Many people I respect are in love with this guy, and trust me, I’m not here to bash him personally but I do find his writing rather simplistic and impractical.
I’m back and forth on Tolle. So correct me if I’m wrong, but he’s using thought to describe why thought is “bad”. It seems to me he demonizes all thinking, but at the same time says that thinking is essential for practical matters.
Anyone else find this a little black-and-white?
Thinking is “bad”… live in the “Now”. I didn’t know I was outside of the Now in the first place, also if he’s talking about external surroundings, then how do you interact with them without thinking? I’ve played basketball for many years and yes, there can be intense conscious presence while playing, but that doesn’t mean “thought” <(whatever that even is) isn’t actively involved.
God you could talk for hours about this guy and the mind and probably get nowhere.
here are parts of an email I got recently from a depersonalization expert, on mindfulness and authors like Eckhart Tolle:
“My personal belief is that human beings, especially in western society, are not geared to live in the moment. Dogs and cats live in the moment, but humans are a rich and complicated ongoing composite of memory, emotion, and thinking on several levels at once.”
“That said, it can still be a little frightening to people with DPD who already feel they are living in the moment and can’t get back to a natural, free-flowing stream of consciousness filled with memories and feelings. So I suggest that these techniques are not great for people who are already over-conscious, (too aware of the mind’s activities), or who feel too observant of their thoughts or actions. These are true characteristics of DPD and it does seem that mindfulness-type meditations might exacerbate them, if only temporarily.”