Eckhart Tolle - New Age Movement. What is the Catholic Teaching on these matters?

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Does anybody know what the Vatican has said with regards to the New Age Movement, more specifically Ekhart Tolle?
 
You don’t have to look too far along what the Church’s stance is on these new age teachings.

1 John 4:1-3
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

openbible.info/topics/fortune_tellers_and_psychics if you want to read more on the subject.
 
JESUS CHRIST
THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE
Since the New Age movement makes much of a communication with nature, of cosmic knowledge of a universal good – thereby negating the revealed contents of Christian faith – it cannot be viewed as positive or innocuous. In a cultural environment, marked by religious relativism, it is necessary to signal a warning against the attempt to place New Age religiosity on the same level as Christian faith, making the difference between faith and belief seem relative, thus creating greater confusion for the unwary.
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The New Age Movement is a cobbling together of many past superstitions and heresies. There is nothing new about it. There have been a number of Christian witnesses who dabbled and who had very scary encounters with demons from the spirit world. Dabble at your own risk!
 
From personal story, this is bad stuff. I’m only 17 and when I was younger my parents (mostly my mother at first) started being interested in alternative medicine (not evil per se effective or not is another debate) but then she started doing things like using a pendulum doing wierd “ohm” things, reiki, all sorts of bad stuff. Every once in a while she takes me to a “doctor” who does “energy work” and keeps trying to convince me of the Catholicity of it (it is not Catholic). new age is not good for anyone’s spirituality. They try to trick you by mentioning things you know are true as a Catholic and Satan wraps his lies in truth. Even just writing this, some new age **** popped into my head - it’s hard to get out but it is evil. I’ve wondered about seeing if I could get my mother an exorcism or something… It’s very very very evil this new age stuff. I’ve seen it for myself.

Peace of CHRIST be with you,

J. S. Sebastiano P.
 
I agree about new age stuff being ****. Having said that, it is too bad that you associate Mr. Tolle with Oprah and otherwise demonstrate that you have no clue what he’s about. I therefore recommend that y’all continue in your faith as you understand it, and stay far away from Mr.Tolle and his work so as not to further misrepresent him.
 
Ireka2 said:
I agree about new age stuff being ****. Having said that, it is too bad that you associate Mr. Tolle with Oprah and otherwise demonstrate that you have no clue what he’s about. I therefore recommend that y’all continue in your faith as you understand it, and stay far away from Mr.Tolle and his work so as not to further misrepresent him.
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I did mention that I didn’t know much about him. ^^^“I can’t say I know much about this guy specifically…”
 
Sorry, JSS, it wasn’t aimed at you. I have found that unless someone reads a book, by Tolle or anyone else, and that goes for the Bible as well, they really have little authority for commenting on it. I’d be as severe with someone who claimed silly things about the Gospels or about the Church. If you don’t know, then don’t say. I have good reason for appreciating Tolle for me. I wouldn’t wish anyone to read his work who would be offended, feel their beliefs to be compromised by such attention, or who feel that his work is against their system of faith. It would be a waste of time and energy and only lead to misunderstanding. So if one is aligned with the negative comments on here, then fine, I agree; don’t read his books.
 
Ireka2 said:
Sorry, JSS, it wasn’t aimed at you. I have found that unless someone reads a book, by Tolle or anyone else, and that goes for the Bible as well, they really have little authority for commenting on it. I’d be as severe with someone who claimed silly things about the Gospels or about the Church. If you don’t know, then don’t say. I have good reason for appreciating Tolle for me. I wouldn’t wish anyone to read his work who would be offended, feel their beliefs to be compromised by such attention, or who feel that his work is against their system of faith. It would be a waste of time and energy and only lead to misunderstanding. So if one is aligned with the negative comments on here, then fine, I agree; don’t read his books.
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Spoken by a true Religion: unaffiliated. bravo

Acid is just fine as long as it’s in it’s container… Why seek wisdom outside of Scripture “to replace it”, is where the danger lies with books such as his. I’m learned about the criteria and material this individual put’s out, stay away from this educated individuals understanding and reasoning, if you have discernment you won’t have a desire to require resorting to outside non biblicaly related sources in regards to the soul, regardless of where they come from, which is absolutely in this case, not at all Holy Spirit inspired… So, harsh it is from the rest of us and why, just so you understand my friend.

Try it the old fashioned way some time, you might find everything that man requires is already laid out and the fingers clearly pointing the right direction upon…well, if you want to remain in the truth, the full truth, at least try it once…
 
streetpreacher said:
Spoken by a true Religion: unaffiliated. bravo

Acid is just fine as long as it’s in it’s container… Why seek wisdom outside of Scripture “to replace it”, is where the danger lies with books such as his. I’m learned about the criteria and material this individual put’s out, stay away from this educated individuals understanding and reasoning, if you have discernment you won’t have a desire to require resorting to outside non biblicaly related sources in regards to the soul, regardless of where they come from, which is absolutely in this case, not at all Holy Spirit inspired… So, harsh it is from the rest of us and why, just so you understand my friend.

Try it the old fashioned way some time, you might find everything that man requires is already laid out and the fingers clearly pointing the right direction upon…well, if you want to remain in the truth, the full truth, at least try it once…
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Thank you for agreeing with me, preacher, that those who rely on their faith and would be harmed by such works ought not read it. Clearly you have read his work and have analyzed it through the filter of your view of the Faith and come up with the inevitable conclusion. That is well and good within the parameters of your beliefs, as I indicated.

As for trying something old fashioned, Mr. Tolle is advocating a system of understanding the is as old as mankind. He agrees, in essence, with the principles of Christianity as I understand them to be before they were religionized. They also, as far as I can read, agree with Fr. Thomas Keating, Meister Eckhart, St. Aquinas after his final revelation, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. John of the Cross, at least. I’m sure that these are not examples of holiness that you wish to follow. I do.

