I downloaded the first episode of a 10-week session that Oprah Winfrey is doing with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. Check it out in iTunes if you’re interested.
In part I’m happy that Eckhart’s teachings are getting this kind of exposure. The Power of Now was one of the first spiritual texts I picked up and it had a major impact on me. I had a very real and direct glimpse of “being” while I was reading his work, and had a strong emotional connection with the goal of awakening that he was sharing. I also, at the time, largely agreed with his spin on things.
Later on I came to see that his teachings were a useful introduction to the spiritual path, but didn’t really have the sophistication that other traditions had–including maps, teachers (who are accessible), and developed practices. It’s very easy, and I’ve seen this with family members, to pick up Tolle’s work, read it, be impacted by it, and then just keep going with no impetus to follow up those openings with actual transformation (that sentence had a ton of commas!). The fact that Oprah, and the mainstream world, has picked up on his work is a testament to this fact. It’s probably no mass awakening, but rather many of the same people who read Conversations with God and The Celestine Prophecy a few years before–who in my more cynical moments–I think are just getting a hit of something and then moving on to the next spiritual fad.
And, actually, that’s fine with me. I think the work it takes to wake up to the ultimate nature of things isn’t for everyone–just like getting a PhD in neuroscience isn’t for everyone. And there’s plenty in what Eckhart teaches that is just basically helpful (like trying to learn to be present), and so that the fact that Oprah is getting it out there is probably good. But imagine if Oprah became a hard-core yogi and then started emphasizing things with a tremendous amount of depth. Would anyone listen to her?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:32 am
“And there’s plenty in what Eckhart teaches that is just basically helpful (like trying to learn to be present), and so that the fact that Oprah is getting it out there is probably good.”
exactly. i have an affinity with Tolle’s teachings too, which is some strong similarities with Vedanta and nondual Buddhist traditions. another thing i like about Tolle is that he wasn’t infected by the “enlightenment” bug. his “awakening” was sponteneous and serendipitous. though he did had to go back and talk to monks to understand what happened to him.
“if Oprah became a hard-core yogi and then started emphasizing things with a tremendous amount of depth. Would anyone listen to her?”
i think so. before Oprah, TV talk shows were mostly shallow. the popularity of Oprah is testament to the fact that “if you build it, they will come.”
btw, i’m too lazy downloading to iTunes so i’m going for the Youtube versions.
keep it flowing, dawg.
~C
March 13th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
“But imagine if Oprah became a hard-core yogi and then started emphasizing things with a tremendous amount of depth…”
Yet, when an understanding of who and what we are becomes “deep”, it also tends to be very simple and clear, which means it is also easily accessible to large numbers of people. Just look at Byron Katie, and Eckhart Tolle for that matter.
The problem then is often that it seems deceptively obvious and simple.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
True enough and thanks for pointing that out Per-daddy.
The thing though, is that you can tell a difference in Oprah’s understanding and Eckhart’s. And it seems too that there is sometimes a difference between the understanding being “very simple and clear” and the way it’s communicated being overly simply, as I would argue is the case in Eckhart’s teachings. There’s also the question of interpretation (ala The Wilber-Combs matrix) where even if one is communicating the most clear and simple non-dual understanding it may or may not be received well by the mainstream, which in this case is a primarily post-modern group of folks.
Part of the reason Eckhart’s teachings are so popular is because of how inextricable his non-dual wisdom and his post-modern worldview area. I just wonder what it would be like if Oprah, someone not only with massive appeal but who is also a cultural attractor point of sorts, were to both deepen to the level of say a Tolle or Byron Katie, and also start communicating it through an even more complex worldview (say, integral). Would the legions of Oprah fans still follow that?
Perhaps this question is a selfish one, where I am just pondering what the world might look like if Oprah were say, Ken Wilber. Whoa, now that I think about it, that would be scary!
March 16th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hi Vince, I agree with everything you are saying.
This clarified for me how I tend to associate enlightenment (discovering what we are, realized selflessness) with clarity and simplicity, as we see in Byron Katie, Adyashanti, Douglas Harding and others, and self-realization (development of who we are, this human self, content of awareness), with depth, richness and complexity.
I guess that is why I felt a need to post the initial comment, seeing the word “depth” associated with Tolle, who has a great deal of clarity, but maybe less depth.
Yes, my sense is that his aim is more to help people have a taste of it, in a way is helpful for who they take themselves to be, and if they get interested, move on to other teachers/teachings. I would be surprised if anyone actually had a Ground awakening just from listening to him or doing the exercises he suggests, although it could of course happen if they were ripe.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
With all due respect, you guys are way too intellectual. I totally believe that Eckhart’s message is as deep as any spiritual message can be, for the sole reason it’s not … intellectual.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
With all due respect to you Peter, the intellectual rigor with which Per and I exhibited above should be applauded in a world of spiritual laziness and lack of precision. Intellectual clarity and precision are in no way antithetical to spiritual progress and indeed I (and many other people) have found that using one’s mind actually complements the real work of going beyond it. Look in any of the spiritual traditions and you will see that in spades.