Someone came to the Reference Room last summer and wanted a copy of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. They praised this book very mighly, and said they had heard it was indispensible reading.
Now that i have finally read it, i agree.
Everyone in the world should read this book.
I wish i had read it as soon as I became aware of it. If I had, I would have bought a copy and sent it to Maris. If I had, he might still be here.
Maris said he did not like his thoughts. I told him everyone has thoughts they do not like, and we are judged less by our thoughts than by our actions. I mentioned that if he REALLY did not like his thoughts, he might consider seeking psychological counseling. i had no idea.
Until I read this book, I did not have the conceptual framework and background to discuss these things. I believe it would have helped Maris feel so much better.
I did not realize the extreme to which Maris did not like his thoughts. His statements to me were so calm and so subtle. Like the tip of an enormous iceberg gently sailing on the dark ocean.
This book makes clear that you are not your thoughts. It makes clear that the human mind is fundamentally flawed, and the human race is essentially insane. we can only become aware of who we really are by not identifying with what we think.
There is so much more to this book. I hope everyone reads it.
Here is a look inside:
Summary
Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. In very practical terms, Tolle leads readers into this new consciousness to learn to live and breathe freely. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Flowering of Human Consciousness
Evocation
The Purpose of This Book
Our Inherited Dysfunction
The Arising New Consciousness
Spirituality and Religion
The Urgency of Transformation
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. In very practical terms, Tolle leads readers into this new consciousness to learn to live and breathe freely. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Flowering of Human Consciousness
Evocation
The Purpose of This Book
Our Inherited Dysfunction
The Arising New Consciousness
Spirituality and Religion
The Urgency of Transformation
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Chapter 2 Ego: The Current State of Humanity
The Illusory Self
The Voice in the Head
Content and Structure of the Ego
Identification with Things
The Lost Ring
The Illusion of Ownership
Wanting: The Need for More
Identification with the Body
Feeling the Inner Body
Forgetfulness of Being
From Descartes's Error to Sartre's Insight
The Peace That Passes All Understanding
Chapter 3 The Core of Ego
Complaining and Resentment
Reactivity and Grievances
Being Right, Making Wrong
In Defense of an Illusion
Truth: Relative or Absolute?
The Ego Is Not Personal
War Is a Mind-set
Do You Want Peace or Drama?
Beyond Ego: Your True Identity
All Structures Are Unstable
The Ego's Need to Feel Superior
Ego and Fame
Chapter 4 Role-playing: The Many Faces of the Ego
Villain, Victim, Lover
Letting Go of Self-Definitions
Pre-established Roles
Temporary Roles
The Monk with Sweaty Palms
Happiness as a Role Vs. True Happiness
Parenthood: Role or Function?
Conscious Suffering
Conscious Parenting
Recognizing Your Child
Giving Up Role-playing
The Pathological Ego
The Background Unhappiness
The Secret of Happiness
Pathological Forms of Ego
Work-With and Without Ego
The Ego in Illness
The Collective Ego
Incontrovertible Proof of Immortality
Chapter 5 The Pain-Body
The Birth of Emotion
Emotions and the Ego
The Duck with a Human Mind
Carrying the Past
Individual and Collective
How the Pain-Body Renews Itself
How the Pain-Body Feeds on Your Thoughts
How the Pain-Body Feeds on Drama
Dense Pain-Bodies
Entertainment, the Media, and the Pain-Body
The Collective Female Pain-Body
National and Racial Pain-Bodies
Chapter 6 Breaking Free
Presence
The Return of the Pain-Body
The Pain-Body in Children
Unhappiness
Breaking Identification with the Pain-Body
"Triggers"
The Pain-Body as an Awakener
Breaking Free of the Pain-Body
Chapter 7 Finding Who You Truly Are
Who You Think You Are
Abundance
Knowing Yourself and Knowing About Yourself
Chaos and Higher Order
Good and Bad
Not Minding What Happens
Is That So?
The Ego and the Present Moment
The Paradox of Time
Eliminating Time
The Dreamer and the Dream
Going Beyond Limitation
The Joy of Being
Allowing the Diminishment of the Ego
As Without, So Within
Chapter 8 The Discovery of Inner Space
Object Consciousness and Space Consciousness
Falling Below and Rising Above Thought
Television
Recognizing Inner Space
Can You Hear the Mountain Stream?
Right Action
Perceiving Without Naming
Who Is the Experiencer?
The Breath
Addictions
Inner Body Awareness
Inner and Outer Space
Noticing the Gaps
Lose Yourself to Find Yourself
Stillness
Chapter 9 Your Inner Purpose
Awakening
A Dialogue on Inner Purpose
Chapter 10 A New Earth
A Brief History of Your Life
Awakening and the Return Movement
Awakening and the Outgoing Movement
Consciousness
Awakened Doing
The Three Modalities of Awakened Doing
Acceptance
Enjoyment
Enthusiasm
The Frequency-holders
The New Earth Is No Utopia
Maris Michael Butta, Senior Airman, son of Raymond and Deena, nee Weglarz; brother of Alexander and Philip Butta. A 2006 graduate of Gordon Tech High School, Maris was a member of the 8th Intel squadron in the U.S. Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. He was decorated with the Air Force Achievement Medal and earned the following awards: Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terror Service Medal and the Air Force Training Ribbon. In lieu of flowers, memorial donation to the Wounded Warrior Project, 7020 A.C. Skinner Pkwy., Suite 100, Jacksonville, FL 32256. Visitation Monday, 3 to 9 p.m., and Tuesday, 9 a.m., until time of service, 10 a.m., at Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero Ave., Chicago. Interment St. Adalbert Cemetery.
2 comments:
In your recent blog posting you wrote:
"At the last L.O.S.S. meeting, a young woman who had had suicidal thoughts herself spoke up to reassure people that she did not contemplate suicide because she felt unloved or rejected or abused. She said the only person she wanted to get away from was herself.
This was extremely enlightening to me. I am grateful she shared this insight. I might never have stumbled upon it on my own."
I thought a lot about that comment from that woman. For what it is worth, I can say from my own personal experience, the feeling is wanting to get away from a life that seemed to stretch away into the indefinite future that was felt to contain nothing but blackness, emptiness, pain, sorrow. Better, it seemed at that moment, to end such a life. Even though my own attempt was botched, I recall the sense of peace that came over me as I thought it was all over.
I don’t know if that helps you understand such things, but it has made me in subsequent years think more and more about PAS, active euthanasia, and such things. When I teach my bioethics class and when I was on a hospital ethics panel we spent much time trying to make sense of it all.
While I have not abandoned my initial position in favor of such end of life decisions, I have come to understand that fear of pain, whether it is physical or mental, that makes such life ending actions seem like the only option.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey
I shall have to look at this book. Some of the chapters sound very much like material from my Critical Thinking text (by Richard Paul and Linda Elder) in their discussions about the nature of the mind the interrelationships between thoughts, feeling, and desires.
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