Deepak Chopra: His BIO

[thaiboxerken]

Did he really do these things?


Deepak Chopra's popularity as an international presenter and keynote speaker is exemplified in an impressive list of honorariums. As the keynote speaker, he appeared at the inauguration of the State of the World Forum, hosted by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Peace and Human Progress Foundation, founded by the former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace prizewinner Oscar Arias. Esquire Magazine designated him as one of the top ten motivational speakers in the country; and in 1995, he joined the distinguished company of President Nelson Mandela, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Tom Peters and Garrison Keillor as a recipient of the Toastmasters International Top Five Outstanding Speakers award. He participates annually as a lecturer at the Update in Internal Medicine event sponsored by Harvard Medical School, Department of Continuing Education and the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 1997. Chopra has been a keynote speaker at several academic institutions including Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Business School, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Kellogg School of Management. He is the recipient of the Einstein Award through Albert Einstein College of Medicine in collaboration with the American Journal of Psychotherapy. Along with Nobel Peace Laureates Oscar Arias, Betty Williams and others, Deepak Chopra is a founding director of the Alliance for the New Humanity. The Alliance for the New Humanity is committed to creating a critical mass of consciousness in the world for social justice, economical freedom, ecological balance and conflict resolution. He regularly mentors corporate and political leaders through his Soul of Leadership workshops.


http://www.chopra.com/article.aspx?id=62

[thaiboxerken]

double post

[CFLarsen]

Perhaps we should take a deep, skeptical look at Chopra's claims and achievements..

[thaiboxerken]

I've read on many skeptical blogs and sites that Deepak claims that to prevent or cure cataracts, simply brush your teeth, scrape your tongue and use that spit to flush the eye. However, none of these sites have actually referenced where and when he said this.

Does anyone know?

[CFLarsen]

I've been wondering about his looks. He argues that he can at least stop - or slow down - ageing, but what about his looks over time? Does he show signs of ageing himself?

[MWare]

http://www.intouchmag.com/chopra.html

Dr. Chopra: If you can wiggle your toes with the mere flicker of an intention, why can't you reset your biological clock? The reason most people can't do it is because, first, they never thought of it and secondly they think that certain things are easier to do than other things.

I am going to spend the remainder of my day willing myself younger. I'll keep everyone posted as to how this is working out.

[Manny]

I don't see anything on that list that seems unlikely for him to have done -- they mostly involve talking or talking himself into a position of influence. He is indeed a guest professor (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/execed/programs/LEAD13/faculty.htm) at Kellogg, something which doubtless would have made the wooish Dr. Kellogg himself very happy.




edited to upgrade Kellogg from Mr. to Dr.

[thaiboxerken]

That's true. It only means he's popular as a speaker. Like a religious figure. He doesn't seem to be lecturing at medical or science conventions alot, for some reason.

[Luke T.]

Google!

A year had passed since Mikhail Gorbachev brought Ted Turner, George Bush, George Shultz, Deepak Chopra, Bill Gates and other spiritual, political, business and intellectual world leaders to San Francisco to form "a global brain trust." [See Gorbachev's Plan For A United World] ccording to Jim Garrison, president of the Gorbachev Foundation, they would "focus on the principles, values and actions that should guide humanity as we enter the next phase of human development."

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/state96.htm

Organized by the Gorbachev Foundation, the first annual State of the World Forum convened in San Francisco on September 27, 1995. The former head of the Communist empire had gathered "nearly 500 senior states-people, political leaders, spiritual leaders, scientists, intellectuals, business executives, artists and youth from 50 nations to begin a process of deliberation on the central question of what priorities, values and actions should guide humanity as it moves into the next phase of development," said Jim Garrison, President of the Gorbachev Foundation.

http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/gorb10-95.html

[Luke T.]

Did he really do these things?

and in 1995, he joined the distinguished company of President Nelson Mandela, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Tom Peters and Garrison Keillor as a recipient of the Toastmasters International Top Five Outstanding Speakers award.


http://www.chopra.com/article.aspx?id=62


Golden Gavel Recipients
Year Recipient Industry
2005 Marcus Buckingham Leadership expert, author, speaker
2004 Dr. Stephen Covey Author; Co-Founder, Franklin Covey Company
2003 Debbie Fields Rose Author; Founder, Mrs. Fields Cookies
2002 Dr. Richard Lederer Author, Communication and Leadership Expert
2001 Jim Cathcart Author, speaker, human-development expert
2000 Nido Qubein Speaker, consultant, entrepreneur
1999 Zig Ziglar Speaker, author
1998 Jeanne Robertson Speaker, humorist
1997 Dr. Deepak Chopra Author, speaker
1996 Dr. LeRoy Walker President, U.S. Olympic Committee
1995 Tony Robbins Author, semiar leader

http://www.toastmasters.org/artisan/member.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=12&ArticleID=238&SearchText=

I don't see Nelson Mandela, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, or Garrison Keillor on the list. Tom Peters is on there for 1990.

ETA: A search on Mandela's name on the Toastmasters site turns up with a fat zero. Jordan and Keillor have one result each, neither of which has anything to do with an award.

