Born Ulrich Leonard Tolle in Lünen, near Dortmund, Germany, Eckhart Tolle lived with his father in Spain from about the age of 13 to 19, approximately between the years 1961 and 1967, after which he moved to the UK. He had no formal education between the ages of 13 and 22, refusing to go to school because of its "hostile environment"; but he pursued his own "particular interests.
"Tolle graduated from the University of London and entered, but did not complete, a doctoral program at Cambridge University,[ having studied literature, languages and philosophy. At the age of 29, Tolle experienced what he calls an "inner transformation," after suffering long periods of suicidal[ depression. Since 1996, he has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Teaching Tolle's non-fiction bestseller
The Power of Now emphasizes not being caught up in thoughts of past and future as a way of being aware of the present moment. His later book A New Earth further explores the structure of the human ego and how this acts to distract people from their present experience of the world. He asserts that it is the feeding of the human ego that is the source of inner and outer conflict, and that only by examining the ego may people begin to see beyond it and obtain a sense of spiritual enlightening or a new outlook on reality.
Influences At about the age of fifteen he received five books that were written by a German mystic, Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô Yin Râ.
Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken
Tolle responded "very deeply" to those books. He said the first texts with which he came in contact after the awakening and in which he found deep understanding were the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching and teachings of The Buddha. In The Power of Now, he mentioned the writings of Meister Eckhart, Advaita Vedanta, A Course in Miracles, the Bible, mystical Islam, Sufism, and Rumi's poetry, as well as Zen Buddhism's Lin-chi (Linji in pinyin ) (Rinzai) school. In the book Dialogues with Emerging Spiritual Teachers by John W. Parker, he has acknowledged a strong connection to J Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi and stated that his teaching is a coming together of the teachings of both those teachers, and it is a continuation of that. In addition, he states that by listening to and speaking with the spiritual teacher Barry Long, he understood things more deeply. Reception A quote by Eckhart Tolle, on a park bench plaque, facing Sacramento River, Redding CA. The first of his four books was The Power of Now, a #1 New York Times best-seller that has been translated into over 33 languages. He has also recorded numerous audio interviews and a video. American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey considers The Power of Now to be one of her favorite books. A recent book, A New Earth, also topped the Times chart in March, 2008. In January 2008, Winfrey selected A New Earth as her Oprah's Book Club selection, accompanied by a 10-week live online seminar (or "webinar") with Tolle, which started on March 3, 2008. This event was a result of Tolle's three appearances in November 2007 on Oprah's Soul Series, Winfrey's weekly radio program on her own channel, Oprah & Friends, on XM Satellite Radio [ Business Organization Tolle's for-profit company sells a wide variety of spirtual development materials via his website. In a 2003 interview with the Telegraph Magazine, Eckhart Tolle indicated that he has no intention to create "a heavy commercial structure" or to set up an ashram or centre, but has left open the possibility that "it could develop into something great.
A little about Quantum Mechanics and Thought.
All these things have to be taken into consideration to put the pieces of
the puzzle together. I want you to have a well rounded perception of the "Real World"...
I thought this would be good so here goes:
Observing in the Quantum World
Quantum physics is the theory of the behavior of matter and energy, particularly at the level of atoms and subatomic particles. It is nearly impossible to imagine the strange behavior of matter at this level using our common sense. An electron in an atom, for example, performs a trick much like the crew aboard Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise when it “beams” from one energy level to another. It simply jumps from one place to another without passing in between.
If we aren’t watching this electron jump, then we have no control as to when this will happen. But suppose we do watch? Ah, that changes everything.
The quantum physical worldview is very different from the way in which we have become accustomed to looking at the world. In our ordinary, everyday lives, this difference seems very slight. But if current experiments in quantum physics are relevant to our everyday experiences, you can actually alter the crapshoot of life, so long as you begin seeing things quantum mechanically, and take appropriate action in doing so.
According to quantum physics, there is no reality until that reality is perceived. We call this “the observer effect.” Because we don’t typically pay attention to ourselves in the perception process, our immediate experience usually will not appear to show how our act of perception changed anything. However, if we construct a careful history of our perceptions, it will often show us that our way of perceiving did indeed change the course of our personal history.
This may make sense to you when looking at something new and deciding what it means. But you may wonder, “I’m not actually changing reality, am I? I’m just changing my interpretation of reality.” The answer, as surprising as it may seem, is that you are in fact changing reality by the manner you go about observing it.
How to Make a Watched Pot Never Boil
In the world described successfully by quantum mechanics, observers ultimately and fundamentally affect the universe whenever they observe it or anything in it. This is so because it is not possible to observe everything about reality in any observation. If we refine our ability to see by looking at atomic and subatomic processes, this realization would be very apparent and the different possibilities would be quite magnified and astonishing to our normal way of seeing.
Take the old proverb “a watched pot never boils.” Now imagine a tiny quantum-sized pot of water being heated on a really tiny stove. We all know that heated pots of water will in fact come to a boil, given a little time. You would certainly think that a watched quantum pot would also boil. It turns out, however, that if you vigilantly watch the pot, it will never boil. In fact, all vigilantly watched “quantum pots” refuse to boil, even if they are heated forever.
The only requirement for this to happen is that observers must have the intent to see the object - in this case, the quantum pot - in its initial state by persistently observing it the same way in each moment of observation. This intent is determined by the frequency of their observations. They must look repeatedly, in very short time intervals - and if they do, they find the object in the same state as it was the last time they looked.
Suppose a physicist doesn’t watch vigilantly. Or suppose that she or he does, but does so with the intent of seeing the situation evolve naturally. Then what? If the physicist looks intermittently, expecting it to boil eventually, the pot will follow its natural unobserved course and will boil. These observations, because they are infrequent, have little effect on the natural result. Or, if they wish, the physicists may vigilantly observe the object along its natural evolution by narrowing their vision to observe only pots that have reached the expected goals at the appropriate times. In other words, a watched pot boils if you intend it to.
A Watched Life
I’m referring here to boiling pots of water, but I’m sure you see how the principle applies to your life, to the pursuits and aims you care about in your life, and to the power of your consistent intent.
I must point out here that “intents” and “intentions” are not the same things. Intent refers to a vigorous action of vigilant observation along a specific path of evolution. It matters little what you hope for or even what you passively expect will happen. You need to actively pursue your vision in order to manifest your intent in the physical world, not passively dream about it or simply hope it will come true.
Thus, intent requires a quantum physical basis, a basis that in our own everyday lives looks like this: hard work with lots of desire.
If this “watched-pot” theory turns out to be as true at the human level of our everyday achievements, then our desires and the actions that accompany them are what actually govern our daily lives.
What does luck have to do with? Nothing!
About the author:Fred Alan Wolf is the National Book Award-winning author of Taking the Quantum Leap, The Spiritual Universe and 13 other books and 3 audio books. To get some of his works:
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