Oprah and Eckhart's discussions about religion and evolution in part II of Chapter 10 have even more significance with creationist Sarah Palin running for vice-president. Suddenly the culture wars are back this fall as atheists like Richard Dawkins attacks religion with renewed fervor thanks to Palin's fundamentalist political positions, which include supporting the teaching of creationism along side evolution in science classes.
In this section of Chapter 10 you will see Eckhart resolving these differences, which as he says, "only add more content" and finding resolution to the war between science and religion in the notion of "the evolutionary impulse of the universe".
Monday, October 13, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Oprah and Eckhart shine in Chapter 10
Chapter 10 is the grand finale of the webinar series. The show ran 2 hrs and 2 minutes and was beautifully paced. You get a sense that these 2 guys really got a groove going & could do any show in any length or format. Because it is so long we will be presenting it in 2 parts. Chapter 10 Part 2 will be delivered to subscribers next week.
This program, like Chapters 8 and 9, are a must see. Chapter 10 stands alone as an excellent example of the Oprah-Eckhart paradigm shift. Oprah and Eckhart kept the heat on their interpretation of religion and Christianity and how the Eckhart teachings are NOT a belief system. Instead of backing off the word 'evolution', as a fundamentalist couple requested in Chapter 9, Oprah and Eckhart kept returning to that term again and again.
This program, like Chapters 8 and 9, are a must see. Chapter 10 stands alone as an excellent example of the Oprah-Eckhart paradigm shift. Oprah and Eckhart kept the heat on their interpretation of religion and Christianity and how the Eckhart teachings are NOT a belief system. Instead of backing off the word 'evolution', as a fundamentalist couple requested in Chapter 9, Oprah and Eckhart kept returning to that term again and again.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Things fall into line when you are in alignment
Wow! Chapter 9 started with a bang & certainly did not end with a whimper. Despite Eckhart appearing again a little under the weather (perhaps the unwanted side-effect of all the fame & attention), Chapter 9 was by any measure the finest program in the series.
With 52 seconds of silent meditation on an Old Testament Bible quotation from the Book of Psalms, Eckhart fires the opening salvo on the recurring theme that has developed in these programs -- integrating contemporary Christianity with direct spiritual experience.
The show has barely started & Eckhart is reminding his audience that many contemporary Christians do not associate silence with their faith & yet for contemplative Christians this has been their principal form of worship for 2 millennia. The silent meditation on Psalms 46:10 immediately followed to prove the point.
There can now be no doubt that Oprah & Eckhart are openly responding to e-mails, Skypers, & callers with the specific purpose of inviting them to integrate their Christianity with the Power of Now.
It's not so much that they took the gloves off with fundamentalists, it's more like they don't care. Both made it clear that A New Earth may not be the book for people who believe the earth is only 6,000 years old.
And even though fundamentalists have accused Oprah on her message boards of being a sinner and a Scientologist, she goes right ahead on the very same program talking about her visit to the Colorado mountain retreat of her friend Tom Cruise -- a vocal Scientologist.
All of this is to say that each of us has to find out what path we are aligned with or as Eckhart taught in this class: "Things fall into line when you are in alignment."
With 52 seconds of silent meditation on an Old Testament Bible quotation from the Book of Psalms, Eckhart fires the opening salvo on the recurring theme that has developed in these programs -- integrating contemporary Christianity with direct spiritual experience.
The show has barely started & Eckhart is reminding his audience that many contemporary Christians do not associate silence with their faith & yet for contemplative Christians this has been their principal form of worship for 2 millennia. The silent meditation on Psalms 46:10 immediately followed to prove the point.
There can now be no doubt that Oprah & Eckhart are openly responding to e-mails, Skypers, & callers with the specific purpose of inviting them to integrate their Christianity with the Power of Now.
It's not so much that they took the gloves off with fundamentalists, it's more like they don't care. Both made it clear that A New Earth may not be the book for people who believe the earth is only 6,000 years old.
And even though fundamentalists have accused Oprah on her message boards of being a sinner and a Scientologist, she goes right ahead on the very same program talking about her visit to the Colorado mountain retreat of her friend Tom Cruise -- a vocal Scientologist.
All of this is to say that each of us has to find out what path we are aligned with or as Eckhart taught in this class: "Things fall into line when you are in alignment."
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Christain protest-fest continues as McCain chooses a Creationist veep
Like Oprah's friend Michael Jordan, folks are publishing books to "be like Eckhart", Oprah's new spiritual friend.
After sitting on book store shelves pretty much unnoticed in 2005, Eckhart's book A New Earth is enjoying a fantastic revival, having sold over 3 million copies this spring during Oprah & Eckhart's joint webcast.
Other spiritual teachers, psychics, mystics--even fundamentalist Christians--are trying to ride the Eckhart phenom to bring attention to themselves, their books, workshops, & teachings.
Fundamentalist Christians have been the most organized & vocal in protesting Eckhart's teachings because he paraphrases Jesus & the Bible often. So it's no surprise that a book called A New Earth An Old Deception: Awakening to the Dangers of Eckhart Tolle's #1 Bestseller just happens to look exactly like the cover of ANE. (How handy for Google search rankings.)
Now that a Creationist vice-presidential nominee is running on the republican ticket, we'll see how that plays out with Oprah's endorsement of Obama. Next week we'll give a report on Palin on the Oprah.com message boards.
Other folks are offering classes, webcasts, even channelings, claiming to facilitate Eckhart's teachings. Their own Google ads sometimes appear in the advertiser column of this blog!
After sitting on book store shelves pretty much unnoticed in 2005, Eckhart's book A New Earth is enjoying a fantastic revival, having sold over 3 million copies this spring during Oprah & Eckhart's joint webcast.
Other spiritual teachers, psychics, mystics--even fundamentalist Christians--are trying to ride the Eckhart phenom to bring attention to themselves, their books, workshops, & teachings.
Fundamentalist Christians have been the most organized & vocal in protesting Eckhart's teachings because he paraphrases Jesus & the Bible often. So it's no surprise that a book called A New Earth An Old Deception: Awakening to the Dangers of Eckhart Tolle's #1 Bestseller just happens to look exactly like the cover of ANE. (How handy for Google search rankings.)
Now that a Creationist vice-presidential nominee is running on the republican ticket, we'll see how that plays out with Oprah's endorsement of Obama. Next week we'll give a report on Palin on the Oprah.com message boards.
Other folks are offering classes, webcasts, even channelings, claiming to facilitate Eckhart's teachings. Their own Google ads sometimes appear in the advertiser column of this blog!
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Timeless Now and Daily Life
Chapter 7 is advertised as the program that will help each of us understand who we really are.
After the opening moment of silence, which has grown to an all time record of 54 seconds, Eckhart leads all of us in an Awareness Meditation. He says that the most fundamental question of your life is knowing who you are and who you are not.
