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?
Monday, March 31, 2008
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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