You guys rock! My kind of manifestors!!! You articulated so much of what I
say all the time…this ’spiritual arrogance’ that can be pervasive has
always been so fascinating to me!

I am all about teaching(and living) personal responsibility…AND
consciously learning and applying the Universal laws that abound! Great
audio…glad I listened..and much continued success

Dear Heather & Barry,

I thoroughly enjoyed that, what a great series of Myth Busters..

I enjoy your honest & open approach, I could relate to absolutely everything you said 100%…

While I do have a few different Mentors, certainly no egotisical ones…

I do live each day with an Attitude of Gratitude for even the smallest things,
what a huge difference that makes..

And I agree that success never came easy to those that truly are, life begins at the end of our comfort zone.. & live each day as though it could be your last!

You may have ruffled a few feathers, telling it how it is, but Kudos to you both for doing so.. appreciate it.

Dianne in NZ

Hi Heather & Barry,

I am not one to post on blogs, but I felt I had to reply to this post of yours. Although I have been a fan of you both and a portal member for 2 years, I was totally shocked at your attack on Eckhart Tolle in your 5th myth. Obviously Eckhart pushed some of your buttons on page 68 of his book “A New Earth”, and your interpretation of what you read caused you to embark on a series of judgements, dismissing the rest of his teachings and see them in a negative light.

I doubt very much that you finished reading the book, or even watched the entire 10 part series with Oprah, as you would not have come up with your savage comments. Although I have not finished the book, I watched the webcast every week, and I definitely did not come to your conclusion. Nothing of what Eckhart and Oprah said was any different of the material in your portals. It was quite obvious to all watching the webcast that Eckhart is totally congruent with what he teaches, as is Oprah, and they have to be commended for putting this webcast together, and bring this material to the masses. The millions of viewers are the proof that the information resonated with the many, and the many testimonies of “aha” moments, including Oprah’s, are proof that what Eckhart was saying was helping others to some breakthrough.

The video you showed of DR Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke talk, reinforces what Eckhart said, and Dr Jill herself endorsed this in her interview with Oprah.

If you could get down from your high horses for while, and listen to Oprah’s webcast and finish the book, then interview Eckhart and challenge him with the incisive questioning you have been legendary for, it would be far more interesting and enlightening for everyone. If he is what you said he is, this will show through. If he isn’t, then the least you can do is apologise and give him right of reply.

Hey there…

I really like how you two word your material…
I like the lack of hype…
I like how direct and straight forward you are.

30 years of spiritual sadhana does not necessarily
make a good manifestor.

Barry and Heather,

I have to agree with the comment by Paul. I find that the judgmental tone of this video was very off-putting for me. I have enjoyed many of your interviews and was impressed with the impartial perspectives you have taken until now. The negative attitude towards Eckhart just made me want to put you both in the category of people who aren’t living what they are teaching. In fact, it’s quite humorous and ironic that you would criticize those “spiritually arrogant” people and then follow up with spiritual arrogance of your own.

Each has his own path to enlightenment. None is better than the other, just different. Love and compassion are the tools we need to be able to live in harmony with our human family here on earth. Let’s remember just why we have chosen to take this physical journey here and live out these ideals.

Sincerely,
Margot in Los Angeles

Hi Heather & Barry,

I am not a portal member but I do receive your emails. I am posting to agree with Paul and add my two cents. I feel your Eckhart bash had a negative charge to it. In self esteem 101 I learned that one does not make himself bigger by knocking someone else down. I respect your disagreeing with his (what I consider) confidence but I wouldn’t term it spiritual arrogance.

