When I first started listening to Anthony de Mello I noticed a small note on YouTube where the person who had uploaded the audio books had written “like Eckhart Tolle”.
I had never heard of the man but only light digging was required. He is called by some the number one Spiritual Teacher of our times but despite that I had managed to get through a good forty+ years of my life without hearing his name.
To be more exact two years previously my sister had sent me his book The Power of Now which I had managed to put on the book shelf and completely forget about. So even though I had heard about him at one point it had completely failed to register in my memory.
I’ve now read The Power of Now and A New Earth. I’ve watched the Oprah Winfrey Webinars with Tolle and I can really see how he must have opened the eyes of millions.
Nothing new and everything new
What Tolle does, brilliantly, is to repackaged some very old thinking (as in thousands of years old thinking) into a way those in the Western world can understand it.
Core to this thinking is the idea that of I (the observer) and me (the thinker). The I observes thoughts without becoming involved in them which allows you to step back and see the inane chatter that goes on in your head much more clearly.
It allows you to observe emotions like depression without fighting them. Just observing them. It allows you to recognise when you are suddenly becoming defensive just because one of your opinions has been challenged rather than feeling open to having your opinion changed.
Tolle describes ‘me’ as the ego. Something inside you that is always wanting things from the outside world. If you can stand back as ‘I’ and watch the ego its power over you is greatly diminished and with that you can feel a whole lot happier.
I don’t argue with any of that. It is central to the thinkings of Buddhism and to be fair Tolle doesn’t try to claim he has just come up with the idea.
The Now concept
Tolle’s ‘Now’ is all about understanding that this is where we always are. Tomorrow hasn’t happened yet and yesterday has gone and can’t be changed.
Worrying about yesterday is pointless because it cannot be altered. Worrying about tomorrow is pointless because it hasn’t happened yet. Enjoy now.
You can use now to think about what actions you will take and in the next now take those actions. So this isn’t some ‘just sit around, do nothing, be happy’ philosophy.
However being unhappy about ‘now’ doesn’t help anyone. Accept ‘now’, be happy with it and make what plans or take what actions you can if you have a goal you would like to achieve.
Mine, for example, is to put myself in a financial position to move country. In this mental journey of mine I have become far happier with the place I live. I’d say I’m even happy here but that doesn’t stop me having a preference to move country.
Even better, for me, is that I haven’t said “If I move to that country I will be happy”. That would just lock me into unhappiness here and I’ll be far less effective at actions that will help me make the move.
Truth is I have no idea if I really will like the other country ‘better’. I would just like to go there to experience a different culture.
Again though, the ‘now’ concept is not new. Its really a repackaging of ancient Eastern teachings about not attaching happiness to things, events, people or the outcome of actions.
The step too far for Tolle?
Tolle does greatly follow De Mello but in a way that is obviously more appealing to a broader audience.
But then his next step is to introduce the ‘Pain-Body’.
We’ve all experienced moments when our mind seems to want to hijack us with negative thoughts. “Do you remember when you did that stupid thing?”, “Do you remember when you said X and every body laughed at you?”.
Usually your mind seems to go on a full on “you are rubbish” attack. Tolle calls this the Pain-Body.
If you meet someone in a bad mood who then tries to put you in a bad mood by insulting you, even though you are nothing to do with their dark clouds – this is their Pain-Body trying to activate your Pain-Body.
Then there are groups or societies that have collective Pain-Body’s
The Pain-Body concept
I love it! I don’t believe in it but I love it because it provides a framework through which many people do seem to have made a whole lot more sense of their lives as well as their own emotions.
And yet I don’t believe it. There is absolutely no evidence that such a thing exists. In the future such evidence might be produced at which point I will believe it but right now it just seems to be an explanation based on a hunch.
What that means is that you have to ‘believe’ and this seems to be at odds with what Tolle actually says earlier:
“Belief Structures. Belief systems that can be satisfying for a while but sooner or later your belief system will clash with reality and will lead to suffering.”
And, if anything, the concept of the Pain-Body is just that, a belief structure.
So I’m all for saying Tolle’s basic work on the Ego and on ‘now’ is absolutely brilliant but when he goes on to create imaginary things but talks about them as if they were factual is the point where I stop buying into his thinking.
Vibrations
Tolle also talks about vibrations and frequencies as if they were factual. We get on better with people of the same vibration. Feeling down? Hand around with someone who has a higher vibration.
The vibration idea is widespread and very old indeed. Its also seen in the likes of Paganism which predates the bible. Again its one of those things which makes you want to say “Oh yeah, that makes sense”.
Now sure, an an atomic level things do vibrate. The atoms in a stone are vibrating just a lot slower than those in boiling water. But there is no proof to suggest that we as humans are aware of those or that a more positive person is vibrating more than a negative one.
So again I draw the line with Tolle before that.
What to take from Tolle
Tolle writes in a way that is easy to understand and starts with things which are very factual. We can all split our minds in two parts and let one observe the other. We can all take on the fact that there is little point worrying about future events, our energy would be better placed in actions.
But then he continues with the not so factual and its easy to accidentally take it on board as truth.
I would say everyone should read ‘A New Earth’ but at each step consider “Is that a truth or a concept”. Concepts can be helpful but only when we realise them as that and know that one day they will be challenged and may end up being proved false.