I have not read the book yet. But, I am curious to know if those of you who are condemning the book have actually read it in it's entirety? If so, what do you find so negative or "damaging" about what you have read? Thanks!

Hello! I'm really enjoying these discussions, the book as well. : ) I guess we can only reflect on our own experiences regarding the ego and fear. If it weren't for either one of them, I wouldn't have been driven to go after and discover Love, their anitdote. : ) In this way, I am very thankful for them.

Pardon me, "their antidote."

Why can't there be Faith in God conciousness? I have that, it's unwavering and awesome, it doesn't mean that I won't experience difficulty at times, I do, and the more I accept that the easier it is to go through those times and deal with them. I accept them, I don't fight them. Also, I prefer to refer to it and percieve it as maturing the ego, not killing it. There is a lot of missed interpretations here. No offense to anyone what so ever. I didn't get any of that from this book. We are who we are in God, or Presence, if one prefers, nothing can change that. All that is left is to improve the ego, in and with that Presence. Said with respect for everyone here. All I do when I find the ego, or my thoughts, going in a direction that is unproductive and old, is to begin to guide it out of its old patterns and ways, and stay with it and use what I've learned so far, no matter how long it takes. It may still be the ego, yes, but a better more productive one. And the time it takes to guide it out of the old becomes less and less the more you stay with it. Also, God made man in His own image to share His Love with. I don't see that as a reduction of who God is, it's how great God is.


Love is a Homemade pie baking in the oven. "Happiness, is a Love filled pie."

There's always a naysayer in every crowd. The most amazing thing to me is ..you ,Toby, are saying all these negative things about the book and you haven't even READ it! One thing is for sure..You are not ready..... that is exactly why you don't understand it. I am SO happy that a million people are ready....so let US make this a better world and a better life for each of us! It is always good to have a negative because it make the positive that much stronger. Peace , love and happiness. I think Jesus and his dad would be proud!

Quote - On page 7 Where he says that this book can only awaken those who are ready. No matter how i tried to explain to her what the book was about she just don't want to hear it. I guess they are not ready yet ah?. End quote

Ahhh, the good ol' stand by - If you don't accept my beliefs then you are not as enlightened as I am. Interesting that to question one's own beliefs can then never be an issue because you are always the more enlightened one.

To some extent I would agree with you about questioning and your statement above. However, if it is the good ol' standby, it is one that even Jesus used. "Having ears to hear, you do not hear; having eyes to see you do not see." "Many are called, but few are chosen." "To you have been given the keys to the kingdom, but to others I speak in parables."

Jesus also said that knowing the Truth would set one free. Truth is always Truth where ever it is stated or revealed. It will always stand the test of time because it stands outside of time. It is eternal, not subject to the construct of time, which, in spite of our sense experience telling us differently, is of our own making. If any part of what Eckhart says in his book does not line up with Turth, it cannot stand up. If it can stand up to the test of Truth, it has always stood the test and always will. Perhaps the real test as to whether something is Truth or not is whether or not it brings real freedom. If you find yourself bound by fear (and all fear is binding, not liberating) because of something Eckhart says, it may not be that his statement or statements are actually untrue or false (granted, they could be), but because they are true and by being true actually threaten that in you which is not. After all, it seems that the very same thing happened with those who not only refused to hear what Jesus had to say, but were so nonplussed and angered by what he had to say that they decided the best thing to do was silence him for good. But, as history has shown us, no matter how we feel about truth, it cannot be and never will be silenced.

bnc

Hi Brandi! It is my own humble opinion that this book is being condemned, without first reading it, because within the people who are condemning it is the fear of reading about and confronting their ego, it can be a very discomforting feeling to deal with, and often is. That's okay, I've had that experience as well. Coming face to face with the ego, which from experience hasn't been all that pleasant, but the experience vastly improves and matures with every confrontation. : ) Just because it's a "confrontation" doesn't mean it will be a bad or harmful experience, it's just the word "confrontation" that frightens. Maybe we can change the word to "introduce." It's less offensive! : ) Being afraid or reluctant to read about the collective ego and becoming more aware of its existence, prevents a better understanding of it from coming into view. At times, the tear gates will open upon reading the good news that we're not our thoughts. It is a peaceful place, and a new road opens for you. I would also like to share that by simply opening a book of this nature, when ready, you have already taken a big step toward finding out who you really are in Love/God, you've humbled yourself, not thinking that you are beyond learning anything new or productive. You learn to stop being so overly critical of yourself and you stop punishing yourself for things you weren't even concious of at the time, and you begin to be kind to yourself for the first time in a long time, or maybe ever. It's learned. For someone who may be reluctant to read this book, first of all you don't have to read it, , but if you decide to, you may find an unexpected sense of comfort in it somewhere, even if it's only on one page in the whole book. There may be a golden nugget in there somewhere, just for you.

tobyjensen -- quite a few of the quotes you mentioned I had also highlight, but for different reasons. For example the quote on page 18 regarding "how 'spiritual' you are has nothing to do with what you believe but everything to do with your state of consciousness." I took that to mean that action of our beliefs is what is needed -- not just telling people what they should do. I don't see this book as being opposite to my christian beliefs, but more of a definition of how we might better live that life. I think these discussions are going to be great, and I appreciated your thoughts.

"Beautifully put." And a big Amen.

I wish you and others joy on your journey. This book has been profound for me and I'm only getting started.