I personally liked and found the information in A NEW EARTH very interesting and helpful. I also watched the 10 week series via Oprah’s Website and thought Eckhart was genuine and embodied the PRESENCE he was alluding to. I especially appreciated his responses to questions asked of him by confused indviduals whose beliefs were threatened by things he said in his book. Like any information we are free to take it or leave it. What is truth? Untimately, you get to decide, so do I.
Since I first saw The Secret and became aware of the LOA, I have been following the proliferation of new Manifestation Gurus and JV Web personalities that it has spawned and frankly, it reminds me of the Amway thing back in the 70s, the product now being How-to Information on a variety of subjects portrayed as essential by the sellers if one is to realize true success. Much (too much) of this information, in my opinion, is catering to the same materialistic mindset that we are are buried in. Stuff will not make us happy. Much of the manifesting propaganda I receive daily is just that, somebodies campaign to convince me that I have to be rich or wealthy in order to be successful or happy. Besides that, it is not new or secret information.

I am not a rich person in terms of money, but I AM a master manifester and I AM rich in ways that amaze people I know. And I love my stuff - I have way more stuff than a grow person should. Beliefs are what guide us in what we manifest and this justifying and re-working of our out-of-balance, greed motivated collective consciousness will continue to take us where it will. Changing some of these beliefs and understanding that we don’t really need so much stuff would be a better thing for many of us to realize rather than continuing to propogate this money equals happiness mindset.

I personally believe that this Life I have been given is spiritual school and my chance to get some stuff in order, so that is how I spend everyday. I live in the NOW because that is all there is. I will never be judged for how much stuff I amassed or lacked by anyone. I will manifest my own destiny however, by what I do for others and how I contribute the energy that I am grateful to receive. I accept all information that I am graced with that helps me change my beliefs for the better. I consider A NEW EARTH in this catagory and worth reading.

I would recommend finishing A NEW EARTH and maybe even watch the Oprah series (still available to download) and not be so judgemental. Something that may not resonate for you might really help somebody else. For a really good read, Google ‘Peace Pilgrim’ and get her book, she was truly enlightened.

Hi Steve,

You hit the nail on the head with this statement: “What is truth? Ultimately, you get to decide, so do I.”

Yes, and since we have a platform for publishing our thoughts and deductions, we get to share our decisions with others — which, again, they can take or leave.

And, as we clearly said in the video, anyone who puts their ideas or presence — even their personality, even though Eckhart doesn’t like that part of us — into the spotlight does so with the knowledge that some will agree, some won’t.

It’s part of the game, and they (or rather we, since we put our ideas in the spotlight too) know that.

It’s not about “making ourselves bigger by knocking someone else down”… (or to Paul, about getting on a “high horse”, even though I do love horses!)… we chose him simply because he’s in the spotlight and has a lot of blind followers. People who say things like “he resonates with me”, “he makes me feel good”, or simply “well, Oprah likes him, so that’s good enough for me”.

But no one has said to us, “He made me realize x, y and z, and that allowed me to change for the better in these ways.” Nobody seems to have specifics on how he has helped them, beyond talking about their “feelings”.

Anyhow, we’re about to release a full report on this topic… but in the meantime, I just wanted to post a quick response.

As for this too: “Much of the manifesting propaganda I receive daily is just that, somebodies campaign to convince me that I have to be rich or wealthy in order to be successful or happy. Besides that, it is not new or secret information.”

If you’ve found “manifesting teachers” that say “you have to be rich to be happy”, then run as fast as you can. That is so against manifestation theories that it’s not funny… I forget which myth I said it in, but the bottom line (and the good ones all know this, although they don’t all say it in the same “nutshell” way that I like to) is “You don’t have to be successful (or rich or whatever) to be happy; you have to be happy to be successful (or rich or whatever).”

And so what if it’s not new… you think people can go around inventing NEW universal laws? The bottom line is, the laws and principles are out there, working on all of us, but if someone doesn’t know how to make those laws work for them, the concepts are NEW TO THEM. And whoever packages it in a way that means that student finally GETS IT — and can MAKE IT WORK — is the one who deserves to be rewarded for helping the student get what they want.

If that’s Eckhart for you, cool… but you should go in with open eyes, and understand his style, teachings and methods — and whether they TRULY work for you — not just because Oprah featured him, or because he says you’re not enlightened if you don’t get it.

