A New Earth: A Conversation With the Book

            This is my second blogging project. It is a dialogue with a book that is a publishing phenomenon. In fact, Eckhart Tolle's first book was a number one New York Times bestseller. This book, A New Earth, is another publishing phenomenon that has been pushed by Oprah Winfrey when she chose it for her book club. While I do not attempt to read Mr. Tolle's mind, I want to comment on what I have discovered in reading the book. Maybe you want to join the conversation. Feel free to send your comments.

            A New Earth, is Mr. Tolle's call to action. For him the world is in dire straights. He writes that we are faced with a radical crisis. The "old way of being in the world...doesn't work anymore. (p.20)" Our world is on the brink of disaster. He exclaims, "humanity is now faced with the stark choice: Evolve or die.( p. 21)" The great problem for us is the collective dysfunction of the ego. This collective dysfunction is at the root of environmental damage, wars and suffering. His call is to awaken the world to a new way of being. This will create the new earth. What do you say?

            Sadly, I agree with Mr. Tolle's assessment of religion. People have used religion to further suffering. Instead of promoting peace, much of the Christian religion has promoted war. War has created untold suffering. All of this is done in the name of Christ. Lately, many other religious people have contributed to the suffering of the world. All of these heinous acts have been done in the name of their deity. For Mr. Tolle, the answer is not more religion but more spirituality.

            To be spiritual is not the same as being religious. The new spirituality is a transformation of consciousness. It is a new thought system that frees one from the ego. What Mr. Tolle calls for is a flowering of consciousness that creates a kind of cumulative effect on the world. So the new earth is but the outward manifestation of a new consciousness, a new way of being in the world. What do you think?

            I agree with Mr. Tolle, the world needs change. Dr. Martin Luther King said, our choices are not between nonviolence and violence, but between nonviolence and nonexistence. In this sense, Dr. King was calling for a transformation of consciousness when it came to race. Could this country be in for a sea change of transformation if an African-American is elected president? Not only do we need a new spirituality outside of the mainstream churches. We also need a new mindset within mainstream churches. For too long, we have made an emphasis on right doctrine as the common denominator of mainstream religion. Maybe what we need know are new spiritual practices.

            Maybe we should define our faith by how we practice the  ethic of love that Jesus preached. Maybe we should define ourselves as people of faith by how we treat each other. The title of the book comes from the prophecy in Revelation that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. While I do not share Mr. Tolle's esoteric interpretation, I do hear his call for change. If we love people as Jesus taught, will we be able to create "heaven on earth?" What do you think?

7-22-08

            In Eckhart Tolle's second chapter entitled, Ego: The Current State of Humanity, he makes the case that our collective dysfunction, causes suffering and pain. It is rooted in the ego. All we can see is the surface of a person or thing. For Eckhart each created thing has an "unfathomable depth." There is a beingness to things. Only the awakened mind can see into the beingness of a thing. The example he gives is Vincent Van Gogh. The artist's job is to translate the isness of the subject to canvass so we can really see or appreciate the painting.

            In order for us to really see things as they are we must disentangle ourselves from the "I". He writes, "That disentanglement is what this book is about." We should use words and thoughts but not become imprisoned by them. Here is the problem with the "I" according to Mr. Tolle. The "I" is an error of perception. We think we are what the ego identifies with-the stuff of life. This stuff the Tao calls, "the 10,000 things". This stuff the Buddha called, "Tata".

            The ego represents a false self. The "I" equals our roles and identity. Yet, we are much more than these. The false self is identified with a quilt of possessiveness such as: gender, possessions, the sense-perceived body, a nationality, race, religion, and profession, etc. The false self is identified with our roles is this life-mother, father, husband, wife, etc. These all make up the mental construct we call "I" [ego].

            The misperception is some part of the whole self usually hijacks the self and takes over the identification. This is ego piracy. This hijacked or commandeered self is represented by a "voice in the head" that speaks for the whole self. Tolle's call to humanity is to resist identifying with the content of the mind. He wants us to become aware of the whole-or to become enlightened.

            Tolle at one point placed his faith in the ability of the intellect to solve humanity's problems. Then a brilliant professor he respected and admired committed suicide. This made him question his faith in the intellect. He also experienced a woman on the subway who kept talking to herself out loud, as if talking to a third person. She was thinking and her thoughts were being spoken out loud with anger. Tolle writes, "For a moment, I was able to stand back from my own mind and see it from a deeper perspective, as it were." (p. 33) This revealed a shift in him from thinking to awareness.

            He formed himself thinking his thoughts out loud like the "crazy lady" and found himself alone in the men's room looking at himself in the mirror. He began to laugh at himself out loud. He describes it as the laugh of the big-bellied Buddha. "Life isn't as serious as my mind makes it out to be". (p.33) If we seek our identity in things we trap ourselves in an inauthentic selfhood. Why? Because the true self is much more than what we own or what owns us. Jesus taught that life consists of more than what we possess. He taught, "What good does it do to gain the whole world and lose your soul. Or what can you give in exchange for a soul."

