Awake teacher Says Philosophy is a Waste of Life

[Breakingthewall]

On 8/3/2025 at 1:06 PM, Rishabh R said:

@Leo Gura No difference. Thanks.

It's very different. a boxing match with a guy in front of you who wants to rip your head off, you're completely present, but you're not meditating. Meditation isn't concentration; it's openness. The human mind functions like a limiter, shutting out everything that isn't necessary. Returning to the boxing example, you won't be thinking about whether you're happy with your relationship with your girlfriend or what Donald Trump will do tomorrow. You're absolutely present, measuring distances and in automatic mode, projecting the next move in your mind and at the same time ready to correct it in a tenth of a second, perfect flow, like a trance. It's the exact opposite of real meditation. For example, a sardine swimming on sea is absolutely present and in perfect flow, but it's not meditating. 

Meditation is the ability to open your mental focus so that there is no longer focus. You are no longer a person; nothing is concrete, because anything concrete is mental focus. You open the lens of the mental camera to the point where there is no camera; there is only totality. Anything concrete—for example, God, creation, will, whatever—is focus. The absence of focus must be total, and without focus, there is nothing concrete, only existence. Limitless expansion, and that's your infinite nature. It's not that difficult, but it's scary at first.

Edited March 12 by Breakingthewall

[Breakingthewall]

And about Tolle. For me, it's essentially false. His message is that human emotional energy is basically a malfunction and that it's very easy to repair; you just have to not project into the past or the future and be here.

My friend Tolle, the past and the future are here, and their energy is absolutely real. Your emotional structure is a genetically encoded reality that develops throughout life like a tree that grows from a seed, according to the encoding and the environment. Without truly penetrating the roots of anxiety, the lack of love, and the drive to survive and reproduce, understanding them, opening yourself completely to them, and being one with them, staring death in the face, you're not going to achieve anything.

Tolle is escapism, cocaine. Eckart says, "Get a line of cocaine of now and you'll forget your emotional structure, since it isn't real." It's exactly as real as a one-ton rock. You can pretend it doesn't exist, but it will still crush you.

[gettoefl]

48 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

It's very different. a boxing match with a guy in front of you who wants to rip your head off, you're completely present, but you're not meditating. Meditation isn't concentration; it's openness. The human mind functions like a limiter, shutting out everything that isn't necessary. Returning to the boxing example, you won't be thinking about whether you're happy with your relationship with your girlfriend or what Donald Trump will do tomorrow. You're absolutely present, measuring distances and in automatic mode, projecting the next move in your mind and at the same time ready to correct it in a tenth of a second, perfect flow, like a trance. It's the exact opposite of real meditation. For example, a sardine swimming on sea is absolutely present and in perfect flow, but it's not meditating. 

Meditation is the ability to open your mental focus so that there is no longer focus. You are no longer a person; nothing is concrete, because anything concrete is mental focus. You open the lens of the mental camera to the point where there is no camera; there is only totality. Anything concrete—for example, God, creation, will, whatever—is focus. The absence of focus must be total, and without focus, there is nothing concrete, only existence. Limitless expansion, and that's your infinite nature. It's not that difficult, but it's scary at first.

Human is focus. It can't not. Then just unfocus, another word for which is forgive or see beyond. The part leads to the real, the hole holds the whole. Simple as the air that I breathe to quote a famous song.

Edited March 12 by gettoefl

[Grateful Dead]

46 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

And about Tolle. For me, it's essentially false. His message is that human emotional energy is basically a malfunction and that it's very easy to repair; you just have to not project into the past or the future and be here.

Tolle is escapism, cocaine. Eckart says, "Get a line of cocaine of now and you'll forget your emotional structure, since it isn't real." It's exactly as real as a one-ton rock. You can pretend it doesn't exist, but it will still crush you.

Lol, that's literally the worst straw man I've ever heard about Eckhart's teachings. It's like you would say: Leo says, "Take psychedelics, preferably 5-Meo up your ass, and then you'll become God and all your problems will be solved forever."