This is also the web cast where Eckhart introduces a wonderful new interpretation of the Christian cross. He explained that the horizontal bar represents daily life and the vertical bar represents spiritual life. The spiritual vertical is the Timeless Now and the daily horizontal brings the stress that comes from "not being in the present moment."
So once again, Eckhart indirectly hammers away at the negative connotations of Original Sin & the Crucifixion by saying "negativity is never a good way of dealing with a situation". You'll see all of this and more in Chapter 7.
After the opening moment of silence, which has grown to an all time record of 54 seconds, Eckhart leads all of us in an Awareness Meditation. He says that the most fundamental question of your life is knowing who you are and who you are not.
This is also the web cast where Eckhart introduces a wonderful new interpretation of the Christian cross. He explained that the horizontal bar represents daily life and the vertical bar represents spiritual life. The spiritual vertical is the Timeless Now and the daily horizontal brings the stress that comes from "not being in the present moment."
So once again, Eckhart indirectly hammers away at the negative connotations of Original Sin & the Crucifixion by saying "negativity is never a good way of dealing with a situation". You'll see all of this and more in Chapter 7.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Breaking Free of the Pain Body
The subject matter for Chapter 6 was "Breaking Free of the Pain Body" & yet a caller from Dubai got into a meaningless dialogue with Tolle about whether she should wait for her boyfriend to commit.
So even though it looks like the Oprah-Eckhart team kind of jumped the groove they had so powerfully settled into there still were some jewels in the media desert. Oprah kicked off the show with a beautiful reading from Eckhart's tiny tome Stillness Speaks.
Despite the thousands of e-mails of protesting Protestants, Eckhart gave a beautiful description of Jesus on the Cross symbolizing humanity's limitations & deep sufferings. He then contrasted that with just the cross symbol by itself symbolizing the Divine. He went on to say that being trapped in Ego = Evil and that another word for Satan is Ego.
Many viewers will agree, but I fear that the fundamentalists have been given even more cannon-fodder. With Sarah Palin the presumptive Republican Vice-Presidential nominee portrayed in the press as "an anti-abortion, pro-creationism, death penalty diva" raised in the Pentecostal Church, fundamentalism has a new entree to confront Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama. More on that as the story develops.
So even though it looks like the Oprah-Eckhart team kind of jumped the groove they had so powerfully settled into there still were some jewels in the media desert. Oprah kicked off the show with a beautiful reading from Eckhart's tiny tome Stillness Speaks.
Despite the thousands of e-mails of protesting Protestants, Eckhart gave a beautiful description of Jesus on the Cross symbolizing humanity's limitations & deep sufferings. He then contrasted that with just the cross symbol by itself symbolizing the Divine. He went on to say that being trapped in Ego = Evil and that another word for Satan is Ego.
Many viewers will agree, but I fear that the fundamentalists have been given even more cannon-fodder. With Sarah Palin the presumptive Republican Vice-Presidential nominee portrayed in the press as "an anti-abortion, pro-creationism, death penalty diva" raised in the Pentecostal Church, fundamentalism has a new entree to confront Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama. More on that as the story develops.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Chapter 5 - The Pain Body
Many people believe Eckhart's concept of the Pain Body is his main contribution to spiritual thought. Other's disagree.
Some psychologists think the Pain Body concept is misleading & downright dangerous for the mildly to severely mentally ill. Yet, Eckhart openly talks about feeling suicidal at age 9 & then again in his 20s, in part because of his parents' constant arguing.
He once again reassured this week's audience that a dense or heavy Pain Body can be a passport to dropping the ego, compared to a life that is not so burdened.
He points out the obvious about the chronic discord in family, love, political, national, cultural, & religious relationships, and describes all of this as the Pain Body. The body of pain that humans endure because they are lost -- lost in thought and not enjoying the Power of Now.
The ability of the Tolle Teachings team to answer questions from a world audience that may or may not be familiar with Eckhart's esoteric terms was quite striking, as the personal stories of their suffering was intermixed with the stories of strangers calling from Australia to Denmark.
We find out in this webcast that Oprah's beloved dog died on the morning of the second webcast & that Eckhart lost his ego and Pain Body on the same night. Is all of this true?
Some psychologists think the Pain Body concept is misleading & downright dangerous for the mildly to severely mentally ill. Yet, Eckhart openly talks about feeling suicidal at age 9 & then again in his 20s, in part because of his parents' constant arguing.
He once again reassured this week's audience that a dense or heavy Pain Body can be a passport to dropping the ego, compared to a life that is not so burdened.
He points out the obvious about the chronic discord in family, love, political, national, cultural, & religious relationships, and describes all of this as the Pain Body. The body of pain that humans endure because they are lost -- lost in thought and not enjoying the Power of Now.
The ability of the Tolle Teachings team to answer questions from a world audience that may or may not be familiar with Eckhart's esoteric terms was quite striking, as the personal stories of their suffering was intermixed with the stories of strangers calling from Australia to Denmark.
We find out in this webcast that Oprah's beloved dog died on the morning of the second webcast & that Eckhart lost his ego and Pain Body on the same night. Is all of this true?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Complete acceptance is vital
Chapter 4 prepares us for next week's pain body discussion by telling us how to relate to those who are not on a spiritual path.
Eckhart says this begins with an attitude of acceptance. We allow others to be where they are and we refrain from trying to change them or telling them what they should believe. He reminds us that when you react, you actually reinforce the patterns of others and put yourself into conflict with them. It is the ego that judges and relates from superiority (or inferiority). All conflict arises from the ego.
Eckhart reminds us that complete acceptance is vital.
Eckhart says this begins with an attitude of acceptance. We allow others to be where they are and we refrain from trying to change them or telling them what they should believe. He reminds us that when you react, you actually reinforce the patterns of others and put yourself into conflict with them. It is the ego that judges and relates from superiority (or inferiority). All conflict arises from the ego.
Eckhart reminds us that complete acceptance is vital.
Monday, August 11, 2008
I can see my ego working!
Chapter 3 of this webcast is all about the ego. There is a very funny video about a participant named "Bill" who goes on and on about “I can see my ego working!”
Bill, who describes himself as a "53 year old "mid-lifer", raved about the class on the afternoon Oprah TV show. Later in the day this segment was rebroadcast in the half-hour preview of the webcast, and then "Skyper" Bill was the first questioner/commenter when the evening's webcast #3 went live.
Skype is a major player in bringing live interaction to this series of webcasts. They are receiving major praise from Oprah. Oprah loves Skype!
I think she has done a lot to promote Skype as a viable interactive format, even though technically the quality is seriously compromised even compared to the low-bandwidth version of the webcast itself.