Jesus Uncut and Uncensored

Lessons in the Gospel of Luke

Key Verse: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set a liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

Background

In this chapter, we discover the preaching and teaching authority of Jesus. At this time in Jewish history synagogues had taken a central place in the worship of God. During the exile, Jews no longer had their temple. Synagogues were established as places of worship on the Sabbath and as schools for young boys during the week. This continued after the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. At the synagogue, the leader often invited a visiting rabbi to read from the Scriptures and teach.

Jesus went to the synagogue "as was his custom". He is the example we should follow for church attendance. In Luke 4:17-19, Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61: 1, 2. Isaiah pictures the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon as a year of Jubilee, when all debts were cancelled, all slaves are freed and all property is returned to original owners (Leviticus 25). However, this prophesy had not been fulfilled. So Isaiah must have been referring to a future messianic age. Jesus boldly announces, "This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears."

•I.                  Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth (4:16-30)

• Jesus is in the synagogue of the town he grew up in, Nazareth.
• Jesus reads from Isaiah and shares his mission statement and purpose for coming to the earth. What is Jesus mission statement? What does this statement say to you?
• Why was the synagogue crowd amazed at Jesus?
• Why did the people try to kill Jesus? What happened when they reached the brow of the hill? Describe this scene in your own words.

•II.               Jesus Teaches with Great Authority (4:21-28)

• Jesus goes to Capernaum and teaches in that synagogue on the Sabbath days.
• Jesus was a rabbi that taught with power. What kind of power was it?
• A man with an unclean devil cries out in the synagogue. What does he say? Do people with devils attend church? What should be our attitude toward people with demons? How did Jesus deal with this man?
• Jesus had authority and power over unclean spirits. What does this mean to us today?

•III.           Jesus Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law (4: 38-41)

• Simon Peter had a relative sick with a great fever. How did Jesus heal her?
• What happened in the city when they heard Jesus could heal the sick? Can the sick be healed in the same way today? Why or why not?
• What secret did the devils know that came out of people?

•IV.           Jesus Preaches Throughout Galilee (4: 42-44)

• Jesus goes into a desert place in the morning. Why do you think he goes there? What do the people do when they hear this? What do they want him to do?
• What important thing does he explain to the people? What kind of preacher do you think Jesus was?

Jesus: Uncut and Uncensored

Lessons In the Gospel of Luke

Key Verse: And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:22)

Purpose of this Series: Can we see Jesus with new eyes, hear His words with new ears, experience Him with a new heart and think with a renewed mind.

The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the perfect man and the Savior of the World. The author is Luke, a doctor, who was a Greek and Gentile Christian. He is the only known Gentile author in the New Testament. As a close friend of the Apostle Paul, he was a companion and fellow missionary who also wrote Acts. The two books go together. This book is written to Theophilus (love of God), Gentile, and people everywhere. The book was written around 60 A.D. Luke stresses Jesus' relationship; emphasizes prayer, miracles, angels; records inspired hymns of praise; and gives a prominent place to women.

Key People: Jesus, Elisabeth, Zacharias, John the Baptist, Mary (Mother of Jesus), disciples, Herod the Great, Pilate, Mary Magdalene.

Key Places: Bethlehem, Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem.

Background: Chapters 1 and 2 give the preparations leading up to and including the birth of Jesus Christ. The appearance of angels, immaculate conception, and miraculous birth in Bethlehem.

•I.                  John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus (Luke 3:1-18)

• Tiberius, the Roman emperor, ruled from A.D. 14-37. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, Herod (Antipas) and Philip were half brothers and sons of the cruel Herod the Great.
• Annas and Caiaphas were co-high priests. According to Jewish law a high priest was for life. Annas was high priest when Rome, in order to control religious affairs appointed his son-in-law Caiaphas. So they rule together.
• What does John the Baptist call those who come to hear him? What are "fruits worthy of repentance" mean? The people ask him, "What must we do then?" What does John the Baptist tell them?

•II.               Fast forward item (Luke 3: 19-20)

• Luke tells us what will happen to John the Baptist.

•III.           John baptizes Jesus (Luke 3: 21-22)

• Describe the baptism of Jesus. What is the significance of the presence of the voice from heaven and the dove?

•IV.           Ancestors of Jesus (Luke 3: 23-38)

• Luke goes back to Adam showing he is related to all human beings. This is consistent with Luke's picture of Jesus as the Savior of the whole world.

•V.               Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4: 1-13)

• How important is it to say Jesus was "full of the Holy Ghost"? What does it mean that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness? How long was Jesus tempted of the devil, what's the significance of 40 days?
• Describe the temptations. What is Jesus' response? What does this mean for Christians today? How do we deal with temptation today?
• The devil departs for a season. What does that mean? How should we deal with the devil? What are some lessons we can take from this example of Jesus?

Your Notes: