Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:05 am by WestCoast

Well, since participating in this thread I've started to read "A New Earth" because it's hanging around the house and people here are talking about it.



Frankly, what I'm seeing so far is simply a riff off a core concept of Buddhism. Nothing especially dangerous or earth-shattering (unless you've never heard it and have been trapped in a strict religious framework, in which case it's mind-boggling ... is this Oprah right now?).



Tolle is clearly joining the New-Age bandwagon with his commercial website. It's not uncommon for various well-known figures in New-Age land to have CDs of lectures, or "inspiration cards" or teaching materials. Retreats and teacher-trainings are also common. When offered for a reasonable price, these things can be helpful to people who need hand-holding while exploring their faith. They can also big outrageous money-grabs. It just depends.



In the same way as any major world religion has chachka asssociated with it (rosaries, incense, etc.), in the same way as you can deepen your faith in any major world religion by going on a retreat or studying books of religious commentary, so too all this marketing stuff. If it makes your day to have a new "inspiration card" tucked into your day planner each day, whoo-hoo. It could just as easily be a Jewish prayer or a saying of Mohammed or some Tolle New-Age ripoff of Buddhism, because you can buy similar stuff for any religion you can dream up (except maybe Scientology). It all responds to the same impulse some people have.



Ever see "The Guru"? All the chachka and stuff reminds me of Marisa Tomei when she gets super into what she thinks is the Hindu religion. That's how some people get with the optional add-ons.



If I'm wrong and Tolle "requires" people to buy all this crap to be enlightened, my apologies. As of now, though, I'm not seeing that buying loads of add-on materials has to be part of the Tolle experience. So it's not especially Scientology-like, really, especially since there is no coercion, etc.. The worst I can say about this guy really is that his book isn't especially good.



I'm also just not getting from all of this that Oprah is entangled in Scientology. A Course in Miracles is not Scientology, and neither is this Tolle guy's stuff. Worst case, she's got Scientology friends and thus won't touch the topic on her show. Slightly less bad case, she's making her personal spiritual journey so public that it will embarrass her.



I have no idea if she would consider Scientology just one more New-Age choice among many, try it out herself or suggest it to fans. I'd hope not, but frankly I am a bit surprised by her behavior of late so who knows. To go whole-hog for Tolle seems a bit gullible of her. I can't imagine that a woman as rich as she is marketing him just to make scads more money for herself. So like I said, it just seems like she's on a personal journey, and Middle American is along for the ride.