Book Review: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
I posted the following review on Amazon.com on May 24, 2008.
Neo-Buddhism with Significant Errors
By Gary Seeman, Ph.D.
People do become spiritually liberated. I have met such people as best I can tell and encountered charlatans, too. There are many, also, who achieve some relief from suffering by encapsulating that suffering in a well-defended belief system. It is my impression that such is the case with Mr. Tolle. Tolle's flat emotional delivery of the audiobook further suggests that he has encapsulated rather than resolved his inner struggles (this is known as "spiritual bypass"). In contrast, the liberated and advanced people I encountered were not afraid to have a personality but came across as lively and vibrant.
When I started listening, I was at first pleased that someone was explaining the distortions of ego in simple language. But I found myself with the growing impression that Tolle demonizes the ego and the thinking mind and thus creates a false enemy within. I don't want to demonize him, however. He offers many useful insights. Chief among them, he suggests many ways to recognize the illusion of identifying with one's thoughts and feelings and thus not being fully present. But there are important errors in this book, and its stance overall seems distorted. I came across several statements he made authoritatively that are untrue. Here are two of them.
The most important error is Tolle's statement that one cannot prepare for awakening, which can only be realized as an act of Grace. Yes, sometimes awakening seems to emerge from Grace. But such a statement unnecessarily quashes hope. Consider Jesus' admonition to "knock, and the door shall be opened." Also, consider the detailed instructions in meditative traditions about how to build concentration and insight (in Buddhism, shamata and vipasyana), as well as what issues to contemplate to realize the immanent divinity in all of us (see the Tibetan Buddhist Lojong or mind-training slogans).
Although much of Tolle's book comes from the Buddhist tradition, he gets his history wrong. He sees the Buddha as the first to achieve full awakening 2600 years ago. However, Buddhism was a response to the ancient wisdom teachings of India that go back at least 7000 years. A review of those ancient teachings (which are called Sanatana Dharma) reveals that its seers were obviously liberated in a similar way to the Buddha. That is the historical and archeological record, but one can't thus conclude that people didn't fully awaken before that time.
Tolle's and other New Age teachings typically lack the depth and safeguards of mature spiritual traditions that have an extensive scriptural basis, well-developed practices, and which all require a qualified teacher to help the aspirant achieve that which cannot be captured in words. If Tolle relied on such a teacher and tradition, he would not make such errors.
I am told that the Catholic tradition embodies such teaching in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. These require an experienced confessor. Tibetan Buddhism is beautifully explained by many. A good place to start is the two-CD set by H. H. Dalai Lama 14th, Tenzin Gyatso, on The Four Noble Truths. You will find there a subtlety of understanding and an admonition that moksha or liberation is developed through long, patient, and determined practice. Meditation with the help of an advanced teacher, a qualified lama, is essential in that tradition -- and I can tell you from experience this is effective beyond what one could imagine. In the Kundalini Yoga tradition, Layayoga by Goswami is a definitive source book for readers with the patience for a detailed explanation by someone who obviously knew what he was writing about. Here, too, one gets an outline of what may be required, extracted from 280 scriptural sources. But there's no replacement for an adept yogi who is connected with a living, oral lineage guiding one's practices. If you are fortunate enough to find such a teacher, you are carefully assessed before being guided in practice. Then the results are dramatic and unmistakable, and one finds oneself not at the peak, but at the foot of the mountain of the spiritual journey.
If you are interested in Tolle's book, then you are already spiritually curious. You can set foot on the path of return. To do so, find a tradition that speaks truth to you, that produces spiritually advanced people who are kind, have integrity, are not on some power trip, that don't require all of your money or claim that no other tradition can lead you home. Find a tradition that does not make you discard your own sense of truth to adopt its beliefs. Spiritual truth holds up to the test of lived experience. Work directly with an advanced practitioner after you have carefully examined and tested whether you can deeply trust them. Anyway, you must ultimately walk your own path with the teacher's help. Find a tradition that points out the opportunities for realization in everyday life, and that has a well-developed scriptural base. The scriptures are a safeguard against the kinds of errors found in Tolle's book. Lived experience and scientific findings are safeguards against culturally-bound dogma. Scriptures of spiritual depth also contain profound meaning that can only be hinted at in words and may only be realized through lived experience. The teacher's role is to safely guide you in having such experiences yourself.