Bill, who describes himself as a "53 year old "mid-lifer", raved about the class on the afternoon Oprah TV show. Later in the day this segment was rebroadcast in the half-hour preview of the webcast, and then "Skyper" Bill was the first questioner/commenter when the evening's webcast #3 went live.
Skype is a major player in bringing live interaction to this series of webcasts. They are receiving major praise from Oprah. Oprah loves Skype!
I think she has done a lot to promote Skype as a viable interactive format, even though technically the quality is seriously compromised even compared to the low-bandwidth version of the webcast itself.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Mind is Like a Restless Puppy - Chapter 10, Part 2
Last week our subscribers received the first hour of Chapter 10 of Oprah & Eckhart's New earth webcast. Today we are delivering the 2nd hour of Chapter 10, the powerful close to this compelling program.
Since most of you started receiving these videos midway or even later in the mailings, we will be returning next week with Chapter 1. So our Summer School with Oprah & Eckhart will continue!
Since most of you started receiving these videos midway or even later in the mailings, we will be returning next week with Chapter 1. So our Summer School with Oprah & Eckhart will continue!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Chapter 10, Part 1
This week we have reached chapter 10, which will be presented in 2 parts since this chapter is over 2 hours long. Chapter 10 Part 2 will be delivered to subscribers next week.
This program, like Chapters 8 & 9, are a must see. Chapter 10 stands alone as an excellent example of the Oprah-Eckhart paradigm shift. In another blog we'll explore this more intensely, but for now let's just say that Oprah & Eckhart kept the heat on their interpretation of religion & Christianity & how the Eckhart teachings are NOT a belief system. Instead of backing off the word 'evolution', as a fundamentalist couple requested last week, Oprah & Eckhart kept returning to that term again & again.
This program, like Chapters 8 & 9, are a must see. Chapter 10 stands alone as an excellent example of the Oprah-Eckhart paradigm shift. In another blog we'll explore this more intensely, but for now let's just say that Oprah & Eckhart kept the heat on their interpretation of religion & Christianity & how the Eckhart teachings are NOT a belief system. Instead of backing off the word 'evolution', as a fundamentalist couple requested last week, Oprah & Eckhart kept returning to that term again & again.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Be Like Eckhart
Like Oprah's friend Michael Jordan, folks are publishing books to "be like Eckhart", Oprah's new spiritual friend.
After sitting on book store shelves pretty much unnoticed in 2005, Eckhart's book A New Earth is enjoying a fantastic revival selling over 3 million copies this spring during Oprah & Eckhart's joint webcast.
Other spiritual teachers, psychics, mystics, even fundamentalist Christians are trying to ride the Eckhart phenom to bring attention to themselves, their books, workshops, & teachings.
Fundamentalist Christians have been the most organized & vocal in protesting Eckhart's teachings because he paraphrases Jesus & the Bible often. So it's no surprise that a book called A New Earth An Old Deception: Awakening to the Dangers of Eckhart Tolle's #1 Bestseller just happens to look exactly like the cover of ANE. (How handy for Google search rankings.)
Other folks are offering classes, webcasts, even channelings claiming to facilitate Eckhart's teachings. They even have Google ads that sometimes appear in the advertiser column of this blog!
After sitting on book store shelves pretty much unnoticed in 2005, Eckhart's book A New Earth is enjoying a fantastic revival selling over 3 million copies this spring during Oprah & Eckhart's joint webcast.
Other spiritual teachers, psychics, mystics, even fundamentalist Christians are trying to ride the Eckhart phenom to bring attention to themselves, their books, workshops, & teachings.
Fundamentalist Christians have been the most organized & vocal in protesting Eckhart's teachings because he paraphrases Jesus & the Bible often. So it's no surprise that a book called A New Earth An Old Deception: Awakening to the Dangers of Eckhart Tolle's #1 Bestseller just happens to look exactly like the cover of ANE. (How handy for Google search rankings.)
Other folks are offering classes, webcasts, even channelings claiming to facilitate Eckhart's teachings. They even have Google ads that sometimes appear in the advertiser column of this blog!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Oprah & Eckhart start Summer School, but you're already in it!
The official rebroadcast of the OprahEckhart webinar begins June 16th. But if you have signed up for our weekly delivery of shows via YouTube, you've already been in summer school since the series ended on May 5th.
This week we are delivering Chapter 6 to everyone who has signed up. If you are just signing up now, don't worry, we will cycle back to the 1st program again & you won't miss a single week.
This week we are delivering Chapter 6 to everyone who has signed up. If you are just signing up now, don't worry, we will cycle back to the 1st program again & you won't miss a single week.
Monday, May 26, 2008
More new Oprah & Eckhart on the mysterious Oprah Soul Series!
Why do we say mysterious? Because there seems to be some intentional "sins of omission" about these videos from Oprah's XM radio interviews and we are starting to think it is intentional.
After all, she built a Monday night audience of hundreds of thousands. Now she wants to take that new web-only audience & re-disperse them back into her radio & TV demographic. Makes sense considering the investment she made on her free 10 weeks of webcasts.
The omissions are the nondisclosure of the length of segments from the radio interviews (which will be made available tonight), & the time that they were recorded.
When was tonight's interview with Eckhart recorded?.... Before, during, or after Oprah's webcast series with him? Eckhart did a series of guest appearances on the Oprah TV show late in 2007. And Oprah did mention on one of the webcasts that "this conversation with Eckhart will continue at XM radio", implying that both of them will walk over to the XM recording facility right after the webcast.
But as broadcast professionals, we have been given a clue. The pictures of Eckhart used for the guest line-up preview for Oprah's Soul Series shows Tolle wearing headphones. All radio shows require the use of headphones so that you can hear how you sound on the microphone. Neither Oprah nor her guest Dr. Bolton wore headphones in the video for the last 2 weeks. This leads us to believe that the Eckhart interview was conducted some time before the Harpo team decided to use these videos as part of the Soul Series webcast.
As we talked about last week, the absence of headphones makes folks look more attractive & natural on TV. If they really need to hear themselves, hidden wireless headphones inside the ear have been invented. All this to say that we are certain these Soul Series Eckhart interviews were NOT done after the webinar.
After all, she built a Monday night audience of hundreds of thousands. Now she wants to take that new web-only audience & re-disperse them back into her radio & TV demographic. Makes sense considering the investment she made on her free 10 weeks of webcasts.
The omissions are the nondisclosure of the length of segments from the radio interviews (which will be made available tonight), & the time that they were recorded.
When was tonight's interview with Eckhart recorded?.... Before, during, or after Oprah's webcast series with him? Eckhart did a series of guest appearances on the Oprah TV show late in 2007. And Oprah did mention on one of the webcasts that "this conversation with Eckhart will continue at XM radio", implying that both of them will walk over to the XM recording facility right after the webcast.
But as broadcast professionals, we have been given a clue. The pictures of Eckhart used for the guest line-up preview for Oprah's Soul Series shows Tolle wearing headphones. All radio shows require the use of headphones so that you can hear how you sound on the microphone. Neither Oprah nor her guest Dr. Bolton wore headphones in the video for the last 2 weeks. This leads us to believe that the Eckhart interview was conducted some time before the Harpo team decided to use these videos as part of the Soul Series webcast.
As we talked about last week, the absence of headphones makes folks look more attractive & natural on TV. If they really need to hear themselves, hidden wireless headphones inside the ear have been invented. All this to say that we are certain these Soul Series Eckhart interviews were NOT done after the webinar.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Oprah Eckhart Chapter 2 & the Soul Series Premier
Ditching school means that you have to ask your friends in class for their notes, but what do you do if the teacher does not show up? This is what happened to perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who scoured Oprah.com last Monday night (May 12) looking for the 1st installment of the Soul Series. It simply wasn't there.
There were opportunities to pay money to listen to the interviews on XM online & there were opportunities to sign up for a 30 day free trial of XM radio, but no video of the Soul Series premier, free or otherwise, could be found. Knowing that the audience Eckhart & Oprah had so effectively built over 10 weeks had become quite attached to Monday nights with Oprah, we thought it was a fatal error to offer nothing to those who eagerly tuned to see the Soul Series premier.
It reminded us of the first Oprah-Eckhart webcast, which you remember was jammed because too many people were watching & the Harpo team didn't have enough bandwidth. (So no one saw that premier either). Many people never returned from that 1st week of frustration nor did they bother to deal with the large proprietary Macintosh-platform download files that are not PC friendly. This is how we got in the business of providing these videos for free in YouTube format.
So if you have subscribed to our video newsletter & got the full webcast of Chapter 1 in your e-mail inbox last week, you are able now to see in full the beginning of the Eckhart-Oprah paradigm shift with no interruption. (If you have not subscribed to our video newsletter & would like to be included in the weekly mailing of the entire A New Earth webcast, free, go to the top right of this page to sign up).
So what happened to the new Soul Series? Well, we found it at Oprah.com 2 days after its premier date, Wednesday, and here is our report:
1. The program segments run 23 minutes. On the original XM satellite feed, that allows 7 minutes of commercials between program segments.
2. There is a big XM satellite logo in the lower right corner of the video screen, just in case you share the video with a friend & have forgotten where you got it.
3. Oprah's radio studio is very attractive. It's set-up to have a video shoot of high quality. The only clue that it's radio is the big microphones on giant wands coming up from the floor. Nobody is wearing headphones. It's all very cool, although why not use lapel mikes & eliminate the radio look entirely?
4. We only get the 1st segment. The last 3 come tonight, a full week after the premier date. Why the wait?
Overall the interview with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is interesting. It was obviously recorded while Oprah was in the midst of her webcast with Eckhart, since she makes many references to the webcast & his work. But it is disappointing. Why? Because we don't have Eckhart's presence filling the screen. These 2 women are talking about spiritual experience rather than embodying it.
There were opportunities to pay money to listen to the interviews on XM online & there were opportunities to sign up for a 30 day free trial of XM radio, but no video of the Soul Series premier, free or otherwise, could be found. Knowing that the audience Eckhart & Oprah had so effectively built over 10 weeks had become quite attached to Monday nights with Oprah, we thought it was a fatal error to offer nothing to those who eagerly tuned to see the Soul Series premier.
It reminded us of the first Oprah-Eckhart webcast, which you remember was jammed because too many people were watching & the Harpo team didn't have enough bandwidth. (So no one saw that premier either). Many people never returned from that 1st week of frustration nor did they bother to deal with the large proprietary Macintosh-platform download files that are not PC friendly. This is how we got in the business of providing these videos for free in YouTube format.
So if you have subscribed to our video newsletter & got the full webcast of Chapter 1 in your e-mail inbox last week, you are able now to see in full the beginning of the Eckhart-Oprah paradigm shift with no interruption. (If you have not subscribed to our video newsletter & would like to be included in the weekly mailing of the entire A New Earth webcast, free, go to the top right of this page to sign up).
So what happened to the new Soul Series? Well, we found it at Oprah.com 2 days after its premier date, Wednesday, and here is our report:
1. The program segments run 23 minutes. On the original XM satellite feed, that allows 7 minutes of commercials between program segments.
2. There is a big XM satellite logo in the lower right corner of the video screen, just in case you share the video with a friend & have forgotten where you got it.
3. Oprah's radio studio is very attractive. It's set-up to have a video shoot of high quality. The only clue that it's radio is the big microphones on giant wands coming up from the floor. Nobody is wearing headphones. It's all very cool, although why not use lapel mikes & eliminate the radio look entirely?
4. We only get the 1st segment. The last 3 come tonight, a full week after the premier date. Why the wait?
Overall the interview with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is interesting. It was obviously recorded while Oprah was in the midst of her webcast with Eckhart, since she makes many references to the webcast & his work. But it is disappointing. Why? Because we don't have Eckhart's presence filling the screen. These 2 women are talking about spiritual experience rather than embodying it.
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Grande Finale - Crossing the Finish Line
After 2 stunning classes in week 8 & week 9 we are on the eve of the last class. We talked last week about how many are asking for ANE II, a second edition of A New Earth. And we reported on how Oprah intends to webcast videos of her radio interviews during the same exact Monday time slot to keep the webcast going.
Those of you have signed up at Tolle Teachings to have the shows e-mailed each week in the YouTube format we are providing will begin receiving A New Earth Reprise -- the entire series of classes starting with the 1st class -- mailed out May 12th. If you haven't signed up, you can do it anytime. (See upper right column of this blog.) It's free and you don't have to join anything.
This blog will also continue with commentary on each class as they are repeated & report on what is happening with the Oprah-Eckhart phenomenon which on the Internet will continue to propagate & affect the world.
From all of us at Tolle Teachings, thank you for joining us on this paradigm-shifting adventure that has really just begun.
Those of you have signed up at Tolle Teachings to have the shows e-mailed each week in the YouTube format we are providing will begin receiving A New Earth Reprise -- the entire series of classes starting with the 1st class -- mailed out May 12th. If you haven't signed up, you can do it anytime. (See upper right column of this blog.) It's free and you don't have to join anything.
This blog will also continue with commentary on each class as they are repeated & report on what is happening with the Oprah-Eckhart phenomenon which on the Internet will continue to propagate & affect the world.
From all of us at Tolle Teachings, thank you for joining us on this paradigm-shifting adventure that has really just begun.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Be Still & Know that I am God" - Psalm 46:10
Wow! Chapter 9 started with a bang & certainly did not end with a whimper. Despite Eckhart appearing again a little under the weather (perhaps the unwanted side-effect of all the fame & attention), Chapter 9 was by any measure the finest program in the series.
