Why Enlightenment, Spiritual Gurus and Higher Consciousness Are a Con

Why Enlightement, Spiritual Gurus and Higher Consciousness Are a Con
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When the human being experiences a moment of pleasure – it begins to desire that experience to endlessly repeat itself in an attempt to create permanence. And the constant attempt to construct permanence gives the so-called “spiritual ideologies”, or “new age gurus” the opportunity to provide us with the methods to attain “constant happiness”, “bliss” and “higher states of consciousness”. The reality is that what we are constantly in pursuit of ideas given to us by others. And the pursuit of these goals is what creates the polarization in the human being. Now, let me remind you that a true “guru” seeks no followers.

I recently listened to a podcast where Eckhart Tolle was being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about “The Conscious New Earth”. Not only was I enraged by a lot of what I heard, but I was left wondering how people come to believe this bunch of baloney.

I will point out the fallacies in his words:

Firstly, Eckhart’s “teachings” are simply a repetition of the “teachings” of many past “gurus”. There is nothing original in his “teachings”.

Secondly, Eckhart Tolle, while using his sharp “intuition”, proceeds to give Oprah the answers to why humanity hasn’t reached a “higher level of consciousness”, which was predicted to occur by him, by this time, ten years ago. Well, duh! The reason why we have not "reached" a "higher level of consciousness" is because there is no “other consciousness"! There are no other “levels”! I mean, where are these levels found? In the sky? At the park? Furthermore, how does Eckhart know (for certain) this "consciousness" is rising, or going to rise? Again, simply because he “feels” this idea to be true does not make it a fact! The erroneous desire of wanting to attain a “higher level of consciousness” IS the idea that brings misery to the state of the human being. What Eckhart and Oprah fail to mention is that humanity has been - since the beginning of time in constant struggle – this is a fact found in all history books. Hence, it is the goal of attaining a “perfect” or “serene” state the one that keeps us in a state of disharmony. I then ask what are we missing? The truth is no one knows. Furthermore, if the “gurus” have the answers, why do we keep asking the same questions and experiencing the same problems? There are no answers! This is it!

Thirdly, Eckhart makes reference of an ego as something that is separate from the self that tells the self what to do. I can’t help but to wonder: how in the world is this “ego” separate from me? Does it have legs? Does it have a voice? And where exactly is this ego? Eckhart clearly lacks the ability to answer this question without repeating the teachings from other "gurus"! Again, there is nothing original here.

Finally, when asked by Oprah, Eckhart proceeds to define the “soul” by calling it the “Deep I”, showing the listener his “known” knowledge and attempting to create the latest new-age concept. His ludicrous statements are endless and what saddens me the most is that if he is questioned further about his ideas he will simply state "because I know".

Accepting what is without following anyone else's ideas is the real work, which takes courage. But, we don’t want to do the work; we want the Eckhart Tolles, and the Yogis and Swamis to give us the “answers”. And, I ask what answers? Answers to what? There are no answers; there is nothing to understand. This is it!

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