Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens

Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens

by Deepak Chopra
Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens

Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens

by Deepak Chopra

Paperback(Reprint)

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Overview

A fifteen-year-old boy is walking through a swirling fog on his way to school when a voice calls out, "Come here. We need to talk." Out of the mist emerges an old man with a white beard. He is a fantastic figure, as wizardly as Merlin, as wise as Socrates, as peaceful as Buddha. Whoever he is, the old man has appeared on that very day to change the boy's life.

"You are old enough to learn about things," he says mysteriously. "And who is going to teach you but me?"

The old man gives the boy four days of "soul training," a time of riddles, tricks, parables, and incredible twists that brings out surprising answers to each of four burning questions about spirituality:

Do I have a soul?
How do wishes come true?
What is the supreme force in the universe?
How can I change the world?


"The old man with the white beard showed me the spiritual side of life," writes Deepak Chopra, "where real passion and excitement come from. So before you begin, take a deep breath. This story could turn out to be yours."

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780689862175
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date: 12/26/2006
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 208
Sales rank: 1,145,791
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range: 12 - 18 Years

About the Author

About The Author
Deepak Chopra, MD, founder of the Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a clinical professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of more than ninety books, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. Time magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”

Hometown:

La Jolla, California

Date of Birth:

October 22, 1946

Place of Birth:

New Delhi, India

Education:

All India Institute of Medical Sciences

Read an Excerpt

Chapter Introduction: Before You Begin...

A boy of fifteen is standing on a high green hill overlooking a valley. The valley is even more green and lush. It rolls away in wave after wave until the boy thinks it must never end.

"Do you see?" a voice says.

The boy turns, and next to him an old man is standing. The old man has a long white beard, and there is a gleam in his eye.

"Yes, I see," the boy says, but his heart is beating so fast he can hardly express himself.

"I want you to tell me what you see. I have to be sure you learned your lessons well," the old man says.

Ordinarily it would have broken the boy's heart to say good-bye, because he thought the old man with the white beard would be with him forever.

"I see that all this is mine," the boy says. "I belong to the universe, and it belongs to me." He stretches his arms out as if he could own it all — the high hill, the green valley, the whole span of years ahead of him. Somehow, even though it sounds impossible, he does own it all.

"Never forget this," the old man says. He presses his palms together and bows in respect, and the boy, bowing even deeper, does the same.

And that's the last I saw of him. Because I was the boy on the hill, and in four short days, the only time we were together, the old man changed my life. Each day he answered a question that you are going to read about in this book:

Do I have a soul?

How do wishes come true?

What is the supreme force in the universe?

How can I change the world?


These are big questions, and when I was young and bursting with idealism, they were burning questions. I didn't just want to know the answers — I had to know. There will always be burning questions in life, but these four remain special because they start a spark, and from that spark you will have a fire in your heart. That fire will make you live your life with excitement and passion.

The old man with the white beard showed me the spiritual side of life, where real passion and excitement come from. I'm going to tell you about our days together, down to the smallest detail, until you are given what I was given. Then you can be transformed too, wherever you are. So before you begin, take a deep breath. This story could turn out to be yours.

Copyright © 2004 by Deepak Chopra

Table of Contents


Contents

Before You Begin...

Day One

Do I Have a Soul?

Day Two

How Do Wishes Come True?

Day Three

What Is the Supreme Force in the Universe?

Day Four

How Can I Change the World?

A Soul Alphabet

The Last Word

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Inviting.... Chopra shows a great talent for explaining...complex ideas lucidly and even grippingly."

Publishers Weekly, starred review

Like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince meets Chicken Soup for the Soul."

School Library Journal

Interviews

An Interview with Deepak Chopra about Fire in the Heart

This is your first book written especially for teens. What inspired you to write for this audience?

Deepak Chopra: First of all, I noticed an absence of books that talked to teenagers at their own level about spirituality. For every hundred books for adults there may be one or two for teens, and those often use religious terms. I wanted to write something holistic that would be free of the word God, a book that would begin with everyday experiences and then lead the reader toward eternal questions.

How does this book differ from your books for adults?

DC: It's actually quite a lot like The Way of the Wizard, in that a magical teacher appears out of nowhere to bring wisdom to a young person. (This book was tentatively titled I Met a Man of Wisdom at one stage.) The difference is that Fire in the Heart stems from my own perspective as a teenager and expands on it for teenagers today.

You dedicate Fire in the Heart to "all the teenagers today and tomorrow upon whom the fate of the world depends." In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges facing teens today?

DC: All the challenges of globalization have a spiritual dimension. Whether it's war, overpopulation, a deteriorating environment, or uncontrollable epidemics of disease, huge problems face us in the future, and only by drawing together as a common humanity can we solve them. I think my generation, born just after World War II, is probably the last that can indulge in the fantasy of becoming enlightened while the rest of the world suffers. Today's teens will find themselves entangled in a world situation.

Do you hear from a lot of teens?

DC: We have an active teen program at the Chopra Center, where I am amazed to find that teens are often profound seekers, and my two children always talked to me throughout their teenage years -- that was very fortunate. Too often teens get isolated from family life, and this is especially damaging on the spiritual side.

Do you think this sort of book is needed more today than in other eras?

DC: Not really. The spiritual path connects a person with reality at its deepest level. It makes you see yourself as a cell in the body of the universe but also as a creator in that universe. This hasn't changed and never will.

Fire in the Heart opens with a 15-year-old boy gazing down at a lush valley in India. The boy is you. Do you think today's teens will be able to relate to your spiritual journey as a young boy?

DC: I find that I relate the most to personal stories if they are told honestly and with passion. This book contains both, I hope. The fact that it's set in an exotic locale like India is really incidental. It could have opened with a 15-year-old girl staring at a wheat field in Nebraska or a vineyard in Italy. If a story speaks from heart to heart, readers connect to it.

What was your experience as a teenager?

DC: A mixture of restlessness and curiosity, and a strong yearning to find something meaningful to believe in. I didn't really find it until I was already an adult and a practicing physician, so I hope this book saves some young people a lot of years of searching.

On "Day One" in Fire in the Heart you encounter Baba (an Indian term of respect that is given to someone who is considered a wise or holy man) as you walk to school. Why do you feel that you were chosen for this spiritual journey at that time?

DC: Baba is a composite for all the reclusive holy men that one of my relatives loved to visit. I went along and met quite a lot of these "saints," as they are called in India. They didn't have their full impact on me until much later, although in the story I make it a one-on-one relationship, a kind of spiritual Karate Kid.

You pose four main questions in Fire in the Heart: Do I have a soul? How do wishes come true? What is the Supreme Force in the Universe? and How can I change the world?. Why do you feel that these four questions will "spark" the "fire" in one's heart?

DC: Experience and tradition. These are the four questions I still ask myself every day. And history tells us that humans have been wrestling with them for centuries.

How can parents and educators best share Fire in the Heart with teens?

DC: The book is only educational in the broadest sense. Teens are always being told how to live, and they feel ambivalent about that. On the surface a teenager will act as if the opinions of adults are very unwelcome, while if asked what they most want in their lives, the number one response is more attention from their parents. So I would respect both sides. As an adult, show that you care about spiritual things, but don't use the book to instruct your teen about how to think or behave.

What are you working on now? Would you like to write another book for teens?

DC: Another book for teens is gestating in my mind right now. I keep returning to the theme of the spiritual warrior, which I've never written about before. Maybe teens will be the first to hear about it! I think boys would be interested right off the bat, so I'll be sure to put in as much for girls as possible. Empowerment is a huge issue for all teenagers.

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