Our report will help you truly make up your mind on that, so keep an eye out for it.

cheers
Heather

Thanks Barry and Heather,

This myth buster was particularly interesting since I’m right now in the middle of reading A New Earth (via audio) - b/c Zen had recommended it to me in the relationship seminar you just hosted, to help shift my perspective and let go of the need to control the outcome of my particular situation.

I understand why Zen recommended it, and I’m getting a lot out of the book because it really is deep, and I do understand what he’s advocating. But right, like you said, what he advocates as the ideal (to lose the ego and remove emotion and thinking and the “mind”) appears to be in conflict with the law of attraction, so I was actually going to ask you guys what you thought about it. And poof, you do a blog post!

Also I agree that so far (I’m on Chapter 5) the book doesn’t offer much in the way of practical advice, but I do have to say that for the actual time that I am listening to it, because it is almost like meditating and I temporarily am able to shift and have awareness of the effect that the ego has on our day to day wants/needs/desires/actions/etc., and according to Eckhart that awareness is a moment of consciousness.

It was good to hear your thoughts in particular on how to reconcile the law of attraction with a New Earth. I think you do a good job of making people feel ok about realizing that he makes good points and has interesting perspective but who are having a hard time living on a daily basis according to the ideal infancy and think perhaps it’s not quite realistic. But then I guess you could say that about any book, theory, diet, etc.

You bring up Stuart Wilde at the end - I would love to hear your thoughts on what he’s been teaching lately. I think he’s also quite deep and have read a lot of his books, but I wonder if he’s gone off the dark, deep end in the last two years or so. Also like Echkart he also positions himself as a big guru and charges tons for his club and trips, for the chance to experience the Morph.

Thanks for the interesting dialogue!
Cheers,
Sandy

Hi Margot,

I suppose you heard what you wanted to hear, and we knew that any Eckhart devotees would likely take offense — funny how he tells people to transcend the ego, and yet the egos of his followers get engaged immediately and say, “How dare you!”

If you listen again, you’ll hear that we were in fact just as “impartial” as we ever are; we were investigating his modality of teaching, as we do with all teachers before we choose to even feature them in an interview… AND you’ll even hear us “debating” with teachers from time to time, and very often “challenging” them, if what they say doesn’t jive with what other mentors have said or taught.

That’s what we do here — we investigate, we pull apart, we examine from the inside, we see what ticks and what doesn’t, and we present it to the audience so they can listen/watch/read, take advantage of the research we’ve done, and form their own conclusions around our findings and results.

The problem you might be seeing is that Eckhart doesn’t endorse critical thinking (or any thinking, for that matter) — so if you believe his teachings, and hear us critically challenging whether or not they hold water, then you’ll assume that we’re “bad” for doing so.

If you want to label it “negative”, you have that right; however, for another student who appreciates us giving them the other side that nobody else is talking about, they are quite likely to call it “positive”. Those terms, you see, are entirely subjective.

But that’s not “spiritual arrogance”. Actually, “spiritual arrogance” is the thought that “I’m more enlightened than you”… that’s what Eckhart and his followers say, but we’ve never said anything like that. We don’t think we’re more enlightened than our community members, and we talk about how enlightenment isn’t some kind of “stamp of approval” in these videos. What we do think is that we probably have more time to devote to investigating, searching, sorting and selecting than others do — and we love doing it, so that’s our purpose here.

This is from an article by Edwin Harkness Spina, author of the award-winning novel Mystic Warrior:

‘By its nature, spiritual arrogance is exclusionary. Unlike the mystic understanding that All is One, people suffering from spiritual arrogance will tell you “they are advanced” implying that “you are not.”‘

You say, “Let’s remember just why we have chosen to take this physical journey here”… and that’s exactly what we were saying, too. We came here to experience the PHYSICAL journey, not to remove ourselves from all things that make us physical (ego, mind, thinking, sense of self, etc.) That’s exactly why we have to question — as investigators — the validity of that type of teaching, just as we question the validity of ALL teaching.

cheers
Heather

Hi Heather-
I appreciate your reply and felt a second comment might be in order. I just read Margot’s comment and your reply — this is an interesting thread. Eckhart’s popularity will surely increase your Net stats, which ultimately is the goal, right? More readers, more traffic, back links, improved SEO, more sales, etc. It works for me too =).

