Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OP, his stuff comes from warmed-over Buddhist and Hindu teachings and other people's writing. Like Deepak Chopra, as KaraZ mentioned. There's nothing original in what he says. He just takes other stuff, and repackages it. If you find it inspiring, fine, fwiw, but don't sell your home and donate it to him or move into an ashram.
OP, his stuff comes from warmed-over Buddhist and Hindu teachings and other people's writing. Like Deepak Chopra, as KaraZ mentioned. There's nothing original in what he says. He just takes other stuff, and repackages it. If you find it inspiring, fine, fwiw, but don't sell your home and donate it to him or move into an ashram.
I have listened to several of his videos today, and learned very little from them. But it could be helpful for young people who haven't already learned this stuff.
It's funny how there is really so little actual information in spiritual teachings. The hard part is taking that small amount of information and practicing it every day. Very hard.
There is plenty of information on the mysteries or the spiritual world,look at anthropology and tribal traditions,paganism,folklore,ancient history,mythology it's all there.Eckert Tolle is like someone said just a rehash of eastern views and his own views.I would start with your dreams if you want to really look into spiritual growth they are intuitive symbolic riddles that have plenty of depth and information on where your soul is directing you.
Also it's not just Africans et al that were tribal when you study pagan spiritual traditions,most Europeans in the west descend from tribal people - like the Germanic tribes,the celts,the Slavs,the Britons who all had complex pagan spiritual traditions.
As soon as I feel even slightly proud about something, I start feeling bad or things start going wrong. It happens every time.
My guess is that it's because feeling proud means taking credit for something. We might think "I have a natural ability for snowboarding, no wonder I'm so good at it." Or, "I worked extremely hard at weaving this rug, no wonder people say it's beautiful."
When in reality, everything good comes from higher, divine, levels. If you are spiritual, that's what you believe anyway. So taking credit for good things denies the power and reality of the divine. It glorifies the personal ego.
Our egos have practical uses, but they very easily start trying to take over. And that is bad.
When we have arguments that lead nowhere, it's usually because we and the other person are each striving to prove they are smarter and better. Or at least not as stupid, evil and miserable as the other person is claiming. Rationality is gone, inspiration from higher levels is gone. It's just a battle between stupid little egos.
I can't be proud, at all. But I have to learn that over and over.
It's easy to get caught in those ego contests here at CD, and it is so damaging and so demoralizing. That's one reason I posted this video, which is about how the ego is a problem for spiritual people.
You know, I am proud of my grown kids, and I am not ashamed to own that pride. I am proud of my 48 year old marriage, which has gotten only better over the years.
There are a few things in my career that I am proud of. I reject these feelings as being arrogance. You are allowed to be proud of achievements of your family. Becoming arrogant and having feelings of superiority are negatives, and are often compensating behaviors for feelings of inadequacy.
Ego is not bad. I encourage you to look up the psychological definition of ego. Having a healthy ego is part of being emotionally healthy.
You can be proud of some things in your life, and still have humility.
I have a friend from India, an engineer and fellow chess enthusiast who told me that India has been plagued with people of this sort for millennia. He didn't believe for an instant that any of it was genuine.
Two experiences:
(1) I went to Manhattan School of Music in the late '60's but the summer before I did I played in the Newark Symphony. Many of the musicians lived in the YWYMCA. It is or was an almost entirely black community so naturally friends I made were black, particularly this one lady, Gloria, who took me under her wing. She also took me to this storefront where for a small fee people in a small auditorium were "read" by a psychic. This is a sort of art form, and a totally dishonest way of generating income.
(2) Another friend in Phoenix brought me to this church where in the basement, for a small fee, you sat in total darkness and some person "channeled" this weird character, purportedly from some other realm of existence. It was very entertaining. And totally a made up event for the purpose of generating income. Private sessions available for a substantially larger fee.
It's all false; it's all nonsense. And one of the oldest con games on the planet.
Two experiences:
(1) I went to Manhattan School of Music in the late '60's but the summer before I did I played in the Newark Symphony. Many of the musicians lived in the YWYMCA. It is or was an almost entirely black community so naturally friends I made were black, particularly this one lady, Gloria, who took me under her wing. She also took me to this storefront where for a small fee people in a small auditorium were "read" by a psychic. This is a sort of art form, and a totally dishonest way of generating income.
(2) Another friend in Phoenix brought me to this church where in the basement, for a small fee, you sat in total darkness and some person "channeled" this weird character, purportedly from some other realm of existence. It was very entertaining. And totally a made up event for the purpose of generating income. Private sessions available for a substantially larger fee.
It's all false; it's all nonsense. And one of the oldest con games on the planet.
There are all kinds of fakes, everywhere. There are people with credentials, like MDs and psychotherapists, who are as fake as any psychic.
That says nothing about whether or not the universe is alive and conscious.
There are all kinds of fakes, everywhere. There are people with credentials, like MDs and psychotherapists, who are as fake as any psychic.
That says nothing about whether or not the universe is alive and conscious.
That's true but it says a lot about how false and misleading all of this stuff is. The plain fact is that people are frightened of death and seek out comfort and reassurance. Spirituality is, IMHO, a futile effort to impose human warmth onto a very indifferent universe.
Last edited by KaraZetterberg153; 04-12-2018 at 04:44 AM..
I just found him on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VauHIuyPwkM and so far I think he makes sense to me. He is extremely famous as a spiritual teacher, but I never heard of him before. I guess I wasn't paying attention to that kind of thing for a while.
Someone might think this is spirituality, not psychology, but I can't see a difference between them.
He is talking about Ego in this video, and of course that is a constant struggle for spiritual seekers.
I have been working hard at music, all my life but especially in recent years since I stopped having a full time job. I got much better at it in recent years, and this can be a source of pride, and pride is deadly. So it is a challenge to feel happy about something and not let it "go to your head."
I also started teaching part time this semester, and I had a good evaluation recently. So that can make me feel proud.
As soon as I start feeling proud of anything, my spirituality starts going out the window.
So how do you stay happy about things, without getting an ego about them, and suffering the consequences.
I pretty much know the answers. I am just bringing this up to see if anyone has similar thoughts.
One thing about spirituality, as soon as they put their face and name on their book its no longer spiritual. Any exchange of money and its no longer spiritual. Those are fundamental principles of spirituality. It can't be sold.
Charlatans are everywhere.
In the video, self esteem is not a spiritual asset.
Esteem for self is a big liability.
You'd think these guys could at least get the fundamentals right.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
