Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Fundamental(ist) response to the Oprah/Eckhart Classes

I've been posting links and watching the Oprah Winfrey presentation of Eckhart Tolle and his materials, and I've also been combing the internet to look at the responses to the videos.

They are absolutely fascinating. There are those who agree and those who disagree. The response from the people who disagree goes something like this:

Plumbing Tool Expert: Oprah, I'm warning you. You are leading people astray and it is unacceptable. I am appalled at what you are promoting, and I want to give you some examples of where you are wrong:

1) You say, "The Golden Wrench is not any different than the rest of us, only that He realizes he is a tool being held by a Being that works through Him."

Nonsense! The Golden Wrench is a special wrench created directly by the Great Tool & Die Maker. Nobody can be like Him. I mean look at him, he's GOLD. You also say that he is held by some Being and that he is not actually a wrench? How can you believe that when it says clearly in the instruction manual that he is a wrench?? You are deluding people.

2) You say, "There are actually lots of different kinds of tools, and all of them can be used by people to build things, which ultimately serves a much larger entity called the Universe."

Sinner! There are only wrenches! Wrenches are the only tool! The Golden Wrench is the best of these tools and any true work that can be done can only be done with That Wrench! If these so-called Beings holding the wrenches actually do exist, which I doubt, you can bet that they are only able to use wrenches. Wrenches can build the Nice Clean Shelf that we will eventually all go to, and if I had my way, I would make everyone use wrenches and disallow any discussion of other tools.

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Like I said in an earlier post, do not become enamored with the tools we are given. Realize that you are the Presence that is holding the tool, and not the tool itself.

One of the reasons why i find these responses interesting is because they allow us to examine our own behaviors. This chatter is similar to a type of teaching story used by the Sufis, like the famous tales of Nasrudin. The point of these stories is to jolt us out of our egos and make us pay attention to what is by making us step back and look at what we are doing.

Examining your own behavior and trying to see how you are doing the very things you scream against is a powerful tool.

1 comment:

Adam said...

There are moments in these videos where Oprah is very annoying.

It's tough watching her talk over Eckhart or even prevent him from talking.

Especially Chapter 3 (6 of 10)