What do you think of Eckhart Tolle and his teachings?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feh9ULpVytk

I read his Power of Now two years ago. Wonderful stuff.

He is a bit controversial, since he has become a millionare through teaching people on how to achieve happiness. But what does it matter? What's wrong with being rich and a spiritual master at the same time, as long as you don't crave for this material wealth, and whether he craves for it only he can know.

One thing is for sure, to me at least. If he was a trickster and interested only in making money, he wouldn't be able to write such good stuff with such an enormous insight on how human mind works, how the human itself works! It is actually his lectures (available on youtube) that are most impressive.

I've been interested in spiritual stuff for around two years now. Anthony De Mello and Eckhart Tolle mainly, and some single pieces by other authors.

Now, however, for the past week or so, for the first time, for the first time, only now, I've began to apply this in my life. I started being present. When pain comes, be present. Accept. And so on. And you know what? It is f***ing great.;) It... it just works!!! I used to be in almost suicidal depression few months ago. And now I'm at peace with myself. I utterly recommend this to you, expecially some who are at present angry at something, suffer depression or have other problems. This stuff is life-transforming, if you start to apply it sincerely and with devotion.

Not only is he a spiritual guide, but also a great comedian.;) In fact, his style is quite extraordinary, able to drift from a profound spiritual massage, to jokes. And this jokes usually also play a role in his messag because usually their main theme is the foolishness of yourself, the foolishness of a human being. Check for yourself and enjoy. Cheers.;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUiQ...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx526...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42cT...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AugWi...eature=related

It's funny, I just finished reading The Power of Now for the first time last week. I'm working on incorporating some of this stuff into my life. To me, it's not about necessarily "spirituality", just useful ways to take control of your mind/self. His teachings are present in a LOT of good people's teachings, from various Hindu scriptures to Shinzen Young.

How have you been incorporating his teachings? I'd be curious to know. I've been staying present and "in my body", focusing on being aware of my current state (emotional, physical, etc.) whenever I remember to.

lol@ "christians think this is the work of the devil."

I've got a book 'Practicing the Power of Now' as well. There are some practical things to do, more specific tips. This book is quite helpful, because it is a good abstract of the Power of Now and provides you with some ideas on how to practice the theory embodied in the Power of Now. For example, in the first chapter there is an excerpt about being present. Make every action that was only a means to an end an end in itself. Going up the stairs, washing the dishes, whatever. Stop looking forward to finishing it, just observe each action that arises. PM me if you're interested in the book.

I highly recommend Greg Larsen and the excerpts from his sessions available on youtube. He focuses on Eckhart's teachings, in fact, his session's name is 'Practicing the Power of Now'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TePBg...eature=related - a tip on meditation where you are an observer of your thoughts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVMZ...eature=related - guided meditation, focus on the 'inner-body'

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Originally Posted by Replicon

To me, it's not about necessarily "spirituality", just useful ways to take control of your mind/self.

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I both agree and disagree here;) In fairness, the whole 'power of now thing' may be treated merely as a mind/self control tool. Therefore, it is, I think, so practical and universal. It doesn't require believing in anything, actually, only trying out the stuff and experiencing it yourself. And I assure you - it works.
However, even when one does not think about spirituality at all when incorporating practices based on 'Power of Now' into their life, if he does them the right way, he will get greater control over mind and body, and hence become spiritual (and it doesn't really matter whether he's interested in spirituality or wants to be more spiritual).
Spirituality arises, to my mind, when there is space, and allowance for the mind, a better word than 'control' of the mind would be 'stepping aside' or 'going beyond mind', because actually your being able or not to control your mind is a matter of being able to, kind of, disengage from it, look at it from beyond, to look at the mind as only an unimportant thing. It's difficult, but possible.

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Originally Posted by Replicon

How have you been incorporating his teachings? I'd be curious to know. I've been staying present and "in my body", focusing on being aware of my current state (emotional, physical, etc.) whenever I remember to.

