Eckhart Tolle and A New Earth – Is He Right About What’s Wrong?

For a number of years I had ongoing bouts with what I thought were recurrent ear infections. About once or twice a year I would become dizzy, light-headed and nauseated. Usually a night of rest would suffice to overcome the problem. Occasionally I would make a trip to the doctor where she would prescribe some antibiotics.But around the spring of 2001 I had an acute attack. Within a few hours I became so ill that I became dehydrated and ended up in the emergency room. The emergency room doctor gave me some fluids and made an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist for the next day. The ENT examined me and determined my problem wasn’t ear infections after all, but allergies. I left with a prescription for allergy medicine and a sense of relief that this problem has finally been solved.

Unfortunately, one week later I was back in the emergency room with an attack worse than the previous one. This time the emergency room doctor made me an appointment for a CT scan – possible brain tumor. I had the scan which was followed by an appointment with a neurologist. To my relief there was no tumor, but I sure did want some answers. The neurologist did all kinds of tests, none of which involved electronic equipment, drugs, or anything high-tech. He looked in my ears, my eyes, up my nose, hit my joints with a little hammer, asked lots of questions and then said, “I can tell you what is wrong with you.”

“Really?” I said with some doubt.

“Yea, you have Meniere’s disease.”

“What’s that and what can I do about it?” Were my obvious questions.

“It is a disease or syndrome of the inner ear. It causes the kind of things you have been experiencing like dizziness, nausea, tinnitus… My recommendation is that you watch your salt intake, keep it to a minimum, and your caffeine intake should be down to about zero. Some people have found that changing these things in their diet helps. There is no need to schedule another appointment with me. I will forward this info to your regular doctor.”

I listened to his advice changed these things in my diet and though I still have the disease, it is under control and I know how to handle it.

It matters whether or not a disease is correctly diagnosed. My primary care physician, the emergency room doctor, and the ENT all had my best interests at heart. They all meant well and gave me their best. I don’t doubt that. But they all got it wrong and I continued to be sick over and over. Each one of them had the same basic information. I was dizzy, nauseous, and had ringing in my ears. They all gave a different diagnosis and different prescriptions. And none of them helped. I didn’t get relief until I found a doctor who could correctly diagnosis the problem. All the physicians I visited could see the symptoms, only one saw the real root problem.

In A New Earth Tolle, like a good physician, diagnoses the human spiritual condition. He reminds us of the symptoms that point to an underlying sickness. We are all too familiar with those symptoms –fear, greed, power madness, violence, suffering, death (p. 10), pride (pp.81-84), and identity issues (chapter 4). Tolle also points to a prescription – an awakening, a shift in consciousness, A New Earth. But what if Tolle, well meaning as he may be, is wrong in his diagnosis of the symptoms? Can the doctor possibly point us down the path to wellness if he/she doesn’t correctly understand the underlying disease? We all agree there is a problem. The thing we which we struggle with is what is the solution? We know there is a disease, if there is a cure, what is it? Tolle calls the disease “our inherited dysfunction” (p.8). He goes on to state that within all of “humanity’s ancient religions and spiritual traditions there are two core insights that most of them agree on” (p.8). He mentions Hinduism and states it comes closest to the seeing this clearly, and then writes about the Buddhist version of the same idea. Then, Tolle says:

According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of humanity is one of “original sin.” Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the New Testament was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence. It means to live unskillfully, blindly, and thus to suffer and cause suffering. Again, the term, stripped of its cultural baggage and misinterpretations, points to the dysfunction inherent in the human condition.

I suspect that Tolle knows very well that is not at all the meaning of “sin” in the Bible. This is why he has to add the caveat to Christian teaching, something he doesn’t do with his statements about Hinduism and Buddhism. He has to say that “sin” has been misunderstood and misinterpreted and has to be stripped of cultural baggage in order to make fit with what he wants it to mean. Tolle’s understanding of the human condition probably does fit with and is in harmony with the teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism. And he certainly has the freedom to hold those views. But it is deception and misleading to make the kind of statement he does in the above quoted paragraph. He makes this statement so that he can mold the Bible and the teachings of Christ to fit his philosophies. But I don’t want to do what Tolle does – make statements like this without having solid reason for doing it. So read on if you want to know what the New Testament really says about sin: There are actually nine different Greek words that shed light on what the Bible means when it speaks of sin. Hamartia,hamartema, prakoe, anomia, paranomia, parabasis, paraptoma, agnoeman and hettema. Tolle is using the first one on the list hamartia. Tolle rightly states that the word originally meant “to fall short” and was used by the Greeks to describe a warrior whose spear fell short of striking his foe. The problem is Tolle then states that this means “to miss the point of human existence…to live unskillfully, blindly…” Is this what is meant in the Bible? It is not. Tolle is either misinformed, ignorant or intentionally misleading. You can decide for yourself which it is.

Let me briefly mention these other eight words that help us understand the Bible’s view of sin (this is already long so I will keep it short and if you want other references please ask).” Hamartema – is sin as disobedience to divine law. It is an act someone commits (Romans 3:25). Paroke – means failing to hear and thus sin is already committed in failing to listen attentively to God. It is usually translated by the English word disobedience. An illustration of this idea is found in Acts 7:57. That verse gives us a graphic picture of what many people do. The intentionally stop their ears from hearing God’s word. Anomia It is often times put in opposition to the word translated righteousness so that it shows sin to be a deviation from that standard of life set up by God. Parabasis – usually translated as transgression. Paraptoma – means to deviate from truth and uprightness. Finally, agnoema – carries the idea of ignorance and thus to sin through ignorance (Luke 23:34 is an example of this kind of sinning). – means lawlessness.

Returning to the word Tolle used. Did he accurately say what that word means in the New Testament? We don’t have to guess. That word is used 175 times and a little effort will produce a decent understanding of “sin.” Here are a few of the ways that word is used:

Matthew 1:21 She shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 3:6 (They) were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

John 8:11 Go and sin no more.

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…

John 1:29 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is but a small sampling of the uses of this word in the New Testament, but even from this small sampling it is clear that sin does not simply mean missing the point of human existence or living unskillfully. Sin is something that can be confessed, sexual immorality is sin as are many other acts of disobedience to the Law of God, it is something than can be repented of, and it is what Jesus came to save his people from and what he, as the Lamb of God came to take away. For Tolle to simply say Christians have misinterpreted, misunderstood, and added cultural baggage to what the New Testament means by the word sin is intellectually dishonest.

So doctor Tolle has looked at the symptoms and given his diagnosis and used as evidence of the rightness of it Hinduism, Buddhism and the New Testament. Hinduism and Buddhism may very well agree with Tolle (I am no expert on either religion and those who are can speak for themselves), but the New Testament is not on Tolle’s side.

Yes, sin is the problem, but not in the way Tolle states. The falling short is not simply missing life’s purpose. It is missing the mark of God’s glory. It is falling short of the standard of righteousness written in the Law of God and seen in the life of Christ. It is what we have all done. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Falling short is what we do when we create idols, worship other gods, take God’s name in vain, refuse Him the worship He deserves, dishonor our parents, murder, cheat on our spouses, steal, lie and covet.

Since Tolle doesn’t understand the disease, he doesn’t give us the prescription we need for true healing. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Jesus came, not to teach us how to have an awakening to a higher consciousness, but to give his life a ransom for sinners. All who believe in Him will be saved.