Last week, a reader/colleague referred me to this debate between spiritual materialist, Deepak Chopra, and atheist party-pooper, Sam Harris (and others). Watch and be amazed….
Admittedly, I had never heard of this video. In fact, I didn’t even know people still talked about this whack ass shit. What is consciousness? Is there a God? Puh-leeeeeeze…. These two penis heads sound like a brick of talking processed cheese food. Nope. When it comes to this boy-talk, I’m defs with Russian Constructivist/Productivist painter, Alexander Rodchenko:
“Workers, high prices, and the NEP don’t scare us. We’ve got cheap bread.”
Which is basically to say, let the best-sellers fight over whose belief system has got more pink fuzzy stars from mommy, while the rest of us make sweet sweet taboo love to the post-apocalypse….
Anyway, for those who don’t know, “Same” Harris is considered to be part of the “New Atheism” movement. He’s also the author of The End of Faith, which basically makes him one of the worst religious studies writers on the planet. He’s also known for calling Islam “not even remotely a religion of peace” and penning a more or less incomprehensible rant against the Park51 Islamic Center, which is set to be built two block from “Ground Zero.”
Then there’s some dude named Deepak. Honestly, I never read a single thing by him and probably never will. I have, however, bought a few Gift Certificates to one of his spas for some lady friends in the past, which got me major brownie points, so….
Hmmm…. what else?
Hmmm….
Oh, yeah. This is what Deepak looks like:
This is what Sam Harris Looks like:
And, this is what Alexander Rodchenko looks like:
Yeah, I’m sticking with the agro Russian dude in the cable-knit sweater….
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The Babarazzi 
I hate it when assholes with a little bit of intellect think they know everything.
I am, of course, referring to the atheists.
I nearly peed in my Lulu pants this is so goddam funny. I tell you, when the New Age science dudes start practicing their patented Brain Yoga, they really outdo the women folk, eh? Now I know why there’s a such a strong market for asana body worship. Who needs a mind anyway? Thank you for covering my beloved Creepy Deepy. By the way, is that a fungus growing on his shirt?
“You can drop acid, you can meditate for year, anything you want to do to disturb your nervous system..”
Thank You, Bob Forehead.
I guess a direct experience needs to be quantified and replicated for Sam. Whereas Deepak is merely holding ground in the witness state.
What is that old nugget?:
“The world is illusion,
Brahman alone is real,
The world is Brahman”
Dope quote, Garuda.
All is Ah, Allah (Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head).
these fellas are talkin’ poppycock…
I thought Deepak did rather well there. My respect for him went up.
Two people are talking, making noises coming out of an orifice, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the mouth.
I smell burning toast.
Wow, low class response babarazzi. This is the best you can do? Grade school name calling? Though that does appear to be what most of the commenters come here for.
If I wanted hateful snark I would log onto Recovering Yogi. If I wanted bs posts and self rightousness I would would log on to Elephant Journal.
You got that right. This is the best we got!
Yep. True that. Word.
<<<>> yet kinda snarky
Michael, I agree with your thumbnail comments about those other sites… but you’ve badly misjudged this place. It is peerless. There is a burning fire at the heart of The Babarazzi that is the closest thing I have yet found to the pure essence of yoga on the net. It – and Babs (he or she?) – are treasures. Stick around – you’ll see.
Michael Gibson’s probably right. The Chopra-Harris face-off is so pathetic that it doesn’t belong on ANY web site, including this one. I listened to their flibberty gibberish a couple of times but had to turn it off before my cerebellum melted down. (I’m not sure it was a “subjective” or an “objective” experiecne” but daggone it, it sure hurt!)
But what really annoyed me is that their two-man has been performed before — and by REAL PROS:
I wish yoga had a “sanity claus.”
With any luck the screenshot of the video — and not just the URL — will appear here, too
Flibberty Jibberish is my porn name. I am truly sorry that Mr Gibson felt compelled to thumb down any and all snark. I guess he is above all sarcasm and skepticism. Yup! a bastion of pure pos-o-tivity. How dare we?
On another note, when you live in ‘Merika’ you maintain the right to be snarky it says so in the bill-o-rites dont it?
I tried EJ…they wont have me as a customer (Badge of Honor).
Doofunshmirtzes and their projectile opinionating is what the interweb is for no?
The burning toast reference was about the Tao of Poo. Geez Looouize can a Garuda get a break?
No, apparently, you’re worse than a troll. A cyber-skunk? Maybe even a barri-garuda.
I don’t really know much about about Deepak Chopra, but what little i know about Sam Harris leads me to believe he is largely on the speaking circuit and deserves whatever he gets in response. He also seems to have a blind spot about Islam.
“Admittedly, I had never heard of this video. In fact, I didn’t even know people still talked about this whack ass shit. What is consciousness? Is there a God? Puh-leeeeeeze…. These two penis heads sound like a brick of talking processed cheese food. Nope.”
How does that NOT sound like a talking brick of processed cheese food?
Two mirrors facing each other, Babs…
Come on. You and I both know that bricks of processed cheese food can’t talk. And, would certainly do no such thing in front of a mirror.
And stop sighing. It shows a passive lack of enthusiasm that is most unbecoming.
If you merged Revolting Yoginis with Elephant Toilet, you would get The Babacaca.
Here, let me help you:
“If you merged Revolting Yoginis with Elephant *Urinal*, you would get The Babakaki (pooh) or Babacocky (arrogance).”
It sounds funnier this way.
I know I’m probably crazy to be walking into this particular environment. But, call me crazy. (Now that I’m back in the Yoga blogosphere after a several year absence, I’m actually browsing through all the Babarazzi articles that I missed.)
Whatever you think of Chopra and Harris, the subject they are wrestling is the exact subject matter of the ancient Yoga texts–the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutra. All three of these texts are primarily about the nature of reality, in the same way as this discussion is.
Now, of course, it’s not necessary for anyone, and not even for a devoted yoga enthusiast, to have any interest in the original texts of yoga. I agree it’s a specialized interest that some of us are burdened with, for sure. And even if they are interested, it’s not necessary for them to be fans of Chopra and Harris.
But this attempt to deal with the nature of reality is most certainly pure Yoga at its origins.
Comments and discussion welcome, but I do prefer not to be unfavorably compared to an ape eating feces, if at all possible!
Bob W.