| | | Page 1, 2, 3, 4 | What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
| F.R.O.G.
User ID: 112322
2/13/2008 3:31 PM
Report abusive post | What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
| Quote |
Decided to get the book after hearing Oprah talk about it and so far it's blowing me away. I'm a Christian, so I'm not sure about how much of this I want to take in from a man who apparently seems to think Jesus was just a teacher like Buddha, but the book is actually giving me some new insight into Scripture such as Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ, so I no longer live but Christ lives in me..." The "I" in the verse would represent the ego and "Christ" the indwelling Holy Spirit, "I am", the Eternal Now.
Any thoughts on the book or author? |
| Sumati Talveer
User ID: 370329
2/13/2008 3:39 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I'm just recovering from a NEW AGE cult phase of my life.
I have probably 2 series by him. They're different because he's German, like you own personal German Guru. I read a story on Amazon where someone knew him growing up and he had zero interest in athletics/soccer; and while in the middle of a game he just walked away and disappered somewhere in the woodline. He was probably the consumate NERD in HS, then learned how to capitalize on some segment of spirituality that hasn't been tapped into, after years of depression.
From what I've learned is, the new age material speaks the truth, but not the whole truth. Like a circle which is 90 % correctly filled. The last 10 % isn't complete. That last 10 % involves Salvation through Jesus Christ. And I think Oprah is more comforatable preaching NEW AGE cult literature, than the truth that is found in the Bible. So, in other words, IMO she is in cahoots with NEW AGE movement.
So to attack NEW AGE mystification as false is innaccurate. But NEW AGE is a cash cow business and doesn't mind you forwarding your $ to it, instead of the church.
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier." |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 373171
2/13/2008 3:44 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Any thoughts on the book or author? Quoting: F.R.O.G.
Just got into 'The Power of Now' recently, found it very helpful in becoming more conscious and aware of my thoughts generally. I really like where he's coming from.
[link to www.godlikeproductions.com] |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 373173
2/13/2008 3:50 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Decided to get the book after hearing Oprah talk about it and so far it's blowing me away. I'm a Christian, so I'm not sure about how much of this I want to take in from a man who apparently seems to think Jesus was just a teacher like Buddha, but the book is actually giving me some new insight into Scripture such as Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ, so I no longer live but Christ lives in me..." The "I" in the verse would represent the ego and "Christ" the indwelling Holy Spirit, "I am", the Eternal Now.
Any thoughts on the book or author? Quoting: F.R.O.G.
As a Christian, truth is the truth, wherever it comes from. Jesus is the life, and always shall be. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 256229
2/13/2008 5:46 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
German? I thought he was from Canada! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 341282
2/13/2008 5:49 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Jesus never existed. Deal with it. |
| Sumati Talveer
User ID: 370329
2/13/2008 5:50 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
As a Christian, truth is the truth, wherever it comes from. Jesus is the life, and always shall be. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 373173
I would argue it never hurts to listen. Change your perspective. Spirituality is always ascending.
Just watch where you dump your $.
I suggest borrow it from the library. I'm sure someone dumped him off there.
I have a cleaner coscience giving $ (what little I tithe) to my Church, rather than Barnes and Noble. Seems a little more noble. |
| Sumati Talveer
User ID: 370329
2/13/2008 5:51 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Jesus never existed. Deal with it. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 341282
oh boy! That's a rather bold statement.
And the holocaust never happened, either. Did it Adolf? |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 367293
2/13/2008 6:04 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I'm just recovering from a NEW AGE cult phase of my life.
I have probably 2 series by him. They're different because he's German, like you own personal German Guru. I read a story on Amazon where someone knew him growing up and he had zero interest in athletics/soccer; and while in the middle of a game he just walked away and disappered somewhere in the woodline. He was probably the consumate NERD in HS, then learned how to capitalize on some segment of spirituality that hasn't been tapped into, after years of depression.
From what I've learned is, the new age material speaks the truth, but not the whole truth. Like a circle which is 90 % correctly filled. The last 10 % isn't complete. That last 10 % involves Salvation through Jesus Christ. And I think Oprah is more comforatable preaching NEW AGE cult literature, than the truth that is found in the Bible. So, in other words, IMO she is in cahoots with NEW AGE movement.
So to attack NEW AGE mystification as false is innaccurate. But NEW AGE is a cash cow business and doesn't mind you forwarding your $ to it, instead of the church.
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier." Quoting: Sumati Talveer
Whatever the New Age market size is: It is absolutely DWARFED by the MOUNTAINOUS amounts the poor saps who buy Christian related crap. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 373121
2/13/2008 6:58 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I'm just recovering from a NEW AGE cult phase of my life.
