Power of the Presence

2008-4-8 06:38:00

I told Dan that I would give [Eckhart] Tolle a fair examination. In addition to the two books I have read I ordered the "Power of the Presence" on 6 audio CD's. I thought I was ordering an audio book, but what it turned out to be was a live recording of a seminar he gave, or "retreat" as he called it.

I just finished listening to it a few minutes ago.

I'm kind of glad I got this selection as he reveals his personality in a personal presentation whereas he is fairly dry when he just reads his books.

He's got kind of a cute, cuddly innocent personality. Instead of being the type of guy you'd like to have a beer with Tolle is more the type you'd like to play checkers with or maybe a game of gin rummy. Anything too heavy on the thinking or heartiness of the moment would seem out of place.

Most of the time he talks in a low fairly hypnotic cadence. I had to turn the volume to its maximum to hear him on my ipod. I don't think he has any sinister motive to influence his audience through hypnosis -- it's just his style. Even so, his speaking style does have some hypnotic effect as you can feel the attention of the audience being carried along with it.

Then after focussing the audience's attention on his cadence for a few moments he will say something mildly funny. The audience responds and laughs more than one might expect. I think this happens because he usually sounds quite serious and the humor is unexpected from such a serious, low voice.

He laughs along with the audience in kind of a cute chuckle and sometimes he chuckles to himself when nothing funny is being said as if he is having a personal moment of humor to himself.

I didn't really find anything new in this program that wasn't already covered in the previous two books I read. He put a lot of emphasis again on getting rid of the ego and living in the now. When this happens we experience the power of the presence of God which is basically our own presence.

He did say this time that even though we are not the ego and we are not form -- we are something. He just doesn't know what that something is outside of calling it consciousness.

He talked a lot about the consciousness of animals and how they are in the present much more than humans. He thinks we need to take a lesson from them, drop our self-consciousness and just blend in with The One as they do.

I think he does not realize that humans individualized for an important reason, and that the reason behind it is far from being fulfilled. One can keep individual identity yet still tune into the Now and the Oneness behind all things.

"Labour, therefore, it appears evidently, is the only universal, as well as the only accurate, measure of value, or the only standard by which we can compare the values of different commodities, at all times, and at all places. We cannot estimate, it is allowed, the real value of different commodities from century to century by the quantities of silver which were given for them. We cannot estimate it from year to year by the quantities of corn. By the quantities of labour, we can, with the greatest accuracy, estimate it, both from century to century, and from year to year."

Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations," Book I, Chapter 5