There really is a very short leap from silliness to abject stupidity (posing as “superior logic” or “wisdom”). One intellectual crime, a ruse, perhaps, is scientism — that fallacious belief that everything can and ought to be explained in “scientific terms”. It can be linked to economism, which is a discussion for another time… 

One of the things that appeared in my social media feed recently was an invitation to make 2023 my “best year ever” under the guidance of Deepak Chopra.

(Source: Instagram)

My first response was to chuckle — not because of my inherent pessimism (see entropy and the second law of thermodynamics), but because Chopra has not said or done a single thing to instil any kind of faith in his “superior logic” or wisdom. In short, he is a fraud. 

Don’t take my word for it. In 1995, Californian Jonie Flint filed a lawsuit against Chopra, his colleagues and various other individuals and organisations. In 1993, Flint’s husband, David, who was suffering from leukaemia, consulted Triguna, one of Chopra’s collaborators. According to the complaint, Triguna was represented as a licensed health professional (a claim that was proven to be false). He concluded that David’s liver function was down, that he had “heat” in his spleen and bone marrow, “wind” in his stomach and pressure on his nerves.

The company recommended dietary changes, “purification” treatment as well as a range of herbal products, including Maharishi Amrit Kalash. Chopra performed “pulse diagnosis” and provided a mantra for “quantum sound treatment”, a scientifically flawed treatment that has pretences to quantum theory.

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Snake oil

Just how Chopra received his quantum mechanics or physics education from, other than from the ether, is a mystery. It is possibly the most difficult branch of physics; it follows no predictable or even discernible rules, can shift shape and even appear in different states simultaneously. (Read this for a sense of the difficulties of quantum mechanics.)

But Chopra’s “superior logic” works wonders on the naive, and on people in desperate need of medical attention. It reminds me of our own political quacks who proclaim “superior logic” and sell snake oil to the poor, the hungry and the needy.

Chopra published a raft of denials about any wrongdoing in any of his doings. In a letter to New York Magazine dated 25 September 1995, he claimed reports about his involvement in the Flint affair were unfair and untrue, and that most of the coverage was a “mischaracterisation”. We should, in fairness, take his word on that. 

Chopra did not, however, provide sufficient refutation of the quackery that underpins the “primordial sound treatment”. He described this as “similar to meditation, but … prescribed for specific illnesses, including those we consider incurable in the West, such as cancer”. 

In December 1993, Triguna retested David’s pulse and declared that his leukaemia was gone. But he was not cured and David died four months later. The suit charged that the $10,000 he spent for ayurvedic services and products was obtained fraudulently. Flint unfortunately lacked the resources to pursue the case further, so the accuracy of her allegations could not be investigated under courtroom conditions.

‘Quantum healing’

The main problem with Chopra’s “superior logic” is his leap from being a qualified medical doctor to some kind of quantum or theoretical physicist without any epistemic basis – other than applying, purely as decoration, serious scientific insights and achievements. 

For Chopra, scientism becomes frippery; the pretty, but meaningless decorations you put on a wedding cake. Especially dangerous is his idea of “quantum healing”, where he claims, without evidence, that health imbalance is caused by “quantum phenomena”. 

One would normally dismiss him, as you do those people who dress in kaftans and headdresses and imagine conversations with people thousands of miles away or long dead.

South Africans, too, very many of us, have fallen for Chopra’s “superior logic”, his ability to hold conversations with living creatures on Farfarout/Farout, and, given his superior knowledge of physics, he might be able to solve the Fermi Paradox or maybe, in a moment of apophenia, he could spot the face of the biblical Magdalena in the cosmic microwave background. Now that would be some achievement.

Anyway, Chopra was hailed in South Africa as one of Time Magazine’s “top 100 hero Icons of the 20th century” ahead of his visit here in 2015. Chopra, reports said, would “create a roadmap for South African audiences for ‘higher health’” and, in support of his theories, would offer “practical ways to experience higher consciousness, transformation and healing”. 

One should, of course, not judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, but surely Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking — who know a bit more than Chopra about physics — are better role models or “hero icons of the 20th century”.

Licence to heal

Seriously, though, one should probably not dismiss, out of hand, the totality of healing. Good medical practice includes medically trained doctors, nutritionists, radiographers, therapists and the like working collectively. But New Age healing, crystals, homoeopathy and even prayer will probably not heal pancreatic cancer or a broken leg.

This does not apply only to Chopra and chakras’ fraudulent healing activities; even “traditional” healing should be restricted and probably eliminated from society. The basis of such restrictions has to be science- and evidence-based. 

There will be pushback from homoeopathic sales people and shops that charge per lentil, but healers or caregivers must be regulated and seen to be fit to practise through the use of certification, healer competency and qualifications. 

To paraphrase the physicist Robert Parks (and apply it to Chopra and his ilk):

“A best-selling health guru insists that his brand of spiritual healing is firmly grounded in quantum theory; half the population believes Earth is being visited by space aliens who have mastered faster-than-light travel; and educated people wear magnets in their shoes to restore their natural energy. Why in an age of science does irrationalism appear to be raging out of control?”

I don’t have a reliable — or polite — answer. One quote often attributed to Hawking instead of Daniel Boorstin of the Washington Post is that “the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge”.

I can’t do any better than that, other than to ask Deepak Chopra to fill in the entire sequence of Pi, and come back when he is done… DM