Christ vs. the Power of Now

[Michie]

I have a lot of sympathy for New Age folks. Not sympathy with their ideas (if one can use such a strong word as "idea" for the quicksilver emotionalism and muddy mixture of suburban folk religion that is the New Age), but sympathy with the elemental movements of the heart that seem to animate much of the New Age. I myself was a pagan at one time. That is not to say I was a Wiccan, nor that I painted myself with woad and sat naked, pounding drums in some Men's Circle. Rather, I was raised in the suburban garage band culture of Wayne's World, darkening the door of a church perhaps five times in my life, unbaptized, clueless about the gospel, filled with superstitious fears and pagan notions floating about in pop culture -- "without hope and without God in the world," as Paul said.

Spiritually bereft as I was, it more or less fell to me to grope my way through the murk toward whatever light I could find, with lots of voices in our culture shouting "Lo! Here! Lo! There!" as I did so. Confronted with the crude materialist reductionism of the scientistic culture of the late 20th century, I rejected it by a sort of intuitive gut instinct as a thing of inhuman gloom and nihilism. I didn't know much, but I knew the world was far too mysterious and beautiful to reduce it all to physics, math, electricity, power, politics, or any of the other diagrams of thin, watery rationalism. I experienced nature and human beings, not as a pile of raw materials, but as . . . well, something charged with grandeur. And so I sought what was behind nature without knowing that was what I was doing. I "felt after" the dear freshness that lay deep down things.

Nor was I wrong to do so, judging by Paul's words to the Athenians in Acts 17. For in "feeling after" God I eventually found out what (or rather Who) I was feeling after, by His grace. Such seeking God with the imagination is the very essence of paganism and constitutes a huge part of what countless New Agers are doing. For the New Age is, in large degree, a reaction to the same materialist meaninglessness that appalled me.

Continued- http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5841&Itemid=48

 

[Sphinx777]

The New Age (also known as the New Age Movement, New Age spirituality, and cosmic humanism) is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks "Universal Truth" and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It combines aspects of cosmology, astrology, esotericism, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature. New Age Spirituality is characterized by an individual approach to practices and philosophies, while rejecting religious doctrine and dogma.

The New Age Movement includes elements of older spiritual and religious traditions ranging from atheism and monotheism through classical pantheism, naturalistic pantheism, and panentheism to polytheism combined with science and Gaia philosophy: particularly archaeoastronomy, astronomy, ecology, environmentalism, the Gaia hypothesis, psychology, and physics. New Age practices and philosophies sometimes draw inspiration from major world religions: Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Sufism; with particularly strong influences from East Asian religions, Gnosticism, Neopaganism, New Thought, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Universalism, and Western esotericism. Additional phrases which refer to the New Age Movement include All is One and Mind-Body-Spirit.

The modern New Age Movement began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, although elements can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It gained momentum in the 1980s and strengthened with the Harmonic Convergence event in 1987. Diverse individuals from around the world practice New Age Spirituality.

 

[Fantine]

While the above author believes Tolle's work is part of the "new age," others just believe it's good self-help.

Theological differences between Mr. Tolle’s God and the Christian’s will loom as important for some Christians, and they have a right to know what they are in for if they tune in to the show. Other Christians may not notice or care. Frankly, I wouldn’t worry about them. Mr. Tolle’s theology is only a footnote to the therapy he holds out to his audience. What’s essential, as he sees it, is the experience of God in our depths, not the way we think about God. After all, thinking is the problem. Both Mr. Tolle and the Christian mystics agree that to know God we must get beyond thinking, beyond creeds, beyond belief and experience his presence. If enough people did that, the world would be new indeed. - National Catholic Reporter, 4/18/08

Eckhart Tolle's message is positive. But is it Christian? | National Catholic Reporter

I do know a group of Catholics who are meeting monthly to discuss Tolle. No, I don't belong to the group, and I haven't read Tolle, but like this group, I think it's possible to be Catholic and draw wisdom from ecumenical sources without becoming "new age."

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Well, I've read both of Eckhart Tolle's books, the Power of Now and A New Earth.

Reading the article by Mr Shea from the OP's post, its apparent that he misunderstood and is now mis-characterizing what Tolle wrote.

First off, Tolle doesn't tell us to forget the past, but rather, not to live in the past. He also says, don't live in the future, waiting for some event to happen in your life, where you will find full happiness and contentment. If you can't learn to be happy now, you never will.

He says, live in the present, the now, which is the only thing that is real. He further explains how it is impossible for the ego to live in the present. The ego must dwell on the past, i.e. the hurts and pains, or look to the future for some event to satisfy itself. Of course that future never comes because when it does, its in the present, and the ego can't live there, but must continue to look to the future.. The ego, can not live in the present, so, in order to weaken the ego, you have to live in the present.


In fact, as I read, I remember reading Archbishop Fulton Sheen saying the same thing. The false self that the ego creates in order to protect itself, is part of all human beings. The emotional programs that we've developed to protect the ego, keep us from growing as God would have us. Knowledge of self, the true self, is necessary for spiritual growth, because its the you that God knows, the you he had in mind when he created you.

Fr. Thomas Keating also, says the same thing as Eckhart Tolle.

Essentially, Tolle is taking the good from all the religions, and putting into common lay language. He quotes Jesus more than any other spiritual master.

There is much to learn from his writing. Just keep it in the Christian perspective as you read.

Jim