← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
Deepak Chopra’s Epstein Emails and the Wellness World’s Accountability Problem (Part 2) (5/20/26)
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Deepak Chopra’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is being scrutinized through newly released Epstein files showing extensive email and text exchanges between the two men beginning in 2016, years after Epstein was already a registered sex offender....
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And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up where we left off with the Salon article about Deepak Chopra and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Once again, this article was authored by Nicole Carlisle. In one 2016 email, Chopra shared an article he had written arguing that everyday reality is a human construct. In another email the following year, Chopra told Epstein that reality is an illusion, adding, whenever time permits, I'll do an experiment with you to show you why. Epstein responded that he was looking forward to it. The two men seemed to share the conclusion that reality did not exist. Well, that must have been a shock to Epstein, huh? When reality came crashing down around them. In March of 2017, Epstein wrote to Chopra, find me a cute Israeli blonde. Matter over mind. In the same exchange, Chopra took the conversation to a different level, writing atoms, galaxies, mind, body are hallucinations that imprison humanity. We have to get rid of of 2,000 years of human conditioning. Well, what happened 2,000 years ago? Someone refreshed my memory. All right. Christianity, right? So is that what Chopra is talking about? Probably. And we all know that Jeffrey Epstein, he didn't give a about religion one way or the other. The only thing he was loyal to was self. But all of these New Age weirdos, one of the first things they attack is Christianity. And I say that as an agnostic. I'm not somebody that believes one way or the other because I'm not arrogant enough to think that I know. But there's no doubt that Christianity is under assault by these new age weirdos 1000%. And to hear Chopra talking like that doesn't Shock me. Later that same day, Epstein responded. I would argue that there is no awareness or consciousness. There is only chemistry. So basically we're living in a simulation. Is that what they're saying? And I'll tell you what, it's pretty concerning considering how many people that are high level, you know, physicists, whatever, talk about a simulation theory. And imagine if that's the case. I would be so pissed because the kid that's playing my character right now is like the kid from the 90s used to play the Sims and then just leave the game on and go out with his friends and let whatever disaster happen happen. So whoever's in control of my character, if we're in a simulation, can you please lighten up a little bit and help a paisano out every now and then? But all kidding aside, that whole simulation thing is very interesting. I don't know one way or the other, but it's certainly interesting to think about. A few days after that, Chopra wrote to Epstein again telling him the biological cells and and the entire physical universe were human constructs, but that cute girls were aware when they make noises. What the fuck does that mean? Deepak Chopra, what exactly were you doing with Jeffrey Epstein? And not just with Epstein on your own. Cute girls are aware when they make noises. Like what does that even mean? Epstein responded, so when the girl says, oh my God, yes, that's divine transcendence. Chopra said. Epstein answered, oh, I thought she was just referring to me. And yo, he's only half kidding. I don't think people understand. This fool thought he was a demigod. He really thought that he was, you know, a modern day Achilles or whatever. And I don't even know if Achilles had the same kind of high opinion of himself that Epstein has of himself. For some observers of the New Age and wellness industries, the controversy around Chopra's association with Epstein doesn't simply erode Chopra's credibility as a guru, but it also points towards deeper issues. The unfortunate references to cute girls and the context of Chopra's apparent friendship with a registered sex offender undermines his self presentation as as a spiritual authority. Stephanie Alice Baker, a sociology professor at City St. George University of London who studies wellness, misinformation and conspiracies, told Salon, Chopra's philosophical claim that there's no objective reality and that we have to get rid of thousands of years of human conditioning, suggested Matthew Remsky, the co author of Conspirituality. How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat may have offered Epstein a spiritual framework for his illicit activities. There is no evidence that Chopra had any such intention. I don't know. I don't know enough about this new age nonsense to tell you one way or the other. I have no idea. But anybody who's relying on rocks or a chakra or whatever, I mean, do you really think that stuff works? I guess you still believe in Santa Claus? For Epstein, his work was of his own making, probably more than anybody else in the last hundred years. Remsky said Epstein was simply able to decide what he wanted to do in any given moment. And then it happened. He organized his world like an old timey tantric deity where he could just think of something and it then appears somebody showing up to massage him and do sex work. He's got amazing food coming in and then there's a plane taking him to a fucking island. Well, that sums it up. This guy was literally doing whatever he wanted when he wanted to do it, and there was no kind of ramifications. In fact, he was protected at every turn. That kind of behavior, Remsky and others interviewed for the article agreed, involves what has been called spiritual bypassing, a term originally defined by therapist John Wellwood as the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds and unfinished developmental tasks. Or in simpler terms, to dodge accountability. No wonder so many people are spiritual. Ah, you know, I'm into rocks and Deepak Chopra. I don't have any kind of self responsibility for the I got up to because, you know, that was just my fate. Remsky said he sees connections between the kind of New Age spirituality pioneered by Chopra and the other developments in society, economics and politics that have enabled a hyper