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Eckhart Tolle
Written by Monsignor Anthony Guagliardo
Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Tolle, 1948, is a German-born writer, public speaker, and spiritual teacher. He is the author of the bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth. In 2008, an article in the New York Times referred to him as "the most popular spiritual author in the [United States]". He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Tolle had an unhappy childhood in Germany and Spain, and was depressed as an adult in England until he underwent what he calls an "inner transformation". He then spent several years as a vagrant, "in a state of deep bliss", before becoming a spiritual teacher. Later, he moved to North America where he began writing his first book, The Power of Now, which was published in 1997, and reached the New York Times Best Seller lists in 2000.
The Power of Now and A New Earth sold an estimated three million and five million copies respectively in North America by 2009. In 2008, Tolle appeared in a series of 10 webinars along with television talk-show personality Oprah Winfrey to discuss A New Earth and the live appearances attracted a total of approximately 35 million viewers. Tolle's books and teachings have stimulated much commentary from theologians and journalists. Tolle is not identified with any particular religion, but his work has been influenced by a wide range of spiritual teachings.
Tolle writes in the introduction to his second book, Stillness Speaks, that "A true spiritual teacher does not have anything to teach in the conventional sense of the word, does not have anything to give or add to you, such as new information, beliefs, or rules of conduct. The only function of such a teacher is to help you remove that which separates you from the truth ... The words are no more than signposts."
Tolle says that his book, The Power of Now, is "a restatement for our time of that one timeless spiritual teaching, the essence of all religions". He writes that religions "have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual substance has become almost completely obscured", that they have become "to a large extent ... divisive rather than unifying forces" and become "themselves part of the insanity".
Tolle writes that "the most significant thing that can happen to a human being [is] the separation process of thinking and awareness" and that awareness is "the space in which thoughts exist". Tolle says that "the primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it".
According to Tolle's official website, "at the core of Tolle's teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet".
In his book A New Earth, Tolle describes a major aspect of the human disfunction as "ego" or an "illusory sense of self" based on one's memories and thoughts, and another major aspect he calls "pain-body" or "an accumulation of old emotional pain".
Tolle often talks about the relevance of figures in intellectual or popular culture. In A New Earth, he discusses quotes from Descartes, Sartre, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Albert Einstein He has spoken of movies such as Groundhog Day, American Beauty, The Horse Whisperer, Titanic, Avatar, Being There, and Forrest Gump,] and musicians such as and Mozart, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He arranged an album of music in 2008 entitled Music to Quiet the Mind including work composed by Eric Satie, Claude Debussy and The Beatles, and music by contemporary artists such as Deva Premal, Jeff Johnson and Steve Roach.
Influences
According to a 2009 article in the New York Times, Tolle is "not identified with any religion, but uses teachings from Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and the Bible".[6] Tolle has said "I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching 'stream', if you want to call it that, of [Jiddu] Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi". Tolle himself has mentioned texts such as the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu scriptures, the Buddhist scriptures, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and A Course in Miracles; he has mentioned various individuals such as Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, Mahavira, The Buddha, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Jesus, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Meister Eckhart, Rumi, Hafiz, Rinzai Gigen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Barry Long, and Don Miguel Ruiz; and he has emphasised the mystical schools within religions such as Gnosticism in Christianity, Sufism in Islam, Hasidism and Kabbala in Judaism, Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism, and Zen and Dzogchen in Buddhism.
At the age of fifteen Tolle read several books written by the German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô Yin Râ. Tolle has said he responded "very deeply" to those books.
Reception
By 2009, total sales of The Power of Now and A New Earth in North America had been estimated at three million and five million copies respectively, and have received a wide range of praise and criticism. Celebrity admirers of the book include Tony Hawks, Annie Lennox, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Goldblum, Zach Galifianakis, Oprah, Meg Ryan, Jim Carrey, Trey Anastasio, and Rainn Wilson
A Time magazine book reviewer characterized The Power of Now as "awash in spiritual mumbo-jumbo". However, another reviewer writes that "at first glance it might seem like just one more in a growing genre of books full of tips on how to be more mindful and awake in our daily life, but Tolle's clear writing and the obvious depth of his experience and insight set it apart".
Some critics characterize Tolle's books as unoriginal, or even derivative. A 2009 New York Times article said he is "hardly the first writer to tap into the American longing for meaning and success". Sara Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, said Tolle's writings have been successful due to surging public interest in books that tell you "how to be happier, how to live the life you want, how to be at peace, how to be a more successful human". In an article in The Observer, James Robinson called Tolle's writings "a mix of pseudo-science, New Age philosophy, and teaching borrowed from established religions".