[Breakingthewall]

59 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

Lol, that's literally the worst straw man I've ever heard about Eckhart's teachings. It's like you would say: Leo says, "Take psychedelics, preferably 5-Meo up your ass, and then you'll become God and all your problems will be solved forever."

No, I just said that Tolle approach is simplistic and at the end false. Tolle is pure seduction, which is why he's been so successful. he says a zebra in the savannah is always present; for it, only the now exists. Perhaps he doesn't understand that a human isn't a zebra; his approach is false; it doesn't work. The mental matrix is a reality extremely powerful, and no one in the world, ever, since The Power of Now was published, has achieved liberation with his approach. They've only been seduced by her idea and then frustrated by the impossibility of achieving what he promises.

Btw, where I talked about god and that? Read carefully and then make a meditate answer, don't speak without the minimum work because I'm talking seriously

Edited March 12 by Breakingthewall

[Grateful Dead]

32 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Btw, where I talked about god and that? Read carefully and then make a meditate answer, don't speak without the minimum work because I'm talking seriously

If you had read my post carefully, you would have seen that it was an example.

32 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

No, I just said that Tolle approach is simplistic and at the end false. Tolle is pure seduction, which is why he's been so successful. he says a zebra in the savannah is always present; for it, only the now exists. Perhaps he doesn't understand that a human isn't a zebra; her approach is false; it doesn't work. The mental matrix is a reality extremely powerful, and no one in the world, ever, since The Power of Now was published, has achieved liberation with his approach. They've only been seduced by her idea and then frustrated by the impossibility of achieving what he promises.

You're doing it again. Personally I made great progress with Eckhart's teachings, especially at the beginning of my journey. And later, I had awakenings just from listening to him. How do you know his teachings don't work? His understanding of the ego's "mental matrix" is quite sophisticated for his approach, at least I think so.

[Breakingthewall]

12 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

You're doing it again. Personally I made great progress with Eckhart's teachings, especially at the beginning of my journey. And later, I had awakenings just from listening to him. How do you know his teachings don't work? His understanding of the ego's "mental matrix" is quite sophisticated for his approach, at least I think so.

I agree that he can be useful and a good introduction to spirituality, but I think he's mistaken at the root of his message. I'm not saying he's a fraud, but I think he's mistaken.

His message suggests that the ego is a mistake of perspective, and that it's absolutely simple to escape from that perspective; you just have to take a step back and place yourself above it. I think this is a mistake, it's impossible. The human psyche is an energetic reality, a living being with a solid structure, and it's impossible to escape from it with a single movement of changing perspective. I think that's a straightforward lie.

The psyche is an energetic framework with real foundations and enormous power: the desire to live, the fear of dying, coded with hot iron in the foundation of the human being, in its genetics.

Anyone who believes Tolle message will end up frustrated. But perhaps, thanks to him, he will embark on the real path, the inner search in which he will face his fears, unravel his psyche, look death in the face, and open the doors to the limitless

Edited March 12 by Breakingthewall

[Ulax]

@Rishabh R Shinzen young’s see hear feel guide (can Google it) will probably help you imo

[Grateful Dead]

1 hour ago, Breakingthewall said:

His message suggests that the ego is a mistake of perspective, and that it's absolutely simple to escape from that perspective; you just have to take a step back and place yourself above it. I think this is a mistake, it's impossible.

He often says this to people who are suffering greatly at the moment and are looking for immediate relief. Are you suggesting that it's better to remain entirely in the ego and continue to suffer like this? It's not his whole teaching.. when you talk to as many different people as Eckhart, it is easy to take things out of context and present them in a simplified way.

1 hour ago, Breakingthewall said:

The human psyche is an energetic reality, a living being with a solid structure, and it's impossible to escape from it with a single movement of changing perspective. I think that's a straightforward lie.

The psyche is an energetic framework with real foundations and enormous power: the desire to live, the fear of dying, coded with hot iron in the foundation of the human being, in its genetics.

This is literally what Tolle calls dissolving the pain body. And he often states that this is a long and intense process for most people.

You claim to be so serious, but what you write here seems like a joke to me.

