When the talk turns to God or consciousness and God, do you picture any of these?
Serene strolls across pristine sand by a dazzling aquamarine ocean,
Gazing awestruck at a vast indigo sky flecked with glittering stars,
Images of a cascading waterfall in a verdant forest....
When I think of reading parables, I imagine opening a tiny book with
crumbling pages and entering a world inhabited by sages in forests
caves, or on mountaintops. I expect images of divinity to carry me away
to far off times and places, far, far away from the hassles of today's
world.
The very last locale for a spiritual parable could well be stopped
in traffic on an LA freeway. The very last person I'd typically
entertain as the hero of a parable, is a harried modern comedian,
struggling with the conflations of ego, and the deflations of
inadequacy, while trying to cope with the recent passing of his elderly
father. Yet it's just that hero whom Deepak Chopra gives us in his
wonderful new book, Why is God Laughing?
This easy read is a like a bag full of munchies -- you just have to
read a few more pages, (and a few more) until you get to the bottom (or
top) of it. Chopra's hero is a second-rate comedian named Mickey
Fellows who keeps his sadness, loss, and insecurity at bay by keeping
his mind on auto-pilot generating a constant stream of jokes. While
Descartes famously asserted, "I think, therefore, I am," at the book
open, Mickey's mantra might well be, "I'm funny, therefore I am." As
the book traces Mickey's inner monologue along with his inner (and
outer) journey, I couldn't help but sense the desperation lurking
behind the ha-ha's. His familiar brand of humor seems somehow poignant:
I longed for Mickey to find freedom from defensive humor and awaken to
his core. Indeed, don't we all want that for ourselves? That's where
the book takes us.
On this journey, instigated from the beyond by his recently departed
Dad as a farewell act of caring, Mickey is guided by one Francisco, a
mysterious guy who shows up unexpectedly in all the right places.
Through this contemporary parable, Chopra carries the reader right to
heart of the cosmic joke -- awakening Mickey to the joy and the
surprise a-ha! hidden inside every moment. It's there for to recognize
and delight in -- if only (like Mickey) I can let go, trust that I'm
right where I'm meant to be, and learn to see (and delight in) the joke.
Without revealing too much of how Mickey gets there, I can tell you
that this delightful volume, like all parables, conveys its spiritual
lessons, and unlike many, it conveys them artfully through humor,
proving once again that God is most divine when he is most human. Why is God Laughing? is a rare blend of divinity and humor, something to be savored. Who said the most important lessons have to be serious?
In another great modern parable, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche
wrote, "I'll never believe in a God who can't dance." Chopra has
clothed the timeless truths of spirituality in modern threads, so we
can recognize them as our own and sort of boogey along.
Some say God is dead, or doesn't exist at all. Some say God is
vengeful and punishes our sins, others that he died for our sins. But
the god of Why Is God Laughing is not doing anything to you, or for
you, he is you. And when you understand this, Deepak seems to be
saying, you'll laugh too.