Judging by “spiritual teacher” Eckhart Tolle’s writing, his wisdom and understanding can improve how people think, behave and interact. His advice in the book, A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2006, Plume, Penguin Group, 315 pages), may build happiness and reduce conflict.
Originally from Germany, Tolle lives in Vancouver and has a big following. A New Earth attracted an influential stamp of approval from talk-show host Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club. The author’s previous book, The Power of Now, lingered on New York Times bestseller lists and appeared in 33 languages.
There’s rarely a shortage of self-improvement books, and A New Earth fits snugly into the category. Its surprisingly simple contents involve little more than solid reasoning and common sense. Luckily, they’re also profound, potent and potentially useful to nearly everyone – in handling love affairs, raising children, dealing with parents, coping with co-workers, interacting with neighbors and gracefully aging, even dying.
“The human mind is highly intelligent. Yet its very intelligence is tainted by madness. Science and technology have magnified the destructive impact that the dysfunction of the human mind has upon the planet, other life-forms, and upon humans themselves.”
The author blames egos for making people unhappy and hostile. Ego-driven humans insist on hoarding possessions, building perceived wealth and competing against others.
“No matter what you have or get, you won’t be happy. You will always be looking for something else that promises greater fulfillment, that promises to make your incomplete sense of self complete and fill that sense of lack you feel within.”
Treacherous egos have a long history. “One of the most basic levels of identification is with things. My toy later becomes my car, my house, my clothes and so on. I try to find myself in things but never quite make it and end up losing myself in them. That is the fate of the ego…. In the proximity of death, the whole concept of ownership stands revealed as ultimately meaningless.”
Soon ego-driven deeds cause anger, disputes and violence. Insisting on being right or proving superiority bloats egos.
“Beyond the realm of simple and verifiable facts, the certainty that ‘I am right and you are wrong’ is a dangerous thing in personal relationships as well as in interactions between nations, tribes, religions and so on.”
Recognizing ego-driven behavior instantly defuses it. “All that is required to become free of the ego is to be aware of it, since awareness and ego are incompatible.”
The most-aware people can ignore the demands for “more, more gratification” from their prodding egos. They can resist criticisms and provocations. “Acknowledging the good that is already in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
Tolle’s admirers call his theories a path to inner peace. That’s an overstatement, but he points in the right direction. “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it.” Those thoughts should submit to human control. “Be aware that what you think, to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel.”
Repeating a theme from The Power of Now, Tolle suggests living “in the now”. The future can be planned and the past recalled, but happiness works its magic only “now”.
“You discover that there is only ever this moment. Life is always now…. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.”
Tolle widens his appeal by relating such theories to the teachings of major religions.
“Can human beings defy the gravitational pull of materialism and materiality and rise above identification with form that keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within their own personality? The possibility of such a transformation has been the central message of the great wisdom teachings of humankind. The messengers – Buddha, Jesus and others, not all of them known – were humanity’s early flowers. They were precursors, rare and precious beings.”
Tolle has pondered long and hard about A New Earth. The new book deserves passing grades for its generous content of sensible advice.
Approval rating: 65 per cent.
For more information: www.penguin.com or www.eckharttolle.com
(June 22, 2008)
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