Open Letter to Skeptics

Dear Messrs. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Chris Anderson,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Chopra Foundation, we are inviting you to be featured speakers at our Sages and Scientists Symposium to be held from August 16-18 at La Costa Resort and Spa. For a glimpse of previous symposium presentations, please view here.

You can choose to speak on any subject that you prefer, including militant atheism.  There is no uniformity of opinion at Sages and Scientists, and you can be assured of a warm welcome and fair hearing. The conference this year includes a wide diversity of talks on science, philosophy, technology, health, peace, environment, etc.  We will be offering an honorarium of $4,000 to our featured speakers, along with travel and accommodations.

Each year we select two or three presenters for the Rustum Roy Spirit Award. A grant of $50,000 to $100,000.00 is given to each honoree.  Past recipients have included:

This year’s recipients are Dr. Elissa Epel and Donald Hoffman.

The debate between spirituality and science, as we all know, has been contentious in the last few years.  This may be an opportunity therefore to establish a calmer context. Let’s see if we can have a meaningful dialogue and move forward towards a science that includes a deeper understanding of consciousness. The Chopra Foundation supports all types of scientific research and is open to suggestions on new lines of research you feel would be productive.

Since Chris has had to make choices in the past about what distinguishes science from pseudoscience, we hope this conference will bring some clarity to this issue as well.  We invite Chris to moderate a session where we can present both sides of research investigations, the objective and subjective.  Addressing each of you, we would be honored if you accept our invitation as participants in a lively exchange of views.

Best wishes,

Deepak Chopra
Chairman of the Board

 Chopra Foundation

A private invitation has also been sent to Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Chris Anderson.