Why Eckhart Tolle’s Evolutionary Activism Won’t Save Us

[American Dream]

And one more:

Why can’t this divine evolutionary impulse awaken us to the reality of things that actually matter like deforestation, pollution, racism, homophobia or imperialism? Why couldn’t experiencing Being and connecting to our divine source actually provide us with tangible knowledge and concern about the ravages of industrial capitalism instead of disembodied, abstract and politically neutral states of presence? Tolle and others like Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen believe that God evolves through everyone – Tea Partiers and KKK members, white liberals, black feminists, Chinese Taoists and queer activists to merely discover their deepest and truest self. Unfortunately this divine act does extremely little to actually move us towards global and planetary change. If it helps everyone equally then it empowers everyone at the social, political and ideological perspective they are based in and is essentially neutral. Aligning ourselves with an ever-present divine evolving impulse is vague, empty and will still reflect one’s social and cultural values and prejudices. It’s like going to therapy to discover deeper states of psychological truth. Of course anyone can benefit from therapy, but this won’t make them challenge the worst injustices around them. There are of course millions of Americans oblivious to the realities of racism and injustice who have done profound inner transformational work and who have connected with the “light of consciousness."

http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/why-eck ... nt-save-us

[Canadian_watcher]

the thing is, the two are not mutually exclusive and for the life of me I can't figure out why you think they *are,* AD.

You think that there are no Occupy protesters who do yoga? No marchers for any cause who might also get something from listening to Tolle or Icke, even?
I very much doubt that these personalities who you rail against are turning nations of people into zombies.. I doubt they're even turning families of people into spaced out peacenik do nothings.

I don't want to be seen to be instigating, here, but I have to ask: do you have time, AD, to organize and attend anything "useful" which changes the system in between all the reading and posting you do? I'm honestly not criticizing, but you are, so I think turnabout is fair play.

[Sounder]

This fellow does some true Reality Creation talk while he takes apart the YCYOR belief set.

Do others here have any opinions on this fellows approach?


http://montalk.net/metaphys/68/true-rea ... ion-part-i

“You Create Your Own Reality” (YCYOR) is the predominant belief system of many New Agers. This doctrine states that reality is entirely the product of our minds, and that by controlling our beliefs, we may determine what happens to us: what events we focus upon, we attract; what we do not focus upon, we do not experience. Creating for oneself what one desires is called “manifesting”, and having all one needs in life is called “abundance.” For those who utilize YCYOR, manifesting abundance is usually a key goal.
Do we create our own reality? Yes we do, but not as freely as proponents of YCYOR claim. As it exists, YCYOR is a faulty paradigm whose incomplete nature was made so by design. This belief system is a dangerous spiritual weapon used by negative forces to disarm their potential victims. People who seek the New Age as an alternative to atheism or Christianity are not improving their situations. They are merely falling for further deception, the same trick with a new look. Like gravity, such deceptions can be traps, or they can be used as slingshots to propel one further along if one is careful and learns from mistakes.

There are several reasons why YCYOR is dangerous.

First, YCYOR fools its followers into believing they are more spiritually evolved than they truly are. Such New Agers are lulled into a false sense of security, an overestimation of their abilities and invulnerability, and thus fail to prepare against random accidents or attacks from negative forces.

Second, the practice of “manifestation” often becomes an act of black magic when used irresponsibly. Black magic is the manipulation of higher forces by lower individuals to their own spiritual detriment. For example, when corruptly implementing “manifestation” through visualization, ritual, chanting, or meditation, one can circumvent one’s life mission or agenda, extort one’s Higher Self, and violate the freewill of other sovereign humans........

[Canadian_watcher]

I could write a thesis paper deconstructing those little paragraphs.

[American Dream]

the thing is, the two are not mutually exclusive and for the life of me I can't figure out why you think they *are,* AD.

You think that there are no Occupy protesters who do yoga? No marchers for any cause who might also get something from listening to Tolle or Icke, even?
I very much doubt that these personalities who you rail against are turning nations of people into zombies.. I doubt they're even turning families of people into spaced out peacenik do nothings.

I don't want to be seen to be instigating, here, but I have to ask: do you have time, AD, to organize and attend anything "useful" which changes the system in between all the reading and posting you do? I'm honestly not criticizing, but you are, so I think turnabout is fair play.

If you think I'm posing spirituality and social action as irreconcilably opposed, you are misunderstanding even the most basic things about me- not to mention the original post.

Often- as today, I post while working.

And yes, I am definitely involved in political action, political communities and the like- and have been for many, many years.

[Canadian_watcher]

the thing is, the two are not mutually exclusive and for the life of me I can't figure out why you think they *are,* AD.

You think that there are no Occupy protesters who do yoga? No marchers for any cause who might also get something from listening to Tolle or Icke, even?
I very much doubt that these personalities who you rail against are turning nations of people into zombies.. I doubt they're even turning families of people into spaced out peacenik do nothings.

I don't want to be seen to be instigating, here, but I have to ask: do you have time, AD, to organize and attend anything "useful" which changes the system in between all the reading and posting you do? I'm honestly not criticizing, but you are, so I think turnabout is fair play.

If you think I'm posing spirituality and social action as irreconcilably opposed, you are misunderstanding even the most basic things about me- not to mention the original post.

Often- as today, I post while working.

And yes, I am definitely involved in political action, political communities and the like- and have been for many, many years.

No, I'm not saying that you are posting that spirituality and social action are irreconcilably opposed. I thought i was pretty specific in my questions to you re Yoga practitioners/Occupy protesters and marchers/readers of Tolle or Icke. I was asking, specifically, if you think that people who read Tolle or do yoga might ALSO be capable of social action that you would approve of.

AND another thing: How do you make it so that your font is just that much bigger than everyone else's? is there a setting for that?

[Searcher08]

For me, I read and liked Tolles first book. However I would say that my experience of his work was just that - an experience - private, personal and within my own internal world. I have an acute awareness of what happens when a group of people far more feisty than the Tollians (the Rajneesh crowd) can end up with an organisation which is run by psychopaths in the guise of 'New Age Sharks' who set themselves up as a kind of intermediaries between a spiritual 'source' and the wider community and the whole thing turns cultic, especiallly when big amounts of money start rolling in. I dont think this means Tolle or what he says is bad, but that Ponerology beats Consciousness change every time. Without fail.
Having a profound spiritual experience is just What's So - less obviously, it is also So What?
IMHO A 'New Earth' will have come about through self-organising self-generated change which is deeply coupled with the environment of the system one is in and through personally realised necessity. I have seen enough of Business to realise that the dream of business being a transformational force for good has vanished in a mire of a a systemic culture of corruption; Scientism is having a field day, with more an more academia becoming monocultures of thought; the political process is a busted flush.
What is left? For me it is about how to become the most effective total person I can be and to USE that effectiveness to serve my values and embody my life purpose in my interactions. There is a truly awful shortage of design thinking, of provocative creativity, of systemic thinking and common sense and tools to deal with information overload. How to have a clear vision for one's life that helps one get out of bed in the morning. How to be present with suffering and even if one cannot do anything about it, not look away.
As a wise friend once said, if you do not learn to think for yourself, someone else will do your thinking for you.
So for myself, I see Tolle as irrelevant to social change as there is no vison, no goals in service of the vision , no projects in service of the goals.

[American Dream]

No, I'm not saying that you are posting that spirituality and social action are irreconcilably opposed. I thought i was pretty specific in my questions to you re Yoga practitioners/Occupy protesters and marchers/readers of Tolle or Icke. I was asking, specifically, if you think that people who read Tolle or do yoga might ALSO be capable of social action that you would approve of.

You don't need me to tell you this: of course they are.

And did you really "get" the original post?

[American Dream]

IMHO A 'New Earth' will have come about through self-organising self-generated change which is deeply coupled with the environment of the system one is in and through personally realised necessity.

Agreed- I think- with the strong caveat that the self-activity is not just an individual process but also a collective one...

[Canadian_watcher]

No, I'm not saying that you are posting that spirituality and social action are irreconcilably opposed. I thought i was pretty specific in my questions to you re Yoga practitioners/Occupy protesters and marchers/readers of Tolle or Icke. I was asking, specifically, if you think that people who read Tolle or do yoga might ALSO be capable of social action that you would approve of.

You don't need me to tell you this: of course they are.

And did you really "get" the original post?

What I got was that in the opinion of the writer, Tolle has a strange power combined with a self-first New Age message which create a toxic mix that could be used to stymie action and that in fact Tolle is anti-action so therefore it's a nefarious plot and he's a dangerous cult leader who ought to be avoided.

is that what you wanted me to get?

[American Dream]

No, I'm not saying that you are posting that spirituality and social action are irreconcilably opposed. I thought i was pretty specific in my questions to you re Yoga practitioners/Occupy protesters and marchers/readers of Tolle or Icke. I was asking, specifically, if you think that people who read Tolle or do yoga might ALSO be capable of social action that you would approve of.

You don't need me to tell you this: of course they are.

And did you really "get" the original post?

What I got was that in the opinion of the writer, Tolle has a strange power combined with a self-first New Age message which create a toxic mix that could be used to stymie action and that in fact Tolle is anti-action so therefore it's a nefarious plot and he's a dangerous cult leader who ought to be avoided.

is that what you wanted me to get?

Not what I'm referring to, rather the part that is integral to what Be Scofeld- and myself- maintain: that spirituality (including yoga and metaphysics) and social action are very complementary indeed. It is rather certain forms of dogmatic spirituality that lack grounding in solid political principle and critical thinking that generally present a problem for creating positive social change..

[Canadian_watcher]

well, all i can say is that I've observed you post a string of like articles recently (I'm not complaining) but it seems like maybe a laundry list of all the personalities you detest and why you detest them. Fair enough and all, but it leaves me a little confused. The way it is playing out feels like a vendetta and frankly it puts me on the defensive.

I'll just stay out of these threads because I don't want to be antagonistic but my gut level response is to trust grown adults to make up their own minds about how to live their lives, particularly when it comes to where they find inspiration and these threads feel like "do not enter" signs.. To me there is nothing more sacred or useful than inspiration no matter where its spark is lit.

[American Dream]

well, all i can say is that I've observed you post a string of like articles recently (I'm not complaining) but it seems like maybe a laundry list of all the personalities you detest and why you detest them. Fair enough and all, but it leaves me a little confused. The way it is playing out feels like a vendetta and frankly it puts me on the defensive.

I'll just stay out of these threads because I don't want to be antagonistic but my gut level response is to trust grown adults to make up their own minds about how to live their lives, particularly when it comes to where they find inspiration and these threads feel like "do not enter" signs.. To me there is nothing more sacred or useful than inspiration no matter where its spark is lit.

As I said immediately upthread: "It is rather certain forms of dogmatic spirituality that lack grounding in solid political principle and critical thinking that generally present a problem for creating positive social change"...

And no reason I know of for it to put you personally on the defensive...

[Canadian_watcher]

[quote="American Dream » Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:17 pm

As I said immediately upthread: "It is rather certain forms of dogmatic spirituality that lack grounding in solid political principle and critical thinking that generally present a problem for creating positive social change"...

And no reason I know of for it to put you personally on the defensive...[/quote]

I take censorship and attempts at it personally, and that's what this feels like to me. Maybe not this thread as much as some of the others.

I agree with you completely though about the problems of dogmatic "thinking." (if it can be called that)

and why is your font bigger than mine? seriously man.. are you seeing it that way on your screen?

[American Dream]

Where you see censorship, I might see diverging views. And there is a size function which provides 200 options (more than half of them visible).