I have probably 2 series by him. They're different because he's German, like you own personal German Guru. I read a story on Amazon where someone knew him growing up and he had zero interest in athletics/soccer; and while in the middle of a game he just walked away and disappered somewhere in the woodline. He was probably the consumate NERD in HS, then learned how to capitalize on some segment of spirituality that hasn't been tapped into, after years of depression.
From what I've learned is, the new age material speaks the truth, but not the whole truth. Like a circle which is 90 % correctly filled. The last 10 % isn't complete. That last 10 % involves Salvation through Jesus Christ. And I think Oprah is more comforatable preaching NEW AGE cult literature, than the truth that is found in the Bible. So, in other words, IMO she is in cahoots with NEW AGE movement.
So to attack NEW AGE mystification as false is innaccurate. But NEW AGE is a cash cow business and doesn't mind you forwarding your $ to it, instead of the church.
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier." Quoting: Sumati Talveer
 |
| F.R.O.G.
User ID: 112322
2/13/2008 10:10 PM
| | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I'm just recovering from a NEW AGE cult phase of my life.
I have probably 2 series by him. They're different because he's German, like you own personal German Guru. I read a story on Amazon where someone knew him growing up and he had zero interest in athletics/soccer; and while in the middle of a game he just walked away and disappered somewhere in the woodline. He was probably the consumate NERD in HS, then learned how to capitalize on some segment of spirituality that hasn't been tapped into, after years of depression.
From what I've learned is, the new age material speaks the truth, but not the whole truth. Like a circle which is 90 % correctly filled. The last 10 % isn't complete. That last 10 % involves Salvation through Jesus Christ. And I think Oprah is more comforatable preaching NEW AGE cult literature, than the truth that is found in the Bible. So, in other words, IMO she is in cahoots with NEW AGE movement.
So to attack NEW AGE mystification as false is innaccurate. But NEW AGE is a cash cow business and doesn't mind you forwarding your $ to it, instead of the church.
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier." Quoting: Sumati Talveer
Thank you, your analogy of a circle helps put it in perspective and I would agree with you on it. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 263473
2/13/2008 10:20 PM | | Anonymous Coward
User ID: 272356
2/13/2008 10:39 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
You can close up that circle in 100 different ways, there are many roads to God, come as you are.  |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 293538
2/13/2008 10:46 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I have just started the book. I like it so far. I was born into a Catholic family. I do not get much from christen religions. I believe religions are the cause of much trouble in the world so I am open to other ways of thinking. I try to use my feelings to tell me what is true. I do not believe things because they are in a book (including the Bible)or told to me unless it passes my feeling test. Sometimes it may take a long time before I have a feeling of knowing. I do feel we must change to survive. I like to think that we will live in this beautiful world without so much killing and war someday! |
| shyla
User ID: 360119
2/13/2008 11:28 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
There are one of two paths people usually follow concerning religion.
First one being a belief structure,second the idea structure.
People kill and die for their beliefs.
You don't usually change your belief even to the point of being stubborn.
They leave no room for error in their thinking,oblivious to anyone else's opinion.
That is a dangerous road to travel.
I prefer the idea structure.
I have an idea of what religion means to me but i'm still open minded enough to welcome other ideas into my thinking.
Nothing is 100% accurate,religiously speaking.
We have no proof of any religion being right or wrong.
Our life is not made up of one single event throughout it;it is comprised of many.
That is what makes us who we are.
The same should go with our spriritual side too.
Only when you search do you find the path or paths you must take.
Only you know what is right for you.
Noone else can make that choice for you.
Good for you for opening your mind to another's ideas!
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 371718
2/13/2008 11:50 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Decided to get the book after hearing Oprah talk about it and so far it's blowing me away. I'm a Christian, so I'm not sure about how much of this I want to take in from a man who apparently seems to think Jesus was just a teacher like Buddha, but the book is actually giving me some new insight into Scripture such as Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ, so I no longer live but Christ lives in me..." The "I" in the verse would represent the ego and "Christ" the indwelling Holy Spirit, "I am", the Eternal Now.
Any thoughts on the book or author? Quoting: F.R.O.G.
I practiced his teachings and found them to be life changing, Christianity and the bible for me became very real. But i've got to say where his personal beliefs about Jesus and salvation and the cross are concerned I also disagree with him. His techniques are spot on but I disregard his personal belief and opinion.