Others praise his re-working and synthesis of traditions: Professor and author William Bloom wrote that "Tolle is offering a very contemporary synthesis of Eastern spiritual teaching, which is normally so clothed in arcane language that it is incomprehensible" thereby providing "a valuable perspective on Western culture". Publisher Judith Kendra says, "The ideas [that Tolle is] talking about have been in existence for thousands of years in both Eastern texts and with the great Western mystics, but he's able to make them understandable".[5] Musician Annie Lennox said "there are many people claiming to be teachers, coaches, guides and gurus, but [Tolle] has some kind of special quality that I've never encountered before". Baha’i scholar and poet Jack McLean said "Tolle is no new-age armchair guru, but one who has experienced a radically genuine spiritual transformation ... He draws on a number of spiritual traditions, including Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, but he has developed his own original formulation based on personal experience. He remains humble, good-humoured and unaffected by his popular success".
Reception by Christian theologians
Some Christian scholars have spoken against Tolle's teachings. James Beverley, Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, says that Tolle's worldview "is at odds with central Christian convictions" and that "Tolle denies the core of Christianity by claiming there is no ultimate distinction between humans and God and Jesus" John Stackhouse, a professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, says that Tolle "gives a certain segment of the population exactly what they want: a sort of supreme religion that purports to draw from all sorts of lesser, that is, established, religions"
On the other hand, a June 2008 article in The Independent opined that "Tolle does have fans in academic, even Christian, circles". Theologian Andrew Ryder wrote that "Tolle's writing is based on his own experience and personal reflection. This makes his approach to the challenge of living in the present moment both practical and fresh" even though "he may not use the language of traditional Christian spirituality" Stafford Betty finds common ground between Tolle's worldview and that of Christian mystics. He notes that "one of the key elements in Tolle's teaching is that deep within the mind is absolute stillness in which one can experience "the joy of Being". Betty says that such a view is comparable to the view of contemporary Catholic monk Thomas Keating who wrote, "We rarely think of the air we breathe, yet it is in us and around us all the time. In similar fashion, the presence of God penetrates us, is all around us, is always embracing us, and it is delightful". Betty also points out that for "Mr. Tolle, God is in the world in a more radical way than for the Christian" and that Tolle's theology "is only a footnote to the therapy he holds out to his audience".
Anglican bishop Michael Ingham has said, "I don't have any criticism of his message. I think the proper attitude to take with new spiritual movements is one of wait and see".
Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Tolle, 1948, is a German-born writer, public speaker, and spiritual teacher. He is the author of the bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth. In 2008, an article in the New York Times referred to him as "the most popular spiritual author in the [United States]". He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Tolle had an unhappy childhood in Germany and Spain, and was depressed as an adult in England until he underwent what he calls an "inner transformation". He then spent several years as a vagrant, "in a state of deep bliss", before becoming a spiritual teacher. Later, he moved to North America where he began writing his first book, The Power of Now, which was published in 1997, and reached the New York Times Best Seller lists in 2000.
The Power of Now and A New Earth sold an estimated three million and five million copies respectively in North America by 2009. In 2008, Tolle appeared in a series of 10 webinars along with television talk-show personality Oprah Winfrey to discuss A New Earth and the live appearances attracted a total of approximately 35 million viewers. Tolle's books and teachings have stimulated much commentary from theologians and journalists. Tolle is not identified with any particular religion, but his work has been influenced by a wide range of spiritual teachings.
Tolle writes in the introduction to his second book, Stillness Speaks, that "A true spiritual teacher does not have anything to teach in the conventional sense of the word, does not have anything to give or add to you, such as new information, beliefs, or rules of conduct. The only function of such a teacher is to help you remove that which separates you from the truth ... The words are no more than signposts."
Tolle says that his book, The Power of Now, is "a restatement for our time of that one timeless spiritual teaching, the essence of all religions". He writes that religions "have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual substance has become almost completely obscured", that they have become "to a large extent ... divisive rather than unifying forces" and become "themselves part of the insanity".
Tolle writes that "the most significant thing that can happen to a human being [is] the separation process of thinking and awareness" and that awareness is "the space in which thoughts exist". Tolle says that "the primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it".
According to Tolle's official website, "at the core of Tolle's teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet".
In his book A New Earth, Tolle describes a major aspect of the human disfunction as "ego" or an "illusory sense of self" based on one's memories and thoughts, and another major aspect he calls "pain-body" or "an accumulation of old emotional pain".
Tolle often talks about the relevance of figures in intellectual or popular culture. In A New Earth, he discusses quotes from Descartes, Sartre, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Albert Einstein He has spoken of movies such as Groundhog Day, American Beauty, The Horse Whisperer, Titanic, Avatar, Being There, and Forrest Gump,] and musicians such as and Mozart, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He arranged an album of music in 2008 entitled Music to Quiet the Mind including work composed by Eric Satie, Claude Debussy and The Beatles, and music by contemporary artists such as Deva Premal, Jeff Johnson and Steve Roach.