I just wanted to note that I am not an Eckhart devotee, but I do see value in his book. And I won’t attempt to defend his writings, they stand (or fall) on their own. Again, you should interview him — that would be very interesting. And I know there are better examples of Leaders who have ‘blind followers’, so maybe you could expose some of them in your future series. I am also not an Oprah devotee. I don’t even own a television. However, I believe Oprah was sincere and did a good thing providing Eckhart a platform to present and expound on his book. This matter of getting in touch with our spirituality is a hot subject. There is an awakening happening and ultimately one realizes that being spiritual is not something that is ’separate’ from our daily lives. This is what I saw in A NEW EARTH — a clear way of explaining this (x, y, z). For me it was an affirmation of what I already practice, for others it may be a new way of seeing things. It’s all good!

One thing that continues to proliferate in this culture we are embedded in is the idea that concepts, ideas, methods, information, whatever we call it that helps us realize our true potentials, can be instantly realized. ‘AHA’ moments are great but they don’t change the reality of what our lives are — we are still who we are when we put the book down. We are then faced with the challenge of implementing these new realizations into our daily affairs. “It is only through understanding and application that they work” (borrowed from 12-step literature). We are a ‘I want it now’ culture and many people continue to believe that enlightenment (or prosperity) can be purchased. I remain leery of salesmen who are manifesting their prosperity by taking advantage of these folks. I understand what you said about being happy first — profound and true!

I am also a teacher. What I teach is a not quickly realized. People often look at my work and say, that looks hard to do. My reply is always the same — it is NOT hard, but it does take time. I liken what I teach to learning to play a musical instrument. I provide my students with information — techniques, videos, books, demos, etc — however nothing happens unless they practice. Their learning can’t happen overnight just because they have some new information. The magic is in the doing, not the ‘talking about’ the doing. The value I saw in Eckhart’s book was this same idea — getting in touch with our real selves and bringing this Presence (Being) to whatever we are doing is about all there is to enlightenment. Doing without awareness is just more Ego food. There is no ‘there’, no final state… it all happens in the moment.

Thanks for providing this space for a great discussion. Keep up the good work.

To Steve:

While writing about a teacher, discussing their approach to conscious living, or starting a thread just because they’re in the limelight might work for you, it doesn’t work for us.

Because, truly my man…if we ever had the morbid inclination to initiate a blog post because we thought it would be the popularity equivalent of “bandwagon traffic exposure,” we would put the words Eckhart Tolle all over the blog - i.e., we would have written the MYTH instead of just linking to a video where we’re TALKING about the Myth:

Manifestation Myth #5 - That You Have To Be Spiritual - or A New Age Crusader - To Be a Super Manifestor.

And, to continue with your thinking and commentary, Myth #5 is more - much more - than an attempt to pick holes in ONLY what Eckhart Tolle’s vague, rambling, simplistic (and even condescending) work is about.

The Myth - which now will be EXPANDED upon significantly - is about taking grounded ownership of our interest, intent, and reasoning for spending time soaking up spiritual philosophy in the FIRST place…. especially spiritual philosophy that is alienating to the seeker / reader / listener and ultimately a very sad, tainted, dark view of humanity.

We need less thinking (or non-thinking) in this world that molly-coddles and gives the unquestioning green light to spiritual teachers who pour out cryptic drivel, and only “feel good” sound bites, to a population that is becoming more and more anti-intellectual.

We need more people willing to understand that saying “his writings will stand or fall on their own” is nothing more than a BIG cop-out — many lemmings, for many millions of years, have fallen over cliffs because they never were taught, or pushed, to think for themselves, question authority, or ask themselves the right questions (i.e., “Why does this man tell me I’ll never be enlightened unless I do this, change that, or fix ____ (fill in the blank)?”).

