neocon:

Thanks.

You do have a kind of religious devotion to Tolle.

Interesting slogan or mantra -- "get out of the mind and be guided by the Spirit of God."

And you cast Tolle as a religious leader supposedly offering "the same message Jesus gave..."

Interesting.

Tolle is more of a preacher promoting his own idiosyncratic brand of religion, than a teacher.

You cant market yourself as ET has all these years unless you have a well developed ego.

Remember, oodles of people WANT to get involved with Ophrah. A spot on her show is worth millions in terms of instant crediblity, media exposure...tons of people want to be discovered by her.

Her office must be bombarded by constant pleas from various persons on-the-make.

No one gets into a business arrangement with Oprah unless he or she wants it, and unless O considers it potentially beneficial to HER.

Remember George Carlin's comedy routine about the Seven Deadly Sins and what makes something a sin? Intention is what matters. As Carlin put it,

'You gotta wanna!'

You do not become a money making product like ET and dont get into a business arrangement with O unless both of you want it.

And where there is wanna, there is ego.

Doing all that without ego is like saying its possible to leave the house and your asshole stays home.

ET is for people who want to FEEL as though they are free of ego, while still using an ego that is well developed for personal aggrandizement and marketing oneself.

ETs material is the spiritual equivalent of driving a Formula One race car while convincing yourself you're living green.

Many like to compare their favorite guru with Jesus. But there are some differences.

Some salient differences between Jesus (as described in the Greek scriptures) versus today's TV endorsed human potential prophets:

According to the Gospels, the only thing Jesus owned at the end of his life was his robe. That is what the soldiers gambled for.

And unlike many of today's spiritual entrepreneurs when J was arrested, his followers fled and went into hiding. He had no lawyer to cut any deals for him in court--none.

And he didnt charge admission for his talks. It appears that as described in the Greek scriptures, J's behavior angered two different power elites--the rabbinical scholars and the Roman occupying forces who were especially terrified of anyone who inspired what looked like social turmoil or mob activity in a volatile city such as Jerusalem where any kind of rioting could break out in a moment and blaze out of control.

If Jesus had turned himself into the sort of public speaker who spoke reassuring messages to the wealthy and charged large fees to give public speeches, Jesus would have been in a safe and reassuring catagory--he would have been a professional rhetorician and people like that were part of the local talent pool/power elite and Roman governors could cut deals with them.

Jesus wasnt making contracts with the rich and powerful. In fact, he had much more to say about the abuses of power and money and issues of greed, than anything else.

In later generations, when the church began to cut deals with the local power elites, those radical teachings about the need to beware abusing power and money were toned down.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2008 11:13PM by corboy.

Saw some of the Oprah with Tom Cruise show.
It was just media-counter-SPIN-persuasion for Cruise to try to get his image back.
FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE.
Fake laughter, fake humility....

Cruise all soft-spoken, Oprah lobbing him softball questions...ignoring the facts of the Scientology, and letting Cruise get away with saying anything he wants.

Now she is going to have a Part2 with Tom Cruise, full of celebrities...to try and bring Tom Cruise back into favor.

You can also tell Oprah is using this to try and get her own image back too. Oprah has gotten tons of flack over the Tolle religious cult stuff. So she probably feels that her and Cruise have to both "hide" their culty religious stuff from now on. Cruise said that he has to be more careful in his communications, and Oprah nodded knowingly as she listened...
So they are just going to tone it down a bit, and get sneakier?

This applies to Eckhart Tolle.
Even if ET were involved with a horrible group like Scientology which has hurt thousands, its all OK with Oprah. Its fine with her.
So Eckhart Tolle would have to be WAY WORSE than Scientology, to even get criticized by Oprah?

So in terms of culty New Age religions...Oprah is not just a bad joke. She is dangerous, due to her credulous and uncritical promotion of them.
I think Oprah sees what goes on, but just dumbs it down for her audience.
Hey, its all great for those at the top, Oprah, Cruise,Tolle...its good to be the king.

