GOD

Billed as a “teaching novel,” this book uses examples from the lives of mystics of diverse traditions to pose questions about the origins, significance and reach of consciousness.

Chopra is the founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, Calif. He has written numerous books (Spiritual Solutions, 2012, etc.) and has had several titles on bestseller lists. Here, Chopra profiles 10 historical figures in an effort to better understand God: Job, Socrates, St. Paul, Shankara, Rumi, Julian of Norwich, Giordano Bruno, Anne Hutchinson, Baal Shem Tov and Rabindranath Tagore. Along the way, Chopra offers his reflections, which occasionally drift into homily. The central question Chopra raises in each “Revealing the Vision” section is: “[W]here did consciousness come from?” Not all of the figures profiled are well-known. Hutchinson, for example, was an early, radical Puritan; Bruno, a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600. Of particular interest are the humorous, humble Baal Shem, the brilliant, witty Shankara and the visionary Julian of Norwich, a woman Chopra calls “the most touching figure in this book.”

This book will appeal to the spiritually minded.