Deepak Chopra says success is 'the ability to have love and compassion' in life — and he's bullish on AI

Bestselling author and entrepreneur Deepak Chopra may be known the world over as a holistic health and wellness guru — he's counseled scores of people to lead better, calmer and healthier lives over the decades — but he also has a lighter side.

In an on-camera interview this week just as his new book, "Optimum Body: The New Science of Living a Longer, Healthier, More Vital Life," was published, Chopra poked a little fun at himself when asked how he takes care of personal well-being.

"Well, my family doesn't take me seriously, and that's good," he said. 

"And so," he said, "I don't take myself seriously."

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Chopra went on about how he personally stays healthy. "I sleep well," he said. "I practice meditation and yoga. And my only purpose is to serve the world. I don't have any personal ambition. And that means no stress, either."

The "no stress" philosophy carries some heavy weight, though. Chopra is focused, through his foundations and his work on many fronts, on helping people lead lighter, brighter lives through their thoughts and actions — and to help heal themselves of afflictions. And he remains hopeful. 

"The science of biology," he said, "says that less than 5% of disease is due to what we call fully penetrant genes, which guarantee the disease. So if somebody has a BRCA gene, for example, they're going to get breast cancer. And the only treatment thus far has been a preventive mastectomy, etc. That applies to 5% of all disease."

Now, he said, "we are looking at a very exciting possibility called gene editing, which will get rid of the 5% that are genetically fully determined." 

Meanwhile, he said, "some 95% of illness is right now due to epigenetic modulations of gene activity, which means our experiences determine gene activity."

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He said that "all disease, whether it's cancer or autoimmune illness or dementia or degenerative disorders or heart disease or metabolic syndrome or diabetes — these can all be affected by things like how we sleep, or our emotions, or how we manage stress, or how we can use diet to change the microbial combination of our gene expression in the gut."

So "put all of this" — and much more — "together," he added, "and we have a holistic way of not only preventing disease, but even reversing it and extending our lifespan. You can even change the activity of our biological clock."

His new book, he said, is about "how you actually make chronic disease optional and actually extend your lifespan and your health span. It's not good enough to live a long life," he added, "if you're not living a healthy long life. That's what my new book is about." 

Here's more of Fox News Digital's interview this week with Chopra, who at age 77 is the author of 94 books. 

He's also a husband, father and grandfather. 

Fox News Digital: Given all that's going on in the world today, do people need healing perhaps now more than ever, in your view?

Deepak Chopra: Yes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we used to look at who was getting sick, who was getting to the point where they died. And as you know, some of the elderly had chronic disease, also. But there were young people who were getting very sick and also dying. And when we looked at all of these people who had what we call intense morbidity and mortality, they all had inflammatory storms in their body.

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They not only had inflammation in their bodies, but they also had stress, depression and extreme fear. Any time stress overrides your biological responses, you actually can predict that there's going to be sickness.

As a result of that, we started looking at our nervous system, a part of the nervous system called the parasympathetic nervous system. And particularly one nerve called the vagus nerve, which can be activated through various things like exercise, like mind-body coordination, breathing techniques, yoga and emotional resiliency.

You can actually activate the healing system. In the past 30 years ago, we didn't have the science behind it. But today we have very good science. 

And it's very important, because if you're peaceful at home, then you extend that to your family, extend that to your community. And I hope that if we extend that to a critical mass, we can have a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier and joyful world. That's the ultimate dream.

Q: Talk to us about your work at the Chopra Foundation — you're offering many programs that you didn't always offer. 

Chopra: One program we have now is called Never Alone (NeverAlone.love). It's a program for mental well-being and suicide prevention. We have several million people engaged in that program, creating global communities of support for each other through attention — which means deep listening affection, deep caring appreciation, deep gratitude and an acceptance of everyone. 

The program is very, very popular right now, especially among teens because we also use emotional chatbots. So people don't feel judged.

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We also have a program called The Soul of Leadership. We'll be offering free leadership [skills and training] to anyone in the world who needs or wants leadership skills. Those are just some of the programs. 

Q: When people reach out, do their queries fall into any specific categories or themes?

Chopra: They're mostly about health — mental and physical — and they're also about conflict resolution. Everything is connected. 

And I think there's a deeper interest, especially among millennials — most millennials are kind of fed up with the old way of dealing with things, and they're looking at resources online now. 

Q: What in particular are they mentioning to you and your teams — political issues? The election season? Wars? Money? Jobs?

Chopra: All of the above. Also, the younger generation is very concerned about climate change and how it relates to mental and physical illness.

Q: If you had to deliver words of wisdom ahead of the New Year of 2024, what would you say?

Chopra: We can't depend on any special interest group or even political leaders. We have to be the change we want to see in the world. We start with ourselves — peace and love in action and supporting each other. And that's the ultimate idea of community. 

We have a common identity. We call it humanity. We complement each other's strengths and we can offer emotional support. Then we can find creative solutions for every problem in the world. 

And this is the time for creativity, because otherwise we are moving in a direction where we have medieval identities and modern capacities for destruction. And that's not a good combination. 

Q: How do you define success? 

Chopra: Success is the ability to have love and compassion in your life, and most importantly, to get in touch with your creative center, which is your soul. 

Q: You write more than one book each year. What's the topic of your next book? 

Chopra: My next book is on AI and how it can help us and be a guide … Like any technology, [artificial intelligence] can be misused. You see the internet is misused, but also used.

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So, you know, technology is neutral. And any time there's a new technology, there are people who are afraid of the diabolical uses [of it] — and rightly so. 

We have to have a system, and Europe is already doing it. 

Last week, they enacted ethical standards for using AI to prevent misuse of AI. And that is possible. 

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So when we do that, then I think it could be a super-intelligent system. It can be your personal friend. 

It can be a research assistant. It can be a health coach and it can also be a spiritual guide. 

I'm very enthusiastic about AI.

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