[Breakingthewall]

39 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

This is literally what Tolle calls dissolving the pain body. And he often states that this is a long and intense process for most people.

He said that he achieved it in one day

39 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

You claim to be so serious, but what you write here seems like a joke to me.

Ah ok, you just want to put yourself above with aggressive attitude. Well, I'm sorry to doubt about Tolle, don't be angry and defensive. 

[Grateful Dead]

11 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

He said that he achieved it in one day

He also says that this happens very rarely and before that he suffered from severe depression for most of his life.

11 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Ah ok, you just want to put yourself above with aggressive attitude. Well, I'm sorry to doubt about Tolle, don't be angry and defensive. 

Great projections brother. This was about you, like I said, I find it funny.

[Breakingthewall]

6 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

Great projections brother. This was about you, like I said, I find it funny

No, look, if you want to talk about a topic if you say: all that you said seems a joke. Then, why are you answering? Do you answer to anyone who says nonsense? It's a loss of time. If you are talking to me it's because you are interested in the topic, then you could argue what I say, but if you say: all that you said is nonsense, it'd not a proper argument. Do you catch it?

9 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

He also says that this happens very rarely and before that he suffered from severe depression for most of his life.

It never happens if you don't understand absolutely your energetic pattern and you face it, it's a long process, and in the Tolle's book never explain how to do it, he only describe what the ego is according to him. He has interesting explanation about the ego but in my opinion he fails at its core, the ego is considered unreal, a human malfunction that causes all evil. However, the ego is absolutely real. It's a genetic pattern that drives humans as a species, and it's impossible to overcome if you don't understand it, confront it, and satisfy it in a great stent. There are real conditions that will make your life hell, and things that you must do in life. Take the decision of being detached doesn't work 

 

[Grateful Dead]

9 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

No, look, if you want to talk about a topic if you say: all that you said seems a joke. Then, why are you answering? Do you answer to anyone who says nonsense? It's a loss of time. If you are talking to me it's because you are interested in the topic, then you could argue what I say, but if you say: all that you said is nonsense, it'd not a proper argument. Do you catch it?

I only responded because I felt it was my responsibility to correct your nonsense, and now my work is done. I have no interest in arguing about something like this; it's just another projection on your part.

10 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

It never happens if you don't understand absolutely your energetic pattern and you face it, it's a long process, and in the Tolle's book never explain how to do it, he only describe what the ego is according to him.

He literally has a book that explains the process in detail: Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now. There are also many YouTube videos that are very practical..

[Breakingthewall]

2 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

only responded because I felt it was my responsibility to correct your nonsense,

I didn't say any nonsense, I make an opinion about a topic that I know very well, I have read the two books of Tolle, the power of now and the other, a new earth or something like that, and I got really impressed when I did. But after I got much deeper and I realized the fundamental mistake of his approach. Anyway, why do you need to use the worlds nonsense, joke, etc? Do you have the need of humilliating to have the reason about Tolle? It doesn't work in that way.

5 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

He literally has a book that explains the process in detail: Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now. There are also many YouTube videos that are very practical..

 For me, he rejects the ego; he considers it something to be overcome, a deception of the mind. For me, this is a mistake. Your ego tells you what you must do, what karma you must perform. You have to understand it and solve the enigma, otherwise it will never disappear. It's different for each person, a personal enigma in each life, and there are no shortcuts. There's a mission to fulfill, and evasion doesn't work. You're not a zebra living in the now; you're a human being with a mission, and this is not a mistake, it's what you are. 

[Breakingthewall]

@Grateful Dead anyway, I have to read again. I just find something wrong in his approach now, I think it's impossible to reach the point that Tolle said he did magically, without a deep understanding of his mind. Could happen in some moments, but not maintained. I doubt a lot of the people who claim such things and then a lot of money comes to them. There is something in his message that maybe is distorted. Just maybe. 

