Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens

By Deepak Chopra

Book 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 fantastic twists that bring 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 boy was Deepak Chopra, who grew up to become an acclaimed writer and teacher about the same invisible things that the old man had taught him. Fire in the Heart is Dr. Chopra's first book for young adults. Its aim is to pass on this soul training to young readers. "The old man with the white beard showed me the spiritual side of life," writes the author, "where real passion and excitement come from. So before you begin, take a deep breath. This story could turn out to be yours." " Spirit is] everywhere, making sure that everything is connected. The light from a star billions of light years away is the same light that makes plants grow here on earth. The plants give food; the food has allowed you to develop in your mother's womb; and today you look at that star with the eyes that the stars gave you. There's the cosmic connection." -- from Fire in the Heart

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689862164
• ISBN13: 9780689862168
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.1" x 0.8" x 5.4"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent & Inspiring Stories

This is an excellent book replete with spiritually uplifting stories. Dr. Chopra is one of the leading experts on Eastern-Western medical treatments and is a gifted philosopher and writer as well. With regard to the references to autism in this book, Portia Iversen's son Dov, the boy featured in "Strange Son" and Tito Mukhopadhyay are included in this book. Dov was the young man who was actively listening although he was nonverbal during his early years and Tito Mukhopadhyay was the gifted poet/author who has severe autism. I want to add that the claim made in this book that people with autism "go inside of themselves" and "don't respond to the outside world" simply isn't true. Dov himself said he was listening at all times and Tito Mukhopadhyay was acutely aware of his environment. Autism is a sensori-neurobiological condition that affects sensory processing and communication. For individuals with severe autism as these two young men have, communication is severely impacted. People with autism are generally acutely aware of their environments; however, the sensory processing issues can create false impressions. For people on the autism spectrum (and it IS a continuum), sensory input can be confusing and hard to separate into discrete units. When a person is on overload, it is not uncommon for them to appear non/unresponsive. That is when the person is "coming even," trying to tone out the overload and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Communication is an inherent part of all individuals; it is listening to people on the spectrum that hopefully will create a more tolerant world and put false claims about autism permanently to rest.

Fire in The Heart

It is a awesome book. Real situations real solutions yet in alignment with spirituality for teens,not boring at all.It makes you think and wonder. The author Chopra is a great teacher.

A Real Fire in the Heart

This is an amazing book, to be read by people of all age groups. There are a very few books which give a spiritual insight in such simple terms. This is definetely one among the best of such books. It is as interesting as a good fiction, with a very simple and effective message in each chapter. The author makes each of the message reach straight into the heart of the reader by the style he has used for writing.

A treasure!

Deepak Chopra's new book for teens is filled with wonderful stories, beautifully told! It conveys profound spiritual teachings that resonate with wisdom and truth. I bought several copies - one for each of the teens in my life! Thanks, Deepak; this is just what the world needs right now!