Book Review: A New Earth

Somebody I know recently loaned me this book and asked me to read it and tell them what I think. So I did. And it turned out to be a very interesting experience that told me more about myself than I expected it to. Here's my thoughts:

.

A New Earth is Eckhart Tolle's follow-up to his book The Power of Now. The book has gotten a lot of press and is selling like crazy, thanks in large part to the power of the Oprah cult. But regardless of the how's, this is a book that has to be discussed and understood, because people all over our country are reading it, and I'm sure this includes a fair amount of church attenders.

.

A main focus of the book is the ego, and our self-obsession. So far so good. Much of the book focuses on this and for that I am thankful. Tolle is right that we, especially Westerners, are far too self-centered, if not self-obsessed. With a consistent mixture of misinterpretations of both Buddha and Jesus, Tolle tells his reader to let go of self, selfhood, etc. But this is the limit to the letting go for Tolle.

.

For Jesus, letting go of self was for the sake of grabbing hold of God and caring for our neighbor. For Tolle, letting go is for the self. In other words, it is still all about oneself and one's spiritual awakening. Tolle's premise is that if everybody does this, the world will be a better place, mankind will reach a new stage in its evolution, and we will enter into a new earth. Sounds nice.

.

So the big problems are these:

.

1. This is Platonic spirituality, where the forms rule and disembodied spirituality rules over here-and-now, Eugene Peterson types of spirituality. It is pie-in-the-sky, mixing religions, spirituality with no take home and no challenge for real selflessness that causes sacrifice in the here and now. In other words, it has to do with feeling good on the inside without having to neccesarily give up our possessions or our live for our God. It is gnosticism or zen, both of which Tolle even claims are the correct forms of Christianity and Buddhism, whereas the other ways are the results of people who "got it wrong."

.

2. This also screams out Nietzsche and his Darwin-inspired notion of the superman. I am no Nietzsche scholar, so I always tread lightly in this area, but the correlations seemed all too obvious. The letting go or twisting of old forms of morality and religion to make way for a highly evolved sort of person who looks a lot like the author. It is self-centered to the highest degree and causes us to see our selves as the highest thing to aspire to in this world.

.

3. This is a short-cut religion. That is always the most disturbing thing to me. Whereas real spirituality is slow, quiet, often taking a lifetime, this is basically your five steps to enlightenment (or 1-2-3 sanctification if you like). A person taking this book seriously could come to the end and declare themselves officially enlightened. But they are not. Not in any true sense. I'm sorry, but to be blunt, Oprah is not walking around showing-up the Buddha, Jesus and the Dalai Lama in the department of wisdom and sage-like abilities. Nor is Tolle or any of the Oprah-cult members of our sad nation. Why do we treat religion like we treat our food? Why do we want it our way, right away, without realizing the violence we do to our own faith traditions in the process?

.

4. Like I said earlier, this is disembodied spirituality. This is the return of Platonism and its surreal mix with Christianity (not to mention Buddhism). Honestly, what I would love to see at this point is Eugene Peterson writing a short, concise book that brings people into a here-and-now faith that is more faithful to the teachings of Christ. I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed and continue hoping that "the universe will open that path up."

.

Peace,

Matt