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.

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?":

"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."

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.

Perhaps the Pope needs to have, as Eckhart says, "the right relationship with present moment."

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.