individualist culture. Craig Cashwell, a professor at Clemson University who researched the impacts of spiritual bypassing, said that while he believes religion and spirituality can enhance people's lives, it's important that we acknowledge that there is a shadow side of both, which most often comes in the form of religious abuse, trauma and spiritual bypass. Cashwell added that it's not possible to argue that spiritual bypass was involved in Chopra's case or any other specific situation without more information, but said it's certainly true that sacred teachings can be twisted and used to justify actions in incongruent with the actual teaching. Well, that goes for anything. People will use anything for justification. I mean, look at people who commit acts of terrorism. They point to, you know, the Hadith, they point to the Quran and then that becomes their motivation. Or look at people on the flip side of that like the idiot who went into Christ's church and killed all those people. The point is when people are crazy and and they're looking for justification, they're going to find it. Baker agreed that it was unclear whether Epstein had used Chopra's teachings to justify his abuse, but cited a long history of guru figures abusing their influence, pointing to allegations of sexual misconduct against numerous yoga gurus, including Bikram Chon Friend and Gregorian Bevolaru. Ronald Prosser, a professor of management at San Francisco State University and The author of McMindfulness How Mindfulness Became a New Capitalist Spirituality, sees the controversy around Chopra as more than another moment of high profile hypocrisy. It's a deeper reflection, he suggested, of why and how these scandals keep happening within the contemporary guru economy, which has three elements that don't mix well together moral authority, celebrity, culture and the marketplace. As soon as someone becomes a brand, the incentives become relentless. Preserve the image, Persona, the audience, the flow of money, and last but not least, preserve the aura, he said. This is not unique to Chopra. It really seems to be a structural characteristic of the entire spiritual wellness industry. Yeah, look again, I don't know enough about the industry or whatever it is to dive deep on it. What I'm trying to do is show you that Epstein had people like Chopra who are supposed spiritual leaders in his pocket, and it just shows you the different levels that Epstein was operating on. Market driven spirituality, Purser said, favors charisma and certitude. Conversely, it punishes nuance and often lacks real accountability. So far, the revelations about Chopra's friendship with Epstein have had limited effects in the real world. In a statement to Salon, the University of California, San Diego said it would end Chopra's appointment as an unpaid clinical professor at its medical school in June, calling any form of association with Epstein regrettable. Chopra does not have any active responsibility at UC San Diego, nor will he have any active responsibility at any point between now and the conclusion of his appointment term, the statement said. Well, that's a good idea. Get ahead of it. Who needs those kind of issues, right? Does Deepak Chopra bring that much to a university? I doubt it. A Warehouse Books, a New Age oriented bookstore in Regina, Saskatchewan, posted a video of an employee ripping up Chopra's books and announced it would no longer order or carry them. Well, that's the owner's choice, right? If you own a store, you own a shop. Whatever you get to call the rules. Some former Chopra fans have also spoken out on Substack. Writer Scott Mills took a deep dive into the public details of the Chopra Epstein relationship, writing at length about his sense of heartbreak. Bestselling author Lisa Rankin wrote an extended Facebook post about her disappointment that wellness gurus such as Chopra and Peter Attia, another prominent New Age physician, appeared in the Epstein Files. Maybe it's my age, but all of this screams quackery to me. This is some Miss Cleo type shit. When physicians prioritize access to power over ethical judgment, they often break the foundation covenant of medicine, she wrote. We need a basic standard for physicians and leaders built on the principle that scientific authority and ethical integrity cannot be separated. I think that's a pretty good way to go. I mean, have a little decency, that's all. A little discernment. And it's always the smartest people, quote unquote, in the room, who seem to be the dumbest. For nearly a decade, B. Scofield, a reporter on cult movements and the author of Hunting One Reporter's Search for Cults and Demons, has followed what she considers the New Age movement's dark side. She said that she found the response to Chopra's association with Epstein noteworthy, given the industry's tendency to overlook or ignore its own internal scandals. You can't really compare how things are handled in the spiritual world with the normal world because there are so many scandals within this field and most of the teachers and the institutions remain silent, schofield said. So for the spiritual world field, what happened is very significant and if it helps shine a light on all of that, great. But again, I don't know what's going on in the world of spirituality. I have no idea. I find this all weird, though, and I find it creepy. Still, many who follow the industry expect little change in an industry they described as largely driven by profit, despite claims of a greater concern for the public's well being. There's no more accountability in the wellness and yoga industry than there is in any other form of capitalism, remsky said. It might actually be worse because there's nothing institutionalized about it. Purser said he sees scandal not not as an accident or a bug, but rather a feature of the New Age economy. It's a risk inherent in the guru celebrity model, he concluded. And look again, I'm not going to go into that because I have no idea. But what I will tell you is this. The emails that were shared between Deepak Chopra and Jeffrey Epstein, very concerning. And who are these cute girls that he's talking about? Were they girls that were abused? Were they girls that were being trafficked? Unfortunately, we don't have those answers, but like usual, we'll keep grinding looking for them. And when we have some more information about this story, we'll get it added to the catalog. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.