The Ultimate Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra, Random House, $29.99
Deepak Chopra, doctor and philosopher, has written a short book this time, which summarises many of the themes readers applauded in his earlier bestsellers such as Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.
The "prescription" in the title finds Chopra adopting a kind of doctoralstance. The chapters are short, covering each of his seven keys to joy and enlightenment. Happiness grows from finding self in answer to the basic question: Who am I?
Chopra sets out to consider the fears which have plagued mankind for millennia - not knowing one's true identity, clinging to the idea of permanence in an inherently impermanent world, fear of change, identifying with the socially induced hallucination called the ego and fear of death.
From acquiring a knowledge of who one is, and that is a knowledge gained from Buddhist traditions in his own case, suffering will end.
By going deep inside oneself finding the true self will unfold - and thus the secret of happiness.
Chopra does not glide over the difficulties of life lightly.
He is not a torchbearer for the think-positive school of counselling. Instead, he comes across as a wise man who searches for values in society and the individual, not dictated from without but discovered from within.
The Ultimate Happiness is a deeply thoughtful small book, one to refer to when guidance needs to be sought.
Happiness of the richest kind might just be there to be mined.
