The Return Of Merlin by Deepak Chopra:
When Deepak Chopra publishes, readers take note. And when he writes about the
Arthurian Tales, what can one say? Intertwining his sense of mysticism, his intellectual scope, and a
fast-paced, very moving, novel in one is a bit much to hope for! But in “The Return of Merlin,”
Chopra has accomplished this feat. Not an “easy read” generally, Chopra’s magical touch with the
printed word maintains his reputation in this tale from Arthur.
In his introduction, Chopra writes that “The Return of Merlin” is about waking up the
wizard that sleeps within all of us, so that we can reclaim the field of pure knowledge and dream
anew world into reality, from the purity of our hearts.”
“Merlin” is another odyssey of life, a story of the traditional good vs. evil and the struggles
therein. It is a story that erases the confines of time. “To be alive now,” he writes, “is to be dead to
the past. To be alive now is to have life-centered, present-moment awareness...(and) you will discover the dance of the divine in every leaf, in every petal...in every rainbow...in every breath of every living being.” A momumental undertaking, to be sure.
Taking the Arthurian characters, from Merlin to Arthur to Mordred with a cast of many
others, and mixing in a complete disregard for any logical historical time frame, Chopra explores
this struggle, this “to be or not to be” of Camelot. Despite its frenzy, its whirlwind of action and
activity, “The Return of Merlin” is at once captivating, suspenseful, mesmerizing, combining
elements of spectacular hope and goodness and the depravitiy--nay, the power-- of penultimate
evil, Chopra shatters the pastoral hillsides of our psyche with this very-readable narrative.
Scholarly--yet quite readable!, the book is a page-turner. Chopra’s magic comes alive in a work
that is satisfactory and fulfilling.
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