Oprah is not just a bad joke in her culty New Age propaganda...she's very dangerous.
She ended the show with Cruise hugging and kissing him on a mountaintop.
She is doing the same thing emotionally with Eckhart Tolle.

She and her producers are the modern masters of TV persuasion-spin,and counter-spin.

Her show about Tom Cruise ended like the old propaganda movie Triumph Of The Will began...high in the clouds with The Godmen...and now Godwomen...

(Oprah and Cruise...Godhumans on the mountaintop)
[img.dailymail.co.uk]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2008 05:25AM by The Anticult.

Actually, there are some terrific reviews that are 1* and 2* at amazon.
There are almost 150 negative reviews for this book.
So all hope is not lost.
Not everyone is losing their minds to the New Wage Guru of the week.

But who's next?
Who's Oprah's next New Wage, New Thought Guru of the month club?
That will be very interesting...


(link to 1* and 2* reviews)
[www.amazon.com]

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) (Paperback)
by Eckhart Tolle (Author)
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Penguin; 1 edition (January 30, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0452289963
ISBN-13: 978-0452289963

Even this guy, who is a hug fan of Tolle's, recognizes that he uses hypnotic induction:

Quote

"Eckhart Tolle is basically using very sharp hypnotic inductions (whether he realizes it or not I don't know) to smash the whole "be in the now" point home until it's lodged so deeply into your brain that you can't get it out."

[realsocialdynamics.blogspot.com]

I made a post about Eckhart Tolle Hypnotist.

[forum.culteducation.com]
That is actually very revealing about Eckhart Tolle.

It appears Tolle planned and created the oversold ticket and seating problems on purpose, to trigger emotions in people, and then use that against them to make them feel NEW AGER GUILT about not being enlightened like Tolle says he is. (meanwhile Tolle is quickly escorted in and out in a private limo, and does not have any contact with the mass public!).

Eckhart Tolle is also clearly using advanced mass-hypnosis techniques on his audience. He starts the "show" with silence, and then does a monotone delivery, and even puts people to sleep. He also does this on purpose...being BORING is a wonderful way to put people into a DEEP TRANCE, and then you can implant your Suggestions into their minds, and they are accepted more easily.
That is why Tolle endorses Byron Katie, they are both modern, indirect, permissive, master mass-hypnotists.

This is why Eckhart Tolle also attacks your mind, as its stands in his way of implanting his hypnotic suggestions into your brain. So he has designed his own methods to disabuse you of your ability to think. Notice how all of these guys are trying to do the same thing? From Werner Erhard, to L Ron Hubbard, to Byron Katie, to Eckhart Tolle...their #1 goal is to GET RID OF YOUR ABILITY TO THINK.
Like Yogi Bear, they want to be the ones doing the thinking.
Don't get duped.

But sadly, some people seem to want to get duped.

QUOTE:
"He sat and composed himself, and didn't begin to talk for another 5 minutes or so.
The entire audience of TWELVE HUNDRED PEOPLE (at $75 a shot!) fell reverentially quiet.
After a relatively short opening-silence stint, Eckhart began to speak quietly, in a near-monotone. His voice is gentle, lulling, not unpleasant - approximating 2001's HAL 9000 computer voice..."



Quote:
corboy
A report by one person who attended a Tolle event in Los Angeles in 2003.
[www.globalserve.net]

(If you scroll up, there is a description of a Byron K event, too).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2008 01:53PM by The Anticult.

another ludicrous thing about Eckhart Tolle, is he, and his people, say that he is not running a New Age religion, or any type of personality cult.

Well, that is factually FALSE on both counts.

Eckhart Tolle is literally running a personality cult around himself and his writings and products, as well as running a highly organized distributed, decentralized type of New Age "church", with his Eckhart Tolle "Groups".