Influences
According to a 2009 article in the New York Times, Tolle is "not identified with any religion, but uses teachings from Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and the Bible".[6] Tolle has said "I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching 'stream', if you want to call it that, of [Jiddu] Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi". Tolle himself has mentioned texts such as the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu scriptures, the Buddhist scriptures, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and A Course in Miracles; he has mentioned various individuals such as Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, Mahavira, The Buddha, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Jesus, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Meister Eckhart, Rumi, Hafiz, Rinzai Gigen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Barry Long, and Don Miguel Ruiz; and he has emphasised the mystical schools within religions such as Gnosticism in Christianity, Sufism in Islam, Hasidism and Kabbala in Judaism, Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism, and Zen and Dzogchen in Buddhism.
At the age of fifteen Tolle read several books written by the German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô Yin Râ. Tolle has said he responded "very deeply" to those books.
Reception
By 2009, total sales of The Power of Now and A New Earth in North America had been estimated at three million and five million copies respectively, and have received a wide range of praise and criticism. Celebrity admirers of the book include Tony Hawks, Annie Lennox, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Goldblum, Zach Galifianakis, Oprah, Meg Ryan, Jim Carrey, Trey Anastasio, and Rainn Wilson
A Time magazine book reviewer characterized The Power of Now as "awash in spiritual mumbo-jumbo". However, another reviewer writes that "at first glance it might seem like just one more in a growing genre of books full of tips on how to be more mindful and awake in our daily life, but Tolle's clear writing and the obvious depth of his experience and insight set it apart".
Some critics characterize Tolle's books as unoriginal, or even derivative. A 2009 New York Times article said he is "hardly the first writer to tap into the American longing for meaning and success". Sara Nelson, the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, said Tolle's writings have been successful due to surging public interest in books that tell you "how to be happier, how to live the life you want, how to be at peace, how to be a more successful human". In an article in The Observer, James Robinson called Tolle's writings "a mix of pseudo-science, New Age philosophy, and teaching borrowed from established religions".
Others praise his re-working and synthesis of traditions: Professor and author William Bloom wrote that "Tolle is offering a very contemporary synthesis of Eastern spiritual teaching, which is normally so clothed in arcane language that it is incomprehensible" thereby providing "a valuable perspective on Western culture". Publisher Judith Kendra says, "The ideas [that Tolle is] talking about have been in existence for thousands of years in both Eastern texts and with the great Western mystics, but he's able to make them understandable".[5] Musician Annie Lennox said "there are many people claiming to be teachers, coaches, guides and gurus, but [Tolle] has some kind of special quality that I've never encountered before". Baha’i scholar and poet Jack McLean said "Tolle is no new-age armchair guru, but one who has experienced a radically genuine spiritual transformation ... He draws on a number of spiritual traditions, including Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, but he has developed his own original formulation based on personal experience. He remains humble, good-humoured and unaffected by his popular success".
Reception by Christian theologians
Some Christian scholars have spoken against Tolle's teachings. James Beverley, Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, says that Tolle's worldview "is at odds with central Christian convictions" and that "Tolle denies the core of Christianity by claiming there is no ultimate distinction between humans and God and Jesus" John Stackhouse, a professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, says that Tolle "gives a certain segment of the population exactly what they want: a sort of supreme religion that purports to draw from all sorts of lesser, that is, established, religions"
On the other hand, a June 2008 article in The Independent opined that "Tolle does have fans in academic, even Christian, circles". Theologian Andrew Ryder wrote that "Tolle's writing is based on his own experience and personal reflection. This makes his approach to the challenge of living in the present moment both practical and fresh" even though "he may not use the language of traditional Christian spirituality" Stafford Betty finds common ground between Tolle's worldview and that of Christian mystics. He notes that "one of the key elements in Tolle's teaching is that deep within the mind is absolute stillness in which one can experience "the joy of Being". Betty says that such a view is comparable to the view of contemporary Catholic monk Thomas Keating who wrote, "We rarely think of the air we breathe, yet it is in us and around us all the time. In similar fashion, the presence of God penetrates us, is all around us, is always embracing us, and it is delightful". Betty also points out that for "Mr. Tolle, God is in the world in a more radical way than for the Christian" and that Tolle's theology "is only a footnote to the therapy he holds out to his audience".
Anglican bishop Michael Ingham has said, "I don't have any criticism of his message. I think the proper attitude to take with new spiritual movements is one of wait and see".