"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle: Book Review

by Stephanie Brail

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher and author of the bestselling Power of Now. A New Earth is his second runaway bestseller, bolstered by Oprah's Book Club and Oprah's phenomenally successful online course about the book. A New Earth is the first book by Tolle I've read (though I've known of him for years) and has served as my introduction to Tolle.

A New Earth, according to Tolle, will shift your consciousness and "awaken" you, if you are ready. He claims this in chapter one - a bold statement, I felt, for a guy who claims to be anti-ego. But there's something exciting about feeling like you're one of the "chosen ones," those who are supposed to be awakened at this point in history as our earth is in crisis. (Just don't get too caught up in your ego about it.)

Ego is the theme of A New Earth, or rather, overcoming the ego. Most of the book describes the ego as a dysfunctional and even "pathological" illusion-maker that keeps you from connecting with God. The ego keeps you in duality, keeps you focused on past and present, and keeps you focused on separateness, according to Tolle.

Our "purpose," according to Tolle, is to transcend the ego and live in an eternal state of conscious now or "Presence," as he calls it with a capital P.

Much of his values are similar to mine in that he criticizes a culture that is too outwardly focused on material wealth and power rather than spirit and harmony. I also find his teachings to resonate somewhat with those of Byron Katie.

Yet, there was something about this book that left me cold. (Perhaps it was my ego reacting?) For a man who tells us to get out of dualistic, black and white thinking, Tolle seems to be very caught up in the notion that the ego is a horrible thing that is the primary cause of all wars and suffering in the world. But that's still black and white thinking.

I feel, and I could be wrong, that egos can be healthy, positive things that enable us to live and thrive in this physical world. I have yet to articulate an entire manifesto on the subject, but I sense that it's possible to have a "conscious ego."

Furthermore, Tolle comes from a perspective that is quite anti-thought, while at the same time giving thought way too much power. He claims that all emotions come from thoughts. Yet, it has been my personal experience that emotions are actual waves of energy that do not need a thought to proceed them.

As an intuitive, empathic person, I use my emotions as a guide. There have been times where I was just sitting around doing nothing in particular when I've gotten hit with a wave of emotion such as sadness. Upon further examination, I'll realize that the emotion is not actually coming from me, it is an empathic signal that someone close to me is feeling sadness.

But that's part of just how my philosophy differs from Tolle's. He blames the world's ills on the ego - I blame negative energies and bad intentions.

Additionally, I am not entirely convinced that the entire purpose of my life is to remember that I came from a big soup of consciousness. The fact is, if we are eternal souls, we'll be going back to God soon enough. I have no problem with people "losing themselves" in the material, as long as they are happy and not hurting other people.

I look at it like this: Sometimes I like to watch a movie or play a video game as a way to get out of my head and experience another reality. We're here on the planet to experience reality. There's value to connecting to spirit, but I don't think we need to go so far as to completely negate the sense of past, present, and future that gives our lives a sense of movement and purpose. There's a reason why movies and books have conflict: It makes for a better, more interesting story.

Thus, because my underlying philosophy is different, I did not come up with an "a-ha" from reading A New Earth. At the same time, I felt his deconstruction of the ego will be helpful to very many people who are caught up in external things and need a way to articulate a method of connecting to spirit. For many people, this book will provide a deep resonance.

For myself, I find that The Work of Byron Katie is more practical and useful when it comes to unplugging from my "story." Byron Katie, also, seems to have achieved more of a transcendence of dualism than Tolle himself has. Would Byron Katie say "the ego is pathological"? No. She would ask us to question: "Is that really true?"

And thus, while I did find that the ultimate goal of peace as provided by Tolle is a good one, I'm not sure if focusing on my ego, if just to destroy it, is a good path for me personally. That might almost put me more into my head. I find I can achieve those moments of "Presence" and serenity simply by meditating, doing my energy work, practicing yoga, and learning how to let go of that which no longer serves me. It's a simple formula that works for me.

What works for you might be completely different.

Note: Having participated in Tolle's class with Oprah, I somehow resonate with what he says much better when he's speaking than from his book. So if you did not fall in love with the book, you might still check out his online course at www.oprah.com and see if the class inspires you more.