Its actually very similar to Amway and Network Marketing.
Its also similar to the weekly Sai Baba meetings for his followers, and also the weekly home chanting meetings for the SGI cult. [www.culteducation.com]

Eckhart Tolle has local "Group Facilitators",
[eckharttolle.com]
and those people (unpaid worker-bees) are instructed to buy a bunch of Eckhart Tolle intellectual property with their own money, and then invite people to show-up at their house, and SHUT-UP and NOT THINK or TALK, and then WATCH 90 minutes of Eckhart Tolle yacking away at them, and then NOT TALK OR THINK!!

You see how he is doing it? He is persuading people to NOT THINK, to not criticize Tolle's writings and recordings. Just show-up, shut-up, go into a DEEP TRANCE, then get brainwashed for 90 minutes, shut-up some more, take some brochures to buy more Eckhart Tolle products, and go home and dream about Eckhart Tolle in your sleep. (same method as Sai Baba, even down to using Images of the Guru in meditative states...).

Come on, if this isn't New Age cultic brainwashing, then what is?
Its systematic and organized.
And its very smart too. It doesn't cost Tolle 1 cent, he makes money off it, from product sales. So he has free local ET evangelists for him, and he has forbid them from even TALKING to eachother, so this way no one can steal his thunder. Its all about Eckhart Tolle.
You get yourself into a DEEP TRANCE of meditation where you are SUGGESTIBLE, and think about Eckhart Tolle, and you start to get Transference to him,and bonded to him on the deepest level, as the ONLY ONE allowed to talk is Eckhart Tolle on DVD.
(what unbelievable and pathological arrogance Eckhart Tolle displays, it really is cringe-inducing).

Look at all the junk Eckhart Tolle is selling. Its unbelievable he is getting away with it. He has 22 CD's for sale...13 DVD's for sale, cards, music.
Eckhart Tolle is a bigtime Capitalist Entrepreneur, very aggressive in marketing and sales.
[eckharttolle.com]

Notice how it starts with the books, then goes DEEPER and DEEPER and DEEPER into "Intensives and Retreats".
Notice how he lures you in? Starts with a book, then a CD, then a DVD or 10, next thing you are attending weekly meetings, retreats, intensives... then if you go deeper, you become a "facilitator" , and an ET Teacher, and all the rest of it. Thousands of dollar into Tolle's corporate bank account.

Eckhart Tolle seems to have copied some of the methods of the MLM Network Marketing people.
Exact same MLM and modern cultic pattern.

If it walks like a new age cult, and quacks like a new age cult, and organizes and markets and brainwashes with SUGGESTION and HYPNOSIS like a new age cult...then guess what...

Don't go to these obscene Weekly Eckhart Tolle Brainwashing Groups where you are forbidden to speak or think, and just watch propaganda movies of your Thought Leader ET.
Its very simple.

He gets you to put yourself into a deep self-induced hypnotic Trance, where you become highly suggestible.
Then you get brainwashed by Tolle for 90 minutes by DVD.
Then you meditate more to install his suggestions.
Then you are forbidden to speak with your friends, which is going to mess your mind up even more as its so abnormal and antisocial.

Then you are in the grasp of Eckhart Tolle.
This guy is pathetic.

______________________________________________
[eckharttolle.com]
Attending a Silent Local Group
All are welcome to attend a Silent Local Group.
The groups listed follow Eckhart's recommended Silent Group format. The group may begin with ten to twenty minutes of silence (silent meditation), 1 to 1 1/2 hours of an Eckhart Tolle audio or visual recording, ending with ten to twenty minutes of silence (silent meditation). It's best not to engage in discussion, as it tends to stimulate the mind and ego.

Came across this article about some lady who appeared on the Oprah infomercial for Eckhart Tolle.
The Oprah show preselects their audience commenters very carefully, put them through all sorts of pre-preparation for MONTHS, even goes as far as to install Skype and webcams for these people.

