Review of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth by Kelly Pierce
Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment. – Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle’s newest publication, A New Earth, reveals the world that our consciousness yearns to live in but which our ego keeps us from. Consciousness is the eradication of time, the present, the essence of being and being connected to all sources of energy. All living things possess energy. It is our human ego: our ramped thoughts, that keep us from connecting to the source. Meditation brings us to a heightened sense of awareness, a connectedness to all living things. Tolle wants to share how we humans can be present in this state constantly, by just being.
I am a being in human form. I have a divine connectedness to the source of all energy and all of the living things that possess energy. The Bible tells us that our earthly life is but an interlude to our more important jobs in heaven. “God has…planted eternity in the human heart.” I use this example to show that religion often points us into the direction of this awareness but can be dismembered in the pedagogy of religious hierarchy, regulation and translation into modern day meaning. Tolle wants all humans to be aware of our presence and the frailty of our human existence. Death is not something to fear, but an important part of our soul’s evolution. Tolle uses the word energy to convey the meaning of the soul, and in essence, all we are is energy, a makeup of atoms vibrating in our involuntarily working organs, just as those same elements would make up a burning star. What we may forget in the day-to-day monotonies and stresses of life is that we are all made from the same energy, that we all have the same inherited purpose: To Be.
“To Be” seems like a simple task, but our ego makes relationships with others and situations difficult to be present in. To be present is to be aware of our connectedness with the source of energy and the energy of all living things. When we take things personally we “personalize the unconscious” of another human being and our ego takes us away from awareness. Alarm signals that your amygdala sends to your central nervous system to place you “On Guard” is when frustration creeps up, when you notice your shoulders rise to your ears and your stomach tense and palms sweat. This sustained alarm stage can damage your nervous system, deplete your energy and cause serious mental and physical health problems. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a perfect example of when an alarm stage directly affects digestion, making the sufferer sick and unable to enjoy life. Another example of this alarm stage exceeding its primal benefit of survival is in people with hypertension or heart disease.
Be aware of your thoughts for a moment: Look around you and notice how you label each object: bench, sofa, newspaper, human being. “See if you can catch…the voice in your head, perhaps the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a conditioned mind pattern, a thought.” Tolle tells us that we are addicted to this unobserved thought like a drug. To become free of the ego is to become free of the unobserved mind and no longer the vehicle of random (sometimes painful) thought. You are then aware of this ungoverned voice.
How often have you tried to control your thoughts? Why is it that frustrating and sad thoughts from the past pop up when we least expect it, hindering our ability to enjoy life? “…You don’t think, Thinking happens to you.” Our options are to react (which is what our ego wants), to redirect or recognize. When you recognize negativity, Tolle suggests you say it to yourself, “There is negativity in me.” Recognizing negativity will make it easier to dismiss it. Then focus on something positive: the beauty of a clear blue sky or the beauty of finding a parking spot. Recognize a simple joy and you will be profoundly surprised as to how your overall mood will change. When you notice yourself putting someone down mentally, realize that that is your ego trying to quantify itself. Whether you put yourself down, or someone else, you are attracting negative energy, which is only going to frustrate you. When you become frustrated with a person or situation, recognize that they are just another spirit on their journey to consciousness. “Forgiveness happens naturally when you see that is has no purpose.”
Your ego and unconscious thought survive on lack of connectedness. If you desire contentment and mental prosperity, it is time to take the steps to undo your ego.
Byron Katie’s The Work tells us that the negative characteristics that we find in others is actually what we dislike of ourselves. Katie’s Work is a great guidepost to self-actualization as it allows the people who braise you to be your greatest teachers. Tolle agrees: “Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you. But it is no more than a form of ego…it is completely impersonal.”
Take these moments of negativity as a lesson but do not maintain resentment for another human being, as it is the unconscious energy that has fueled this situation.
