Who the FUCK is Eckhart Tolle?

[radiclib]

And why won't he get out of my face?
Is he the Undead Werner Erhardt in a new mask?

[octoberlib]

1. Here.

Eckhart Tolle (pron.: /ˈɛkɑrt ˈtɒlə/ ek-art to-lə; German pronunciation: [ˈɛkaʁt ˈtɔlə], born Ulrich Leonard Tolle on February 16, 1948) is a German-born Canadian resident, best known as the author of the The Power of Now and A New Earth, which were written in English. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world.[1] In 2008, a New York Times writer called Tolle "the most popular spiritual author in the United States."[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle

[tularetom]

2. Sounds like the name of a character is a WC Fields movie

Like Egbert Souse.

[Whovian]

3. A very good con man.

[GoneOffShore]

4. A serious woo purveyor.

Much like Deepak Chopra and others of that ilk.

[octoberlib]

5. I tend to stay away from any books that have titles like

'The Power of Now'.

[LisaLynne]

6. How is he in your face?

I thought he faded away after Oprah stopped having a show.

[radiclib]

9. His ads are everywhere on the Innertubes

[LisaLynne]

10. Thankfully I've missed those.

I was really hoping he was "over".

[SunSeeker]

7. Oprah fawned over him when she still had her show.

She treated him as the second coming. To see what the fuss was all about, I read "The Power of Now." Meh. Psychobabble. Basically tells you to clear your mind of worries and emotional pain and concentrate on the present to be happy. Basically a new age retread of the old "don't worry, be happy" tune.

[Berlum]

19. "You rang?" - Meher Baba

[KaryninMiami]

8. In what way is he in your face?

I've heard him speak, read portions of his best selling book, The Power of Now, have enjoyed his meditation tapes and enjoyed learning from him from time to time when listening to his lectures. Not a huge fan but have found his work interesting. Has something recently happened regarding this man that I missed?

[KittyWampus]

15. anyone who talks about philosophy from anything but a scientific materialist viewpoint

are #1. woos and #2. "in your face" for having the audacity to question the current dysfunctional paradigm.

[Berlum]

20. + 1

[lunatica]

11. The ads you're seeing are because of where you've been online

You probably looked at some books on Amazon regarding spirituality and now you're getting the ads. No one else gets those ads. I get ads about Mother Of The Bride dresses because I've been helping a friend find a dress for her daughter's wedding.

If you ignore them (by not clicking on them) they will go away and the regular DU ads will come back.

[hunter]

13. Website that explains the process...

http://dontbubble.us

Yes, it's an ad for the DuckDuckGo search engine, but it explains what google, bing, etc. are doing.

[toddaa]

28. DuckDuckGo Rocks!

It's my default search engine on all my browsers. Try switching from Google or Bing for a week and you'll likely never go back. The bang! commands are pretty cool, too.

[radiclib]

23. That's just it---I NEVER look at books on spirituality

or anything else that would make me a demographic for this shit. Unless it's porn.

[lunatica]

24. yeah, sure. Whatever you say

[demwing]

27. There was a video of his on DU

Recently.

If you opened the thread, you got hooked into the ad cycle

[Odin2005]

12. A working class German guy turned woo-woo New Ager.

[KittyWampus]

14. perfect thread for philosophical dwarves to pile on and declare "woo" on.

[kentauros]

16. Or the "septics" as I call them

[seabeyond]

17. people kept telling me that with my philosphy with life i had to read power of now.

i finally did. it is a good book.

much better living now than the illusion of past or future.

dont know why the OP is trippin'. not much info was given. but, i liked the book.

[LisaLynne]

18. I think the OP has just been being bombarded with ads featuring him and didn't ...

know who he was, which is understandable. Ads irritate me, too. Mine are all about cats, though. Cats and shoes. :/

I also read the Power of Now and I agree -- I think he's right on about not letting the past dominate what you are thinking/doing right now. I carry a lot of resentments from the past that I just need to let go, so I think he's spot on about that.

[KittyWampus]

22. they kind of freaked me out at first. I read about this or that and then see ads. Yeah, I knew

my activity was being 'watched'. But still, it is kind of freaky.

Advertising is a perfect illustration that we are suggestible creatures.

[lunatica]

25. I take time to be in The Now for a few moments throughout the day

As paradoxical as it sounds to actually take 'time' to step out of 'time' and be totally in the 'now', it really keeps things in perspective.

It's the ultimate experience of objectivity.

[OneGrassRoot]

30. "declare woo on"

Good one

[PasadenaTrudy]

21. AdBlock is your friend n/t

[Earth Bound Misfit]

26. This ^^

[toddaa]

29. Rehashed, watered down Alan Watts

Unlike Watts, Tolle offers little to guide you back to the original sources of his 'enlightened', 'new' way of living. Not as atrocious as Chopra, but pretty damn close.

[Shankapotomus]

31. Tolle's primary teaching

is simply about focusing our mind's attention away from the irreversible past and the unpredictable future into the present moment to reduce internal agitation. That's it. Nothing 'woo' about it, if you have the time to investigate.

[zazen]

32. I agree--MBSR is offered at major medical centers now

"Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction"--a western term and approach for some ancient Buddhist practices, updated with insights from cognitive therapy. Lots of research from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, etc., on MBSR. You're absolutely right--nothing "woo" about it.

Nor do I mind successful practitioners making a living teaching about it, though when they reach the status of Echkert Tolle and Adyashanti, there's always the danger of contemporary capitalism inflating them into cult status with one a day calendars and coffee table aphorism books and other merchandising. And of their getting sucked into ego. I feel that ET has done a bit of that; Chopra has done a lot; and Adyashanti not at all (for the time being.)

[Shankapotomus]

33. Capitalism & Ego is always the danger

Agreed. I don't follow any of these teachers closely enough to be aware of their approach to marketing themselves, however. What I usually do is take what is useful from the teaching and then move on. With most of these teachers that rise to some level of prominence, it is usually, initially, for a good reason-- because, initially, they have something of value to impart that some need to learn (what may be basic for some, may not be obvious to others.) So myself, unless it's really something agregious, I don't get wrapped up in the personal marketing preferences of these teachers. Sure, they could be rehashing what someone else said but we all learn at our own pace and we've got to learn it from somewhere. How we learn a new insight into ourselves or the universe is not nearly as important as learning it.