The Arising of New SPIRITUALITY in All Religions
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This author is an academic i know....but what is his belief har?
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The author is not an academic, and his spiritual transformation occured even prior to his studying into spiritual texts.Originally posted by laoda99:This author is an academic i know....but what is his belief har?
From Eckhart TolleOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:
I have already personally sent many people emails to get this...
Introduction of the Book:
The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle
I have little use for the past and rarely think about it; however, I would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher and how ‘The Power of Now’ came into existence.
Until my thirtieth year, I lived in a state of almost continuous anxiety interspersed with periods of suicidal depression. It feels now as if I am talking about some past lifetime or somebody else's life.
Awakening
One night not long after my twenty-ninth birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread. I had woken up with such a feeling many times before, but this time it was more intense than it had ever been. The silence of the night, the vague outlines of the furniture in the dark room, the distant noise of a passing train – everything felt so alien, so hostile, and so utterly meaningless that it created in me a deep loathing of the world. The most loathsome thing of all, however, was my own existence. What was the point in continuing to live with this burden of misery? Why carry on with this continuous struggle? I could feel that a deep longing for annihilation, for nonexistence, was now becoming much stronger than the instinctive desire to continue to live.
‘I cannot live with myself any longer.’ This was the thought that kept repeating itself in my mind. Then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought it was.. ‘Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the ‘I’ and the ‘self’ that ‘I’ cannot live with.’ ‘Maybe,’ I thought, ‘only one of them is real.’
I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. Then I felt drawn into what seemed like a vortex of energy. It was a slow movement at first and then accelerated. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words ‘resist nothing,’ as if spoken inside my chest. I could feel myself being sucked into a void. It felt as if the void was inside myself rather than outside. Suddenly, there was no more fear, and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that.
I was awakened by the chirping of a bird outside the window. I had never heard such a sound before. My eyes were still closed, and I saw the image of a precious diamond. Yes, if a diamond could make a sound, this is what it would be like. I opened my eyes. The first light of dawn was filtering through the curtains. Without any thought, I felt, I knew, that there is infinitely more to light than we realize. That soft luminosity filtering through the curtains was love itself. Tears came into my eyes. I got up and walked around the room. I recognized the room, and yet I knew that I had never truly seen it before. Everything was fresh and pristine, as if it had just come into existence. I picked up things, a pencil, an empty bottle, marvelling at the beauty and aliveness of it all. That day I walked around the city in utter amazement at the miracle of life on earth, as if I had just been born into this world.
Bliss
For the next five months, I lived in a state of uninterrupted deep peace and bliss. After that, it diminished somewhat in intensity, or perhaps it just seemed to because it became my natural state. I could still function in the world, although I realized that nothing I ever did could possibly add anything to what I already had.
Understanding
I knew, of course, that something profoundly significant had happened to me, but I didn't understand it at all. It wasn't until several years later, after I had read spiritual texts and spent time with spiritual teachers, that I realized that what everybody was looking for had already happened to me. I understood that the intense pressure of suffering that night must have forced my consciousness to withdraw from its identification with the unhappy and deeply fearful self, which is ultimately a fiction of the mind. This withdrawal must have been so complete that this false, suffering self immediately collapsed, just as if a plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy. What was left then was my true nature as the ever-present I am: consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with form. Later I also learned to go into that inner timeless and deathless realm that I had originally perceived as a void and remain fully conscious. I dwelt in states of such indescribable bliss and sacredness that even the original experience I just described pales in comparison. A time came when, for a while, I was left with nothing on the physical plane. I had no relationships, no job, no home, no socially defined identity. I spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most intense joy.
But even the most beautiful experiences come and go. More fundamental, perhaps, than any experience is the undercurrent of peace that has never left me since then. Sometimes it is very strong, almost palpable, and others can feel it too. At other times, it is somewhere in the background, like a distant melody.
Sharing
Later, people would occasionally come up to me and say: ‘I want what you have. Can you give it to me, or show me how to get it?’ And I would say: ‘You have it already. You just can’t feel it because your mind is making too much noise.’ That answer later grew into my book, ‘The Power of Now’.
From The Power of Now, copyright 1999 by Eckhart Tolle, published in the UK in 2001 by Hodder and Stoughton.[/b]
Photographs © Cygnus Books 21-Feb-2001[/b]http://www.eckharttolle.com/home.php?section=about&show=ABOUT%20-%20Eckhart%20Tolle
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Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of the most original and inspiring spiritual teachers of our time. He travels and teaches throughout the world.
Eckhart is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition, but excludes none. His profound yet simple and practical teachings have helped thousands of people find inner peace and greater fulfillment in their lives. At the core of his teachings lies the transformation of individual and collective human consciousness - a global spiritual awakening.
Eckhart was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine, a profound spiritual transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation and marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher.
Eckhart Tolle is the author of The Power of Now, a #1 New York Times best-seller which has been widely recognized as one of the most influential spiritual books of our time. It has been translated into over 30 languages. -
universalist?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:[/url] -
Not, Eckhart is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition, but excludes none.Originally posted by laoda99:universalist?
He does not belong or create any institutions. When the book hit the shelves initially, he was still living like a wanderer, a hermit. But when the book became so popular like it has gone out of control, he started travelling to teach. -
probably.Originally posted by laoda99:universalist?
imo. i don't believe in the common faith, or spirituality. their "open mindedness" are hypocrism to me. -
It is not universalism since universalism still implies an institution albeit attempting to combine different faiths.Originally posted by Ito_^:probably.
imo. i don't believe in the common faith, or spirituality. their "open mindedness" are hypocrism to me.