What did Jesus mean when he spoke of “eternal life”? Tolle writes, “The recognition of the impermanence of the formless within yourself, that which is beyond death. Once you realize and accept that all structures (forms) are unstable, even the seemingly solid material ones, peace arises within you.” To clarify, this does not mean we should renounce all worldly possession as they are doomed unstable and impermanent. This simply means, enjoy your humanness and all the physical forms while you can. Your life after being human is unknown, and it is the joy of life that brings us the simple perceivable pleasures of sight, touch and taste. Love, sing and be grateful. Be aware of the impermanence, as you would enjoy a breeze knowing it would pass. George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” takes on a greater meaning. Humans desire relationships with others. “In a genuine relationship, there is an outward flow of open, alert attention toward the other person in which there is no wanting whatsoever. That alert attention is Presence. The ego always wants something, or if it believes there is nothing to get from the other, it is in a state of utter indifference. A genuine relationship is… not dominated by the ego with its image-making and self seeking.” The only way we can learn about ourselves through others is through recognition. However, relying on someone else for happiness or insight is an ego driven relationship, and could never be as content as a genuine relationship. “The ego thrives on others’ attention... The ego doesn’t know that the source of all energy is within you, so it seeks it outside.”
“Unhappiness covers up our natural state of well-being and inner peace, the source of true happiness.” The ego thrives on struggle and continually strives for acknowledgement through pain. If you stay conscious and separate the situation from personal thought, you will be aware of the source of peace. “Be aware of your unconscious assumptions… unexamined assumptions cause a great deal of negative emotion.”
How can we get this peace now? Tolle tells us to be one with the moment we are in. Realize that we are in the exact place we need to be to assert our consciousness. Want nothing more than the present joy of reading this paper. If it is raining and you wish it were not, you are willing against reality. Byron Katie writes, “Reality wins, but only 100% of the time.” Enjoy this moment, as if it were the only moment you had as an earthly-being. The phrase “Carpe Diem” points to this truth. Only in being present can we hold peace and channel the source of energy which connects all living things. Being “One With Life,” may take a journey of disconnecting from our former egoic mind patterns but the result is a relationship with the peace that resonates within you. When you over think, you are in the past or future which clouds your perception of now. You will be more affected by personal experiences and unable to use your humanly senses clearly.
When you focus on the moment, you negate time. Don’t ignore time, don’t ignore your physical purpose, but whether you are getting your teeth cleaned or caring for your child, accept what you are experiencing. Simply breathing consciously can bring you to a state of awareness as we do in meditating. When you feel compulsion to feed egoic behavior, take a few conscious breaths without identifying each breath in and out as a label. You then separate yourself from unhappiness. This space is the beginning of true presence. Tolle refers to the triggers that pull us to painful past memories. When you reminisce of painful pasts, your mind does not know that in reality the past is over. It relives the pain with the negative physical and emotional side effects that go with it. The relationship with our parents is generally the first relationship we have that paves the way for how we deal with unhappiness. Think of yourself as a microwave that your parents programmed that triggers negative responses. The objective is to unplug from triggers, to literally unplug from the possibility of unhappiness. Recognize your triggers (which usually is an impersonal action made by another, that reminds you of a painful memory from either of your parents) and “see them for what they are.” When you mention it to yourself or to the person who pushed your buttons, you can stop the drama that would normally ensue from a confrontation.
“Acknowledging the good that is already in your life is the foundation for all abundance. Whatever you think the world is holding from you, you are (actually) withholding from the world.” This points to the Law of Attraction. “Whatever you think people are holding from you…give it to them… Soon after you start giving, you will start receiving. You cannot receive what you don’t give. Outflow determines inflow.” Having a physical life that you enjoy will heighten your consciousness, but the physical content that you believe to make you happy is not necessarily the truth. Enjoying finer things in life is but a small part of contentment in our physical life. The outward flow of loving care, which in turns fills you, is the source of energy.
I recently watched the movie, “The Prophecy” with Christopher Walkin. It was a sub-par but entertaining science fiction about angels, fallen angels, the devil, and negativity on earth and in heaven. In one scene, an angel burns up in a fiery and painful death. I caught myself about to say the funniest thing, “If only we knew that we were just souls of energy on a temporary trip in an impermanent human form, we wouldn’t take things so seriously.”
Re: “Human Being”: Being is the verb. Being is the noun. Human is the adjective. Jesus said, “Behold, the kingdom of God Is in the midst of you. Say to yourself, ‘I Am,’ and add nothing to it.”