It's a curious event, the online event of Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey combining to provide a unique book club experience. I have decided to participate, having previously read three of Tolle (pronounced Tole-ee)'s books.
As Eckhart Tolle says, "Every human being is enlightened. The only difference is most humans don't know that yet" And then he explains that he can "sense that in the background of my life." The essence of Tolle's teaching is the recognition and use of "the power of now."
Human thinking, he says, is a process that cuts us off from direct experience of the present, because thinking obscures whatever is occurring. The mind is a human tool that has become too dominant. The power of now is the liberation from ceaseless thinking and the realization that each moment, each now, is also an opportunity to experience fundamental peace.
"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have," he writes in "The Power of Now." "This will give you a taste of the state of inner freedom from external conditions, the state of true inner peace."
Seeking for, and teaching about, a peace that passes understanding and that cannot be found through conscious thinking has a long history, says Robert Fuller, who teaches religious studies at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. What Fuller calls "the gospel of the hidden self" appeals with its promise that an individual can do something that's simple and effective. "Right within ourselves is higher power, and that's better than thinking that there's a lot of social and economic things that need to be reworked," Fuller says.
"This is a lot simpler."Tolle's teaching draws on perennial wisdom within religions, yet he is not aligned with any one and will as readily cite Jesus as he will the Buddha. "Jesus speaks of salvation or the kingdom of heaven, Hindu teachings speak of liberation or enlightenment, the Buddha's favorite expression was that it is possible for humans to be free of suffering," he says.
"There's only one essential spiritual teaching in humanity."But religions over time have acquired what he calls cultural baggage, and infighting and ideology have obscured religion's truths."I believe it would limit the power of what I teach if it became identified with one particular set of concepts, when there is such an enormous amount of intercommunication between cultures," he says. "
Perhaps the power of now teaching and the fundamental expression of A New Earth" is more accessible because it is fairly neutral in its language. Underneath all thinking there lies `Be still and know that I am God,"' Tolle says, citing the words of Psalm 46. "A deeper intelligence underlies the manifestation of all forms."
A New Earth: online link A New Earth Web Event
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Also check out:
With Heart and Hands, A Quilting Journey: A New Earth Phenomena: Oprah 4/09/08.
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1 comment:
Hello my friend *VBS*, my visit to day is a trice blessed one, for you I think *VBS*.
I came to let you know that YOU are the first of my nominees for the Blogging with a Purpose Award. The details are posted on the Orphan Train blog. *VBS* It's purpose for being is to award blogs that serve a purpose..yours most certainly does that *VBS*
And I can to leave a 'thank you' for the lovely word picture and backward glimpse of little Michele in Alaska *VBS*
And lastely...to thank you for this: finding me to be a memory keeper" or bringer, or seeker, or dreamer...LOL
I understand the position of being in the 'now'. But if perchance you have also read the Jonathan Seagull book, you might think that just perhaps time and space exist in the same frame.
And even if they don'e, I have come to feel that an understand of the 'now', who you are and where you are must rest on a foundation of who you 'were' and where you came from.
The 0nly book of the 3 you mention I have read is the first. I wasn't aware of the others. We'll see what the Universe will do with that. Big hugs coast to coast, Finn
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