Here is something to consider, pg 7 of "A New Earth"...."This book is about you. It will change your state of consciousness or it will be meaningless. It can only awaken those who are ready............

I think that those who are drawn to this are supposed to read it. Those who aren't, don't.

Heres an abstract of a major social psychological theory that seems to support Eckhart Toole's assertions 1)Ernest Becker in Denial of Death (1973) used the convincing child development theories of Soren Kiekergaard and Otto Rank and anthropological data from tribal cultures to show how fear/anxiety of existence (and possible death) is dealt with in all societies. The goal of all humans is to reconcile our animal natures - which depend on physical power and skill for the mastery of our real environment - with our developing symbolic natures, which attempts to control nature through imagination. 2) Humans are social hierarchial animals whose instinct for self-preservation and growth is similar to any animal. We require a sense of safety, comfort, and mastery of skills in our physical environment. It is the selfish (not the in the moral sense) will to live and prosper - that propels all life. These requirments for survival are very apparent in "primitive" circumstances - as in tribal nomadic cultures. Thus, the threat of famine, injury and death is alway just around the corner. The social and psychological adaptions to these circumstances are more clearly defined. We need each other because alone we are unlikely to survive. The threat and fear of death is the motivator of affliation of all human animals. The difference between animals and those of human variety is that humans have evolved sense of "psychological time". Thus, human beings extrapolate fear into the future (anxiety) and intrapolate anger from the past (regret). 3) Human-animals eventually learn to use symbols to represent the real world. Human animals eventually confuse symbols for reality. In fact, humanity creates an "artificial symbolic world" comprised of magic and worldviews called culture. We invented magic to control the animals during the hunt, religion to have life beyond our physical reality and culture to create social efficiencies in controlling the environment. We emotionally invest in the consensual adopted worldview that promises the most protection. Idealogies, religions, modes of self-expression have a tendency to remain embedded in individual psychologies because they have solved the sense of security, comfort and significance people need. They are important because they work - people experience some real tangible success with them. They also tend to be seen as absolute solutions to meaning and purpose because of this effectiveness. The ultimate protector of our significane and worth in life is an ideology that promises immortality. Thus, we invest in various "immortality systems". These systems promise a spectrum of anxiety relief - from a paradise in heaven, to having continued a lineage of descendents, to being remembered and valued for accomplishments within a subculture. 3) We tend to affliate with those that have the skillful means (or promise them) that can provide for our safety, comfort and continued life. This is the heroic impulse and our need for belongingness that allows us to survive as a group. Just like a pack or herd, we provide status to the most percieved skillful (and thus are provided dominance); our heroes - our parents, hunters, soldiers, shamans, priests, and presidents. Heroes take advantage of their status to organize the human society according to their beliefs about safety and continued prosperity and social consensus. 4) Because culture is an ARBITRARY social construction and people have different personal histories and dispositions, they have different success in adopting the prevailing cultural values. They are symbolic roles and transactions invented to deal with the collective survival of the group. Some say that a large of measure of "mental illness" is simply the maladaption of extreme dispositions to the cultural norm. The main role of culture is to provide a heroic symbols of mastery and by extension immortality. This social environment that allows the conscious fear of death to become unconscious. This staves off the anxiety of death and allows confidence, and sense of freedom within its environment. Rituals, rules, conditions, social hierarchies, and organizations institutionalize symbols that promise the most safety, comfort, mastery, significance and worth of the individual and state. 5)The heroic impulse and our need for belongingness and need for group efficiencies allows us to survive as a pack/tribe/hoard. Just like a social animal, we provide status to the most skillful at organizing or providing. Our heroes - which include our parents, bread-winners, soldiers, shamans, priests, and presidents. Heroes take advantage of their status to organize human society according to ideologies or beliefs. There is a implicit social consensus in what promises the most safety and continued prosperity. Absolute belief (faith) provides the emotional salve, strength and confidence to confront life. Furthermore, belief systems and ideologies are seen as "absolute", with each system percieving a threat from competing absolute. 6) Thus, gaining personal mastery and power and trusting others with it is uniquely human dilemma. The development of the ego is largely the conditioning of the human psyche to find individual worth, significance and status in an arbitrary cultural environment. We willingly give up our individual freedom and self expression to these culturely approved strategies. Significance and worth tends to be seen as a limited pie. One person's worth and status is threatening to another's worth and status. The urge to be right or the impulse to prove another wrong most often comes from the intention to bolster ones status over the other in a competitive attempt at gaining limited life. 7) On the level of ideologies, religions, and cultures - the very existence of another world-view implies that ones one world view is wrong, thus invalidating our source of comfort and security. Thus, the source of human created evil in the world is defending of one's "good" against another's "bad". 8)The conclusion of Becker is that all human activity is "religious" in the sense that any thing that brings a sense of mastery, belonging-ness or provides meaning and purpose will be pursued, maintained and defended with vigor. That sense of purpose and worth translates to conscious and/or unconscious feelings of protection and ultimately - immortality. Another conclusion - that is very hard for people to accept emotionally - is that humanity must believe in a "vital lie" to find the confidence, hope courage to confront life.

I too believe in One Creator and will debate the whole evolutionary concept in favor that to some degree both happened. For example, if we evolved from apes or tadpoles, why are they still around with us. ANYWAY---not the point I wanted to make. However, as I have stated before, we, as enlightened people, must be conscious of the ideas that other people want us to believ