Eckhart Tolle: Difference between revisions

Eckhart Tolle (German pronunciation: [ˈɛk.haʀt ˈtɔlə], born Ulrich Leonard Tolle, February 16, 1948) is a German-born public speaker, a teacher on spirituality and the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth.^[2][3]

Tolle was born Ulrich Leonard Tolle in Lünen, Germany, near Dortmund. He changed his name from Ulrich to Eckhart because of his admiration for the German philosopher and mystic, Meister Eckhart.^[4] He has described his childhood as unhappy, especially the years up to age 13, spent in Germany. He said there was much conflict in his home, and that he did not enjoy attending German primary school, perceiving it as a hostile environment.^[5] He also says he felt depressed by the recurring perception of "pain in the energy field of the country," especially when playing in bombed-out buildings.^[6] At 13 he moved to Spain to live with his father, who gave him the choice of attending school or studying at home.^[3][4][5] He opted for the latter and from then until age 22 took no formal schooling. He instead pursued creative and philosophical interests, studying literature, astronomy and language on his own.^[5][7]

At 19, he moved to England and for three years taught German and Spanish to businessmen in a London language school.^[8] Toward the end of this time, motivated by "depression, anxiety and fear," he started "searching for answers to life."^[5]He says,

At age twenty-two or twenty-three ... I became interested in intellectual matters. My mind became more and more active. I was seeking some kind of answer through the intellect, through philosophy, psychology, and literature. And I believed that the answer was to be found in the intellect and philosophy. So that is when I started getting qualifications in preparatory evening classes that I needed to get into the university in England.^[5]

After graduating from the University of London, he began research at Cambridge University as a postgraduate student, matriculating in 1977.^[2][7]

One night in 1977, at the age of 29, after having suffered from long periods of suicidal depression, Tolle says he experienced an "inner transformation."^[2] He woke up in the middle of that night, suffering from feelings of depression so intense that it was "almost unbearable." ^[5] He says,

I couldn’t live with myself any longer. And in this a question arose without an answer: who is the ‘I’ that cannot live with the self? What is the self? I felt drawn into a void. I didn’t know at the time that what really happened was the mind-made self, with its heaviness, its problems, that lives between the unsatisfying past and the fearful future, collapsed. It dissolved. The next morning I woke up and everything was so peaceful. The peace was there because there was no self. Just a sense of presence or “beingness,” just observing and watching.^[8]

Tolle recalls going out for a walk in London the next morning, and finding that “everything was miraculous, deeply peaceful. Even the traffic."^[5] He says he began to feel a sense of underlying peace in any situation.^[9] For a period of about two years after this, according to the Telegraph, he spent a great deal of time sitting “in a state of deep bliss" on park benches in Russell Square, Central London, "watching the world go by.” He stayed with friends or occasionally in a Buddhist monastery, and slept rough in Hampstead Heath. His family thought him “irresponsible, even insane.’^[8]

After this period, various people, including former Cambridge students and people met by chance, began to ask him about his beliefs. Over the next five years, more students came to Tolle and he relocated to Glastonbury, three hours West of London, a major centre of alternative living.^[10] Eventually, he began working again in London as a counselor and spiritual teacher.^[2][11]

In 1995, at the age of 47, he moved to Vancouver.^[1][12]

Soon after, Tolle published his first book, The Power of Now, which has been translated into 33 languages.^[2][13]

Tolle gives speeches and workshops,^[3] most of which are given in English, but occasionally gives talks in German and in Spanish.^[11] He travels for speaking engagements, seminars and retreats.^[1][14]

Tolle has formed a company called Eckhart Teachings which sells related products and spiritual materials.^[15] In a 2003 interview with the Telegraph Magazine, Tolle indicated that he has no intention of creating "a heavy commercial structure." Neither has he any intention of setting up an ashram or centre, but has left open the possibility that one "could develop organically."^[16] He has said "one needs to be careful that the organization doesn’t become self-serving."^[9]

In 2008 Tolle partnered with Oprah Winfrey to create a series of webinar sessions.^[17] In 2009 he created an Internet site, called Eckhart Tolle TV, with streaming video of weekly group meditations.^[9] His most recent book, Guardians of Being, is a picture book illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the comic strip Mutts.^[9][18]

According to a 2009 article in the New York Times, Tolle is "not identified with any religion, but uses teachings from Zen Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and the Bible".^[2] Tolle acknowledges that he has been influenced by 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 Linji (Rinzai) school.^{[citation needed]} As an adult he found deep understanding in the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching and teachings of The Buddha.^[5]

At the age of fifteen Tolle read several books written by the German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô Yin Râ. Tolle has said he responded "very deeply" to those books.^[5] In the book Dialogues with Emerging Spiritual Teachers by John W. Parker, Tolle acknowledges a strong connection to J Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi and says that his teaching is a coming together and continuation of each of their teachings. In addition, he has stated that by listening to and speaking with the spiritual teacher Barry Long he understood things more deeply.^[5][14]

Tolle says that his book, The Power of Now, is "a restatement for our time of that one timeless spiritual teaching, the essence of all religions"^[19] and that religions "have become so overlaid with extraneous matter that their spiritual substance has become almost completely obscured",^[19] that they have become "to a large extent ... divisive rather than unifying forces" and that they have become "themselves part of the insanity".^[20]

Tolle writes that "the most significant thing that can happen to a human being [is] the separation process of thinking and awareness" and that awareness is "the space in which thoughts exist".^[21] Tolle says that "the primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it".^[22]

According to Tolle's official website, "at the core of Tolle's teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet."^[1]

In his book A New Earth, Tolle defines the term "ego" as an "illusory sense of self"^[23] based on one's memories and thoughts.^[24] He also uses the term "pain-body",^[2] which he defines in "A New Earth" as "an accumulation of old emotional pain".^[25]

Tolle's philosophy is that by removing oneself from thoughts and ego and by focusing on each present moment the individual will have greater appreciation of his/her life.^[3] This philosophy encourages people to overcome the dominance of the mind and ego over the body, which Tolle calls the "pain body".^[2]

As of March 2009, The Power of Now had been on the New York Times Best Seller list for "Paperback Advice" for 62 weeks.^[2][26] His second book, A New Earth, was published in 2005 and also reached the New York Times bestseller list.^[27]

In a review of Tolle's book The Power of Now, Tolle's basic message is described as disconnecting from the thinking mind and shifting the attention from "mind to Being, from time to presence".^[28]

Another book reviewer said of Tolle's book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, that the book is thought provoking and interesting but that it advocates an image of the human condition and well-being that is not based on a scientific understanding of human nature.^[29]

Tolle lives in Vancouver, with his wife, Kim Eng.^{[1][2][11][12]}

• Eckhart Tolle's official website
• Book Review: Power of Now

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