Eckhart Tolle and "A New Earth"

Have you heard about Oprah’s latest addition to her book club, Eckhart Tolle’s, “A New Earth?”

I had so many inquirers ask me what I thought about the metaphysical work, that I picked up a copy at an airport a couple of months ago and read it through to see what all the interest was about.

Oprah is sponsoring a series of ten seminars on the Web where she interviews Tolle about his ideas, and over 700,000 people signed up, I believe. So interest in his perspective is high at the moment. Millions of copies of his book have sold in a short period of time.

I read the book through looking for ideas that might help in my own pursuit of Truth, and also with an open mind to understand why people were attracted to its teachings. “A New Earth,” has deep roots in Buddhism, with a few references to Christianity, and under Hindu influence as well.

Many of Tolle’s comments easily resonated with me. There were many ideas shared that a student of Christian Science would agree with and say, “I’ve always believed that.” For example,

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge.”

“Whatever the ego seeks and gets attached to are substitutes for the Being that it cannot feel.”

“…you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance.”

As much as many of Tolle's ideas jumped off the page and turned on mental lights for me, as I read through the book I got more and more troubled about where Tolle was trying to take me. The basic premise of his thinking felt out of kilter with what I had learned about Truth in my study of the Bible and Christian Science.

Stop thinking
For instance, his method of finding Being includes ridding your consciousness of thought. You must literally quit thinking, and this is because all thinking is what he calls “ego,” and ego must be annihilated and dissolved so that the one Consciousness can take over. He explains how to do this by concentrating on breathing, for example, until your thinking is empty of ideas. This is the route to Enlightenment and Awareness, he asserts.

I could readily see how emptying the human mind of anger, resentment, worry and fear leads to much greater peace and even to what he calls Enlightenment. After all, it’s all these negative emotions that cause so much human suffering in the first place. I could even see myself doing that. In fact, many times in my life, I have felt so mentally free of human mind turmoil that I felt very close to God, at-one with Love. And it is a blissful state that is indescribable in words. But the route to that peace was one of avid spiritual growth and obedience to the demands of Love that required thinking and reasoning to get there, at least, for me.

To focus first in one’s metaphysical journey on “not thinking,” and letting the absolute take over reminds me of a statement Mary Baker Eddy made to a student who kept declaring absolute truths in her prayers but did not obtain earthly results. Eddy rebuked her student's absolutism by saying something to the effect of, “Your head is in the clouds while your body is on earth being filled with bullets.”

I remembered Eddy’s proclamation, “The time for thinkers has come,” on the first page of Science and Health. And it seems to me that Jesus Christ taught his students and disciples to think—to think more spiritual and less material. So, voiding consciousness of thought was a difficult place for me to go.

Tolle would say my concern is ego getting in the way. And I understand what he means in terms of mortal ego refusing to submit to the divine Ego. But the extension of his logic to a total annihilation of our individuality as children of God is what I had a hard time accepting. I’ll go more into that later.

I believe in one Ego, God, the divine Mind, but I also believe man expresses that Ego. Each of us expresses the divine Ego, the divine Mind, which means we manifest thinking, intelligent consciousness. I don't believe we are absorbed into a vast ether of Consciousness where our identity ceases to exist.

Nonresistance
Tolle also preaches nonresistance. In my study of history, I’ve seen many virtues to nonresistance and how the world has been blessed by leaders who advocated this approach over violence. But these leaders are often victims of assassination, which is very unfortunate. It seems to me, that a higher path is required for long term success.

Nonresistance has some major limitations when warring against evil, especially when evil is malicious and aggressive. As James preached, “Resist the devil and he shall flee from you.” Resistance is required, but it’s a spiritual resistance, a Truth-resistance that brings desirable results.

I learn from Jesus Christ’s example.

Jesus’ form of resistance was more than nonresistance. He resisted evil to the hilt, with words of wisdom and understanding, and with prayers that neutralized evil intent. The crucifixion is not an example of nonresistance, but of spiritual demonstration. He purposely turned himself over, in that case, to his enemies to prove they could not kill him. And he proved his point for humanity’s all-time benefit.

Because of his example, we do not have to do the same. We can apply his lesson of how divine Love triumphs over evil, and protect ourselves from the assassin’s bullet in the first place.

Mary Baker Eddy discovered how to do this scientifically. Assassins attempted to take her life through physical and mental means, but she knew how to neutralize their evil thoughts and prevent them from killing her. This is the ultimate form of defense against evil. And it requires thinking, praying and spiritual reasoning to accomplish. It’s a method that transcends nonresistance. It’s the ultimate in spiritual resistance.

Acceptance
Another topic of Tolle’s that gave me trouble was his concept of “Acceptance.”

Tolle’s answer to “What about evil?” is to accept it for what it is. In the end, it is illusion, he states, but in the human experience, you often have to simply accept it. He tells his reader to not argue with it or let it preoccupy thought. Just accept it, void consciousness of emotion about it, and be at-one with Consciousness.

He wrote, “Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the is-ness of the Now. You can’t argue with what is.”

If an event adverse to your well being happens, he wrote, “You would immediately accept the situation and thus become one with it rather than separate yourself from it.”

