Anyone analysed Eckhart Tolle and his teachings?

[Godlovesmetwo]

Since I've reverted to Catholicism, I find his teachings insubstantial. He is like a good "spirituality for dummies" writer. He synthesises well but lacks depth. His writings have quite a Buddhist influence in my view, which I was into at the time. Since he has no faith in God, I've lost interest.
Having said that, he does have some exceptional insights. I almost subscribed to his channel.

 

[archer75]

A counselor strongly recommended his "The Power of Now". If it helps some people, great and more power to them, but I found it to be total fluff. "Insubstantial" is a pretty charitable word for it, in my opinion.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

re counsellors:
the two extremes, one advises reading tolle's power of now and other such Buddhist influenced texts,,
the fundamentalist Christian counsellor quotes from the Bible every second breath

 

[Rajni]

I have his "The Power of Now" and have found it helpful.

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[Rajni]

I should probably add, though (and I apologize in advance if this is a tangent), that I think teachings such as Tolle's and Byron Katie's (another one that I've found helpful) are more non-dual / monistic in their approach to divinity.

This is just me, but I prefer approaching God as an Individual separate and distinct from myself, so that it's relational. I could be totally wrong in doing it this way, but when I make a point focus on Him as my Beloved (and I'm trying to do that more again lately), it really transforms my whole world. This is especially critical right now as I've been going through something of a dry spell, feeling almost agnostic at times. I think back to when I was literally in love with God and it was mind-blowing. I also think people who have to put up with me are better off for having to do so if I'm on that track; otherwise I'm just a pill.

A Bhakti poet, Saint Tukaram, put it well in a poem he wrote, stating “I want to taste sugar; I don’t want to be sugar.” Likewise, while such teachers as Tolle provide fantastic info on what I would call "good mind-management", when it comes to relating to a Higher Power, I prefer to be with God, rather than to simply be God, if that makes sense.


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[Martinius]

I picked up and read something by Tolle, don't recall exactly what. Was not impressed. I was even less impressed that he changed his first name to "honor" Meister Eckhart. Tolle can't hold a candle to the real Eckhart. But in fairness, others may find him helpful and insightful. Perhaps he is just not my type.

 

[Fantine]

I heard him speak on Oprah and almost fell asleep, but I do know some nuns who have studied his book.

Richard Rohr, OFM also believes we need to "transcend our ego-based consciousness" but does it in a way that seems more compelling to me.

 

[archer75]

Rohr's stuff also veers towards not meaning much at times but sometimes is very worthwhile, so I think.

 

[FireDragon76]

I think he's mostly influenced by Vedanta as his biggest influence, followed by Taoism.

 

[archer75]

I read a beginner's book on advaita vedanta this summer. It was a little annoying and repetitive, but about 30% of it was moderately informative. Was interesting to see some stuff that kind of made sense in terms of trinitarian Christianity.

 

[FireDragon76]

He's really synthesizing a bunch of eastern mystical ideas and making them understandable to people that are post-religious.

He's not trying to present religion in the sense of a westerner would understand it. With his book "The Power of Now", he's really trying to package an eastern enlightenment type experience in non-religious format.

I think a lot of his stuff is sort of like what Martin Heidegger did years ago but Heidegger is more obscure. And I think Heidegger was responding more to philosophy, whereas Tolle is responding to a less intellectual tone. But both have similar goes- the language we use to talk about reality often obscures the experience of reality itself.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

He's a synthesiser! Very readable , his writing style very accessible. Like a good teacher. But perhaps he misses the fullness of truth of one religion by trying to embrace all.