Contra Tolle, Part 4

Eckhart Tolle and others in a long line of so-called spiritual teachers tell us that our attempts to gain fulfillment from pleasures like material goods, community or work-related success and recognition, or even loving relationships carry with them a risk of pain and disappointment. By contrast, real fulfillment is an inner 'state of being'.

In my view, this teaching devalues our experiences of pleasure in our relationships and achievements in life. In doing so it devalues our life and therefore our spirit, that which makes us alive.

Yes, there is always a risk of failure when we attempt to achieve something important to us. When we achieve what we want, it is right for us to feel good about it. It is right to celebrate our achievement.

Likewise, when we fail to achieve what we want, it is right that we feel disappointed. We do well to learn from our failures rather than use them as excuses to turn inward and seek fulfillment in some "inner state of being."

When we are sick, depressed, or anxious it isn't the best time for us to pursue our dreams. Like Tolle, when we're miserable and lack resilience we do well to take a break, avoid the additional stress of risk, and take good care of ourselves in order to improve our health. Turning inward is a type of mental and emotional therapy, a type of anesthesia, we can use when we're miserable and unable to deal directly with our failures and disappointments in life.

However, turning inward to seek so-called "real fulfillment" in an inner state of being is not for strong, healthy, creative, productive individuals. Strong, healthy, creative, and productive individuals, individuals strong in spirit, not only cope well when they fail and experience disappointments, they learn from and draw on them to rise up and face life's new challenges. When they succeed they rightly take pleasure in and celebrate their achievements. 

Healthy spirits don't need to seek fulfillment in an inner 'state of being.' They're too bust making a meaningful difference in the world.

Contra Tolle, Part 3

Eckhart Tolle and others believe that time is an illusion and that we should learn to live in the Eternal Now.

In my view, time is essential to our human perspective and life. We experience change and the passage of time as we live. We selectively remember our past experiences. We anticipate what might happen in our future. 

Our skill, knowledge and wisdom are fruits of our past. We often distill them in stories, pictures, dances, and songs.

We dream, anticipate, plan, prepare for, and act to realize our future. There is much wisdom in doing so.

More than an element of practicality informs our remembering and anticipating. We also have very rich emotions associated with both our memories and anticipations.

Some of our emotions are pleasurable. Others are painful. Still others are mixed.

Why might someone devalue time to the level of illusion?

Why might someone say that we should let go of both our memories of the past and our anticipations of our future?

Why posit the existence of a divine-like Eternal Now?

Could living in an imagined Eternal Now be a type of mental and emotional  anesthesia for the hypersensitive? Could the Eternal Now be an escape from memories that depress and anticipations that make anxious? 

Prior to his so-called enlightenment Tolle was by his own account a miserable, depressed, and anxious man. The divine-like Eternal Now gave him relief from what he could not otherwise cope with.

However, what helps the sickly and miserable can be harmful for those who are healthy. Healthy spirits have no need to anesthetize themselves from depressing memories or anxiety-provoking anticipations. 

They learn from their past and rise to meet whatever challenges they might face in the future. They're emotionally, mentally, and physically resilient. 

They are of such character that they fully feel their emotions without being debilitated by them. They both feel and live fully in the present with their memories and anticipations. Living in an imagined Eternal Now is irrelevant to them. They need no anesthesia. 

Contra Tolle, Part 1

A belief common to Vedanta, some Buddhist traditions, and many New Agers, in particular Eckhart Tolle, is that our 'ego self', or 'mind', is not our 'true self'.

In my view, I am not split into an ego and a true self. I do not have an ego. I am an ego. I am my true self and my true self is me. There is no other me but me.  

To devalue my ego is to devalue my true self. To devalue my true self is to devalue my life. To devalue my life is to devalue my spirit. 

To devalue my spirit is to practice an anti-spirituality rather than a spirituality.

So, in my view, the "ego vs true self" belief is a belief that when acted on is actually harmful to healthy and strong individuals. It promotes withdrawal from rather than engagement with life. 

Perhaps such a belief can at times be helpful when one is very sick, depressed, or anxious like Tolle was. Then it can provide a way of escaping one's miserable life. It's a kind of mental opiate for those unable or unwilling to live life fully.

Love: Nourishment for the Spirit

"Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self-esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world. We turn inward and begin to feed upon our own personalities, and little by little we destroy ourselves.

With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others," Chief Dan George

At this time in the US we live in deep division and strife. We are divided and strive against each other on moral, cultural, religious, economic, political matters and more. Public and private expressions of hatred are common place. Such division and strife nourishes more of the same.

Some choose apathy and depression instead of expressions of hatred . Perhaps more accurately, some of us turn our hatred inward. This feeds apathy and depression. Apathy and depression lead to victimization and breed more of the same.

I find deep wisdom in the words of Chief Dan George. His words ring true in my heart. We must have love. Our spirit is nourished by love. When our spirits lack love and are malnourished we become weak, our self-esteem weakens, our courage fails, we lose our confidence, turn inward, feed on ourselves, and in the end destroy ourselves.

When our spirits are nourished with love, we grow strong, esteem ourselves, have courage and confidence, we have strength and endurance, create beauty, and are able to pour ourselves out for great accomplishments.

What nourishes spirit? Love. What helps a spirit grow strong? Love. What heals a broken or wounded spirit? Love. Yes, we must have love. We must receive it from and give it to ourselves and others.

What is true for our human spirit is true for all spirits- the spirits of all other animals, the spirits of all plants, all the spirits of this earth. Every spirit needs love.