The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

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hexxdemon
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The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by hexxdemon »

This is a very interesting book that gives a lot of insights as to how we perceive ourselves.

Most people are constantly thinking about the future, or the past, which are mere illusions. The only thing that's real is the "now".

He also talks about the concept of ego, and how problems with the way we perceive ourselves and the world have caused so much hatred and killing throughout history.

Very wide-reaching book. Somewhat difficult to summarize but certainly worth reading.
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

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Eckhard Tolle, the crowd-pleasing narcissistic philosopher with the biggest ego around, has jumped now on the "now" bandwagon.

He is hard to summarize because he does not say anything ever. He utters flowery statements that make the more intelligent kinds of sentimental women swoon, but he is woefully void of substance. However, I reckon (i.e. the following is not a fact but mere conjecture) he gets a tremendous amount more blowjobs from good-looking women than I do. So there is some merit in his modus operandi.
Logik
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Logik »

-1- wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:45 am I reckon (i.e. the following is not a fact but mere conjecture) he gets a tremendous amount more blowjobs from good-looking women than I do. So there is some merit in his modus operandi.
So what you are saying is Eckhard Tolle is a pickup artist first and foremost.
Atla
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Atla »

hexxdemon wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:43 am This is a very interesting book that gives a lot of insights as to how we perceive ourselves.

Most people are constantly thinking about the future, or the past, which are mere illusions. The only thing that's real is the "now".

He also talks about the concept of ego, and how problems with the way we perceive ourselves and the world have caused so much hatred and killing throughout history.

Very wide-reaching book. Somewhat difficult to summarize but certainly worth reading.
If the past is an illusion then you never actually wrote this comment right? :)

Yeah Tolle is basically just a successful scam artist who makes tons of money by watering down, dumbing down some Eastern wisdom (which he doesn't quite understand), and then presenting it as his own to a Western audience. He has this insufferable "I'm-smarter-and-holier-than-thou-and-I'm-always right-you're-just-too-dumb-to-understand-it-you-little-moron" attitude.

I think Tolle did have some sort of genuine awakening experience, but it was a side-effect of a nervous breakdown when he was at a very low point of his life. And now he's just overcompensating for his past percieved failures and for being short unattractive and pathologically emotionally detached. Hardly the most authentic figure to learn from about the eternal present.

On the other hand even such an exposure to Eastern ideas may be better than no exposure at all.
Dubious
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

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-1- wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:45 am Eckhard Tolle, the crowd-pleasing narcissistic philosopher with the biggest ego around, has jumped now on the "now" bandwagon.

He is hard to summarize because he does not say anything ever. He utters flowery statements that make the more intelligent kinds of sentimental women swoon, but he is woefully void of substance. However, I reckon (i.e. the following is not a fact but mere conjecture) he gets a tremendous amount more blowjobs from good-looking women than I do. So there is some merit in his modus operandi.
That's one way to suck-in enlightenment! I'm sure Deepak already had this figured out long ago.
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

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Poor Eckhart. We picked him apart so! If it were not for for the huge imbalance of blow-jobs, I'd feel pity for him.
Dubious
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Dubious »

All of the enlightenment crap is BS make for suckers who think there's wisdom in it. It's all just a chicken soup with added sodium for the soul kind of publishing business though a better title would be Enlightenment for Idiots because that's who it's for.
Atla
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Atla »

Dubious wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:06 am All of the enlightenment crap is BS make for suckers who think there's wisdom in it. It's all just a chicken soup with added sodium for the soul kind of publishing business though a better title would be Enlightenment for Idiots because that's who it's for.
Awakening/enlightenment/ego-death is real, it's THE one thing to figure out, but it's of course not at all how it's marketed, has nothing to do with rainbows and pure bliss. It's just a process of figuring out our "true nature" which is the Absolute, but the realization doesn't change much. Tolle understands little of this, distorts things a lot.
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Walker »

Sequel: The Power of Then
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Greta
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Greta »

I think Eckhart is delightful. I like the way he thinks and how he is an oasis of calm and serenity in a world full of big attitudes and egos.
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Post by henry quirk »

Years ago: I knew a Unitarian minister, David Ord...big con man...big Tolle fan...pretty much every sermon incorporated some Tolle pith. Lost touch with David but, as I understand it, he went on to edit for Tolle...he may still be doin' that.

It's all crap...touchy-feely, tree-huggin', crystal-rubbin' bullshit designed separate dips from their cash.
Walker
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

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I can't recall any false communications by Tolle.
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Walker »

hexxdemon wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:43 am
Most people are constantly thinking about the future, or the past, which are mere illusions. The only thing that's real is the "now".
Since the future or the past can only be thought about in the NOW, then that sentence makes sense only if the NOW is not content dependent. Do you think it is?

Many people live within the reality of illusion. For instance, if you don't pay your taxes, your reality of property ownership which was an illusion will be dispelled by reality even though you paid money and have a deed.

The question is, since all things old are new again, is it delusion to see the past within the present? No, it's not. Seeing the past in the present is a crucial aspect of judgment.

Illusion is to literally see the past as the present to such an extent that perception and interpretation of reality is false, but if you're that far gone you're probably yelling at people to get off your lawn.
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Greta
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Greta »

Superseded. See below.
Last edited by Greta on Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Greta
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Re: The Power of Now - by Eckhart Tolle

Post by Greta »

Henry, your con man who liked Tolle no more reflects on the latter than Charles Manson's use of the song Blackbird reflected on Paul McCartney'. When you put a product out there, you can't control how it is consumed, nor should you be able to. Also, a sample size of is not very convincing.

Walker wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:30 pmMany people live within the reality of illusion. For instance, if you don't pay your taxes, your reality of property ownership which was an illusion will be dispelled by reality even though you paid money and have a deed.
Property ownership is not an illusion if you pay your debts - because debts aren't illusions either. By the same token, life is not an illusion because it needs to be maintained and worked at to sustain.

Thing is, the present already contains the past - in fact 99.99etc% of the present is the past. Think of it as like standing on a planet - the past is the rock you stand on, the present is the shifting dust on the surface directly under your feet, soon to become one with the rock.

The issue here is that people like ET (hehe) are needed because high populations of humans in tight clusters are clearly selected (natural/cultural selection) and they now dominate the globe, but there's a cost. As the whole increases in population, individuals become more stressed and unhappy. Neurotic.

Humans are impressive and powerful animals. Put enough of them together to compete amongst one another and it's damn stressful and hard for each. I suspect that our brains still haven't quite left the tribe - events have moved so much faster than our brains can evolve. Cities put people in a hyper mental state of mild fight or flight.

So people with exceptionally low levels of neuroticism, like ET, are needed to help settle others down. Certainly there is demand from at least some of the agitated masses for calming voices such as his. I think there is considerable jealously and tall poppy syndrome in some of the above comments on this thread because the man is pretty harmless and apparently helpful for many. Yes, he's made money but then again, why shouldn't he when someone like Bill O'Reilly, who is also only paid to sprout opinions, has a net worth about four times ET's (after winning a damages case that netted him over double ET's entire monetary worth) - and he has probably brought far less happiness into the world.
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