I agree with both of the previous posts. People posting here can see what Eckhart Tolle is doing.
If you look back, you will see that I also came to the conclusion that Tolle was a hypnotist.

He is deliberately confusing people, to lure them into his circle, and thus he can run his business and make serious money.

Tolle is like someone who CLAIMS they are a great violin player...but you can't hear it, its an invisible violin. One day, the violin appeared in their brain, and that's it. He can't teach you to play it, so just by my books and tapes.

Its absurd. Tolle is just play-acting. Its not hard to walk around and act like you are "still" for a few hours on a stage. Its a flim-flam performance.

Tolle doesn't even know how to teach Mindfulness, which can be useful.
Tolle doesn't know how to teach people to achieve their goals. He screws up the natural process with all of his blathering.


And its becoming very clear that Oprah sees herself as some type of New Age Prophet-Teacher.
Its the distortion of US celebrity, everyone kisses your ass, everyone treats you like a God when you are a US celebrity, so guess what? You start to believe it.

One wonders where Oprah is going to go with this. Will she move into Scientology if she is not there already? Or is she just going to create her own gobal system of NewAge followers? Most likely the latter, as she is almost there already.

The weakest aspect to Tolle's teaching is getting people from A-B. This does not mean, however, that he is hypnotizing people. Essentially, he is instructing people to be "mindful" of their thoughts, emotions and will. Observe them objectively and do not counter-act them using your thoughts, emotions and will. This will help lead one to both self-knowledge and being more grounded in the present. It is not easy to be this vigilant, but it is part of the traditional Eightfold Path of Buddha and also central to some Gnostic teachings. I think in the end he is opening people to "another way" of seeing themselves, the universe and how the structure of the ego and its content leads to suffering. Many people will, I think, move from Tolle to a more structure approach of getting from A-B.

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csp
The weakest aspect to Tolle's teaching is getting people from A-B. This does not mean, however, that he is hypnotizing people. Essentially, he is instructing people to be "mindful" of their thoughts, emotions and will. Observe them objectively and do not counter-act them using your thoughts, emotions and will.

Why does he leave out the HOW-TO part? It's like saying to someone "Don´t get angry" or "Be happy"...
Should he not tell you HOW? Isn´t that the "teacher"-part?
Does he not know how?
Should he be the one teaching the world about enlightenment if he does not know HOW to be enlightened, happy, loving etc..?

He is obviously borrowing loads of "stuff" from buddhism, why doesn´t he simply tell people to study the buddhist teachings then? They certainly can´t contain any less info then what he is providing? Money? Ego? How can a photo of Tolle be enlightening? People buy them to fire off the anchors of hours af hypnotic talk, simply because they dont know how to reach that state themselves. ITS CLASSICAL GURU-HYPNOTIC-CONDITIONING!

For anyone with knowledge of hypnosis it is very obvious, whether it is Tolles intention or not. In a session/reading he does not need to tell anybody HOW, they will just have to follow his commands, i.e hypnotic commands. That is not to say that hypnotizing is bad. I am just saying he leaves the listener without the proper tools. Yet there are thousands of other teachers out there that will provide you with the tools you need to reach the state they are teaching. Anyone can write a book telling people "Don´t react to things.", but it is of little long-time value of they dont tell you how this is possible. Initially, of course, people will obey the voice of Tolle, but what happens later? How are they to find their way without their master if they dont know HOW? They are left with a hatred of their own ego (the very root of all evil, he tells you). And they are left thinking that thoughts are bad. Can you see the stupidity in that?

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csp
It is not easy to be this vigilant, but it is part of the traditional Eightfold Path of Buddha and also central to some Gnostic teachings. I think in the end he is opening people to "another way" of seeing themselves, the universe and how the structure of the ego and its content leads to suffering. Many people will, I think, move from Tolle to a more structure approach of getting from A-B.

The people that are able to get out of Tolles "thought-circus" will take another approach to spirituality, and embrace, instead of hating, parts of their self. More in spite of Tolle, than thanks to Tolle. I really dont see a need for another figure going around telling people something is wrong with their head. If you have read any psychology you will know that naming parts of your mind and rejecting it, is the first step to develop a multipel personality.

I believe people should be taught how to use the brain they were born with.

Tolle does the opposite.

Tjena/Chris

First, Tolle has ... from the beginning ... been very reluctant to train people to a technique. This is very similar to the teaching of Krishnamurti ... and can be one of the frustrating aspects. Tolle, as Krishnamurti, feels that people have the answer inside themselves as to how to best get from A-B.

Secondly, Tolle is not telling people to not use the mind or get rid of it. This is a very big misunderstanding. I've explained before that he is talking about ridding the mind of obsessive, conditioned, repetitive thinking. When one is no longer identified with the structure and content of the ego then the necessary thoughts for efficient thinking come naturally and easily but don't control the person.

csp:

You say Tolle is concerned about "ridding the mind of...thinking" that he considers "obsessive, conditioned, repetitive."

What would qualify Tolle to diagnose "thinking"?

Seems like he is not qualified to play the role of a mental health professional or as any authority on thinking.

It also appears that Tolle is attempting to manipulate the minds of his true believers.

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rrmoderator
csp:

You say Tolle is concerned about "ridding the mind of...thinking" that he considers "obsessive, conditioned, repetitive."