Furthermore, Eckhart Tolle does not deal with faith matters. He never demanded any faith - if you read The Power of Now, you will find him more like a spiritual counsellor than a religious figure, and in fact, he isn't a religious figure at all. His book has transformed alot of people throughout the world and is also very inspiring - as mentioned by himself, he used to be a suicidal depressed person. Although it is believed he has hinted on certain matters which he believed to be true, he does not deal with many matters like Afterlife, etc.
Furthermore, it is a fact that the common ground of all religions is in the mystical side, and if you study into it you will come to a point and be puzzled over how come different faiths have so much discriminations and violence, when essentially they teach the same thing at its core. -
I also do not believe in mystism.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:It is not universalism since universalism still implies an institution albeit attempting to combine different faiths.
Furthermore, Eckhart Tolle does not deal with faith matters. He never demanded any faith - if you read The Power of Now, you will find him more like a spiritual counsellor than a religious figure, and in fact, he isn't a religious figure at all. His book has transformed alot of people throughout the world and is also very inspiring - as mentioned by himself, he used to be a suicidal depressed person. Although hinting in his beliefs, he does not deal with many matters like Afterlife, etc.
Furthermore, it is a fact that the common ground of all religions is in the mystical side, and if you study into it you will come to a point and be puzzled over how come different faiths have so much discriminations and violence, when essentially they teach the same thing at its core.
Nor appreciate how mystism degrades religious orders and their belief; and how they wrap their stories behind promise of peace and unity.
I like this part from newadvent, "The Gnostics, it is true, borrowed their terminology almost entirely from existing religions, but they only used it to illustrate their great idea of the essential evil of this present existence and the duty to escape it by the help of magic spells and a superhuman Saviour." The same goes for so-called mystism, it simply borrows terms and ideas and transform it to their own religious ideas. It is like a copycat.Through some of those men and women, “schools” or movements developed within all major religions that represented not only a rediscovery, but in some cases an intensification of the light of the original teaching. This is how Gnosticism and mysticism came into existence in early and medieval Christianity, Sufism in the Islamic religion, Hasidism and Kabala in Judaism, Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism, Zen and Dzogchen in Buddhism. Most of these schools were iconoclastic. They did away with layers upon layers of deadening conceptualisation and mental belief structures, and for this reason most of them were viewed with suspicion and often hostility by the established religious hierarchies
He talks about religion. He express support for religious thoughts in forms of gnostism, etc. He has his stance about certain religion, and disapprove of many religious thoughts and schools.
He is religious, as far as this book is concern.
It is like a Chinese, refusing to admit he is one. -
I also do not believe in mystism.
And irony is, mysticism isn't about beliefs
Nor appreciate how mystism degrades religious orders and their belief; and how they wrap their stories behind promise of peace and unity.
I don't see that mysticism degrades beliefs. But beliefs arent really needed anymore, when you see it for yourself and leaves no doubt. Just like everyday I tell you 'there is a dinosaur in the park', and you come to believe in me. But one day, you see it yourself, then it isn't a matter of faith and belief anymore. You have seen it.
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And what you said about gnosticism that part, I don't see any links with mysticism. I think even gnosticism has its own dogmas, I may be wrong, or perhaps there is an underlying deeper essence to what it meant. Very often metaphors are used to signify something deeper.He talks about religion. He express support for religious thoughts in forms of gnostism, etc. He has his stance about certain religion, and disapprove of many religious thoughts and schools.
He talks about religion, but it is only a very small part of the book. Thats the only part in the book which talks about religion in particular. He doesnt talk as much about it in The Power of Now.
He is religious, as far as this book is concern.
It is like a Chinese, refusing to admit he is one.
It is true that he does have certain views in regards to religion, BUT the nature of the books he wrote has nothing to do with religion at all. -
Well, you only posted a few pages of the whole book. Then went on and post all sort of religious material. Then refer to the topic as though it is about the book itself.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:He talks about religion, but it is only a very small part of the book. Thats the only part in the book which talks about religion in particular. He doesnt talk as much about it in The Power of Now.
It is true that he does have certain views in regards to religion, BUT the nature of the books he wrote has nothing to do with religion at all. -
Merry Meet To All,
Well I would say Eckhart Tolle is definitely a practicioner, perhaps of Natural Path.
Blessed Be,
Oceanos -
Hehe.. cos I thought that part would interest some readersOriginally posted by Ito_^:Well, you only posted a few pages of the whole book. Then went on and post all sort of religious material. Then refer to the topic as though it is about the book itself.
some more, I only read until around there. I only started reading today. -
Originally posted by OCEANOS:
Great you agree with me.. hehe
[b]Merry Meet To All,
Well I would say Eckhart Tolle is definitely a practicioner, perhaps of Natural Path.
Blessed Be,
Oceanos[/b]
'Natural Path' means? -
i've got the book a month ago but due to busy work schedule, till now i still haven't started reading. anyway thanks to this forum that i come to know of this interesting book.
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Which one? The Power of Now or A New Earth?Originally posted by paperflower:i've got the book a month ago but due to busy work schedule, till now i still haven't started reading. anyway thanks to this forum that i come to know of this interesting book. -
the power of now.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Which one? The Power of Now or A New Earth? -
I see..Originally posted by paperflower:the power of now. -
Merry Meet An Eternal Now,Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Great you agree with me.. hehe
'Natural Path' means?
Sorry to disappoint you, I am not agreeing with anyone
, just neutral & giving my commentary about him. What i meant was he is a practicioner of Natural Magick.
Blessed Be,
Oceanos