A Review of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”
By Mary Jo Sharp
Eckhart Tolle is a gifted author whose writing flows well and is easy to read. His book, A New Earth, aptly relays Tolle’s philosophy of religion, which is a ‘multi-religional’ smorgasbord with God as the energy-field or consciousness that belies the universe. Tolle states that everyone and everything belongs to this same consciousness, whether they realize it or not. His book is designed to aide readers in discovering the consciousness within them; or awakening to the consciousness within them.
Oprah Winfrey launched Tolle into the public eye through the internet course, “A New Earth,” as part of her book club. Tolle's message is that of spiritual teacher seeking a reduction of negativity in the world from hate, anxiety, ego, manipulation, anger, addictions, etc., through finding oneself content with “what is” and through simply being “who you are.” This, Tolle claims, is the awakening to your consciousness. Once you awaken to your consciousness, you cease to be a part of the destructive energy in this universe. You are now aiding in the progression of mankind by taking the next step in evolution through the awakening of consciousness. This is Tolle’s new heaven and new earth: one where people live in an awakened state of consciousness. Heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning of the word, and this is also its meaning in the teachings of Jesus. “A new heaven” is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and “a new earth” is its reflection in the physical realm(page 23).
Though there are numerous problems with Tolle’s philosophy, there are three glaring issues that I will touch on in this review: 1) Tolle’s view of thought processes: Through excessive reliance on thinking, reality becomes fragmented (page 196) and Being must be felt. It can’t be thought (page 40), 2) The problem of special knowledge, and 3) The refuting of “either/or” logic using “either/or” logic.
1) If our thought processes are untrustworthy, aren’t Eckhart Tolle’s thought processes untrustworthy?
To an extent, Tolle adheres to a kind of deconstructionist view that all information coming to us is being processed with regard to our cultural expectations, traditions, language, and biases (page 59). In this view, since people are filtering the information from their senses through biased thought processes, they cannot actually experience or perceive reality as it is. A person merely ascribes a label to something, but does not know the thing in of itself. Tolle also utilizes a Hindu view of the illusory nature of anything outside our consciousness mixed with this deconstructionist view of reality to conclude that we must supercede all thought processes in order to know reality, or who we really are. Therefore, for Tolle, the only real “thing” in the universe is the consciousness behind all this illusion that he calls “I Am-ness,” “Being,” “Presence,” or “God.”
How did Eckhart Tolle come to an understanding of his own view of reality? He used thought processes. According to Tolle’s view, how can I trust even Tolle’s thought processes if his thoughts are being processed through his cultural expectations, biases, language, labels, etc.? His own view would be susceptible to the same corruption as any other view. All views are developed through “untrustworthy” thought processes and explained through the labels of language, which, according to his view, cannot get people to what is real.
To escape this problem, Tolle offers a backdoor solution which is an awakened conscious that is doing the thinking. Only an awakened conscious is going to think well. But he cannot get away from the Hinduism inherent in his view and continues to suggest that we must rise above our thought processes. The thinking mind cannot understand Presence and so will often misinterpret it (page 177). So we are left with a problem of how this knowledge came to people without being corrupted through any kind of thought. The answer is: this material came to Tolle and other pantheist spiritual teachers through their thought processes.
2) How did Eckhart Tolle gain special knowledge?
In a few places in A New Earth, Tolle declares to his readers that this type of consciousness was never possible before now (page 18). He states that humankind has finally gotten to the stage of evolution in which emerging consciousness is possible.
The next step in human evolution is not inevitable, but for the first time in the history of our planet, it can be a conscious choice (page 182). The arising of space consciousness is the next stage in the evolution of humanity (page 227).
How can Tolle know that now is the exact right time in human history for the emergence of awakened consciousness in the universe? He cannot. How does he know that this kind of awakening was not previously possible? He does not. That knowledge would take a God-like view of the universe. A person must have the omniscient author’s view of all the universe (for all time, all places, all people) to pull themselves out of the timeline, view it from a distance, and make that judgment. But let’s suppose Tolle were to claim that this special knowledge comes from being one with the consciousness that is in all things and has always existed. My next question is: where are all the other people who have attained this knowledge? Why is Tolle special? He is not. According to his own view, he is only a part of the consciousness and anyone can achieve what he has achieved. Therefore, he cannot possibly have attained a special knowledge that no one else in the awakened state has achieved. And we cannot trust his view to be the one accurate view.
3) Tolle uses either/or logic to refute the use of either/or logic
Either/or logic relies on a law of logic called the law of non-contradiction. The Law of Non-contradiction states that something cannot be “A” and not be “A” at the same time. The item or concept in question is either “A” or not “A”; it cannot be both, because that would be self-contradictory. A “both/and” logic would say that something can be “A” and not be “A” at the same time. The item or concept in question is both “A” andnot “A.” Tolle rejects this “either/or” logic which stipulates that incompatible systems of thought or religion cannot both be correct. As previously mentioned, this would be using thought processes and logic which, to him, is corrupted by the ego. Instead, Tolle adopts what he wants us to think is an all-inclusive buffet-style concept of God in which you use the best parts (or what you like) of everything: history, science, and religion.
However, in stating that his own way of “awakened consciousness” is the correct way, Tolle has utilized either/or logic in this way: A person is either awakened to their consciousness (Tolle’s explicit version of salvation) or they are lost in unconsciousness (Tolle’s implicit version of a “sinner”). But Tolle does not want to ascribe right and wrong or labels to thoughts. However, either/or logic does this by its very nature. So in broadening out his statement, a person either accepts Tolle’s view (the person is right) or they are part of the problem due to their unconscious state (the person is wrong). Tolle does not allow for the “both/and” logic he implicitly adheres to by stipulating that a person could both be awakened to the consciousness and not be awakened to the consciousness at the same time.
Tolle uses either/or logic to refute using either/or logic, and does not even abide by his own guidelines with regard to the both/and concept of awakened consciousness. This is an important aspect of why his beliefs do not match up with reality; they are self-contradictory on several levels.
Conclusion
This is only a brief review of some of the problems with Tolle’s book. There are many more issues to deal with such as the relativism problem, the revisionist history included, and the cherry-picking of arguments to make a better case. There are also numerous theological issues; such as Tolle’s concept of the Christian view of God, his exegesis of passages of Scripture, his doctrine of the nature of man, and his doctrine of Jesus.
Did Eckhart Tolle get everything wrong in his book? No. In fact, he points out some good reminders for everyone regarding how we lean towards negativity and how we are living our lives in expectation of the future instead of living with contentment and fulfillment right now. But the overall problems of the book should not be overlooked. In A New Earth, Tolle may appear as the perfect “Renaissance Man,” incorporating a wide base of academic fields to buttress his views. However, it is imperative to take a deep look into whether or not his claims match up with reality, so we don’t fall prey to a false doctrine, even if it is stated as a sincerely held conviction…or stated by a knowledgeable person…or even if it is stated by a nice person. We all must look past the exterior presentation of a person into the content of their message to discern what that person is promoting as truth. In Tolle's case, what he promotes as truth, is inconsistent with reality.
MJ
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
All book quotes taken from: Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose,” New York: Penguin Group Inc., 2005.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2008
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