Its a complete sham.
They present these people as someone who is Skyping in a question, when in reality its all staged for months ahead of time. They have made certain this lady is going to ask and say what they want her to say.

That is what Oprah does with all her guests, and many are now criticizing her for doing the exact same thing with the fake-viewer response about Tom Cruise and Scientology.

Bottom line, the Oprah show is bascially flat-out propaganda at this point, when it comes to these serious issues. Its a profoundly corrupt process.

[telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com]

Have you read any of the transcripts from the webinars? Yeah, I know, it's a LOT of reading, and probably more than most of us would want to do. I figured that despite my woo allergy, since I seem to be immune to Tolle's charms for some odd reason (my mind and my ego are just not allowing me to "get it", LOL!), it might be safe for me to check out the chapter 10 transcript. I got about 30 pages into it today. I downloaded the .pdf and then copied it to a MS Word document so I could add my own comments in different font, 'cause I was reading it with my 'critical thinking' cap firmly on. :-)

One thing I noticed is that there was a part which, to me, bore a striking resemblance to the teachings of The Secret/Abraham-Hicks crowd. One audience member had asked "how can
we have goals or visions if we are to always remain in the present?"

Tolle's reply, and I'll copy and paste portions of it here:

"So the goal or vision when it's inside you as if it were already a reality and in fact on some level it is a reality
inside you already. So a goal that is powerful when you are in touch with your own power is not a goal
that you project yourself mentally to and say, "I would like to achieve this or that at some future point,
I need that, I want that to complete myself." You're reaching out toward that goal; you're losing
yourself; you're not present. But if you are—if you realize that whatever vision you hold is already a
reality inside you,..."

"...be open to this energy movement coming from within,
to manifest what was already there on a deeper level. And that's why Jesus said whenever you asked
for anything, "Believe that you already have received it, and it will be yours." So if you believe that
you already have received it, it means it must be—already be a reality inside yourself so you're not
coming from lack or scarcity or neediness because then you are not, there's no power behind your
vision or your goal. You're already coming from fullness. So the goal is already a reality inside. You
already feel as if you had it."

"...you're visualizing in order to bring something out that's already inside you."

"...it's already a reality inside you, and then you can take steps toward implementing that."

Oprah says (and I thought this was interesting...she really does seem to believe she's on a divine mission here):
" I have always wanted to do exactly what I'm doing here with all of you tonight. I've always felt that deep
inside me this is what I was meant to do. I was meant to be a teacher, I was meant to use television as a
platform for helping people to better know themselves. And when—and knowing that, knowing that
deep inside myself is what has helped bring this into fruition this way..."

And back to Tolle:

"You still need to honor whatever it is that you're doing at this moment fully and
completely. "


And MY comments, some copied from my file and some I added just now as an afterthought:

[This is much like what The Secret and the "Abers" say...Abraham (of Esther and Jerry Hicks origin) says to be happy NOW, where you’re at right NOW. All these LOA people say that, Louise Hay says that. Be happy and grateful where you are NOW, and more of THAT feeling will come to you, and you will have more experiences in your life that induce that feeling within you (those are the experiences that you will ATTRACT)…A really circular way of seeing things, actually. To get to a point in your life where you are happy, you have to learn to be happy where you’re at now, regardless of external factors going on in your life. Feel as if the wanted thing is already present because it IS and if you feel and act as if, it cannot fail to come to you…Abe and even A.W. (a renegade member of the PI community who developed his own little cult following) used to say the only way to get what you want is to be happy without it….huh? Sounds like a mind f*** to me…Which it IS. Way to induce a bunch of blissed out little zombies who figure they don’t ‘need’ anything and don’t have to do anything and who don’t actually want anything, they just sit there being blissed out and the universe will bring them exactly what they want…which is nothing, but that’s OK ‘cause they don’t need anything….]

