WHAT GOD LAUGHS. The path to joy and spiritual optimism.

Deepak Chopra .

Indian doctor, writer and lecturer, has written about spirituality and the power of the mind in medical healing.

WHAT GOD LAUGHS.

As if it were a car with two steering wheels, the world is guided by two forces struggling to have control: the spiritual and the secular. Today, the secular force has the advantage, but for many centuries the power was rooted in spirituality. The visionaries shaped the future as much as the kings, and even more. The king was anointed by God, but the visionaries were visited by God himself and listened to his message personally before appearing in public to announce what God wanted people to do. I began to be fascinated by the disconcerting situation in which visionaries are involved. Very few asked for that power to affect others. God diverted them from everyday comfort and guided their steps. The voice they heard in his head was not his, but was of divine inspiration. How were those experiences? On the one hand, they must have been terrifying, because in a world in which to feed lions with martyrs, crucify the saints because they are considered enemies of the State and guard with suspicion the ancient religions is a spectacle, the voice of God may well be enunciating a death warrant. On the other hand, experiencing the divine must have been ecstatic, as the mystical poets of all cultures who had an affair with divinity experienced. That combination of outburst and torment became the seed of this book.