Edited again to add: A search for "International Top Five Outstanding Speakers" on the Toastmasters site turns up zilch. A search for the same on Google turns up an article about an annual poll of Toastmasters:

Meet Five Outstanding Speakers
Annual poll shows Toastmasters admire communicators who inspire, motivate and orate

http://www.mackay.com/press/toastmast.html

That's for 1993.

The rest of the next several dozen Google returns just parrot Chopra's claim in the OP.



The Golden Gavel is the most prestigious award offered by Toastmasters International, a worldwide organization devoted to teaching public speaking and leadership skills. The award has been presented once a year since 1959 to a distinguished individual in the fields of communication and leadership. Past recipients include the likes of Walter Cronkite, Earl Nightingale, Rev. Robert Schuller, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Debbi Fields, Deepak Chopra, Tom Peters and Ken Blanchard.

http://www.toastmasters.org/artisan/member.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=21&ArticleID=317&SearchText=

[thaiboxerken]

You are good, Luke. Thanks.

[Luke T.]

You are good, Luke. Thanks.

There does not appear to be any correlation between the Toastmaster Top Five Outstanding Speakers poll and the Toastmaster Golden Gavel award. The 1993 Golden Gavel Award winner is not on the 1993 Top Five Outstanding Speakers poll results.

So Chopra's claim has not been proven false. Just want to make that clear.

[Luke T.]

The "Meet the Five Outstanding Speakers of 1995" article is in the December 1995 issue of Toastmaster Magazine if you can find that.

[Manny]

Yeah, there's a bunch of people claiming association with that award under various search terms, including PBS/CNBC Wall Street guy Louis Rukeyser, Marilyn vos Savant, and others. They're mostly professional speaker types - at least the ones who list it in a cv. I suspect that the "award" is a real one, even if most of the recipients are unaware that they won it. Pair up the "commerce and industry" types with books to sell and motivational speakers with famous personages and it increases the perceived prestige of the award.

[thaiboxerken]

I think it's likely that Deepak did win that award and that he has been keynote speaker at a few events. However, I don't agree that this lends any credibility to his claims. He's a good public speaker, maybe, but he's not a good scientist.

[T'ai Chi]

Did he really do these things?
(snip)
http://www.chopra.com/article.aspx?id=62

Are any of the "claims" extraordinary?

Talk about sour grapes..

[CurtC]

I am going to spend the remainder of my day willing myself younger.Simply willing it won't work. You have to tune your thoughts to the quantum frequencies in your subtle body's energy field.

[thaiboxerken]

Are any of the "claims" extraordinary?


Did I claim they were? I was simply asking a question, so many of these people who sell woo make up credentials to bolster their sales.

[CFLarsen]

Are any of the "claims" extraordinary?

Talk about sour grapes..

Do they have to be?

Why do you think that skeptics should not check the credentials of people who peddle superstitious beliefs?

It looks more and more as if your attacks on skeptics are really about protecting those who believe in the supernatural.

Keep it up, T'ai. Your colors are showing.

[articulett]

T'ai...
Quit pretending that "truth" is only available to a chosen few. We'd all love to understand more--but you and other woos never offer anything of value--unless you value "feeling like you are in on a secret higher truth"--

If someone is offering so called truths or wisdom--the intelligent thing to do is check it out...not accept it because it "resonates" with you.

Why are you so gullible? And why post here given your porpensity? Are you trying to convince yourself? Are you afraid you might find out you've been investing a lot of time, money, effort, hope, and self congratualtions, over a bunch of crap?

[articulett]

I've read on many skeptical blogs and sites that Deepak claims that to prevent or cure cataracts, simply brush your teeth, scrape your tongue and use that spit to flush the eye. However, none of these sites have actually referenced where and when he said this.

Does anyone know?

and you didn't referenxe which skeptic blogs said such things...I've never read this, and I am a pretty big reader of skeptical blogs--

[articulett]

I've been wondering about his looks. He argues that he can at least stop - or slow down - ageing, but what about his looks over time? Does he show signs of ageing himself?

Yeah...and he has a diet book out too...he seems chubby to me...

but I don't take anything he says seriously...he gets lots of money, asskissing, and power for talking about "souls", and there isn't any evidence for the existence of souls.

[articulett]

http://www.intouchmag.com/chopra.html



I am going to spend the remainder of my day willing myself younger. I'll keep everyone posted as to how this is working out.

I'm going to practice wiggling by mammary glands by thinking about it.

Maybe we should all try to get a critical mass of consciousness thing going where we think of the "woos" evolving intelligence... If we all think hard enough...

[articulett]

I think of James Randi as a great spiritual leader.

Deepak is a wannabe.

Randi speaks truth.

[thaiboxerken]

http://www.baskeptics.org/chopra.htm

http://skepdic.com/chopra.html

These are just a couple of skeptic sources that reference Deepak Chopra's "cure" for cataracts.

[T'ai Chi]

Are you afraid you might find out you've been investing a lot of time, money, effort, hope, and self congratualtions, over a bunch of crap?

Yeah, posting on certain boards. :)

[Luke T.]

If I was a Nobel Prize Winner, I think I'd be pretty ticked off at Chopra for dropping my name as being in the same company.