I think you're right about the Oprah show being propaganda. Actually, considering the resemblance of Tolle's work to The Secret et al, how The Secret seems to be building a connection to "Planet Earth Forever" ("new Earth"?), and how Oprah is going to be gathering people for discussions about matters of the soul and her first guest in this lineup is someone who will further reinforce all this stuff ( [forum.culteducation.com]) ...It's like she's uniting these factions under one umbrella and presenting it to the public as a complete package of 'enlightenment'. All through HER. "I was meant to be a teacher, I was meant to use television as a
platform for helping people to better know themselves. And when—and knowing that, knowing that
deep inside myself is what has helped bring this into fruition this way"

The Christian Science Monitor has an article expressing concern and disagreement with the Oprah/Tolle teaching...The Secret and Powerful Intentions community has Christian Scientists as members. The Powerful Intentions community has a Tolle "New Earth" discussion group. Conflict in paradise? We'll see...

[www.csmonitor.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2008 07:53AM by DownToEarth.

Hej, I have spent some time studying the "teachings" of Eckhart Tolle...

Just a quick explanation of where I come from: I have studied "all" things spiritual for decades ie. channelings, techniques, buddhism, gnosticism, alchemy, hypnosis, crystals, reiki, affirmations etc. etc. etc. I´m not into any prescribed religion. I was into the "Ego-circus" for a brief time in the nineties when I believed firmly that all evil was due to the "Ego" and its evilness.. I thought (haha) I was the smartest person around, I could "win" every arguemnt, I was always right, every opponent of mine was easily taken down with: "it's only your Ego, Its an illusion". I was completely free of any responsibility. It was a brief and stupid period and I am wiser today. So I can totally understand why this Tolle bullshit is allowed to prosper. It somehow sounds good in the beginning. BUT it leads to total abandonment of will and futurue wishings (if you are a "true" believer).

Although he says some things I can agree with, it is all packaged to confuse and disconnect the person without them knowing it. ( he sounds and looks like a pig, and that hellish nose-laughter-giggle is just awful.. sorry, had write it)

I've been scanning his material trying to find HOW to reach this state of clarity he talks about, but there are very few helpful things he has to offer. There are a lot of donts s:a : Dont speak, dont think, dont feel, dont dream etc. etc. But never any "Do like this. He hasn´t even been able to analyze how he himself got to where he is. According to him "It just happened"... VERY helpful.

In one of his talks,he literally says: "Do NOT picture yourself in the future." "Do NOT associate with anything."

His sessions is nothing more than a hypnotic induction if you really listen to it. He doesnt tell you HOW to do this on your own, he says "Now you feel no more fear..." "Now you release ... " etc.etc. Simply a line of hypnotic commands that the listener/viewer will follow with super- concentration (cause they think they will learn something special). What he does is illegal for a hypnotist, in that he leaves the listener without anchors or knowledge how to induce the feeling on their own, he does not say how, he says "go inside, feel happy, feel at one with everything, stop your inner voice" etc. But their is no clue as to HOW it is done. There are many techniques out there for finding your inner calm but Tolle dont teach them, he does them, hence connecting his voice, his appearance and HIS words to a good feeling. That is why people need to keep buying books, tapes, DVD´s etc. He does not tell them HOW TO DO IT ON THEIR OWN. But there is plenty of WHY´s and IF NOT´s.... Thats what makes a "true" Guru. The followers need them. There is nothing enlightening in that.

Not to mention the complete contradiction in selling pictures fo yourself and telling people not to follow "Ego"... Who in their right mind wants to hang that trout on the wall? Does he even remotely "look spiritual"?

But I know what you´re thinking (although you shouldn´t, ´cause its your EGO), you´re thinking "wow, that guy really has a big EGO". And it´s true, and it is dearly loved. And you HAVE to love it too, otherwise you´re not spiritual according to the Tolle-teachings..

Sorry for flaming the german/english/canadian guy but I feel anger when I see someone becoming a multi-millionaire by misleading people that are looking for love and happiness.

Tjena/ Chris