http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle Author Eckhart Tolle is a hard person to classify. He is usually associated with the new age/new thought movements but I'm not so sure where he fits in. I discovered him a few years back when I was looking for a good audio book to keep me occupied on a long car trip. I found his book "A New Earth" At that point I was already starting to become jaded toward self-help gurus, motivational speakers, new age stuff, pop psychology... but at the same time a try not to label and prejudge. I was glad I got the audio book as it answered a lot of questions about human nature and helped me put things in perspective. The book didn't tell me how to get rich quick or how to be a successful business man and I wasn't looking for that anyway. It did help me to put a lot of things into perspective. Oddly many of Eckhart Tolle's fans also like "The Secret" though I also read that one when a friend lent it to me and though it was mostly nonsense and seemed almost the opposite of what Eckhart Tolle teaches. As far as this business that we create our world by our thoughts may have some truth to it but taken too far it denies the sovereignty of God and much of it is confirmation bias anyway. For those who don't know what I'm talking about then here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_(book)
As a Catholic the first thing I have to consider is if a book is going to contradict my Faith. Eckhart Tolle does not fancy himself as a Catholic, a Buddhist, or any other religion. I will still read a book even if the author is not Catholic- I just take in the elements of truth and accept that there is virtually no author out there who I will agree with on everything. many of this guy's teachings overlap with Christianity and most other world religions. I know this author is very controversial among strict Catholics and other denominations, but people have to remember he never said he was Christian and you can't be a heretic to a religion you don't belong to. Whether or not this man is sincere or authentic I don't know. I never met him and I know little about his personal life other than what is on Wikipedia. Even if he wasn't sincere, original, or a hypocrite, it doesn't take away from any grains of truth in his teachings. Some people claim the book is just another version of the popular 1970's book "A Course in Miracles" which I know was very much criticized by some Catholic leaders. I can't say for sure because I never read "A Course in Miracles". I don't even recall Tolle claiming that what he teaches is new or original, he pretty much admits that he borrows from ancient teachings (of course all the "new age" gurus say that). Either way I can give him credit of being an excellent communicator and teacher and makes some of the gobbledygook easier for average Joe's like me to understand. Where a lot of "spiritual" teachers go wrong, and Tolle even addresses this, is that they preach the importance of humility and overcoming their egos that they become smug and egotistical themselves. This happens in conventional/traditional religions also. Many of them "dissolve their egos" all the way to the bank. While I believe it is important to keep the ego in check, we all have an ego, we are all weak human beings with the consequences of original sin in us. The enemy is not going to give up on us until we die and are with God. What is dangerous is to declare oneself so spiritually evolved and transformed that we no longer have an ego and no longer have any danger of regressing or falling into pride. It's just the opposite, to even say that is egotistical- it's a paradox. As for Eckhart Tolle he seems like a decent person, whether or not he's one of those "gurus" who own 10 sports cars and don't practice what they preach, I don't know. I only know what he writes in his books- at least the ones I have read.
What I like about his books and why I recommend them to people (even with a little reservation) is that he explains human nature and the many tricks of the ego. This whole "ego" business sounds like typical new age, hippy, pseudo-eastern thought but there is a truth to it that also holds true for Catholics and other Christians. Catholicism may not define the ego as broadly as the new age people do. Christianity is more individualistic and doesn't require that we give up our identities. Another thing with the new age is sometimes it overstates the ego, if something large is about to fall on us, cause serious harm and we move out of the way to avoid getting hurt, does that make us selfish, egotistical, or a narcissist? This sort of overstatement is part of why people end up rolling their eyes at what is otherwise good spiritual wisdom. Reading Tolle's work however seems to do a good job explaining why people are the way they are. It also explains how so many good people can fall into hypocrisy. Some well respected Catholic authors with similar messages would be St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton (though he is still controversial among some Catholics), St. John of the Cross... but some of them are hard to understand. There are also many great writers in Eastern Christianity. Many times what gets labeled "eastern" is similar in teaching to what is labeled "western" but just a different way of looking at the same thing.
Personally I can read stuff written by just about anyone, even authors I vehemently disagree with and get at least something out of it. All it takes is to be able to read with discretion. The following are some articles viewing Eckhart Tolle from a Catholic perspective- though even these are only the opinions of individual Catholics: http://ncronline.org/node/638
http://catholicexchange.com/2009/01/08/115095/ (These first two links are more critical but somewhat balanced.)
In this third link below is the opinion of Eckhart Tolle by Fr. Richard Rohr (who I'll admit is also controversial among orthodox Catholics). I do think however this article is excellent and says a lot of what I'm trying to say much better than I can. I don't know much else about the priest who wrote this, but at least here he points out some important parallels: http://www.eckharttolle.com/article/Spirituality-And-The-Christian-Tradition Notice I got this link form Tolle's website so yes, I know it can easily be biased but it still makes some great points.
No comments:
Post a Comment