Anyway, it's shocking that nobody here has the level to refute this without insulting or getting angry. Interesting, Tolle talks about overcoming the ego, and you ridicule and get angry. Perhaps his teachings didn't work after all? That's what I meant

Edited March 13 by Breakingthewall

[Grateful Dead]

@Breakingthewall I'm honestly baffled that you're so offended by my use of the words "nonsense" and "joke." If you think that teachings like Eckhart's will lead you to use only certain words that hopefully won't offend anyone, and that you then have to be kind to everyone all the times, you are mistaken. Sometimes it takes a clear statement to expose an falsehood, and I take no pleasure whatsoever in that. I'd rather not have to do it at all.

I really didn't mean to ridicule or humiliate you and neither did it make me angry what you said. Although it may seem that way, it wasn't meant personally.

In German we have a saying that goes: "Wer im Glashaus sitzt sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen", which means: Whoever sits in a glass house should not throw stones.

[Breakingthewall]

20 minutes ago, Grateful Dead said:

@Breakingthewall I'm honestly baffled that you're so offended by my use of the words "nonsense" and "joke." If you think that teachings like Eckhart's will lead you to use only certain words that hopefully won't offend anyone, and that you then have to be kind to everyone all the times, you are mistaken. Sometimes it takes a clear statement to expose an falsehood, and I take no pleasure whatsoever in that. I'd rather not have to do it at all.

I really didn't mean to ridicule or humiliate you and neither did it make me angry what you said. Although it may seem that way, it wasn't meant personally.

In German we have a saying that goes: "Wer im Glashaus sitzt sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen", which means: Whoever sits in a glass house should not throw stones.

 I've been reflecting on this topic and I know well. I know Tolle very well, and he's been important in my journey, but above all, it's been important to realize the error I perceive in him. I know many people who believe what Tolle says, and I see in them evasion and no depth, since Tolle, to me, is castrating .

When I say castrating, it's because his entire message suggests that ego and projection into the past are a mistake, and that the person is choosing this way of functioning out of ignorance. Nothing in reality is a mistake. Saying this is like saying that birds fight over fish by mistake, because they're ignorant, or that bacteria kill the host by mistake. It's a big thing, 

On the other hand, reading Tolle is reassuring. When you read it, you feel liberated; it seems as if the knots in your psyche have loosened, but this is temporary. It is absolutely impossible to reach the state of nirvana that Tolle describes if you haven't done your work in the external world. Tolle puts all the weight on the interior; he tells you that, by choosing to, you can be the master of your mental state regardless of external conditions. This, for me, is once again castrating. The interior and the exterior are one.

There are times when reality demands war from you, and also suffering. You are not an autonomous capsule isolated from external reality; you are a hive entity absolutely interconnected with the whole; you are simultaneously the part and the totality. Tolle is limited, and his limitation makes him mistaken, and his mistakenness makes him false. And this falsehood, which sounds like truth, penetrates minds, calms them, but then castrates them, isolates them. Do you understand my point? Or does it seem like a joke?

[Leo Gura]

@Breakingthewall You make a reasonable case.

One oversight of simpleton nonduality teachings is that they regard ego as purely an illusion with no reality and no purpose or utility. This is clearly wrong. There is good to be recovered from ego. Like the ego's ambition to have impact in the world. And the ego's handling of material survival needs.

But this is not hard to make compatible with Tolle's work.

Edited March 13 by Leo Gura

[Breakingthewall]

36 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Breakingthewall You make a reasonable case.

One oversight of simpleton nonduality teachings is that they regard ego as purely an illusion with no reality and no purpose or utility. This is clearly wrong. There is good to be recovered from ego. Like the ego's ambition to have impact in the world. And the ego's handling of material survival needs.

But this is not hard to make compatible with Tolle's work.

The problem with Tolle's message is that it tells you: Right now, at this exact moment, are you in pain, or is something bad happening to you? Not true? So why are you suffering? This is a recurring message in nonduality.

The answer would be: You're suffering by mistake; you shouldn't be suffering, since nothing hurts. From this message, it follows that the ego, the mental matrix, is something unreal, and what's real is the body, which can hurt.

This is absolutely false; the mental matrix is exactly as real as the body and hurts just as much as the body does. A zebra doesn't have this mental matrix, therefore it doesn't hurt, but a human does.