With 52 seconds of silent meditation on an Old Testament Bible quotation from the Book of Psalms, Eckhart fires the opening salvo on the recurring theme that has developed in these programs -- integrating contemporary Christianity with direct spiritual experience.
The show has barely started & Eckhart is reminding his audience that many contemporary Christians do not associate silence with their faith & yet for contemplative Christians this has been their principal form of worship for 2 millennia. The silent meditation on Psalms 46:10 immediately followed to prove the point.
There can now be no doubt that Oprah & Eckhart are openly responding to e-mails, Skypers, & callers with the specific purpose of inviting them to integrate their Christianity with the Power of Now.
It's not so much that they took the gloves off with fundamentalists, it's more like they don't care. Both made it clear that A New Earth may not be the book for people who believe the earth is only 6,000 years old.
And even though fundamentalists have accused Oprah on her message boards of being a sinner and a Scientologist, she goes right ahead on the very same program talking about her visit to the Colorado mountain retreat of her friend Tom Cruise -- a vocal Scientologist.
And once again, Oprah responded to our question from Monday's blog about there being another series of webcasts when A New Earth completes next week, May 5th. She announced her new webcast, the Soul Series, premiering May 12, which we will also cover on this blog as well. How wonderful to ask this question on the Monday morning blog & get the exact answer you are looking for Monday night -- another living proof of what Eckhart taught tonight: "Things fall into line when you are in alignment."
With 52 seconds of silent meditation on an Old Testament Bible quotation from the Book of Psalms, Eckhart fires the opening salvo on the recurring theme that has developed in these programs -- integrating contemporary Christianity with direct spiritual experience.
The show has barely started & Eckhart is reminding his audience that many contemporary Christians do not associate silence with their faith & yet for contemplative Christians this has been their principal form of worship for 2 millennia. The silent meditation on Psalms 46:10 immediately followed to prove the point.
There can now be no doubt that Oprah & Eckhart are openly responding to e-mails, Skypers, & callers with the specific purpose of inviting them to integrate their Christianity with the Power of Now.
It's not so much that they took the gloves off with fundamentalists, it's more like they don't care. Both made it clear that A New Earth may not be the book for people who believe the earth is only 6,000 years old.
And even though fundamentalists have accused Oprah on her message boards of being a sinner and a Scientologist, she goes right ahead on the very same program talking about her visit to the Colorado mountain retreat of her friend Tom Cruise -- a vocal Scientologist.
And once again, Oprah responded to our question from Monday's blog about there being another series of webcasts when A New Earth completes next week, May 5th. She announced her new webcast, the Soul Series, premiering May 12, which we will also cover on this blog as well. How wonderful to ask this question on the Monday morning blog & get the exact answer you are looking for Monday night -- another living proof of what Eckhart taught tonight: "Things fall into line when you are in alignment."
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Pope, President Bush, Oprah, & Eckhart
The Pope just completed his visit to America, looking to the vitality of religion (& evangelical fundamentalism) as a sign of hope for Catholicism. With apathy rampant among the Catholic faithful in Europe, Pope Benedict was met with jubilation by tens of thousands of Americans.
At the same time our Oprah Eckhart YouTube videos continue to be inundated with apocryphal warnings from fundamentalists who warn of hell & damnation for those who listen to Eckhart's teachings & Oprah's exploration of them. Here are what some New Earth readers are saying on a message board thread called: "Why are Christian Fundamentalists dominating the message boards?":
Perhaps the Pope needs to have, as Eckhart says, "the right relationship with present moment."
At the same time our Oprah Eckhart YouTube videos continue to be inundated with apocryphal warnings from fundamentalists who warn of hell & damnation for those who listen to Eckhart's teachings & Oprah's exploration of them. Here are what some New Earth readers are saying on a message board thread called: "Why are Christian Fundamentalists dominating the message boards?":
So this is the world we find ourselves in. A place where the largest free webinar conducted by the most influential black woman about spiritual freedom & autonomy from all religion is simultaneously juxtaposed with a conservative new Pope. A Pope who is greeted at Andrews Air Force base by President Bush & then goes to Yankee Stadium denouncing abortion and rejecting "a false dichotomy between faith and political life," a reference to the Church's position that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion or gay marriage in the name of pluralism or democracy.
"I am sure they are not reading the book because if they were, their arguments would be based on facts and not mythology."
"It is because of the ego trip that is religion. I used to wonder how intelligent, educated people could believe any of the religions. They use religion to feed their egos."
"To be quite candid and honest ... I think that there is growing evidence here that there is a collective pain body for this group of folk ... I would also point out that many are not even reading the book ... and the majority of these hold to the inerrancy of the Bible ... the pain bodies of this group are very active ..."
"You folks obviously understand how popular Oprah is. Many Christians are very hurt that she would host such an outlet for secular spirituality. Hundreds of thousands of people logging on to the internet on Monday nights to get whatever ya'll get out of it. That's why there is so much opposition."
Perhaps the Pope needs to have, as Eckhart says, "the right relationship with present moment."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Know Thyself!
Last night's show, Chapter 7, was advertised as the program to understand who each of us really are. In the process of this discussion a lot happened during the webcast:
1. The opening moment of silence grew to an all time record of 54 seconds!
2. Oprah caught Eckhart's cold.
3. There were many interruptions in the feed to our Southern Arizona location. Interestingly, instead of completely stopping, the feed went from 450 kbs to 30 kbs. A very blurry Oprah & Eckhart could be seen while their voices degraded to a bad cell phone connection. Not good, but much better than the picture freezing with no sound that has happened in the past. Maybe they are trying to increase the number of viewers without increasing bandwidth.
4. The preponderance of young women as questioners has now grown to the overwhelming majority. So much for the mid-lifers - Oprah.com was not interested in their questions last night.
On the brighter side, Eckhart introduced a wonderful new interpretation of the Christian cross. He explained that the horizontal bar represents daily life and the vertical represents spiritual life. The spiritual vertical is the Timeless Now and the daily horizontal brings the stress that comes from "not being in the present moment."
So once again Eckhart indirectly hammers away at the negative connotations of Original Sin & the Crucifixion by saying "negativity is never a good way of dealing with a situation". You'll see all of this and more in this week's webcast.
1. The opening moment of silence grew to an all time record of 54 seconds!
2. Oprah caught Eckhart's cold.
3. There were many interruptions in the feed to our Southern Arizona location. Interestingly, instead of completely stopping, the feed went from 450 kbs to 30 kbs. A very blurry Oprah & Eckhart could be seen while their voices degraded to a bad cell phone connection. Not good, but much better than the picture freezing with no sound that has happened in the past. Maybe they are trying to increase the number of viewers without increasing bandwidth.
4. The preponderance of young women as questioners has now grown to the overwhelming majority. So much for the mid-lifers - Oprah.com was not interested in their questions last night.
