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.
Quoting: Sumati Talveer
I have zero interest in athletics/soccer too, I never watch any sport program and my mind is delisciously free from the programming of the tv.
Am I a nerd too?
Anonymous Coward User ID: 334327 2/14/2008 12:22 PM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
Thank you all so much for the thoughtful replies and links to additional resources. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all this awareness of the ego, it seems rather hopeless to ever overcome the ego. But even today I feel better about a situation in which I was very upset yesterday over a broken relationship but today I realized that my upsetness often comes from taking everything so personal and seriously. I need to let some things just "be" and stay in the moment I have right now.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 348142 2/14/2008 10:23 PM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
Jesus and his disciples were the New Age movement of their time and they were persecuted for it just as some are doing now about the current New Age Movement. There are so many new souls incarnating in this time period and that can be hard for many. So much judgment and ignorance I pray for you all. Peace to all of you and may you all find your ways to enlightenment.
It's just other people's Egos that gets in the way...
The ego is the mediator between the id and the super-ego, trying to ensure that the needs of both the id and the super-ego are met. It is said to operate on a reality principle, meaning it deals with the id and the super-ego; allowing them to express their desires, drives and morals in realistic and socially appropriate ways. It is said that the ego stands for reason and caution, developing with age. Sigmund Freud had used an analogy which likened the ego to a rider and a horse; the ego being the rider while the id being the horse. The horse provides the energy and the means of obtaining the energy and information need, while the rider ultimately controls the direction it wants to go. However, due to unfavorable conditions, sometimes the horse makes its own decisions over the rocky terrain.
When the ego is personified, it is like a slave to three harsh masters: the id, the super-ego and the external world. It has to do its best to suit all three, thus is constantly feeling hemmed by the danger of causing discontent on two other sides. It is said however, that the ego seems to be more loyal to the id, preferring to gloss over the finer details of reality to minimize conflicts while pretending to have a regard for reality. But the super-ego is constantly watching every one of the ego's moves and punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority. To overcome this, this ego employs methods of defense mechanism. Denial, displacement, intellectualization, fantasy, compensation, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression and sublimation were the defense mechanisms Freud identified. However, his daughter Anna Freud clarified and identified the concepts of: undoing, suppression, dissociation, idealization, identification, introjection, inversion, somatization, splitting and substitution.
"The ego has a certain quality - it is dead. It is a plastic thing. And it is very easy to get it, because others give it. You need not seek it, there is no search involved. That's why unless you become a seeker after the unknown, you have not yet become an individual. You are just a part of the crowd. You are just a mob.
When you don't have a real center, how can you be a individual?
The ego is not individual. Ego is a social phenomenon - it is society, its not you. But it gives you a function in the society, a hierarchy in the society. And if you remain satisfied with it, you will miss the whole opportunity of finding the self."
Jesus and his disciples were the New Age movement of their time and they were persecuted for it just as some are doing now about the current New Age Movement. There are so many new souls incarnating in this time period and that can be hard for many. So much judgment and ignorance I pray for you all. Peace to all of you and may you all find your ways to enlightenment.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 348142
Now that certainly makes sense! Jesus said that we can do all the things that he does and even greater works we will do. It seems someone wanted to halt it there and make sure no greater works would ever be done.
I had an interesting experience yesterday while having lunch at a restaurant yesterday. I was dining alone in a middle-eastern cuisine cafe. I had "A New Earth" with me and was re-reading various parts of the book. One part of the book that fascinates me is when the author discusses sensing the "space" around objects, such as the space between the stars in the sky...noticing the no-thingness instead of just the thingness. So I'm sitting in the restaurant and decided to notice the space, the air, instead of the booths, tables, walls, etc. I had a feeling of lightness and kind of like falling, like when you are about to fall asleep, but I wasn't sleepy. Very cool. I'm going to try and follow the online course Oprah is setting up with this book. Anyone else signed up for that?
Funny... I can't even muster a response to the OP's orig. question. It doesn't matter what I think or what anybody else thinks of it (thank god). The work stands by itself.
P.S. - As I'm fond of repeating... Don't believe the hype; it's not a 'new age' book. It's a 'humanity's long-lost common damn sense' book. Simply boundless. I am INCREDIBLY fired up right now, so this will be long. I’m also with a previous poster, just borrow it from the library or read it in the bookstore if you’re skeptical of funding anything you don’t want to fund.
Boundless… this word really gets at something with me right now. Something's shifting... We can't fuck around anymore.
