Gmail - [GSC] Re: Eckhart Tolle - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Gmail - [GSC] Re: Eckhart Tolle - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Listen to Eckhart Tolle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uk_AO8Vgr0&feature=related
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle

Tolle was born Ulrich Tolle in 1948 in Germany. He lived with his
father in Spain from about the age of 13 (around 1961) until he
moved to England at the age of 19 (around 1967).[1]

He had no formal education between age 13 and 22; he refused to go
to school because of "hostile environment", but he pursued his "own
particular interests".[1] Tolle graduated from the University of
London and did research at Cambridge University.[2] He studied
literature, languages and philosophy.[1]

At the age of 29, Tolle experienced what he considered a spiritual
transformation.[2]

Since 1996 Tolle has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[3]
[4]

Teachings
Tolle claims to have had a radical spiritual awakening at the age of
29 after suffering long periods of suicidal depression. This shift
in consciousness for most people is not a single event but a
process, a gradual disidentification from thoughts and emotions
through the arising of awareness.

His non-fiction bestseller The Power of Now emphasizes the
importance of being aware of the present moment as a way of not
being lost in thought. Instead of you using your mind as a tool, the
mind uses you.

In his view, the present is the gateway to a heightened sense of
peace. He states that "being in the now" brings about an awareness
that is beyond the mind, an awareness which helps in transcending
the ego (false identification with form: body, mind, thoughts,
memories, social roles, life-story, opinions, emotions, material
possessions, name, nationality, religion, likes and dislikes,
desires, fears, etc.) and "the pain-body", which is created by the
cumulation of suppressed emotions, the suffering of non-acceptance
of what is. Our true "identity" is the underlying sense of I Am,
which is consciousness itself. Awareness of Being is self-
realization and true happiness. We people are very important,
because we are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to
unfold.

His later book A New Earth further explores the structure of the
human ego and how this acts to distract people from their present
experience of the world. You don't need future or future lifes to
find yourself, and you need to add nothing to you to find yourself.

In the world of form for everything gained, there is something lost
and for everything lost, there is something gained.

He recommends listening to the body when we eat, because the body
knows more about food than your mind ever will.

He believes that the New Testament contains deep spiritual truth as
well as distortions. Those distortions are due to a misunderstanding
of Jesus' teaching, or because people had an agenda (wanting to fit
Jesus into their preconceived notions, wanting to make converts
etc.). But when you are present, you access your inner knowing and
you will sense what is true and what was added on or distorted.[5]

The ultimate truth of all religions is the surrendered state of
consciousness to the present moment. In christianity it's the symbol
of the cross; Jesus surrenders to the extreme limitations of the
cross.

Love comes into existence when you know who you are in your essence
and then recognize the "other" as yourself. It is the end of the
delusion of separation, which is created by excessive reliance on
thinking.

Influences
Tolle is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition.
However, in the book Dialogues with Emerging Spiritual Teachers by
John W. Parker, he has acknowledged a strong connection to J
Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi and stated that his teaching is a
coming together of the teachings of both those teachers, and it is a
continuation of that. In addition, he states that by listening to
and speaking with the spiritual teacher Barry Long, he understood
things more deeply.[6]

At about age 15 he received five books that were written by a German
mystic, Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô Yin Râ.
Tolle responded "very deeply" to those books.[1]

The first texts he came in contact after the awakening and found
deep understanding were the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, the
Tao Te Ching and teachings of The Buddha.[1]

Influences which are alluded to in The Power of Now are the writings
of Meister Eckhart, Advaita Vedanta, A Course in Miracles, the
Bible, mystical Islam, Sufism, and Rumi's poetry, as well as Zen
Buddhism's Lin-chi (Rinzai) school.