Selected Correspondence: Mr. Eckhart Tolle

Richard’s Selected Correspondence

On Mr. Eckhart Tolle

RESPONDENT: How do you explain auras – to me it is a soul or a spirit.

RICHARD: The same way I explained [quote] ‘near death experiences, past life memories, séances, mediums, hauntings, demonic possession, astral travelling, dreams, UFO’s, clairvoyants & children who see fairies, angels, nature spirits, demons etc.’ [endquote] to you eight days ago, on Saturday 6/08/2005 AEST, and the same way I explained [quote] ‘Outer body experiences (OBE’s) and near death experiences’ [endquote] to you, thirty-four months ago, on Thursday 24/10/2002 AEST ... it is identity which generates same/they are all the product of identity.

And, as identity is born of the instinctual passions (genetically endowed at conception by blind nature as a rough and ready survival package), upon the cessation of all affections when the body dies so too does any identity formed thereof also cease.

RESPONDENT: In the book – Power of Now written by Eckhart Tolle he says the key is to be in CONSTANT contact with the inner body (i.e. sensation of body) and that will rapidly transform your consciousness.

RICHARD: A search of the entire book for ‘constant contact with the inner body’ returned no hits at all; a search for ‘constant contact’ similarly returned nil hits; a search for ‘conscious contact’, however, found this (on page 99):

• [Mr. Eckhart Tolle]: ‘As long as you are in conscious contact with your inner body, you are like a tree that is deeply rooted in the earth, or a building with a deep and solid foundation. The latter analogy is used by Jesus ...’. [endquote].

As to what he means by [quote] ‘your inner body’ [endquote] there is this (on page 92):

• [Mr. Eckhart Tolle]: ‘The body that you can see and touch cannot take you into Being. But that visible and tangible body is only an outer shell, or rather a limited and distorted perception of a deeper reality. In your natural state of connectedness with Being, this deeper reality can be felt every moment as the invisible inner body, the animating presence within you. So to ‘inhabit the body’ is to feel the body from within, to feel the life inside the body and thereby come to know that you are beyond the outer form’. [endquote].

Needless is it to add that a search for ‘sensation of body’ returned nil hits?

RESPONDENT: Do you agree with him.

RICHARD: As the full title of that book is ‘The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment’ it must be patently obvious from the very beginning that what he has to say has nothing whatsoever to do with what is on offer on The Actual Freedom Trust web site ... perhaps this extract, from page two, will make it crystal-clear:

• [Mr. Eckhart Tolle]: ‘The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. (...) Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don’t seek to grasp it with your mind. Don’t try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of ‘feeling-realisation’ is enlightenment’. (Publisher: New World Library; October 1, 1999; ISBN: 1577311523).

RESPONDENT: You emphasise ‘flesh and blood bodies’ a lot ...

RICHARD: Aye ... whereas Mr. Eckhart Tolle clearly says your true nature is [quote] ‘beyond name and *form*’ [emphasis added] in the above quote and that you are [quote] ‘beyond the outer *form*’ [emphasis added] further above.

RESPONDENT: ... and your question HAIETMOBA points to being aware of the millions of electrical impulses firing through out the body at any moment. So is that all that is needed – to be permanently in touch with physical sensation of the body while living life ... so the catch phrase would be ‘Don’t think. FEEL!!!

RICHARD: I see that I posted the following only 10 days ago:

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘To me it seems contradicting to use (and believe) thought to stop believing in thoughts.
• [Richard]: ‘Put simplistically (for maximum effect): the actualism method is about using thought to examine feelings’. (5/08/2005 9:06 AM AEST).

The question is: did you see it?

RESPONDENT: How do you explain auras – to me it is a soul or a spirit.

RESPONDENT: So auras are not real?

RICHARD: In the same way that no soul, or spirit, exists in actuality no aura does either.

RESPONDENT: Even though kiritilin photography can observe it.

RICHARD: What is popularly known as ‘Kirlian Photography’ does not record auras of a soul or a spirit.

RESPONDENT: Just a product of ego?

RICHARD: If you were to cast your eyes upward you will see I specifically said [quote] ‘of identity’ [endquote] ... just as I did on the first occasion, thirty-four months ago, that you asked these same or similar questions. Vis.:

• [Respondent]: ‘You say that there is no soul or self but just flesh and bones therefore no life after death. Therefore how do you explain Outer body experiences (OBE’s) and near death experiences where people report seeing events and their own physical bodies in Real Time. (...).
• [Richard]: ‘(...) I explain OBE’s (out of body experiences) and NDE’s (near death experiences), where the identity residing inside the flesh and blood body locates [orientates] itself outside the flesh and blood body, in the same way I explain altered states of consciousness (ASC’s) and any other paranormal, supernatural or suprasensory experiences ... they are all the product of identity, the psychological and psychic entity (‘I’ as ego and ‘me’ as soul), parasitically inhabiting the flesh and blood body’.

RESPONDENT: Umm not very convincing argument ... cameras don’t lie ...

RICHARD: If you are still referring to what is popularly known as ‘Kirlian Photography’ I would suggest doing some research before making a statement such as that (it being a non-camera process where a high-voltage/high-frequency electrical discharge is applied across a grounded object on a photographic plate, film, or paper).

RESPONDENT: ... and cameras don’t have ego either.

RICHARD: Neither do the mechanical objects, such as coins or paper clips, that have yielded a ‘Kirlian Aura’, either.

(...)

RESPONDENT: You emphasise ‘flesh and blood bodies’ a lot ...

RICHARD: I see that I posted the following only 10 days ago: [Co-Respondent]: ‘To me it seems contradicting to use (and believe) thought to stop believing in thoughts. [Richard]: ‘Put simplistically (for maximum effect): the actualism method is about using thought to examine feelings’. [endquote]. The question is: did you see it?

RESPONDENT: No I didn’t see the above post ... so you use thinking to examine thinking?

RICHARD: I do not use the actualism method ... never have and never will (it was the identity in residence all those years ago who did).

RESPONDENT: You use the word ‘feelings’ but isn’t it more accurate to say ‘thinking’ as anger, sadness, etc.

RICHARD: No, anger and sadness are emotions/passions (aka affective feelings).

RESPONDENT: i.e. ‘feelings’ are actually thoughts i.e. ‘no one likes me’ ‘I am alone’ etc.

RICHARD: The thought ‘no one likes me’ is not the (affective) feeling of being collectively disliked; the thought ‘I am alone’ is not the (affective) feeling of aloneness.

RESPONDENT: There are sensations behind thought i.e. tightness, heaviness, sinking feeling, I give you that but the problem to be examined is the thought which creates the tightness (unhappy) feeling.

RICHARD: Have you never been frightened by a sudden and unexpected loud noise (for example) before you could think? Are you not aware that the freeze-fight-flee instinctual reaction is also observable in other animals than the human animal? Have you not read about the laboratory tests demonstrating that feelings come before thoughts in the perceptive process? Has it not occurred to you that a baby is born with (affective) feelings ... which is well before thinking begins?

Moreover, as all animals are born with instinctual passions, such as fear and aggression and nurture and desire, are you suggesting they can think?

RESPONDENT: So you use a thought to judge another thought ... nothing new ... everyone does it.

RICHARD: This is just a waste of a sentence.

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