I asked myself, though, what about times of severe pain or incurable disease, lack, poverty, oppression, and their kin? Am I supposed to accept these?

I thought about a time when I flew back home from Africa and fell deathly ill. I had been taught by the Bible and Christian Science to not accept illness, but to resist the temptation to give into it, to rise up in the strength of Christ and heal it spiritually, which is what I did. If I were to “accept” the illness, it would have taken me over, rather than be defeated. I wouldn’t have been able to heal it.

Form and identity
I loved Tolle’s discussions on how we should not identify with form. By “form” he meant material things, objects of sense, as well as mental forms such as emotions and internal feelings. I have spent hundreds of hours in prayer disassociating myself from “form” over the decades, from money, position, status, prestige, and their relatives and with grand success. It is very freeing to become unattached to material things. So I could readily see the benefit of his counsel. But as I continued with his logic of deserting form I became greatly troubled again by where he was taking me. In his final analysis, man has no form. Man has no identity. There is only Consciousness, Presence, Being.

I believe there is one God, one Being, one Presence, but I also believe man (as a generic term) has identity in this Presence. The book of Genesis states that God made man in His image. Man has an identity. It is not apart from God. Man is not a god unto himself. But man does have form and shape—spiritual form and shape—in divine Being.

I think of God as being one infinite Individual, and man as expressing God’s infinite individuality.

For instance, like there is one Europe, but millions of people living in Europe who are called Europeans, there is one God, one Universe, but inhabited by countless divine offspring who are God’s children. We each have distinct identity within the One Grand Whole of God. Collectively, all of man reflects the wholeness and completeness of God.

And this point of Tolle’s was the most difficult for me to accept—the total dissolution of individual identity.

Jesus Christ taught, “You shall be as angels in heaven.” Eddy wrote, “All is Mind and Mind’s idea.” The “idea” Eddy described, is the “angel” Jesus saw. We each are God’s idea, God’s angel, with eternal individuality in heaven, in Mind, I believe.

Consciousness
Tolle states, “And who are you? Consciousness. And what is consciousness? This question cannot be answered. The moment you answer it, you have falsified it, made it unto another object. Consciousness, the traditional word for which is spirit, cannot be known in the normal sense of the word, and seeking it is futile. All knowing is within the realm of duality—subject and object—the knower and the known. The subject, the I, the knower without which nothing could be known, perceived, thought, or felt, must remain forever unknowable. This is because the I has no form.” (p. 242) After reading this, I thought of the Apostle Paul’s experience on Mars Hill when he came across the altar marked, “To the Unknown God.” He further declared, “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”

My understanding of Deity is that God is knowable. God is Love, tangible, concrete, meaningful powerful Love right here in the human experience, to be felt, expressed and blessed by. The Christ comes to us where we are and helps us, restores us and heals us. There is nothing unknowable about divine Love. It’s real, and it’s here and it’s ours to experience to the fullest.

Summary
There are many other points I could discuss, like his explanation of how the divine descends into matter, for example into the brain, and exits it if the brain becomes defective and can no longer “be used.” Or how to deal effectively with what he calls a “pain-body,” but this is enough. I feel I have accomplished my original purpose of getting my mental arms sufficiently around his text to gain insights into his philosophy.

I found his book very thought-provoking and very helpful in forcing me to understand my own beliefs better. Tolle is a good writer. His explanations are clear. I’m grateful to have read his book because it has given me a much clearer understanding of Eastern philosophy and what the Eastern thinkers mean by the concepts of Presence, Being and Consciousness. I do not know the degree to which Tolle’s thought is aligned with Buddhism, but I feel his explanations have given me a much better understanding of what Eastern philosophers teach. And that is a good thing. Understanding and respect for neighbors is important to promoting world peace and brotherly love.

I can see now, though, that what millions call Presence, Being and Consciousness, is not the same thing I mean when I say God, or divine Love. There are many similarities, but also some major distinctions and differences. The role and place for individuality is a major distinction.

Tolle uses John’s vision in the book of Revelation of “the new heaven and new earth,” as the inspiration for the title of his book, “A New Earth.” His “New Earth,” is the effect of people putting his teachings into practice, and successfully reaching Consciousness, where form is no longer worshipped and the human mind is void of thought. It’s a state of existence where Consciousness is in control, not ego.

He wrote, “The new earth arises as more and more people discover that their purpose in life is to bring the light of consciousness into this world and so use whatever they do as a vehicle for consciousness. Awakened consciousness then takes over from ego and begins to run your life.”(p. 300) As with many of Tolle’s statement, I can easily agree with what seems to be the obvious outline of this vision. I too, believe, in one God, in one Deity, and that our role is to be “taken over” by the divine power to fulfill the purposes of good. But I also believe we each have individuality as children of God, and that our individuality is to be cherished, honored, respected, understood and loved.

On the final page of his book, Tolle quoted Jesus Christ who taught, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." "The meek are the egoless." Tolle wrote.

Yes, I agree, that the meek are those void of mortal ego, but also reflecting the divine Ego which manifests itself in the form of tangible spiritual individuality.

You and I are children of God, blessed with precious individuality that is forever ours. United in the one individuality, God! Yes! But still in possession of individuality.

For those of you following the Tolle discourse, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you've been discovering.