And this is just my opinion now, but i've come to believe the difference is in the heart. To me the heart when talked about in the bible makes most sense when looked at as the ego. As a born again Christian, our hearts are replaced by God, and in my mind this talks about transcending ego, not simply learning to live without it or learning to live with it, actually allowing God to change it into something new. That is where I think Eckhart falls short, and what separates Jesus from all other spiritual teachers. Eckhart will only take you part of the way. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 371718
2/13/2008 11:56 PM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Transcending was probably the wrong word to use, too tired sorry. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 326428
2/14/2008 12:08 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
The moment you choose the path of 'spirituality' instead of science they have you, you no longer belong to yourself  |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 338472
2/14/2008 12:09 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
does jesas really want to be elevated beyond a simple messenger?
the message is stronger than the man. I'm pretty sure jesus didn't want people to follow him blindly, and he wanted people to use discernment. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 326428
2/14/2008 12:18 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
In modern times what people see as spirituality, the effects, the 'miracles', is actually created by science. TPTB use spirituality to obfuscate this truth and to make their machinations appear to be the 'hand of god'.
Just because the public face of science is pure bullshit doesn't mean that science itself has failed, it only means that scientists are subject to the same weaknesses as everyone else. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 326428
2/14/2008 12:24 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
All real morality is based upon reason, not scripture, "what goes around comes around" is logic. |
| Sumati Talveer
User ID: 370329
2/14/2008 8:23 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
People kill and die for their beliefs.
You don't usually change your belief even to the point of being stubborn. Quoting: shyla
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier." |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 312060
2/14/2008 8:47 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Jesus never existed. Deal with it. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 341282
Yes he did. But he was "just" a teacher, though I don't understand why op wants to belittle that most noble of professions.
It was humans that changed the story all around and built the false Christian dogma.
My guess is the Christ is probably a little upset with the duplicity and hypocrisy that is carried out in his name. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 981
2/14/2008 8:53 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
love it
live it |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 334327
2/14/2008 9:27 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Jesus never existed. Deal with it.
Yes he did. But he was "just" a teacher, though I don't understand why op wants to belittle that most noble of professions.
It was humans that changed the story all around and built the false Christian dogma.
My guess is the Christ is probably a little upset with the duplicity and hypocrisy that is carried out in his name. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 312060
I believe Jesus existed and he was a highly enlightened being. He came to teach us the truth about the nature of God. He warned us about religions, he was against them and he certainly did not want to be turned into a religion, especially one that kills so many.
The church has admitted they forged the New Testament, but Christians still prefer to believe the lies.
[link to www.nexusmagazine.com]
Apparently the church knew that admitting their forgery would not harm the church, the flocks have been so deeply brainwashed that they won't even read their confession.
I recovered from the Christianity cult many years ago, so I now have an open mind and am able to think for myself. Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" sounds like a wonderful book. I am going to buy it. |
| Love E.T.
User ID: 368356
2/14/2008 9:30 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I have read his stuff for years & I am delighted to see more people getting this message. Trust your spirit and faith. Don't open the door & then slam it shut because of fear of the unknown. Read the whole book & then make a decision. You either love his stuff or it pisses off your pain body LOL. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 255704
2/14/2008 9:36 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Basically, he states that the NOW is all there is. You are not your mind, or your thoughts (ideas). They are all fantasy. What is real is what is NOW. |
| kalamity kool 
User ID: 372905
2/14/2008 9:43 AM
 | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
I think he is a man who found his way out of depression, and found some insights into our spiritual nature in the process.
But - new-agers are too good at fluffing up their
hard-fought-for kernels of truth with irrelevant info. |
| Darza
User ID: 341805
2/14/2008 9:53 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]
Don't Take Your Thoughts Too Seriously
By Eckhart Tolle
Author of The Power of Now
Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalized sense of self that is conditioned by the past.
In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness. In the ancient teachings, it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature.
Finding that dimension frees you and the world from the suffering you inflict on yourself and others when the mind-made "little me" is all you know and runs your life. Love, joy, creative expansion, and lasting inner peace cannot come into your life except through that unconditioned dimension of consciousness.
If you can recognize, even occasionally, the thoughts that go through your mind as simply thoughts, if you can witness your own mental-emotional reactive patterns as they happen, then that dimension is already emerging in you as the awareness in which thoughts and emotions happen -- the timeless inner space in which the content of your life unfolds.
The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought pretends that it matters so much.
It wants to draw your attention in completely.
Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don't take your thoughts too seriously.
How easy it is for people to become trapped in their conceptual prisons.
The human mind, in its desire to know, understand, and control, mistakes its opinions and viewpoints for the truth. It says: this is how it is. You have to be larger than thought to realize that however you interpret "your life" or someone else's life or behavior, however you judge any situation, it is no more than a viewpoint, one of many possible perspectives. It is no more than a bundle of thoughts. But reality is one unified whole, in which all things are interwoven, where nothing exists in and by itself.
Thinking fragments reality -- it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces.
