Guess who's at it again. Oprah, that's who. I'm not going to rant as much as last time, I have found some other articles and blogs that do that for me, but to sum it up in a nut shell, she's endorsed a spiritual self-help book, not only making it book of the month but holding special webinars so that people can participate in the 'learning experience'. The book is purposefully generic so that a person of any religion feels it's applicable to them, and then it feeds them the same old new age mantras....such as self-actualization, becoming one, etc. It also says our true form is consciousness, which is 'Being', 'Being' = god, and we are thus all god. Puh-lease!
From the Oprah propaganda it was hard to tell what the true message of this spiritual book was, so I searched the internet for the opinions of Christians who read it. I happened upon this site and I can't help but be offfended by people who believe that they are god and then look down at me for my "ridiculous" beliefs, such as "those of the Christian faith...especially those who take the Bible as absolute truth...the ones who don't believe in reincarnation, or don't believe that animals have souls and of course those who believe that only those who follow "their" beliefs will go to heaven." This condemnation from someone who doesn't even know how to use quotation marks. That blog was good for a laugh, just to see what "words" were in "quoation" marks.
Anyway, I digress. Here are a few interesting articles from Christians who have read the book:
http://blogforbooks.com/archives/2008/02/21/examining-a-new-earth-chapter-one-part-1/
http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/1607/854/
http://penelope-chasingrainbows.blogspot.com/2008/02/oprah-winfrey-unveils-eckhart-tolle-and.html
And here are some interesting comments from people who have read it, most who are not opposed to its message. Unfortunately the other 90% of comments were from Oprah-sheep who loved it. It's interesting how people who are fans of new age recognize that this is a new age book, but Oprah baulks at the insinuation she's new age. No, no....she's not new age.....she's god!
"Normally I don't really go for Oprah selections but I heard so many great things about it plus I am totally into new agey type things, I thought it would be right up my alley. My problem with this book was twofold. First, a lot of the ideas weren't new to me. So I was reading the book going yeah, yeah, yeah I get it (and I felt like he repeated himself a thousand times). My second problem is... what's so bad about sometimes attaching yourself to people or things or concepts? Of course it's bad to get yourself totally wrapped in being "x and y's mom" or "z employee of this company" but why is bad to feel pride in that? It makes it harder to lose something if you've attached it to your ego, but I am okay with that. My parents are MY parents and assuming they precede my in death, it will be so hard but I am fine with experiencing a whole range of emotions in this life -- being excessively happy and excessively sad. My kids are MY kids and even though that will likely make it harder for me when they are off to college and doing their own thing, I'm fine with that!"
"opened this book, hoping to find something inspiring, eye-opening, and life-changing. Instead, it appears to be filled with the same old New Age babble about self-actualization and "each being the part of the one." It's not that I disagree -- it's just that I don't think there's anything particularly new or different. The same old, same old about non-judgment, embracing all things, blah blah blah. Call me crazy, but I think I've read this about 100 times before."
"Somewhat wordy and redundant. Arguments are circular, premises subjective, logic closed. Nice primer on Buddhism though and certainly one man's quintessential search for the meaning of life that maybe be helpful to others. In summary: Ego is the bad guy, very bad. But, I'd argue, essential to human nature. Yes, terrible atrocities have been committed due to ego but great achievements have as well. His interpretation of ego is my primary argument with this book. The subtitle is: Awakening to YOUR Life's Purpose. This statement alone calls to our egos, but if our egos are so very flawed why would egos be searching for a life purpose?"
"I admit it, I was lured in by the big Oprah sticker. I don't know why I fall for it; almost every book she ever recommends is complete garbage. I am happy to say that A New Earth is no exception. I want to love self-help books but they seem like they're just common sense mixed with a little spiritual garbage."
"So far this book has been helpful and interesting. From a psychotherapy type of perspective, I like what Tolle has to say. The quoting scripture is interesting, and a little out of context-very new age ideas, but it has challenged my thinking and caused me to examine and appreciate my own beliefs about humanity, grace and having a savior- lucky for me I don't have to master this spirituality stuff to reap the rewards."
"This was just okay for me. I liked it better when he used anecdotes to explain his points, but those seemed to be few and far between. Otherwise, the explanations seemed to go in circles to me, and I had annoying flashbacks of Psych 101 at UCSB. This book reminded me a little bit about why I didn't enjoy that class. "
"I am about half way through this book and overall I think it is a waste of time. The author babbles on about Egoic behavior - thinking is bad - feeling is good, blah blah blah! I presently think it should be rated very low for its readability factor - beyond tedious! Every once in a while there is a worthwhile thought expressed, but for the most part not worth reading. At the risk of saying something dissident, I have yet to read a book from Oprah's selections that isn't based on dysfunction to the max!"
""If you find this book incomprehensible or meaningless, it (the first awakening) has not yet happened to you." This sums up my problem with this book - he posits all sorts of "truths" with no proofs and not even much anecdotal evidence. But, of course, if you mention this, all you're doing is revealing your inadequacies, not flaws in his arguments. So call me unawakened."
"This book had some interesting ideas and even some ah-ha points for me, however I felt it was a little "new age" for me. I also feel that my understanding of my life's purpose has been and continues to be found through my relationship with my Savior and the gospel, so my "need" for this is naught."
"I'm sorry, Oprah! I just couldn't get into this book and I really wanted to--I hate disappointing Oprah. Maybe I'm just not at the right place in my life to be reading it, or maybe I just plain didn't get it. I mean, it's a lot of the same stuff I've read before. A lot of Buddhist philosophy, just wearing a different dress. Pain bodies--really? "
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