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I do basically the same. I focus on my hands often. Sometimes my breathing.I observe my thoughts, and be careful not to get caught up in them (although it happens a thousand times daily, anyway). When I get caught up, and realise this, I focus back on my breathing, body, etc. But not always. Sometimes I allow myself to be completely caught up in thoughts.
Give up trying. I think this is vital. As I was meditating yesterday, I eventually realised the two basic components of my thought patterns. One is: I want to be enlightened. The other is about wanting to be with my girlfriend again. There are probably a hundred more things on which my ego lives, but those two are its' regular diet.
So what you should do, if you want to become more spiritual, enlightened, is... stop wanting to... Because it's the biggest obstacle. Or still desire for enlightenment, but not in the manner 'I must' or 'I need it to be happier in life', but rather do the practices as if they served not for the purpose of some ultimate goal in the future, but in order to enhance your present life. Desire for enlightment in the NOW. Fully. This is, I think, how one should treat this. Don't crave for any spirituality, or enlightenment, in the future, for any ulimate happiness somewhere, when you already become 'good' at it. Then it will never happen, because it always remains in the future, which is abstract. Rather treat it as something you do NOW in order to deal with anything that comes NOW and to give you peace NOW. That's how I see it. Sorry for a lengthy post.

PS.

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Originally Posted by Replicon

lol@ "christians think this is the work of the devil."

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Yes, some Christians really do that. Unbelievable, ain't it? Calling teachings which have the same essence as Jesus teachings, so their own... God (as Christians believe in this vague concept of Holy Trinity), as a work of the devil... Just... Extraordinary:)
I love Tolle's answer to some question in the interview for ABC News. The interviewer asked him whether all religions are OK. He said: yes, in essence, they all contain truth. The interviewer remarked then: Bot most Christians would vehementy disagree with that. Tolle: Yes, and that's the ego. It says 'I'm right. You are wrong'.
Such situations always make me smile. When your opponent in discussion does or says something that proves your theory, without them even knowing it, thinking that they are defending themseves.

I was definitely looking at getting that book (Practicing the power of now). This stuff is really good, cause it's gonna help me get into better touch with my emotions and what they really are.

The Power of Now is a great book. I've read that Tolle was greatly influenced by the teachings and ideas of Ramana Maharshi and Jiddu Krishnamurti, and that he considers his teachings to be largely an amalgamation of their ideas. In my opinion those two are hands down among the greatest spiritual teachers of our time, as they are focused much more on philosophy of the mind itself, with no ties to religious or philosophical dogma. Tolle expresses their ideas in a simple and effective way that's easier for us Westerners to understand.

I think the New Age movement gets a lot of shit because there's so many hacks that either don't really know what they're talking about or are just trying to make a quick buck. But Tolle is the real deal. I think that's why he's found so much success, because of his authenticity. He does what he does because he's stumbled upon something great, and has a sincere desire to share it with as many people as he can.

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What's wrong with being rich and a spiritual master at the same time, as long as you don't crave for this material wealth, and whether he craves for it only he can know.

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Not a very plausible excuse.

If he didn't crave it he'd give it to starving orphans, or spreading his word.

Not really. It means if he had lost that money it wouldn't make him unhappy. Not that he should get rid of it all, because money is just a "thing"; he can have it or not and it wouldn't matter to his happiness.

Eckhart Tolle's Teachings power of now is really good and informative thanks.

I cannot tell you any spiritual truth that deep within you don't know already. All I can do is remind you of what you have forgotten" - Page 6

◦"The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly—you usually don't use it at all. It uses you." - Page 13

◦"all the things that truly matter — beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace — arise from beyond the mind" - Page 14

◦"All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness" - Page 19

◦"Emotion arises at the place where mind and body meet. It is the body's reaction to your mind — or you might say, a reflection of your mind in the body" - Page 20

◦"It wasn't through the mind, through thinking, that the miracle that is life on earth or your body were created and are being sustained" - Page 20

◦"You may not yet be able to bring your unconscious mind activity into awareness as thoughts, but it will always be reflected in the body as an emotion, and of this you can become aware." - Page 22

◦"Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance" - Page 24

◦"Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within" - Page 24

◦"Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind" - Page 25
Nobody’s life is entirely free of pain and sorrow. Isn’t it a question of learning to live with them rather than trying to avoid them?

