Jury's traditional afternoon tea dance was cancelled yesterday so that 750 people could sit and hold hands with their eyes closed in an effort to achieve a glimpse of cosmic consciousness.
As we meditated in the dark at a cost of £45 per head (lunch extra), the US spiritual phenomenon, Deepak Chopra, mixed physics with William Blake, Oscar Wilde and the New Testament to illustrate that physical reality is a constantly transforming hologram projected by a conscious energy field of which we are all a part.
Chopra (50), a charismatic medical doctor who was brought up by Irish Christian Brothers in New Delhi and fills stadiums in the US with disciples eager to lap up instant karma, has a way with words.
"We are specks of awareness in an ocean of awareness that projects itself as the mind, body and the universe," he believes.
I sat with Jonathan Philbin Bowman, who, at Chopra's instruction, whispered gently in my ear: "Who are you?" at 15 second intervals for several minutes. As I struggled to answer ("harried working mother who hasn't had a full night's sleep in five months" was the best I could do) and as Jonathan struggled not to laugh, Chopra smiled upon us from the stage, guiding us towards the realisation that "the spirit is all". Other religions, notably Christianity, have emphasised the ephemeral nature of existence but with Chopra there's a difference. For him money and sex are essential spiritual endeavours - putting paid to that old notion of guilt which keeps so many of us trapped in our dull neuroses.
I don't know what the Catholic bishop thought of it. I couldn't find him, but Chopra, in a private lunchtime audience, assured me that he was there, along with "29 or 30" Irish priests and nuns and several Irish musicians.
Over lunch, I asked him the question of the moment: "Who are you?" He answered: "I'm someone who is exploring my own awareness and sharing it with others."
He's planning to cut back on lecturing and instead to hold silent retreats in rain forests the deserts. His purpose? To reach a "critical mass" of spiritual saturation in the same way as Marlboro cigarettes, Calvin Klein underwear and Hollywood have done in the material world. After that, it's only a small step to world peace.
In the lobby, the largely middleaged, affluent audience was snapping up copies of Chopra's many books and cassettes. How many books has he written? "Wait five minutes and he'll have written another one," quipped the wisecracker beside the incense display.
Chopra, who is CEO of his own company, Infinite Possibilities International, earns $15 million per year and doesn't believe in giving money to the poor. "In the information age, wealth is coming from information and the only way to help the poor is to make people more aware and consciousness and self-reliant," he explains.
Whatever you think of his spiritual ideas, few people are capitalising on the information age as well as Deepak Chopra.