ANE: Peace of Self

Chapter 2: The Peace of God

The peace of God that Tolle talks about goes something along the lines of this:

You realise your true identity as consciousness itself, rather than what consciousness had identified with. That's the peace of God. The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I Am.

What arrogance and conciet! The peace of God that Paul is talking about is that which comes by trusting in God. The trust that is shown when we entrust Him with the things that we are anxious about, because He is capable of acting upon our prayers and does so often. Though more often than not, in ways we cannot fathom.

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4

ANE: Poor in Ownwership

Chapter 2: The Illusion of Ownership

"Blessed are the poor in spirit," Jesus said," for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven." What does "poor in spirit" mean? No inner baggage, no identifications. Not with things, nor with any mental concepts that have a sense of self in them. And what is the "kingdom of heaven"? The simple but profound joy of Being that is there when you let go of identifications and so become "poor in spirit."

This is a complete reversal of what Jesus is actually saying. What does poor in spirit mean? If I say to you, "gee, you look like you're poor in spirit" what would I mean? I have always understood poor in spirit to mean someone who has inner baggage, who is struggling and feeling lowly.

The other beatitudes are for the mourning, meek, hungry, thirsty, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and those persecuted for righteousness' sake. These beatitudes cannot be paraphased as "blessed are those who have got it right, because they're terrific and don't need any further help." But this is how Tolle's first beatitude can be paraphrased! Jesus' beautitudes go more along the lines of "blessed are those who are suffering because of me, because in me they will find peace and justice."

This is a prime example of how Tolle regularly takes one verse and distorts it to fit his purpose, without looking at the context. But then, he has such a low opinion of it, given it's written by men who distorted the "truth" as they wrote. Given he places no authority in the Bible, why does he even quote it?

ANE: Giving Stuff is Selfish/less

Chapter 2: The Lost Ring

Up to this point, Tolle has been fleshing out the harm of materialism. To summarise, people get attached to their things and it becomes wrapped up in their identity and they don't realise that their true self is that meta-self-connected state of being that comes from being enlightened. This one woman that Tolle met regularly with lost a ring that held great sentimental value one day and Tolle helped her to deal with the possible lose of it. She had made the ring part of her identity and in separating herself from it, she could feel her "I Am-ness."

With that in mind, she then says,

"Now I understand something Jesus said that never made much sense to me before: 'If someone takes your shirt, let him have your coat as well.'"
"That's right," I said. "It doesn't mean you should never lock your door. All it means is that sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."

I think she's referring to Matthew 5:40. However, she must not have read any further because it goes on to say

"you have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

Right there we are given a reason for parting with our possessions. Jesus himself tells us that it is because we are to love our enemies and by doing so, we are proving to the world our relationship with the Father. It does not have anything much to do with discovering our I Am-ness, and our connectedness with everything else. Unless you believe that by being in that state of "Being," we are in tapped into the divine, which is what Jesus meant when he said "sons of your Father in heaven."

See, I thought Jesus meant being in a father-son/daughter relationship with the creator God, a powerful and mighty, yet personal being that is revealed in the very person of Jesus - not being connected with everything else around us.

It seems to me that much of the Bible is selfless. Give your enemy your tunic and cloak when he demands it because you love him. But this seems to be promoting an almost selfish way of giving. Give your enemy your tunic and cloak because by not being attached to your possessions, you're closer to becoming enlightened. Can you see how the focus is on yourself, rather than for the good of your enemy?

ANE: Intellect is Evil

Chapter 2, Ego: The Current State of Humanity

Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself.

Yes and no. Putting aside "to the source, to yourself" part for the moment, I will go with yes, and here is Scriptural backing from Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

We can see God's invisibly qualities, such as his power and goodness, by understanding that He has made the world. So stone, flowers, birds can all point towards the good and loving God who made them. But God is separate from his creation. How can God be part of what he has created? God is ruler above all creation, so he couldn't be a part of it. So that is where I disagree when Tolle suggests that the creation can point back to the divine within us. God is not within humanity. It is true he is in the Christian from Galatians 3:26... 4:6,

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus... Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.

But this applies to those who put their faith in Christ Jesus. So then those who don't have their faith in Jesus, do not have the Holy Spirit, are not connected to God.

When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.

I did a little experiment: I pondered my mobile phone. I looked at it and experienced some childlike wonder at the shape and it's purpose and so on. Is that the purpose for my life? To block out thoughts and walk around experiencing the sense of miraculous as I revel in childlike wonder? It seems almost, anti-intellectual. To give him credit, he does add a little later that,

we have to use words and thoughts. They have their own beauty - but do we need to be imprisoned in them?

but even if we are not imprisoned by them, he holds that,

the quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality.

So I return again to my assertions that he is almost anti-intellectual.

To sum up this block of text, I agree that there is more outside of the physical realm and things have being that exist despite our names and labels for them, he's a bit odd when he claims that names and labels are part of the problem. I think, using them and having proper boundaries on such things is good. It helps us in our relationships. It helps us express ourselves. Although, I think in the next section, he's going to be attacking our sense of self... or maybe he's already done that and will be elaborating.