The thinking mind is a useful and powerful tool, but it is also very limiting when it takes over your life completely, when you don't realize that it is only a small aspect of the consciousness that you are.
Wisdom is not a product of thought. The deep knowing that is wisdom arises through the simple act of giving someone or something your full attention. Attention is primordial intelligence, consciousness itself. It dissolves the barriers created by conceptual thought, and with this comes the recognition that nothing exists in and by itself. It joins the perceiver and the perceived in a unifying field of awareness. It is the healer of separation.
Whenever you are immersed in compulsive thinking, you are avoiding what is. You don't want to be where you are. Here, Now.
Dogmas -- religious, political, scientific -- arise out of the erroneous belief that thought can encapsulate reality or the truth.
Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange thing is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of "I know."
Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas.
It is true that every dogma crumbles sooner or later, because reality will eventually disclose its falseness; however, unless the basic delusion of it is seen for what it is, it will be replaced by others.
What is this basic delusion? Identification with thought.
Spiritual awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.
The realm of consciousness is much vaster than thought can grasp.When you no longer believe everything you think, you step out of thought and see clearly that the thinker is not who you are.
The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.
When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind's hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call, switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or -- and this is not uncommon -- transferring the mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.
Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.
You discover that a "bored person" is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not "yours," not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go.
Nothing that comes and goes is you.
"I am bored." Who knows this?
"I am angry, sad, afraid." Who knows this?
You are the knowing, not the condition that is known.
Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.
Thinking that is not rooted in awareness becomes self-serving and dysfunctional. Cleverness devoid of wisdom is extremely dangerous and destructive. That is the current state of most of humanity. The amplification of thought as science and technology, although intrinsically neither good nor bad, has also become destructive because so often the thinking out of which it comes has no roots in awareness.
The next step in human evolution is to transcend thought. This is now our urgent task. It doesn't mean not to think anymore, but simply not to be completely identified with thought, possessed by thought.
Feel the energy of your inner body. Immediately mental noise slows down or ceases. Feel it in your hands, your feet, your abdomen, your chest. Feel the life that you are, the life that animates the body.
The body then becomes a doorway, so to speak, into a deeper sense of aliveness underneath the fluctuating emotions and underneath your thinking.
There is an aliveness in you that you can feel with your entire Being, not just in the head. Every cell is alive in that presence in which you don't need to think. Yet, in that state, if thought is required for some practical purpose, it is there. The mind can still operate, and it operates beautifully when the greater intelligence that you are uses it and expresses itself through it.
You may have overlooked that brief periods in which you are "conscious without thought" are already occurring naturally and spontaneously in your life. You may be engaged in some manual activity, or walking across the room, or waiting at the airline counter, and be so completely present that the usual mental static of thought subsides and is replaced by an aware presence. Or you may find yourself looking at the sky or listening to someone without any inner mental commentary. Your perceptions become crystal clear, unclouded by thought.
To the mind, all this is not significant, because it has "more important" things to think about. It is also not memorable, and that's why you may have overlooked that it is already happening.
The truth is that it is the most significant thing that can happen to you. It is the beginning of a shift from thinking to aware presence.
Become at ease with the state of "not knowing." This takes you beyond mind because the mind is always trying to conclude and interpret. It is afraid of not knowing. So, when you can be at ease with not knowing, you have already gone beyond the mind. A deeper knowing that is non-conceptual then arises out of that state.
Artistic creation, sports, dance, teaching, counseling -- mastery in any field of endeavor implies that the thinking mind is either no longer in-volved at all or at least is taking second place. A power and intelligence greater than you and yet one with you in essence takes over. There is no decision-making process anymore; spontaneous right action happens, and "you" are not doing it.
Mastery of life is the opposite of control. You become aligned with the greater consciousness. It acts, speaks, does the works.
A moment of danger can bring about a temporary cessation of the stream of thinking and thus give you a taste of what it means to be present, alert, aware.
The Truth is far more all-encompassing than the mind could ever comprehend. No thought can encapsulate the Truth. At best, it can point to it. For example, it can say: "All things are intrinsically one." That is a pointer, not an explanation. Understanding these words means feeling deep within you the truth to which they point.
This article was excerpted from Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany, where he spent the first thirteen years of his life. After graduating from the University of London, he was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. When he was twenty-nine, a profound spiritual transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation and marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Eckhart Tolle is not aligned with any particular religion or spiritual tradition. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. To find out more, visit: [link to eckharttolle.com]
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| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 368356
2/14/2008 10:28 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
 for ET |
| 19.47
User ID: 373515
2/14/2008 10:32 AM | | Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"? | Quote |
Anything Oprah reccommends is of the Devil. |
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