However, since Mr. Tolle’s work is in plain language and does not reference the ordinary Christian symbols because he is invoking a more universal response, this is not obvious to you. And that is fine. Don’t read it. And neither should any of the protesters above. When you have reached a certain point, you all might see it a bit differently. But that will be up to you and what you really want.

I am glad for you that you are on a conversational basis with the Holy Spirit. That must be absolutely wonderful! Perhaps the Holy Spirit forgot to tell you that I was considering entering the priesthood at the time of my awakening to the fundamental of what, in my understanding, our Church is attempting to teach but forgot how to. And it is because of my desire to remain in the Truth, the full Truth, that I left the Church in practice and joined it in Reality. I didn’t have to, as the illustrious exemplars above did not, and yet accomplished. I just saw that in my case it would be easier outside. Your ministrations are an example of why I feel this way. You see, the Church is much larger, deeper, wonderful and miraculous, not to mention sacramental and transfomative than you can imagine. But you will discover that in your own time.

For now, thank you for your interest and your good wishes. I appreciate them very much, and wish you every blessing.
 
Not sure if anyone has mentioned Sharon Lee Giganti yet, but she is an expert in this area and provides an immense amount of information on the dangers of the New Age movement. She appears regularly (about once a month) on the Catholic Answers radio program, and also has a web site with a great deal of resources. newagedeception.com/new/

Sharon Lee often talks about Oprah and the myriad of New Age guest that appear with her, one of course being Eckhart Tolle. If you want specifics on what in particular about Tolle’s ideas that are anti-Catholic, check out Sharon’s site or try to listen to CA when she’s on.
 
This is an awesome show about Oprah, and also Eckhart Tolle, and the New Age Movement, and what it all means to Catholics. The One True Faith

Very disturbing - and no Catholic should have anything to do with this garbage.

~Liza
 
Hi Lizaanne,

Thank you for your post and your link. I watched it in its entirety. It confirms my statement above that those who are liable to be misled ought not read Mr. Tolle. That is just about everybody, especially the faithful. In fact, I am one who thinks that it is a mistake to have such an exposition of a teaching such as Tolle’s on TV as did Oprah. Why? Why is perfectly exemplified by the lecturer in the video, his audience, a far as I can tell, and, unfortunately by Oprah herself. I don’t think I have ever heard such a cobbling of misleading misunderstandings of someone’s words woven into a blanket of ignorance in any other instance save the common understanding of the Bible itself. So I commend all those here who recommend against reading Mr. Tolle’s or any other such work. But I say that not because of any disagreement I have with his work; it is because it is grossly misunderstood and misrepresented by such as the lecturer due a lack of even a minimal of understanding of what is at hand. He was simply not competent as a critic because of that as well as several internal faults in his own logic and perceptions. That held true particularly of his language regarding philosophy. The best thing he said in the entire hour was “go find out for yourself.” I guess he tried to do that, but didn’t have the right tools. Recalling my extensive Roman Catholic training I was embarrassed to listen to him even from that standpoint.
 
Just to be clear…

I am asking about the new age movement, and Eckhart Tolle because someone I know is telling me and many members of our parish that he is a good man and that we should all be buying his book to read about what the real truth is.

I am trying to do research so that I am able to explain to him why Tolle is so dangerous, and why we should all be avoiding his works.

I just wanted everyone to know that I am not waivering on my faith, I am simply not well versed enough to present a strong enough argument against new age philosophies etc.
 
bartlettj said:
Just to be clear…

I am asking about the new age movement, and Eckhart Tolle because someone I know is telling me and many members of our parish that he is a good man and that we should all be buying his book to read about what the real truth is.

I am trying to do research so that I am able to explain to him why Tolle is so dangerous, and why we should all be avoiding his works.

I just wanted everyone to know that I am not waivering on my faith, I am simply not well versed enough to present a strong enough argument against new age philosophies etc.
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Watch the video I posted - it will answer many of these questions if not all of them.

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
Watch the video I posted - it will answer many of these questions if not all of them.

~Liza
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It will. I watched it.

Please, do whatever you can to keep this bad theology out of the Church.
 
bartlettj said:
Just to be clear…

I am asking about the new age movement, and Eckhart Tolle because someone I know is telling me and many members of our parish that he is a good man and that we should all be buying his book to read about what the real truth is.

I am trying to do research so that I am able to explain to him why Tolle is so dangerous, and why we should all be avoiding his works.

I just wanted everyone to know that I am not waivering on my faith, I am simply not well versed enough to present a strong enough argument against new age philosophies etc.
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There is a problem with condemning something or someone in that part of what they say or that is offered in a book is in and of itself true. When we throw out truth with untruth we are contrary to the offering of the teaching of the wheat and the chaff. It is easier to get rid of, wholesale, the untruth and unfortunately throw out the truth with it. Protestants have been around for almost 500 years with varying levels of untruth but have higher levels of truth that sustain it such as love for Jesus and the Bible.

Like the hierarchy of the Church, truth that we participate in is also a hierarchy leading to Truth itself and it is up to us to use our reason to judge where in this hierarchy something is. This is the dignity that God gives us and that which we must give to others. The splinter in our neighbors eye is offset by the log in our own. We must tread very carefully.

We don’t have truth but we participate in it when we are in union with God through Truth itself, Jesus. He draws all things to Himself and will perfect all things in creation. We must work to bring the Light of Christ and illuminate the darkness of all untruth and confirm that which is true with our reason that judges the value in truth as it leads to the unapproachable Light of Ultimate Truth. Offering Tolle as “what the truth really is” is in error and so is condemning it as having none, although this is easier to do.
 
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