farcanal29 (January 9th, 2009 @ 7:19 am)

The money issue...Eckhart didn't find contentment in his life when he made money he found it when he was penniless. That was 30 yrs ago. After that he studied the work of others who had also "awakened". If you are drowning and someone pulls alongside you in a boat and offers a hand...would you only accept help if he had less than 20$ in his pocket ? Or would that be irrelevant?

haldor72 (January 9th, 2009 @ 6:38 am)

An Eckhart book was passed to me many years ago and I passed it on and bought another copy second hand...cost me very little. We can read as many recipe books as we want and see that many recipes are borrowed from different cultures. If we don't make the meal and eat it then it's all meaningless and we will go hungry. Practising awareness is the reality . Words are merely pointers. No good to keep reading and saying to ourselves that we know. Taste it ..then you'll recognise it in others.

enddogmanow (January 9th, 2009 @ 3:42 am)

moana: Beautifully put! Yep, showing up and being fully present in your "showing up-ness" ... does it for me :)

moana2222 (January 9th, 2009 @ 1:18 am)

thawkeye hi, "HH the Dalai Lamae provides great, rational, self-help tips, without the fluffiness." He is a Great One, isn't he? I like Yogananda for that reason too. At times, when I listen to Tolle, I experience a quiet mind. From there I can see that there is no rationale needed. There is just the moment, showing up. So, for me, all three offer wonderful but different experiences.

gmrtrumpet (January 9th, 2009 @ 12:03 am)

thawkeye24's books can be found in the humor section at Barnes and Noble. So what if you've read the many books you have claimed to have read. Doesn't mean you understand any of what you've read. Tolle may talk in circles but you talk in squares and offer nothing in the words you have written. Just negativity and criticism. What have you offered humanity in the little writings you have posted here? Nothing. You are just sound and fury signifying nothing.

thawkeye24 (January 8th, 2009 @ 9:01 pm)

You're an idiot...

thawkeye24 (January 8th, 2009 @ 8:57 pm)

And some people may pick up a piece of glass and walk away thinking "it was a diamond". So, Tolle may seem to sparkle, but his words lack depth. It's a shame to see the ancient texts reduced to this, and for profit! He is no different than a TV evangelist, except for New Age enthusiasts! Why not have the same admiration for HH the 14th Dalai Lama? He provides great, rational, self-help tips, without the fluffiness, and without the feeling that someone just dug money out of your pocket!! :)

thawkeye24 (January 8th, 2009 @ 8:43 pm)

I've read and admired Eastern philosophy and its correlation to psychology. I read and enjoy many books on Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, philosophy, etc. And, in my opinion, Tolle offers nothing new; he talks in circles; and contains a great deal of fluffiness that becomes frustrating, particularly when one realizes how much money this guy makes through regurgitation. Tolle seems no different than any other charlatan that profits from people's hope for happiness.

enddogmanow (January 8th, 2009 @ 12:45 am)

scrubks: "spiritually is dogma". There is nothing akin to doctrine in my spiritual awareness. You are hung up on a word (spirituality) and project your own judgement onto it. I agree with goddessDH, genuine awareness is pure acceptance of being now.

goddessdownhere (January 7th, 2009 @ 5:14 pm)

"Spirituality" IS dogma - err not exactly.. dogma is an established written set of beliefs . Based often on faith in doctrine. Wanting to be more than one already is ... True spiritual awareness is precisely being what one already is...warts and all.

scrubks (January 7th, 2009 @ 1:19 pm)

"Spirituality" IS dogma -- you want to become something other than what you are: "mature" something, "abandon" something else. To do that you form an idea -- and live by it. ALL ideas are mental disturbances.

enddogmanow (January 7th, 2009 @ 6:02 am)

Without cultural sanction, most or all our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance. ~John F. Schumaker I for one would like to see this "cultural sanctioning" end, starting with the religious indoctrination of children through the "education" system, and well-meaning but ignorant parents, lest we influence yet another generation of wars and hatred based on worshiping the "wrong" sky-god. It's time we matured spiritualy and abandoned our need for dogma.