Everyone KNOWS that systems and labels are fucking gay -- As for my own pedigree, I yoga with gurus, I pray with pentacostals, and I listen to fucking satanic metal for godssakes… and I’m just really fucking tired of putting on the fakey, surface-skimming ‘nicey nice’ front for people who can’t fathom what the fuck it is I’m up to -- I have no fear of looking into ANYTHING [ so far… and as far as I know :-o ;-) ] –-
Any action you, or I, or anyone takes to try to ‘protect ourselves’ from the ‘bad influence’ of a book is simply us playing the coward’s game.
Eckhart’s not extraordinary. It’s what moves through him that’s extraordinary. And we can all share it.
***The EVENT with this book is going to TRANSFORM the world and all our measly little lives. How that will look we don’t know. But it’s already underway…***
Believe me, or don’t,… doesn’t make two fuck's worth of difference with me… neither outlook would make what I just declared any less true.
Now that certainly makes sense! Jesus said that we can do all the things that he does and even greater works we will do.
It seems someone wanted to halt it there and make sure no greater works would ever be done.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 375517
As if we’d let THAT happen. ;-o
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.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 371718
beautiful. i really hear something in this. i think we all can.
Fucking thanks.
. Crumbling world falls through my hands —
In my mouth taste bitter sands —
Grass is burning, pulse is slow —
Drip by drip my backwards growth —
Thank you all so much for the thoughtful replies and links to additional resources. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all this awareness of the ego, it seems rather hopeless to ever overcome the ego. But even today I feel better about a situation in which I was very upset yesterday over a broken relationship but today I realized that my upsetness often comes from taking everything so personal and seriously. I need to let some things just "be" and stay in the moment I have right now.
Quoting: F.R.O.G.
MY TWO CENTS;
God is okay with everything you do to improve yourself, but the most essential method of self-improvement is having an actual sense of a love relationship with God, which is our eternal relationship with our Supersoul.
Quite often, other relationships can obliterate this, including those with religions, and this is the source of all upset.
God does not even care which of His/Her divine forms you imagine and feel love for: the highest form of God is the Power of Love.
It isn't true that only Jesus offered this path, and you can love Radha or Krishna (the original 'Christ'), or even Allah, all Names which have great divine power.
Sometimes, finding the connection is hard, but once you do everything is very easy.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 319640 2/23/2008 1:41 AM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
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.
Simon and Garfunkle said it many years ago..here's a great video.
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Oprah recommeded the Neti Pot (for flushing out nasal passages) on her show. I bought one and it's one of the best little investments I ever made. As with all things, eat the meat and spit out the bones.
Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Jesus is God, the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. You cannot have eternal life without going through Him. He is the Way , the Truth and the Light, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. The road is narrow,
Anonymous Coward User ID: 379139 2/23/2008 7:30 AM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
all of us have a story within us, and in that story we have lessons that can help each other. But, each of our journeys is uniquely our own and must be traversed by us alone.
this is why their is so much dissension and so many become disillusioned, we want confirmation and affirmation of our personal journeys and in this desire we believe any deviation by others from our own personal experience is sacrilegious or wrong.
when you are true to yourself you know when a path is right for you, Walk your path bravely, and unapologetically.... while letting others do the same.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 295517 2/23/2008 8:34 AM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
Do what you will, harm none, and understand all that you do will return to you 3fold. I think this thread is an invitation to those who have read and plan to take part in Oprah's upcoming, life enhancing TV special. If you have not, nor no intention to, read the book to see what it's about, then I fail to see your opinion valid here. Perhaps start another thread called " I have no intention to read or follow Echart Tolle's new boook and here's why". Then I can keep up here on this thread with others of like mind who intend to read it and we can share our experiences without reading your religious rantings. You who have all the answers can reply to your own thread then.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 379289 2/23/2008 1:07 PM
Re: What do you think of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth"?
I was just doing a search to see what the Christian church's view on this book was and this blog came up. I bought the book yesterday, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered where the author got his information. I noticed in the footnotes that the Bible was the most quoted outside source. While some may find that to be a relief, I am not sure. My dilemma is that too many people pick and choose verses from the Bible and make them mean what they want it to mean, instead of actually studying it and knowing the true context and meaning. I sitll plan on reading the book, but will do it more from an educational perspective than a life-enhancing project. I, also, obviously, don't agree that Jesus was just a teacher or a prophet. He knew His purpose and He fulfilled it!
From the very little I have read so far, this book reminds me of my college philosophy class. I enjoyed that class because it was so thought-provoking, as I am sure this book will be.
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