Enlightenment, awareness, and present-moment thinking is NOT a permanent way of study, an extreme form of spiritual boot camp that never can end, or a form of growth that requires distancing ourselves from the senses, mind, emotions, instincts, fantasies, intuitions, etc.

As one of our friends, who we discussed this with over the phone, said:

“By objectifying and demonizing ego, feelings, time, and other human realities, Tolle (and other teachers like him in the past who have attempted to get people to practice “non-duality living”) is fragmenting and condemning most of the life and reality we are given, the precious uniqueness and complexity of life as a human person.”

And, NO, no, no — telling people that “you need to take time, and work hard, to get and apply his teachings” is ALSO an accountability cop-out. Because, like we said in the video, one should ALWAYS be suspicious of anything that cannot be understood unless it is also believed and/or insinuated by the teacher that will only come to you once you’re ready enough to receive, or get, it. Plllleeeeasssssssssssssse !

My 2 cents for now… more to come when we release our detailed REPORT this weekend.

Barry

Barry and Heather,

I think that some of your criticism of Eckhart Tolle, while understandable, has to do with confusion over the way he uses language. Certain words that he uses like “consciousness,” “ego,” and “enlightenment” are not used in the typical American vernacular in his teachings. When he talks about ego, for instance, he’s not using that word exactly like you used it in your presentation, in conjunction with the psychology terms “id” and “super ego.”

Ego, as Eckhart uses the term, just refers to whatever one identifies with. If you tell yourself, “I’m sad,” rather than, “there is sadness in me,” that’s ego. If you think you are your thoughts or emotions, that’s ego, according to Eckhart Tolle. Ego isn’t bad, it just implies identification. He never said “ego is bad,” or that “the ego is evil.” But he might say that the ego can feel bad or feel like an evil if you are identified with something painful, or identified with something you lose. If you are completely identified with something painful, you will think you are the pain, and, therefore, have no choice about how to feel.

I think Eckhart may give the impression that he thinks that ego is bad, or that un-enlightenment isn’t good, because his teaching style is highly disciplined of the reader (or student). His teachings are designed to assist in relieving personal suffering in people’s lives and to assist in increasing people’s spiritual awareness; and, in doing so, they can be tough on the reader. His book, “The Power of Now,” I think, is even more disciplined than “A New Earth.”

Also, I’m not sure what you mean when you say that Eckhart is trying to lead us back to infancy. It seems to me like his teachings lead us away from wining, crying, or complaining, and towards taking responsibility for our lives and how we feel. The only thing that would be child-like in the process of enlightenment is from a potential new sense of innocence. His attention to thought and mental processes isn’t necessarily to encourage us not to think, but to encourage us to recognize the difference between thought and our true selves. In doing so, we can use thought, instead of being used by thought.

On the subject of enlightenment: enlightenment is neither good nor bad, it’s just a word used to describe the process, act, or state of transcending different levels of consciousness. As we look at history, for instance, I think we can say that the folks who experienced “The Enlightenment” in Europe (which eventually led to the founding of the United States), were more enlightened than folks were prior to that historic period, because they developed an expanded understanding of themselves and of life in general. You, Barry and Heather, may be more enlightened than some of your readers. That doesn’t make you superior, or anyone else inferior, it just means that you may have an expanded awareness about the nature of the universe due to your investigation of it. I think that the only reason Eckhart Tolle qualified, in the beginning, a reader’s ability to derive meaning out of “A New Earth” is not due to exclusion, or to say that this is the only path to enlightenment, but because he didn’t want people struggling or beating themselves up over the possibility of not understanding the teaching.

