The subtler one's awareness, the more powerfully it can heal.
Most people talk about fear of the unknown, but if there is anything to fear, it is the known.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people often fear what they do not know more than what is already known, even if the known carries greater risks.
Deepak Chopra's quote highlights a paradox in human perception of fear, where individuals frequently express apprehension toward the unknown, yet overlook the dangers that come with familiar situations. It urges us to reconsider our fears by recognizing that what we think we know can often be more perilous than the uncertainties we shy away from, inviting reflection on our assumptions and the reality of the risks we accept.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming challenges, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of facing known fears.
More from Deepak Chopra
All quotes →To promote the healing response, you must get past all the grosser levels of the body - cells, tissues, organs and systems -- and arrive at a junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.
It is only because you take your mind to be yourself, and make it dwell on what you are not, that you lose your sense of well-being.
The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself.
According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.
I will practice acceptance. Today I will accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. I will know that this moment is as it should be, because the whole universe is as it should be. I will not struggle against the whole universe by struggling against this moment. My acceptance is total and complete. I accept things as they are this moment, not as I wish they were.
Similar quotes
No one can be great, or good, or happy except through the inward efforts of themselves.
I met Tiger Woods when he was younger. He's amazing - obviously technically, but his mental approach, too. He's really something.
Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.
That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality - your soul, if you will - is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Theresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.
The feeble tremble before opinion, the foolish defy it, the wise judge it, the skillful direct it.
One cannot enter don Juan's world intellectually, like a dilettante seeking fast and fleeting knowledge. Nor, in don Juan's world, can anything be verified absolutely. The only thing we can do is arrive at a state of increased awareness that allows us to perceive the world around us in a more inclusive manner.