What would qualify Tolle to diagnose "thinking"?

Seems like he is not qualified to play the role of a mental health professional or as any authority on thinking.

It also appears that Tolle is attempting to manipulate the minds of his true believers.

Analysis of thinking or thought is not exclusive to anyone or any profession. Were Old Testament prophets qualified? Jesus? Buddha? Some of the greatest insights into human nature have come from the uneducated and untrained. For example, who educated and trained Socrates? Potentially, one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the past century has been created by a person (John Kanzius) with only a high school degree and no medical training. Sorry, there is no authority on thinking.

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csp
First, Tolle has ... from the beginning ... been very reluctant to train people to a technique. This is very similar to the teaching of Krishnamurti ... and can be one of the frustrating aspects.

Tolle does not know how to train people. Thats why. He does not even know how he "got there" himself.

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csp
Tolle, as Krishnamurti, feels that people have the answer inside themselves as to how to best get from A-B.

What A´s and B´s are you taking about? I he feels people should do it themselves, what is he doing selling millions of books? Why is he leaving out the most valuable information? He certainly acts like he is about to tell the world a great secret, wouldn´t you say?

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csp
Secondly, Tolle is not telling people to not use the mind or get rid of it. This is a very big misunderstanding.

Who is to blame for this misunderstanding, you think? He IS literally telling people NOT to think. Again, with no technique to offer whatsoever... Just listen to Tolle, and obey.. Great rewards offered... Hate your ego.. Dont think... Tolles version of the Nike slogan would be "JUST DON´T"

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csp
I've explained before that he is talking about ridding the mind of obsessive, conditioned, repetitive thinking. When one is no longer identified with the structure and content of the ego then the necessary thoughts for efficient thinking come naturally and easily but don't control the person.

First off, he is talking about all thoughts, not just negative thoughts, ALL words, all reactions, and ALL voices inside peoples heads. He does not say just the "bad" ones. He says they are all ego. Everything that comes from the Ego is bad acc. to Tolle. "The voice inside the head is the Ego", "Root of all evil" he says so frequently. Maybe you can intrepret that misleading statement with a sober mind, but I dont think people should have to "misunderstand" to understand.

Let´s see.. he can´t express himself so that people can understand him and has no techniques to teach, and you think this guy is great for humanity?

I can´t see why you need to come up with excuses for Tolle?

Other Tolle-quotes: "Detach yourself from everything." and "Do not picture yourself in the future." (This is what suicidals do BTW.)

I agree with rrmoderator that Tolle is probably NOT qualified to diagnose "thinking" in any way...

Tjena/Chris

Readers are invited to check the discussion on Tolle/Advaita on the in the 'Recovery' section, especially the part of the discussion that begins
here on May 4th or so.

[forum.culteducation.com]

Dont let your energies or attention get drained or diverted.

From chapter 10 of the Oprah/Tolle webinar...An audience member said:

"So yes, as I was telling Oprah, it's been really exciting and enlightening to
discuss in theory all the different concepts and ideas in the book. And it's been attainable here in this
loving cocoon which I live in and my book club members live in. But once you go out into the real
world and have real-life situations, you're presented with challenges because not everybody's read the
book; not everybody's on this journey; not everybody is striving to evolve or have awareness. A simple
example, one of the book club members works for a very egotistical boss and is very sort of pushed
and has unrealistic demands put upon her, and she's managed to sort of pull herself above it, become
witness to the ego she's dealing with and the ego within herself. And, as a consequence, she's been
perceived as sort of lax and dispassionate and disengaged in everything that's going around because
everybody else is so in the drama, and she feels her job could be at stake because she's being viewed
this way. "

Yup, that's this philosophy in the real world. I would find it frustrating to have to deal with an employee who behaves as though disconnected or unattached. As an employer, you want people who actually care about what they are doing and are involved and engaged in their work.

The note that I wrote about this portion when I read it was:

"[Uh huh. This is what I can see happening, people going around like a bunch of zoned out zombies, into their ‘presence’…Oprah and Tolle seem to be saying that being in this ‘presence’ is being engaged in life, but other PEOPLE don’t see it that way…they see such people as being detached, which they are.]"

I remember reading message boards a couple of years ago about Course in Miracles students being like this as well, since they believe everything is not real, and one person said, "It's a wonder more Course students don't get hit by a bus."

They call this 'being awakened'? To me, it's like the opposite, you're putting your cognitive functioning to sleep.

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csp
Analysis of thinking or thought is not exclusive to anyone or any profession. Were Old Testament prophets qualified? Jesus? Buddha? Some of the greatest insights into human nature have come from the uneducated and untrained. For example, who educated and trained Socrates? Potentially, one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the past century has been created by a person (John Kanzius) with only a high school degree and no medical training. Sorry, there is no authority on thinking.

Analysis and Diagnose are two (2) separate words. Each have an individual meaning. ie. They dont mean the same thing. To diagnose someones thinking you do need qualifications. To analyse is free, although not recommended by mr. Tolle.


I agree, DownToEarth, seems like this Tolle-thing is heading the opposite way somehow... Self-inflicted-mental-retardation. It is probably fine in a cave, but why not engage all your sense in life? What are Tolles goals? Is he allowed to have any?

/Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2008 11:05PM by Chris Dalin.