On the brighter side, Eckhart introduced a wonderful new interpretation of the Christian cross. He explained that the horizontal bar represents daily life and the vertical represents spiritual life. The spiritual vertical is the Timeless Now and the daily horizontal brings the stress that comes from "not being in the present moment."
So once again Eckhart indirectly hammers away at the negative connotations of Original Sin & the Crucifixion by saying "negativity is never a good way of dealing with a situation". You'll see all of this and more in this week's webcast.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Eckhart, are you Perfect?
This was Oprah’s final question to Eckhart at the conclusion of the 6th web cast. An interesting finale (as we reported on Tuesday) to a less than perfect program.
You’ll find Eckhart’s answer to Oprah’s question in the final Chapter 6 video segment below, but here are some striking things to look for. When Oprah asks Eckhart very direct, personal questions -- something she’s very good at -- 2 things happen:
1. Eckhart answers her in a very direct and sometimes non-politically correct way, evoking an atmosphere of openness, almost tenderness.
2. Oprah’s verbal responses & facial expressions soften as she appears to genuinely be touched by his reply.
To us this is repeated living proof that there is some kind of special connection between these two, & as we commented in the first post on this blog, we believe that Eckhart has personally touched Oprah in a way that compelled her to change the rules of her book club & select the Little Leprechaun over a more media savvy spiritual pundit like Deepak Chopra or Neal Donald Walsh.
Several times in this very interchange, Oprah is so amazed by Eckhart’s response she looks over at a camera person with a silent expression of “Can you believe he said that?”
You’ll find Eckhart’s answer to Oprah’s question in the final Chapter 6 video segment below, but here are some striking things to look for. When Oprah asks Eckhart very direct, personal questions -- something she’s very good at -- 2 things happen:
1. Eckhart answers her in a very direct and sometimes non-politically correct way, evoking an atmosphere of openness, almost tenderness.
2. Oprah’s verbal responses & facial expressions soften as she appears to genuinely be touched by his reply.
To us this is repeated living proof that there is some kind of special connection between these two, & as we commented in the first post on this blog, we believe that Eckhart has personally touched Oprah in a way that compelled her to change the rules of her book club & select the Little Leprechaun over a more media savvy spiritual pundit like Deepak Chopra or Neal Donald Walsh.
Several times in this very interchange, Oprah is so amazed by Eckhart’s response she looks over at a camera person with a silent expression of “Can you believe he said that?”
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Breaking Free or Breaking Down?
The 6th webcast was a surprise of disjointed callers & content. Perhaps a clue was the repeated jitters in the feed and drop-outs during the Skype phone-ins. Or maybe it was Oprah cutting off the moment of silence, backing off from her 50 seconds silence zenith last week to just over half a minute.
Eckhart seemed mostly over his cold but Oprah was back to riding shot gun like in the 1st program. What happened?
The subject matter for tonight's class was "Breaking Free of the Pain Body" & yet a caller from Dubai got into a meanlingless dialogue with Tolle about whether she should wait for her boyfriend to commit.
So even though it looks like the Oprah-Eckhart team kind of jumped the groove they had so powerfully settled into there still were some jewels in the media desert. Oprah kicked off the show with a beautiful reading from Eckhart's tiny tome Stillness Speaks.
Despite the thousands of e-mails of protesting Protestants, Eckhart gave a beautiful description of Jesus on the Cross symbolizing humanity's limitations & deep sufferings. He then contrasted that with just the cross symbol by itself symbolizing the Divine. He went on to say that being trapped in Ego = Evil and that another word for Satan is Ego.
Many viewers will agree, but I fear that the fundamentalists have been given even more cannon-fodder. And so are, for that matter, psychotherapists who are trying to give all of us a bigger, better, kinder & gentler ego.
Eckhart seemed mostly over his cold but Oprah was back to riding shot gun like in the 1st program. What happened?
The subject matter for tonight's class was "Breaking Free of the Pain Body" & yet a caller from Dubai got into a meanlingless dialogue with Tolle about whether she should wait for her boyfriend to commit.
So even though it looks like the Oprah-Eckhart team kind of jumped the groove they had so powerfully settled into there still were some jewels in the media desert. Oprah kicked off the show with a beautiful reading from Eckhart's tiny tome Stillness Speaks.
Despite the thousands of e-mails of protesting Protestants, Eckhart gave a beautiful description of Jesus on the Cross symbolizing humanity's limitations & deep sufferings. He then contrasted that with just the cross symbol by itself symbolizing the Divine. He went on to say that being trapped in Ego = Evil and that another word for Satan is Ego.
Many viewers will agree, but I fear that the fundamentalists have been given even more cannon-fodder. And so are, for that matter, psychotherapists who are trying to give all of us a bigger, better, kinder & gentler ego.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Oprah-Eckhart is only for Midlifers? Well, "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
When Tom Ewell had his midlife crisis with Marilyn Monroe in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, he was 35 years old. That's because life-expectancy was much lower back then. Now mid-lifers are age 40 & up!
Those of us who are children of the 60's expected the Oprah-Eckhart predominant demographic to be 45 and older.
Instead, teenagers as young as 13 have called into the show along with a lot of folks in their 20's & 30's with careers & young kids. We were wondering if the Harpo Production team that preps and screens every call-in was skewing the numbers by cherry-picking younger callers to make it appear that this material appeals to a broader demographic.
Not so! In a thread on the Oprah message boards called "POLL; If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" over 3,000 volunteered their age.
Only 2% are in their 70's -- even though retirement and grown children make them the perfect spiritual seeker candidate. Only 5% are in their 60's, the official Baby Boomers born after WWII. 31% are in their 50's -- the largest and most expected segment. Yet, 2% more of the Oprah-Eckhart students are in their 30's (26%) than are in their 40's (24%) with a shocking 11% studying the book while in their formative 20's.
For those of us who are now retiring from the job market & looking forward to more grandchildren, this is good news indeed for the prospects of the next generations!
You'll see this in all the segments, including the most recent, Chapter 5.
Those of us who are children of the 60's expected the Oprah-Eckhart predominant demographic to be 45 and older.
Instead, teenagers as young as 13 have called into the show along with a lot of folks in their 20's & 30's with careers & young kids. We were wondering if the Harpo Production team that preps and screens every call-in was skewing the numbers by cherry-picking younger callers to make it appear that this material appeals to a broader demographic.
Not so! In a thread on the Oprah message boards called "POLL; If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" over 3,000 volunteered their age.
Only 2% are in their 70's -- even though retirement and grown children make them the perfect spiritual seeker candidate. Only 5% are in their 60's, the official Baby Boomers born after WWII. 31% are in their 50's -- the largest and most expected segment. Yet, 2% more of the Oprah-Eckhart students are in their 30's (26%) than are in their 40's (24%) with a shocking 11% studying the book while in their formative 20's.
