In the move, I discovered that I’d bought oh-so-long ago The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. Having never actually read said book, I peeled off the $8 price sticker and thought, “Law #1 of Success: Sell a very small book for $8.”

I decided to take a peek at the chapter on Karma. Therein, I discovered a world of horror when it came to logic, internal consistency and emotional reality.

In short: what a complete crank.

For example, he begins by saying we make choices all the time, that someone might flatter us, but we can choose to not be flattered. That someone can insult us and we can choose to not be insulted. We are not bound by our conditioned responses. Further, our choices affect the world around us. If we make a choice, we accept the results.

Fair enough.

But then he says: When you make any choice — any choice at all — you can ask yourself two things: First of all, “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?”…Secondly, “Will this choice that I’m making now bring happiness to me and to those around me?” If the answer is yes, then go ahead with that choice. If the answer is no, if that choice brings distress either to you or to those around you, then don’t make that choice.”

So, what happened to the concept that people can choose their responses? Am I now suddenly responsible for how everyone around me responds? And what about my own happiness? How many times have we in life had to make a choice that was best for us yet we knew would disappoint other people? Chopra suggests we live like cowards and never make a decision that will furrow another’s brow. This means never having to deal with conflict and confrontation, nor fully owning our needs. We also then carry a false sense of power, wrongly thinking that we control how people react. Not to mention it’s absurd to think one can please all of the people, all of the time.

The very fact that this jackass and his egregious pseudo-spirituality-come-psychological nonsense has become so popular says some pretty heinous things about mankind and what emotional and moral infants they can be.

And that’s my anti-sermon for this Sunday morning.