Finally, you asked for specific ways in which Eckhart’s teachings are applicable in people’s lives. I’ll give you two things that happened to me as a direct result of his books (but I’m not saying these things happen to everybody): (1. This will sound kind of silly, but after reading “The Power of Now,” I was able to make headaches go away “on command,” ever since then, without drugs or any external stimulus at all. (2. One day, back in the fall, my reading of “A New Earth” induced a deeply meditative state for a period of about 2 hours, again without drugs or any external stimulus. I don’t know how that happened when it did, but that was one of my first meditative experiences, and it helped me to meditate more easily ever since. Even in Esther and Jerry Hicks’ “Ask And It Is Given,” it says that meditation is one of the processes of manifestation because it quickly brings you the experience of well-being and produces a space between you and your thoughts. I would not have been able to meditate as easily without Eckhart Tolle.

Therefore, I encourage you to dive more deeply into his teaching and find out what Eckhart Tolle is really saying, here, because I think you may have missed some of his main points. Don’t get hung up on words. I don’t think you can use fractions of the whole to know the whole as it really is.

Sincerely,

Kevin, Illinois

Wow, what an inspiring and thought provoking thread the Myth Buster #5 has produced.

‘If you throw a stick into a pack of dogs the one that yelps is the one that got hit.’ An old fella said this to me once, when I was getting all fired up over something, and it took me a while to figure it out.

Well, I must have gotten hit, ouch. I have been confused, curious, upset and intrigued by these conversations and I would like to say that I appreciate each and every person that has taken their time to put their thoughts down and to reach out and (for me) to help figure this out.

The biggest thing I realize, from listening to the Oprah sponsored series, that I can use and put into practice right now, is the need for BALANCE in my life. Balance between the human-ness of me, and the spiritualness of me. I realize that bringing that awareness into each moment, has always been the challenge. I realize that I like being human. I like being in the moment. I like the spiritual essential me. Reminding myself of this often, is helping me come to grips with how I am living each moment and allowing me to honor all those aspects of the me that I am right now.

The exploring and deeper critical thinking continues. I am curious and excited about the report that Barry and Heather are working on. I just hope it doesnt get a title like ‘Eckhart revealed or unwrapped’ or something like that. Call me crazy.

Funny how a lot of you guys seem to think this is “all about Eckhart”… it’s not for us. Like we’ve said numerous times (in the video and here) he’s one example that went well with the Myth #5 we wanted to talk about, and he’s in the limelight so people know who he is — that’s why we chose him.

There’s a lot more in the Myth than Eckhart — and a lot more in the report, too (not that you’d know this yet, since you haven’t seen it, but we don’t write whole reports JUST about one teacher. It’s about spiritual accountability… and will include elements of cultism, mind control, and the display — or lack of display — of a humanistic range of emotions).

And no, Mattie, it won’t be called Eckhart Unwrapped — as he is one of the last people we’d want to unwrap (besides, we usually unwrap concepts, not people).

But, obviously Eckhart is a hot spot for a lot of people, since that’s what was continuously commented upon in this Myth. Mattie, I guess we hit a lot of dogs with that one stick!

Kevin, Eckhart’s definition of Ego as you describe it is pretty much what every spiritual teacher uses as a working definition. To simplify it, we could say Ego = Personality, or the part that makes us appear “separate” or “individual” (when we all know, at least in theory, that our spiritual selves are connected to the whole in some way).

Yes, this is the same, as you say, as “whatever we identify with”.

So Eckhart is saying, basically, to focus on the spiritual side of us rather than the physical, and the physical side (including the ego, mind, thoughts, individuality and so forth) represent a “fall from grace” — whereas we (and many teachers we’ve interviewed) are saying we need to embrace and allow both while we’re here — that “balance” that Mattie mentioned between the physical and the spiritual.

Here’s a quote from an article of Eckhart’s (I believe the article was taken from the transcription of one of his talks):

“Humans have been in the grip of pain for eons, ever since they fell from the state of grace, entered the realm of time and mind, and lost awareness of Being. At that point, they started to perceive themselves as meaningless fragments in an alien universe, unconnected to the Source and to each other.”

So whereas many learned teachers talk about how we came here specifically to experience the physical side of being — Eckhart is calling that same journey a fall from the state of grace, all because of that gosh-darned “time and mind”. How dare they get in our way! So his solution, in many ways, is to shut off the mind.

