Eckhart Tolle

The main stricture in Eckhart’s teachings appears to be that of change through effort. To me his teaching seems essentially to be a list of tricks and methods through which one can achieve a cessation of negative or worrisome thoughts. Such a cessation he says, can come about through the disidentification with such negative thoughts. This he suggest is done by saying ‘yes’ to what occurs in the present moment - or ‘yes’ to the now.

This sounds good to the troubled soul, but what seems to be a path out of darkness all too often is not. And such is the case I feel, with Eckhart’s teachings. Consider - you are worrying about how to pay for your daughter’s wedding when suddenly your pet dog rushes into your arms and starts licking your face. As you laugh and pet her, you realize that you had not needed any effort, any tricks, or any understanding of the infinite to forget your worries. You did not need to say ‘yes’ to the ‘now’.  It simply happened.

And this may be a fundamental misjudgment in Eckhart Tolle’s teaching. The fact that spontaneous joy simply happens of its own accord is ignored for a list of mental exercises which serve to strengthen the very thing that is the problem in the first place - thought. And additionally, the belief that thought must be 'corrected'. His exercises seem little more than resisting spontaneous joy by trying to say ‘yes’ to it - in other words by attempting to control that which spontaneously occurs whether in the world or in the mind

Eckhart’s path therefore may lead nowhere. It results in strengthening of ideation and the assumption of personal power. Hence it is yet another version of the religion of ophraism, albeit more thoroughly disguised.  To me Eckhart's philosophy is a system bereft of true presence. It seeks rather for a better future through control of the present. The aim appears to be an “end of suffering” - in essence branding awakening as little more than a form of feel-good psychology.

On Eckhart’s website he charges $6.00 for 5×7 pictures of himself. At a recent talk with roughly 1000 people in attendance the price was $75 per ticket for a mere three hour talk with no questions from or interaction with the audience. I gently remind the reader that those who are truly awake - Buddha, Jesus, Nisagardatta, Ramana Maharshi, Ibn El Arabi, Rabia, and others have never taught for profit... or even for sustenance. If money is needed for teaching then it ought never, ever be taken from those in need or in pain - that is to say, the very people who attend satsangs or so-called 'spiritual' talks and lectures. As the saying goes, if you need money to proselytize, get a real job

Eckhart says that he perceives the world like ripples on the surface of being - that underneath there is a vastness of being and a vast stillness. I have no reason to doubt his belief or honesty in this. Yet I would suggest that such a statement is not detachment in the way that Ramana Maharshi, Buddha, Nisagardatta, Rumi, or others fully awake have pointed toward. Rather it instead perhaps, numbness.