Opinion about Eckhart Tolle?
I’m curious how others here see Eckhart Tolle. At first, for me, he has been one of the most influential spiritual teachers in my life. His work helped me move from a more superficial form of Christianity into a deeper spirituality and a taste of non-duality. His teachings on presence, the nature of thought, and the possibility of experiencing the infinite only in the Now were life-changing for me. I’ve read many of his books and they gave me profound insights. But the deeper I go on my spiritual path, the more I feel that Tolle’s teaching stops at a certain point. He emphasizes becoming empty, letting go, living entirely in the present — which is absolutely essential. It is the first step: turning inward, releasing identification with thought, detaching from the ego. However, what I experienced is this: If we stay only there, something is missing. In my experience, emptiness without aliveness becomes flat. Many spiritual traditions that focus exclusively on stillness and detachment end up lacking the other half of the dance — the movement, the energy, the joy, the creative expression of life (what you could call Yin and Yang, balance or the "dance of life" swinging between the poles). I practiced the “be empty, kill the ego, detach from everything” path very seriously. It gave me peace, yes — but also a kind of numbness, a loss of vitality. It felt incomplete. And reality becomes meaningless and neutral... Now I see it differently: We become empty so that we can be filled — with love, joy, abundance, presence, and creative life-force. Emptiness is the beginning, not the destination. That’s just my experience over the past weeks. How do you see Eckhart Tolle and his teaching? Do you feel the same, or something different?