Luke T bio:

As a regular eater of pizza, Luke T. joins the distinguished company of Mother Theresa, Harrison Ford, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Paris Hilton as an excreter of bodily wastes.

[T'ai Chi]

If I was a Nobel Prize Winner, I think I'd be pretty ticked off at Chopra for dropping my name as being in the same company.


If he received the same award or whatever, you are effectively saying you are ticked off by a fact.

[thaiboxerken]

It's a fact that the Pope poops as well.

[T'ai Chi]

It's a fact that the Pope poops as well.

Winning that award that Chopra and others did takes effort and talent though.

Eating pizza or pooping does not.

[thaiboxerken]

What are the requirements for the award in question? Oh, he had money and helped created an organization. This, however, doesn't equivocate him to being a Nobel Laueriate, as his bio would have people believe. It's clever marketing, but it doesn't really work on skeptical people.

[T'ai Chi]

What are the requirements for the award in question?


Maybe do the most basic work and look up the requirements on the page in question.


Oh, he had money and helped created an organization.


And speak/lecture. And motivate. And author. And other stuff, not to mention his impressive academic credentials.


This, however, doesn't equivocate him to being a Nobel Laueriate, as his bio would have people believe.


Who said he is equated with a Nobel Laureate? I certainly didn't read that from it. I think you are biased and reading what you'd like to argue against into it. And again, if you dislike that he won an award that also a Nobel laureate won, you are arguing against a fact, which is rather pseudo-skeptical, despite you claiming to be skeptical.

It really is starting to sound like you are jealous of Chorpa and all that he has accomplished. That is what it sounds like to me because you're being ultra skeptical of claims that aren't even paranormal in nature.

[thaiboxerken]

Tai Chi, the fact is that he implied that he's as good as a Nobel Laureate when he mentions "Nobel Lauriate" in his bio. He didn't win awards the Nobel Lauriates won, he simply "is a founding director of the Alliance for the New Humanity."

He's bolstering his credentials, it's a marketing ploy. It is very much like Luke T's analogy. As a regular eater of pizza, Luke T. joins the distinguished company of Mother Theresa, Harrison Ford, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Paris Hilton as an excreter of bodily wastes.

Then again, you probably don't understant this because you're an idiot.

[CFLarsen]

And speak/lecture. And motivate. And author. And other stuff, not to mention his impressive academic credentials.

What do you find impressive about his academic credentials? (Apparently, you can investigate this, but deride skeptics if they do the same)

Accroding to his bio (http://www.chopra.com/article.aspx?id=62), he has been the "Chief of Staff at Boston Regional Medical Center" and "built a successful endocrinology practice in Boston in the 1980's".

This is interesting, though:

His teaching affiliations included Tufts University and Boston University Schools of Medicine.

Note that he didn't say that he was employed there. A guest lecturer, perhaps? Hardly a paragon of academia - you can feed pigs with guest lecturers.

It really is starting to sound like you are jealous of Chorpa and all that he has accomplished. That is what it sounds like to me because you're being ultra skeptical of claims that aren't even paranormal in nature.

Chopras claims are certainly paranormal in nature. He bases his whole schtick on the paranormal.

Do claims have to be extraordinary before we can investigate them?

Why do you think that skeptics should not check the credentials of people who peddle superstitious beliefs?

[thaiboxerken]

I think Tai Chi is really unreachable with logic and reasoning. It's like trying to teach a dog how to drive a car.

[CFLarsen]

I think Tai Chi is really unreachable with logic and reasoning. It's like trying to teach a dog how to drive a car.
I disagree.

He is reachable. He just chooses not to be.

That is, of course, far, far worse than being unreachable. Being ignorant is one thing. Being willingly ignorant is another. Quite more serious, more far-reaching.

[Aoidoi]

I think Tai Chi is really unreachable with logic and reasoning. It's like trying to teach a dog how to drive a car.Of course not. Only cats can drive cars.

Look out, Toonces!

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89ttoonces.phtml

Anyway, with all the Kaz, Nasa spokesperson, and Radio Shack CEO stuff it certainly seems that poking into a bio can be a worthwhile exercise.

[Luke T.]

I'm going to have to agree with T'ai Chi that my excretion comment was out of line.

Chopra is a good public speaker. He would have to be to succeed.

And if you look at the article I was able to find and link on the Top Five Oustanding Speakers, you will see there are five categories. My guess is that Chopra was in the "Inspirational or Motivational" category while those he associated himself with may have been in the other four categories of Commerce & Industry, Government, Educational or Social, or Mass Media or the Arts.

Since he mentions exactly four other people that he "joined the distinguished company of", then they probably were all the 1995 recipients, each in a different category.

ETA: He is completely entitled to associate himself with these people if they all received the award for the same year.

[articulett]

It's a fact that the Pope poops as well.

NormalBobSmith.com has some anti religious flyers made to look like the pithy pamphlets religious folks foist upon people in an effort to plant the seed of "blind faith". They are pretty funny-- One is entitled, Jesus pooped. Another encourages people to pray for Satan to accept Christ as his personal savior thus ending the epic battle between good and evil.