When Tolle says: Look at the crazy things humans have done for something unreal, like the nation! It's something that doesn't exist, and people kill for it. Well, we could say: Look how crazy the crocodiles are, obsessed with eating so they don't die of hunger, when the body doesn't really exist; it's a collection of atoms that will disintegrate sooner or later. 

Tolle doesn't understand that the mental matrix is a real energetic structure, as real as the body. A new dimension of existence that is evolving at a pace several orders of magnitude faster than the physical. That it isn't something tangible and physical doesn't make it any less real.

Tolle and nonduality deny this reality, and that's why they're false philosophies. Not intentionally false, but fundamentally wrong, they propagate a comforting but ultimately false spirituality that doesn't resolve, only numbs, like a drug.

[Grateful Dead]

1 hour ago, Breakingthewall said:

 I've been reflecting on this topic and I know well. I know Tolle very well, and he's been important in my journey, but above all, it's been important to realize the error I perceive in him. I know many people who believe what Tolle says, and I see in them evasion and no depth, since Tolle, to me, is castrating .

When I say castrating, it's because his entire message suggests that ego and projection into the past are a mistake, and that the person is choosing this way of functioning out of ignorance. Nothing in reality is a mistake. Saying this is like saying that birds fight over fish by mistake, because they're ignorant, or that bacteria kill the host by mistake. It's a big thing, 

On the other hand, reading Tolle is reassuring. When you read it, you feel liberated; it seems as if the knots in your psyche have loosened, but this is temporary. It is absolutely impossible to reach the state of nirvana that Tolle describes if you haven't done your work in the external world. Tolle puts all the weight on the interior; he tells you that, by choosing to, you can be the master of your mental state regardless of external conditions. This, for me, is once again castrating. The interior and the exterior are one.

There are times when reality demands war from you, and also suffering. You are not an autonomous capsule isolated from external reality; you are a hive entity absolutely interconnected with the whole; you are simultaneously the part and the totality. Tolle is limited, and his limitation makes him mistaken, and his mistakenness makes him false. And this falsehood, which sounds like truth, penetrates minds, calms them, but then castrates them, isolates them. Do you understand my point? Or does it seem like a joke?

Of course, I understand your point, but from my perspective, it still doesn't hold water. First, you say Tolle's teachings are wrong because you know many people who use them as an escape and lack spiritual depth. Have you noticed that this is the case with all spiritual teachings, religions and also with psychedelics? Just because something is popular and attracts a lot of people who then misuse it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Eckhart's message is that if you want to find complete inner peace, you must let go of your ego. Anyone who doesn't want to do that isn't wrong, they're simply dont want that or are not ready.

You're right, Tolle places all the emphasis on inner freedom, the essence of true spirituality. Many spiritual masters have demonstratet that even under the most extreme external circumstances, one can maintain their inner peace. Of course, this is rare and unrealistic for most people, but again, it doesn't mean this is wrong.

It's certainly true that Eckhart's teachings are limited to a certain extent; he, too, attempts to convey the unspeakable through his ego, because that's the only way he can speak to other egos. Of course, that can't be perfect, and it seems ridiculous to me that you expect that. Do you know anyone who has conveyed the Truth perfectly, without any distortions? The ego distorts things by their very nature, and even psychedelics, which aren't even human, distort the truth.

So just because you've found some limitations in his teachings, does that mean what he teaches is fundamentally wrong? Eckhart's words aren't meant to become a law for you; they are merely a reference to a deeper truth.

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

@Breakingthewall You make a reasonable case.

One oversight of simpleton nonduality teachings is that they regard ego as purely an illusion with no reality and no purpose or utility. This is clearly wrong. There is good to be recovered from ego. Like the ego's ambition to have impact in the world. And the ego's handling of material survival needs.

But this is not hard to make compatible with Tolle's work.

Look, even Leo comes to your rescue. That's because he fundamentally shares the same mindset as you, and that is: you have to survive as an ego in the material world. But that's self-help, not true spirituality, because for that, you would have to completely transcend your ego.