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 A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle & Oprah
Changing lives, changing the world?
By now, you may have already heard about or experienced the phenomena of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, and the recent webinar series with Eckhart and Oprah that has reached millions globally. It is claimed the book is changing lives, but is it also changing the world? Since Oprah's announcement in February 2008 that her book club pick was A New Earth, more than 3.5 million copies of the book have been sold, and it has hit top bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, where A New Earth remains at #1 in it's genre. Now it's not uncommon for Oprah's Book Club Picks to become overnight sensations, but why did she go to the extra lengths of creating a world-first free 10-week global telecast for A New Earth? Here's an excerpt of Oprah's thought on A New Earth, from a recent TV interview:  Oprah says:
I love this Eckhart Tolle book because my goal in life is to get people to think for themselves in a way that they know who they are...that you don't have to wait til you're 54 or 63, that the whole point of this [my] show is to try to bring a sense of self actualisation to my audience...I've read lots of spiritual books over the years and this book is the best in its genre I've ever seen in terms of its clarity and its ability to get people to see the light of who they are. And also, once you see that, you stop wasting time...on things..bad relationships... and you get more focused on the purpose of your Being here on earth, and so you're not lost in trying to please other people and please your ego...it's just the best I've ever read.
 Julie Ann Storr of nibbana says:
There's a lot of mis-information out there about Oprah's webcast, some of which portray it as some sort of new age cult. I recently shook my head and cringed at the ignorance (or was it simply a desperate sensationalist tactic to sell more copies at the news stands?) of an Australian weekly magazine that suggested Oprah has 'plunged into a new crisis and become obsessed with Tolle' - among other bizarre claims not even worth mentioning here. According to some religious groups Oprah has even been branded as 'the world's most dangerous woman' as shown in angry and threatening videoclips posted for her on their websites. [NB. Cast your vote in our Quick Poll 'Is Oprah Creating a Cult?' on our homepage - bottom left]
In my view, this couldn't be further from the truth. If you approach the book, it's messages and the webcasts with an open, enquiring mind you may discover that Tolle is describing how to connect with yourself more fully on a spiritual level and become acquainted with your own life's purpose. I have read the book, listened to the webcasts and personally found them to be absolutely life transforming. In my experience, neither the book, Tolle nor Oprah are threatening in any way to any particular brand of religion or religious traditions. The focus is on the discovery and deepening of the connection with our own self, instead of buying into, justifying or feeding the 'drama' that we often create, and that can so easily seduce us in everyday life. When I first read A New Earth while on holiday in December 2007, I literally felt 'layers' falling away from me, as the impact and clarity of the messages within resonated with me on many levels. I came away from the experience a forever changed person, with a renewed sense of Being that remains with me today, yet on an even deeper level. I was so moved by A New Earth that I couldn't help but wonder how this book had been out for two years and barely anyone had heard of it, despite the extraordinary success of The Power of Now over the past 10 years. I remember asking myself in amazement 'why doesn't everyone know about this book!'? Well now they do. Needless to say was thrilled to hear A New Earth had been selected as Oprah's Book Club Pick and even more impressed that she decided to take this message to the world on an unprecedented global scale - for free. This is a sure sign that we must be ready for this information, for it to reach the masses in such a way.  Is it really changing the world?
Certainly, by listening to the podcasts between Eckhart and Oprah, it is apparent that A New Earth is creating ripples around the globe which can only affect the consciousness of humanity at large on a number of levels. How soon we start to see the resulting effect of that remains to be seen, although I suspect it's already happening, given the increasing popularity of subjects of a spiritual nature and even the individual transformations I am witnessing with people, myself included, on a daily basis.
I was intrigued that in the opening chapter of A New Earth. Tolle explains that the title was inspired from a Bible prophecy that "occurs in both the Old and the New Testament and speaks of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of 'a new heaven and a new earth'. We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. For those of you who may not be familiar with the meaning of nibbana, the word in fact comes from the Burmese language, meaning 'heaven on earth'. This is the essence that reflects and supports my intention for creating nibbana, hence it is my wish that I may contribute to 'heaven on earth' in some small way, through my work with nibbana in bringing more of these messages, teachers and materials to people around the world. In doing so, my hope is that we can help to expand consciousness within our society, person by person. Tolle goes on to say that: A 'new heaven' is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and 'a new earth' is it's reflection in the physical realm. Since human life and human consciousness are intrinsically one with the life of the planet, as the old consciousness dissolves, there are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some of which we are already witnessing now." With the recent series of natural disasters we have seen in Myanmar and China, and the subsequent tragic loss of hundreds of thousands of lives with many more left homeless, it appears this upheaval that Tolle alluded to is already happening on the planet. And based on the conversations and experiences I am sharing with people lately, I believe 'the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness' is also occurring within many of us right now. Although these shifts can feel unfamiliar, confusing - even scary at times - keep breathing and stay present. Keep focused on the Now and pay attention to what is going on within you...simply observe it and be with it. Try not to get caught up in the 'drama' that seems to abound in these times. And if you haven't got a copy of A New Earth yet, I'd recommend you do so...this book will go down in history as one of the most important and transformational works of our time, and may help you make sense of all that is going on around us. More on this muse in the next web update...stay tuned. Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.
- Eckhart Tolle Click here to read Julie's Book Review of A New Earth Click here to buy A New Earth and other Eckhart titles from nibbana Click here to download the free webinar on A New Earth with Eckhart and Tolle Click here to return to the home page and cast your vote in our Quick Poll - Is Oprah creating a cult? |