For those of us who are now retiring from the job market & looking forward to more grandchildren, this is good news indeed for the prospects of the next generations!
You'll see this in all the segments, including the most recent, Chapter 5.
Monday, March 31, 2008
The Pain Body: Love It or Leave It
As we discussed on Monday, some psychologists think the Pain Body concept is misleading & downright dangerous for the mildly to severely mentally ill. Yet, Eckhart openly talks about feeling suicidal at age 9 & then again in his 20s, in part because of his parents' constant arguing.
He once again reassured this week's audience that a dense or heavy Pain Body can be a passport to dropping the ego, compared to a life that is not so burdened.
He points out the obvious about the chronic discord in family, love, political, national, cultural, & religious relationships, and describes all of this as the Pain Body. The body of pain that humans endure because they are lost -- lost in thought and not enjoying the Power of Now.
The ability of the Eckhart-Oprah team to answer questions from a world audience that may or may not be familiar with Eckhart's esoteric terms was quite striking, as the personal stories of their suffering was intermixed with the stories of strangers calling from Australia to Denmark.
We find out in this webcast that Oprah's beloved dog died on the morning of the second webcast & that Eckhart lost his ego and Pain Body on the same night. Is all of this true?
He once again reassured this week's audience that a dense or heavy Pain Body can be a passport to dropping the ego, compared to a life that is not so burdened.
He points out the obvious about the chronic discord in family, love, political, national, cultural, & religious relationships, and describes all of this as the Pain Body. The body of pain that humans endure because they are lost -- lost in thought and not enjoying the Power of Now.
The ability of the Eckhart-Oprah team to answer questions from a world audience that may or may not be familiar with Eckhart's esoteric terms was quite striking, as the personal stories of their suffering was intermixed with the stories of strangers calling from Australia to Denmark.
We find out in this webcast that Oprah's beloved dog died on the morning of the second webcast & that Eckhart lost his ego and Pain Body on the same night. Is all of this true?
Why is it that more people aren't questioning this book?
One of the longest threads on Oprah's message boards is the one titled "Why is it that more people aren't questioning this book?" Interestingly, here at Tolle Teachings, we have received a lot of feedback from licensed psychotherapists who seem to be upset with Eckhart's teachings from a number of perspectives.
One is that the notion of egolessness may be a worthwhile goal for those whose egos are well-developed, but not for those with deeply troubled childhoods that caused their egos to suffer from arrested development. In the latter case, this kind of advice might have catastrophic consequences. Eckhart himself achieved self-realization during a period of extreme suicidal ideation. Should he have had a psychotherapist turn him in to a suicide help-line or should he have been left alone as he was & achieved enlightenment?
This week Eckhart will be talking about the Pain Body, which many spiritual commentators consider his most significant contribution to "New Thought". Yet, one psychotherapist wrote to us & said that she thought the notion was "demonic". She says the Pain Body concept suggests the planet is swathed in some kind of dark cloak from which we can not arise – a depressing prospect she would not share with her patients.
We'll see what Oprah & Eckhart have to say about the Pain Body as this is the topic for this week's webcast- one that Oprah has said there is much excitement about.
One is that the notion of egolessness may be a worthwhile goal for those whose egos are well-developed, but not for those with deeply troubled childhoods that caused their egos to suffer from arrested development. In the latter case, this kind of advice might have catastrophic consequences. Eckhart himself achieved self-realization during a period of extreme suicidal ideation. Should he have had a psychotherapist turn him in to a suicide help-line or should he have been left alone as he was & achieved enlightenment?
This week Eckhart will be talking about the Pain Body, which many spiritual commentators consider his most significant contribution to "New Thought". Yet, one psychotherapist wrote to us & said that she thought the notion was "demonic". She says the Pain Body concept suggests the planet is swathed in some kind of dark cloak from which we can not arise – a depressing prospect she would not share with her patients.
We'll see what Oprah & Eckhart have to say about the Pain Body as this is the topic for this week's webcast- one that Oprah has said there is much excitement about.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Leave us alone!
Yesterday we talked about the Christian fundamentalists attacking Oprah via message boards & on the comment sections of our very own YouTube clips of the webinar.
Today we're happy to report that Oprah chose to deal with this problem immediately, at the top of the show, before she & Eckhart even started Chapter 4.
Oprah handled the issue in a clever & effective way. Instead of calling out the fundamentalists on the inappropriateness of their fixed beliefs & need to convert unbelievers, she referred to the many messages she received from the webinar student body who asked, "What should they do when a friend or loved one does not respond to the Tolle teachings?"
The response from Eckhart & Oprah was the same. "Leave them alone! We are not promoting a new belief. We do not need to convert anyone. Others may resonate with the teachings later or never. It doesn't matter. What does matter is your own spiritual path & your own spiritual work."
This paraphrase from the top of the program has, of course, a more deliberate application. If that is true for Tolle's teachings then this also applies to fundamentalists all of faiths & denominations. "Leave us alone! You have your path. Follow it, but do not make us follow."
It's like the Oprah.com message board respondent who said. "I don't picket churches on Sunday, so please leave us alone to worship as we please!"
It's all in the 1st 10 minutes of the March 25th program.
Today we're happy to report that Oprah chose to deal with this problem immediately, at the top of the show, before she & Eckhart even started Chapter 4.
Oprah handled the issue in a clever & effective way. Instead of calling out the fundamentalists on the inappropriateness of their fixed beliefs & need to convert unbelievers, she referred to the many messages she received from the webinar student body who asked, "What should they do when a friend or loved one does not respond to the Tolle teachings?"
The response from Eckhart & Oprah was the same. "Leave them alone! We are not promoting a new belief. We do not need to convert anyone. Others may resonate with the teachings later or never. It doesn't matter. What does matter is your own spiritual path & your own spiritual work."
This paraphrase from the top of the program has, of course, a more deliberate application. If that is true for Tolle's teachings then this also applies to fundamentalists all of faiths & denominations. "Leave us alone! You have your path. Follow it, but do not make us follow."
It's like the Oprah.com message board respondent who said. "I don't picket churches on Sunday, so please leave us alone to worship as we please!"
It's all in the 1st 10 minutes of the March 25th program.
Monday, March 24, 2008
OprahEckhart Webcast attacked by Christian Fundamentalists
Oprah Winfrey is not webcasting with Eckhart Tolle to increase her fundamentalist demographic considering how right-wing American Christians are reacting via the Internet.
In very short order, Oprah's message boards and our YouTube streamed video comment sections are filling up with mean-spirited Christian extremist hate mail. So much so that those students of the webinar who are trying to discuss the teachings have to wade through thousands of propaganda posts just to have a conversation with one another.
How is that different from Osama Bin Ladin bringing up the Mohammad cartoons 2 years after the fact & declaring a Jihad on the European Union? What is it about fundamentalists & their lack of a sense of humor or even any kind of tolerance? It's especially interesting since Eckhart loves Jesus & uses quotes from the New Testament to illustrate his teachings.
We will not dignify this behavior by showcasing these comments, you can find them yourselves. We will share with you some of the more positive and life-affirming comments that have been sent to us:
I guess the reason we have a 27 million dollar Creation Museuem in Cincinnatti and why federal employees at the Grand Canyon are not permitted to contradict a book sold at the visitor center explaining that the Grand Canyon is not millions of years old but created by the Great Flood 6,000 years ago is because the fundamentalists in our midsts speak louder and more often. This is exactly why these Internet broadcasts are so important; and why a major media figure on the world stage like Oprah is offering the planet at this time a reasonable, peaceful alternative to all this insanity.
You can see how fun & reasonable Oprah & Eckhart are in this last section from last week's webinar that aired on 3-17-08. See you all tonight!
In very short order, Oprah's message boards and our YouTube streamed video comment sections are filling up with mean-spirited Christian extremist hate mail. So much so that those students of the webinar who are trying to discuss the teachings have to wade through thousands of propaganda posts just to have a conversation with one another.
How is that different from Osama Bin Ladin bringing up the Mohammad cartoons 2 years after the fact & declaring a Jihad on the European Union? What is it about fundamentalists & their lack of a sense of humor or even any kind of tolerance? It's especially interesting since Eckhart loves Jesus & uses quotes from the New Testament to illustrate his teachings.
We will not dignify this behavior by showcasing these comments, you can find them yourselves. We will share with you some of the more positive and life-affirming comments that have been sent to us:
"Good to see the truth has reached such a large scale of publicity Makes me optimistic we can change our world to the better!"
"thanku thanku thanku.....veryyyy much!!!!!"
"thank you very much for posting these. I love brain food because we have so much garbage trying to influence us."
"In recent years I have truly begun to exercise the Power of Now...savoring the juicy moment, reveling in the joy of creation and seeing my vision being enacted in the world. Of course, a very key ingredient has been my ability to shift the ongoing thought process from struggle and automatic response (based on past conditioning) to one of positive expectation, true appreciation and the knowledge of who I am and how powerful are my thoughts and feelings in unfolding the preferable reality of joy, love and conscious manifestation. So, there it is, a true life testimonial of how some simple teachings, coupled with a lifetime of desire for truth, can bring about a most favorable result."
I guess the reason we have a 27 million dollar Creation Museuem in Cincinnatti and why federal employees at the Grand Canyon are not permitted to contradict a book sold at the visitor center explaining that the Grand Canyon is not millions of years old but created by the Great Flood 6,000 years ago is because the fundamentalists in our midsts speak louder and more often. This is exactly why these Internet broadcasts are so important; and why a major media figure on the world stage like Oprah is offering the planet at this time a reasonable, peaceful alternative to all this insanity.
You can see how fun & reasonable Oprah & Eckhart are in this last section from last week's webinar that aired on 3-17-08. See you all tonight!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A New Earth Web Event: It Worked!
After a bumpy start, Oprah & her crew easily corrected the inherent problem of webcasts with wide appeal-bandwidth.
By reducing the optional image size & compressing the signal to more YouTube-like quality, the Oprah production team managed to maintain a steady 460 kbps stream throughout the program. Did she limit the viewership so that those who were watching could continue watching? That information is not yet available.
What we do know is that not only did the program stream flawlessly to our southern Arizona location, but the content improved as well. Some folks in our circles complained that Oprah dominated the first webcast, filling in the gaps or natural pauses that occur during a spiritual transmission to make sure there was no "dead air."
This was conspicuously absent in the 2nd installment, where Tolle was doing most of the talking not only during the Oprah-Eckart dialogue but also dominating the answers to listener questions. Early in this second program, Tolle asks Oprah if she could be silent for 10 seconds & she agreed while sharing how difficult it is for someone in broadcasting to simply allow complete silence.
Oprah demonstrated a depth of knowledge & familiarity with some of the subtler material which was delightfully surprising-allowing Eckhart to unequivocally set his own depth. It didn't matter how superficial a listener question might be; both of them seemed unrestricted in following their thread. Oprah also did an excellent job of "Devil's Advocate", questioning his teachings in a way that made them clearer. In short, the paradigm shift has arrived.
By reducing the optional image size & compressing the signal to more YouTube-like quality, the Oprah production team managed to maintain a steady 460 kbps stream throughout the program. Did she limit the viewership so that those who were watching could continue watching? That information is not yet available.
What we do know is that not only did the program stream flawlessly to our southern Arizona location, but the content improved as well. Some folks in our circles complained that Oprah dominated the first webcast, filling in the gaps or natural pauses that occur during a spiritual transmission to make sure there was no "dead air."
This was conspicuously absent in the 2nd installment, where Tolle was doing most of the talking not only during the Oprah-Eckart dialogue but also dominating the answers to listener questions. Early in this second program, Tolle asks Oprah if she could be silent for 10 seconds & she agreed while sharing how difficult it is for someone in broadcasting to simply allow complete silence.
Oprah demonstrated a depth of knowledge & familiarity with some of the subtler material which was delightfully surprising-allowing Eckhart to unequivocally set his own depth. It didn't matter how superficial a listener question might be; both of them seemed unrestricted in following their thread. Oprah also did an excellent job of "Devil's Advocate", questioning his teachings in a way that made them clearer. In short, the paradigm shift has arrived.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Blowing out the Internet
"I'm just hoping to have a successful class and that we don't blow out the Internet."
Oprah Winfrey, USA Today 3-3-08
Oprah's webcast "A New Earth" with Eckhart Tolle did not blow out the Internet, but it sure did blow up the servers she had dedicated to stream her webcast live.
The much anticipated webcast - a paradigm shift for Cultural Creatives world-wide - scored 500,000 simultaneous log-ins.
That would be all well and good, but the gathering multitudes resulted in 242 Gbps of information moving over the web at the same time, resulting in jerky, buffered reception at best & completely stalled feeds at worst.
The obvious solution is more bandwidth & more servers.
Interestingly, when we received the next notification e-mail "Week 2: Your Special Link to Oprah's Live Web Event", we are told that "our goal is to provide as many of you as possible with a positive experience. If we should see a significant decline in video quality, we may limit the size of the class that evening."
Is Oprah clogging the pipes of the Internet backbones? Or is there a ceiling on the bandwidth budget for this project? For those "midlifers who are seeking spiritual growth", their inexperience & frustration may dampen enthusiasm at least for the live interactive aspect of the class. It looks like Oprah is learning about this right along with us. We'll just see what happens tonight. Until then, to help pick-up where we left off, here's the last section of last week's class:
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