Prolific author and physician Deepak Chopra published an op-ed this week on the enduring importance of spirituality and wisdom in our society.

Chopra said that while people cling to religion during a crisis, it is these deeper connections that sustain people long-term. 

"In troubled times, when the world seems to be on fire, people think about God and the religion they were raised in - a source of solace and hope matters more in a crisis," he wrote in the Huffington Post.  

"I don't find myself thinking about spirituality in those terms, however. Like a winter coat that's put away in spring, for many people spirituality, in the sense of going to church or praying to God, gets put away when the crisis has passed.

"Crises by their nature, come and go, but the deeper need for spirituality remains. This need is rooted deeper than solace and hope. It's the need for wisdom."

The alternative medicine advocate said that wisdom is often poorly understood, but necessary to understanding one's purpose. 

"Wisdom gives you a vision of possibilities that are found in consciousness, bridging all ages and circumstances," he wrote.

"It gets at the heart of reality. Ultimately the search for reality is what binds a loose coalition of people who want to reach beyond organised religion and its perceived drawbacks."

He accused organised religion of "serving reactionary social forces and a dogmatic version of God," and leaving "a spiritual vacuum in society," while praising the "current spiritual scene."

"People feel free to express themselves outside the doctrines of organised faiths," he said. "They believe that evolution of consciousness is real and worth pursuing. They believe they can find a noble vision and begin to live up to it.

"These values are timeless but remain abstract until they become someone's personal experience," he added.