Kerby Anderson recently wrote in his Christian Worldview Network article, Eckhart Tolle’s New Earth, “I am amazed at how many Christians I talk to (even in evangelical churches) who are reading his book and applying his principles to their lives” (Anderson 1). And so they are. The Tolle-Oprah church has created a new earth while using an old ploy – the ploy of deception.

In chapter three of his book, Tolle uses much deception to marry his false doctrine with that of Christianity (and a myriad of other religions). He starts out by focusing on the ego as the problem to all of man’s woes. Having read along week by week, it suddenly dawned on me that what Eckhart is referring to as the ego; Christian’s have always referred to as pride. If we take a step back and think about this, when is the first time pride/ego occurs in the Bible? The first time pride (ego) rears its ugly head is when Lucifer decides he wants to elevate himself above God. Because of his pride (ego), he determined that it was okay, even proper, for him to raise himself to a position that was above God.

This theme of pride (ego) is not one that ends with Lucifer either. We again see pride/ego in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve decided they wanted to raise them selves up and become equal in knowledge with God. Therefore, they ate of the fruit. Again, this doesn’t end well for them either and has profound consequences for generations to come.

If we jump to the New Testament, we see pride in the action of those that sought to crucify Jesus. When Christ’s light is shown into their darkness, their pride (ego) responds because they wanted to be above him by being right.

One of the connective threads in all these stories as well as the story of mankind is pride (ego). Eckhart Tolle, however, misses the mark when he espouses, “the ego arose because we started to think” (A New, 4). So…by his definition, if we stop thinking and stay in the present, we will stop allowing the ego to act out, if you will. Thus only good things will flow from us such as peace, tranquility, etc.

Interestingly, Tolle goes on to say, “[…] To me the beginning of the Old Testament really describes the beginning of the ability to differentiate and to think because what it says in the Old Testament is they ate of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, the ability to say this is good, this is bad, to differentiate, starting to think” [….] “And the more and more they (humans) began to identify with the movement of thought and gradually out of this continuous identification with the movement of thought, a thought entity was produced which is the ego”(A New, 4).

This may sound completely logical to some but if you look at what he is saying, it is nothing more than a deceptive ploy that doesn’t pass the mustard test. In the Garden of Eden, according to Eckhart, once Adam and Eve ate the fruit they began to think thus the ego was then formed. But that is not what we see. First, Lucifer had to think in order to make the decision for himself to elevate himself above God. That is thought. Secondly, Adam and Eve used thought when they decided to eat the fruit in direct opposition of the one rule they were given by God. That, too, is a thought process. Thinking did not create the ego, as Eckhart would have us believe.

And again, Eckhart misses the central truth in this passage as he continually does throughout his book. The story of Adam and Eve is about sin entering into the human world (through pride) and the negative impact it has, not only has on the two of them, but on all of mankind. It also foreshadows the necessity of a redeemer in order to restore what was lost in the garden – a personal relationship with God.

If that isn’t enough, Eckhart ends this chapter with a bang when he claims “[…] God is a feeling experience not a believing experience. […] If God for you is still about a belief, then it is not truly God”(A New, 45). What about the scripture in Hebrews 11:16 which clearly states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Bible). Believing is the bedrock of the Christian faith.

Eckhart further supports this falsehood by stating “Spiritual realization is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think, or feel is ultimately not who I am. […] Jesus said, ‘You are the light of the world.’ That means you are the consciousness in which the world appears, is seen. And the consciousness itself has no form. It is formless and it (has) nothing to do with time. It’s the dimension of the timeless in yourself. Eternity is the religious term for it. […] Eternity, there’s no end to time would become very boring” (A New, 50).

So in Chapter 3, Eckhart tells his audience that “ego […] (came into existence) when we started to think, belief is not truly God and eternity is boring”(A New, 52). When prompted by Oprah about what is beyond death – what about what “Jesus called […] eternal life” (A New, 52), Tolle’s response was “I don’t give it any thought” (A New, 52). Sadly, as Kerby so duly noted in his article, some Christians are applying these principles because they are unaware that Eckhart Tolle’s new earth is nothing more than a ploy of deception.

Remaining Steadfast,

Dominique

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