More Thoughts on Eckhart's Teachings....

Some of the following post was adapted from writings I've posted on other forums where A New Earth was being discussed.

I find the thoughts in A New Earth very enlightening. I keep underlining, marking passages with an asterisk, circling things, jotting down scriptures.....so much applies. The weird thing is that it also encompasses some of the other "teachers" I've been exposed to over the past year or so. There were a lot of passages in the first couple of chapters that reeked of Girard's theory. Gleaned a few insights there into yearning and craving and always wanting more.

Then there is Byran Katie. I've read some of her stuff on the internet and downloaded some of the "worksheets" she has on line. I have even used a few to try to get a clearer view of things going on in my own (tumultuous) life right now. I think a lot of her teachings sort of line up with Tolle's. She is a bit more "in your face" about it....

There is a video on her website where she does "the work" with a man who has what appears to be terminal cancer. It could be argued that in it she goes a bit too far....but perhaps it is just more of a shock jock kind of way of doing the same thing Tolle encourages...acceptance of what is. Her turn it around questions seem to expose the lie we are telling ourselves about so many different things that are "truth" to us. I also noted several times that Tolle referred to "your story" which is the collective life experiences and things that form your identity...things that your ego clings to and identifies with. Katie also asks the question "Who would you be without your story?"

David Burns is someone who the counselor introduced me to. I am enough of an open book to admit that I am going to a counselor in order to try to sort out some of the issues with my daughter and the turmoil it has caused between the four adults involved. At our first session, she told me I should order his book. His book came a while ago (used from Amazon). I have only leafed through it at this point, but I had already gleaned his major premises on the internet (in addition to some cool worksheets and "exercises") His belief is that we bring on much of our own depression and grief by ten distorted thought processes. From a quick google cyber trip yesterday morning, I saw there are variations of CBT which incorporate "mindfulness" into the basic premise. This seems to be getting away from some of the guidelines of Tolle perhaps but one website I visited described CBT as mindfulness for beginners. Sort of a very practical way to start to disarm one's negative thought patterns. Tolle says that awareness of this is the beginning of the process. Perhaps CBT is the way to awareness. I see myself in a great many of the CBT distorted thought processes.

One place I visited this morning (love to google) said the following:
Here are 3 broad categories of ways of breaking the cycle of negative thoughts that are at the root of most (or possibly all) our psychological distress:
1. Change our behavior
2. Change our thoughts/perceptions
3. Get out of our heads altogether - instead of thinking or doing, we are being
The "teachers" that I mentioned above encompass one or more of these three areas..and in fact, these three categories greatly overlap. If we master #2, #1 automatically occurs. Still working on the "we are being" thing

As the daughter of a worry wart mother, who was the daughter of worry wart parents, my dysfunctions come from both nurture and nature. Right now my teenage daughter encompasses a lot of my thoughts...and has affected relationships with her dad, her stepmother and her stepdad....not to mention siblings who have been affected by her behavior and all the attention that goes to her. It has been very mixed up and distressing...with a few steps forward followed immediately by a few steps back. Although it is SLOW going, I hope some of this awareness will eventually help the situation.

As far as the spiritual implications....I am for the first time getting an understanding of the christ within vs. the carnal/adamic man, flesh....whatever you want to call what Tolle calls the "ego." This goes beyond the practical, everyday, more secular results and understanding. As far as the terminology etc., I find that some of the way Tolle expresses things is a bit like the message bible. Some of the confusing verses in the KJV are much more understandable in the Message. Some of the confusing concepts seem to be easier to grasp when worded just a bit differently. I know that when I am reading Tolle, scriptures spring to mind. I don't necessarily swallow everything Tolle says...nor do I swallow everything ANYone says...but always looking for the diamond in what some might consider a dungheap.