christian school.  He is a medical doctor and heads the Chopra Center for Well-Being in California, which focuses on mind-body medicine (I’m a little reminded of how Carl Jung refused to treat anybody who wasn’t spiritually well, as that was, in his opinion, one of the first steps to psychological wellness, and yet that has mainly gone out of style since his time).  

This book doesn’t have much to do with his medical work.  Instead it is about, as the title says, the third Jesus.  There is the Jesus of the Gospels, the historical Jesus, and then, the third Jesus, which is kind of like the mystical Jesus.  The third Jesus, though not called as such, is often a topic of books that fuse Eastern and Western religion.  This is the Jesus that Thich Nhat Hanh would call his “spiritual ancestor”.  

Chopra takes a look at scripture, and interprets the spiritual connection Jesus was trying to get his followers to make.  Like I said, Chopra is from India, so he has an Eastern bent to his interpretations.  For example, Chopra says that when Jesus tells his followers that the only way to God/Heaven is through him, he means that the only way to reach God is through God-consciousness, which Jesus, like the Buddha, has achieved.  God-consciousness is a state of being so powerfully connected to God, so enlightened or actualized, that one is able to do things such as forgive others and turn the other cheek.  

One little warning: I didn’t mind that Chopra sometimes sites, a long with Biblical quotes, passages from the Nag Hamadi (the Gnostic Gospels).  In his view, since he is not a Christian as most Christians would identify such a label, there is little reason not to use them.  They were, of course, written at the same time as the Gospels, and it was the men of the early Church who chose not to use them.  I do wish he got into the down side of Gnosticism, but oh well.  If you take issue with this, or anything else he says, Chopra does remind the reader that the Easternization could be looked at the same way as the secularization of Yoga in the West.  If people can benefit from it, why should it be a bad thing?

Of course, Deepak Chopra is not a religious scholar.  He’s a medical doctor with a background in Ayurvedic practices, and these are just his interpretations.  I’m not clear on how much research his puts into his books, or if he just writes down what he thinks.  But he’s no Thich Nhat Hanh or Karen Armstrong.

Chopra adds in some exercises to help focus the mind and to meditate on.  Unfortunately, after the initial chapter on this, about two thirds of the way through, Chopra gets redundant.  He restates a lot of what he has already said.  I actually find this a lot in these types of books.  Maybe they should hire me to edit them.  :)

If you like this book/author, you might like:

The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (NF) by Karen Armstrong
The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton (P) by Thomas Merton
Thou Art That (NF) by Joseph Campbell
Lamb (F) by Christopher Moore 
Deep River (F) by Shusaku Endo 
With Salt (CNF) by Francis L. Gross
History of Religious Ideas Vol.  2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity (NF) 
Living Buddha, Living Christ (NF) by Thich Nhat Hanh
Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers (NF) by Thich Nhat Hanh
Jesus and the Buddha as Brothers (NF) by Thich Nhat Hanh
Jesus and the Buddha: Parallel Sayings (NF) by Marcus Borg
The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teaching of Jesus (NF) by the Dalai Lama
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (NF) by John Dominic Crossan
The Gnostic Gospels (RT) by Elaine Pagels (editor & translator)
Jefferson’s Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (RT) by Thomas Jefferson
The Book of Q (F) by Jonathan Rabb
Traveling Mercies (CNF) by Anne Lamott
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography (CNF) by Kathleen Norris
Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment (F) by Deepak Chopra
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment (F) by Deepak Chopra
The Yoga of Jesus (NF) by Paramahansa Yogananda

Other Works by Deepak Chopra:

Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment (F)
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment (F)
The Return of Merlin (F)
Soulmate: A Novel of Eternal Love (F)
The Daughters of Joy (F)
Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities (NF) 
Why Is God Laughing?: The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism (NF)
The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life (NF)
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (NF)
The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents (NF)
Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide (NF)
Life After Death: The Burden of Proof (NF)
The Path to Love: Spiritual Strategies for Healing (NF)
The Path to Love: Renewing the Power of Spirit in Your Life (NF)
Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Connection (NF)
The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles (NF)
Perfect Weight: The Complete Mind/Body Program of Achieving and Maintaining Your Ideal Weight (NF)
Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old (NF)
The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life that You Want (NF)
How to Know God (NF)
Golf for Enlightenment: The Seven Spiritual Lessons for the Game of Life (NF)
Power, Freedom, and Grace: Living from the Source of Lasting Happiness (NF)
The Deeper Wound: Recovering the Soul in the Face of Fear and Tragedy (NF)
Overcoming Addictions: The Spiritual Solution (NF)
Perfect Digestion: The Key to Balanced Living (NF)
Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging (NF)
Peace Is the Way (NF)
Creating Health: How to Wake Up the Body’s Intelligence (NF)
Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens (NF)
Unconditional Life: Discovering the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams (NF)
Unconditional Life: Mastering the Forces that Shape Personal Reality (NF)
Boundless Energy: The Complete Mind/Body Program for Overcoming Chrnonic Fatigue (NF)
Restful Sleep: The Complete Mind/Body Program for Overcoming Insomnia (NF)
Teens Ask Deepak (NF)
Journey Into Healing: Awakening the Wisdom within You (NF)
Healing the Heart: A Spiritual Approach to Reversing Coronary Artery Disease (NF)
Sacred Verses, Healing Sounds: The Bhagavad Gita (NF)
Return of the Rishi: A Doctor’s Story of Spiritual Transformation and Ayurvedic Healing (CNF)

With David Simon:

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit (NF)
The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook: Forty Natural Prescriptions for Perfect Health (NF)

With David Simon and Vicki Abrams:

Magical Beginings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy (NF)

With David Simon and Leanne Backer:

The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul (NF)

With Martin Greenberg: 

The Angel Is Near (F)

With Leon Nacson:

A Deepak Chopra Companion: Illuminations on Health and Human Consciousness (NF)