The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.

The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgment. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity. The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment, and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind." - Page 27

◦"Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath" - Page 32

◦"The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and so on. This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now." - Page 35

◦"an emotion is the body's reaction to your mind" - Page 36

◦"Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power if within, and it is available to you now" - Page 36

◦"The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you." - Page 37

◦"Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" — and find that there is no death" - Page 38

◦"When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind in itself is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are" - Page 40

◦"To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation" - Page 40

◦"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be" - Page 41

◦"Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now" - Page 41

◦"The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future — which, of course, can only be experienced as the Now"- Page 50

◦"Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are cause by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence" - Page 50

◦"To be free of time is to be free of the psychological need of past for your identity and future for your fulfillment" - Page 59

◦"Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place" - Page 64

◦"Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally" - Page 68

◦"You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present" - Page 75

◦"...words in themselves are not important. They are not the Truth; they only point to it" - Page 85

◦"Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself" - Page 90

◦"At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is" - Page 105

◦"...the ultimate purpose of the world lies not within the world but in the transcendence of the world" - Page 117

◦"You find God the moment you realize that you don't need to seek God" - Page 122

◦"[Relationships] do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you" - Page 127

◦"As far as inner transformation is concerned, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot transform yourself, and you certainly cannot transform your partner or anybody else. All you can do is create a space for transformation to happen, for grace and love to enter" - Page 131

◦"Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time" - Page 147

◦"It seems that most people need to experience a great deal of suffering before they will relinquish resistance and accept — before they will forgive." - Page 149

◦"You must have failed deeply on some level or experienced some deep loss or pain to be drawn to the spiritual dimension. Or perhaps your very success became empty and meaningless and so turned out to be a failure" - Page 152

◦"Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but you may need to experience many disappointments before you realize that truth" - Page 155

I like these all qutoes:shadewink:

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Originally Posted by Xei

Not a very plausible excuse.

If he didn't crave it he'd give it to starving orphans, or spreading his word.

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Well, he made money spreading his word, didn't he. Now everyone who earns a living, or becomes successful, craves money and is nonspiritual and greedy? Was Jimi Hendrix greedy because people liked his music and bought his music?

I would be willing to bet money that Ekhart Tolle has donated money to charity. I don't know anything about him, besides hearing his audiobook once while falling asleep at a friend's house. Personally I thought "This is like the ABCs." But people need to hear that.
Just because someone is not attached to something doesn't mean he has to get rid of it. People NEED money in this society, even spiritual teachers. They need a house, food, and clothes. We cannot judge people's ethics by how poor they are.

I think that people judge spiritual teachers because of their own egos. As if "This person has to be a bad person, because he makes me feel inferior, so he must be phony." People forget that even spiritual teachers are human beings with the same needs for survival that we have and have to live in the society that we created, and we expect them to act like a god just because they claim to have found happiness and wrote a book about it.

I think that his teachings are common sense personally, and I could write a book like his. But I admire him for doing it for the people who need to hear it. The power of now is the only power there is. Everyone has been saying it since 5000 years. Have you heard of a book called "Be Here Now"? Anyhow, every generation needs to encounter this basic spiritual truth. In the process, he has become very trendy, and now controversial.
Being present with your pain, with your sadness, with your fear, is the only way to deal with it. Otherwise you repress it into your subconscious. It is obvious to me, but it still takes practice and there are many layers, like an onion.

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Originally Posted by Xei

Not a very plausible excuse.

If he didn't crave it he'd give it to starving orphans, or spreading his word.

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I think it's a misconception that to be generous, you have to render yourself poor. I think the more resources you have, the more generosity you can GENERATE. Think of it like having an endowment fund. The bigger it is, the more interest you make, which you can allot to something. Bill Gates is pertty rich, but he's doing pretty wonderful things, for example. He couldn't do that if he were to just give away all his wealth. That is, I think the numbers would show that by holding onto his wealth, he can actually give more and do more than if he were to give away his wealth as-is.