Okay, well… like we keep saying, more to come in the report.

And by the way, Kevin, the Freudian psychology terminology was introduced simply as an example to show how the definition of “Ego” HAS changed in the spiritual growth community — and it has become something that some teachers, and many students (especially those who just start out and are confronted with the concept of how their ego gets in their way) really just want to be able to “overcome”.

I used to think that way too — until enough teachers I interviewed set me straight with the fact that we NEED the ego while we’re living in this realm.

Another nugget for thought… is Eckhart without ego? Is Oprah? Have either of them transcended it, or overcome it, or proven by example that they are entirely connected with the source and do not embrace their individuality or separateness?

Hmmm….

But I’m glad you, Kevin, actually got some tangible results — good for you!

cheers
Heather

Thanks, Heather. I think I understand where you’re coming from better, now. Thanks. It’s like what Genpo Roshi recently said in an interview with Bill Harris, (paraphrasing) that we’re better off living in such a way that combines human and being. And, true, Eckhart tends to focus more on the “being” part.

Regarding whether or not Eckhart and Oprah have egos, the question actually came up during one of their webcasts. Eckhart said point blank that he does not have an ego or a pain body. He also said something about how it was not particularly an accomplishment or an achievement, it just happened. One moment, it was there. The next moment, it was gone. He talks more about his spiritual transformation in “The Power of Now.” And I’m pretty confident that Oprah would not claim that she does not have an ego. Again, I would say that all of this depends on how we would define “ego.”

Thanks again,

Kevin

Kevin,

LOL — well, of course Eckhart has an ego, even if you simply define it as a sense of self, or else his name wouldn’t be on his book cover — let alone bigger than the title of the book itself (I’m referring to A New Earth, not The Power of Now).

And Oprah… yes, I’m sure she’d SAY she doesn’t have an ego, but I wouldn’t come close to believing it, no matter how “ego” is defined!

cheers
Heather

I think spiritual awareness (along with feeling the connection to all-that-is) is needed in conjunction with the critical thinking/individuality. How can we recognize one aspect without also having and seeing the other aspect?

I have found that the more I delve into the spiritual/self awareness (being in the now, meditation, etc) the better my critical thinking skills are and vice versa. I wouldn’t want to try to live in this world without all aspects.

Some people need to be more “aware” (lose judgement, etc) and some need to learn to “think” for themselves (stop following blindly)… and frankly, there’s plenty of people out there who need both! Either way, I think we have all things covered quite well around here!!

I think it is important to learn from the stuff that rubs us the wrong way equally, if not MORE than the stuff that we feel we resonate or jive with. We have some leaders/mentors that really help us and we seem to understand easily. Then comes along some that ruffle our feathers… yep it is all good.

WooHoo!

Hi there…

there is just one thought popping up in my mind…

… is this discussion about people who judge others for judging about others ?!?!

:-))

Think that over!!!

Have a great week-end!!

André

What I got out of it (the whole Eckart thing) was that we shouldn’t deny or condemn any part of this experience we call life. The physical is just as important as the spiritual, and that’s something to embrace. To look at the whole in its various pieces so that we DON’T get caught up in the arrogant spiritual attitude and neglect the physical, or think that the body is separate from us and starve the spirit. To realize that we are creations of spirit and body and mind (ego) - and most likely more we haven’t discovered yet! - and then to realize that we have a CHOICE to live from a ReActive lifestyle or to be more Conscious (Awake, Aware, Alive whatever your language).
I think your commentary has caused so much activity in the responses because we want to see if we’re all on the same page. It has more to do with verbiage and communication styles, rather than a blind defense. Kind of like the talks in the United Nations, huh?? Where everyone wants to make sure the others really understand what they’re trying to say.
Myself, I agree with both Tolle and Heather & Barry. I think they are seeing different aspects of the same thing. Remember the blind men and the elephant? We better make sure we don’t think we really know it all - it can only be what we personally see and interpret.
Thank you Heather and Barry, for giving us a platform to think and question and examine our beliefs.