Puzzling over Tolle

Sometimes I feel like there are 2 Eckhart Tolles. The one who wrote the deeply helpful and meaningful books, and the one who profiteers and grandstands.

Reading A New Earth helped me find peace and joy in life. It awakened many glimmers of truth that I have noticed throughout my life and then put down again, lying dormant until I read through those pages. Tolle's work helped me exit a very, very painful time and find a true and deep-rooted peace within myself. If you read my blog, you notice that I refer to and quote him a lot. His books helped take me from a place of pain to a path of confidence and compassion. I am thankful to it, him, and the person who recommended it to me everyday.

Still, a few things about Tolle seem a little inconsistent. As part of my mindfulness practice, I try to stay on my toes and not follow anything blindly. Here are a few things that I question, they're pretty minor all-in-all considering how valuable his teachings are:

#1 - Profiteering
First, the Website http://www.eckharttolle.com is a blatant piece of profiteering. There's nothing to learn from the site other than where to spend money. See the cost of events and the store. Sure, everyone needs to make a living and his teachings are valuable, but I don't think he's hard up for profit. If he truly has no need for material wealth, then why the crude commercialism? And even more baffling, why do so few people call him out on it? Where is his money going?

#2 - Trend Mongering
The next thing is the relationship with Oprah -- and Oprah is another personality that is self-contradictory. On one hand, her appearance is very genuinely caring and sincere. On the other hand, huge profits and fad-peddling. Curious. Edit: As a commenter recently pointed out, who would turn down a call from Oprah for a larger platform? That would be silly. Still just a little thing.

#3 - A New Dogma
I find Tolle's message and writing superb. And I find the reach and mass appeal very heartening. It is spectacular that mindfulness, compassion, and dissolution of the ego are now household concepts -- well, for many households. However, it feels like a lot of dogma and intellectualism (forms of the ego) arise around his teachings. People are calling him a guru and spiritual teacher, too. He pays lip service to not wanting these things, but he's not succeeding at it. Not necessarily his fault, but... (in Japanese it's ok to end a sentence with a preposition).


#4 - Bossiness
His message, while laden with truth and compassion, is highly confrontational. How do people accept the forcefulness of his writings and words? I understand that he is trying to be non-equivocal, I'm just surprised that this doesn't irritate more people.

#5 - Obnoxious Affectation
The final mystery to me is why of all people did he become mainstream? His voice, mannerisms, and dress seem highly affected to me. Way too soft and too soothing. I cannot sit through a video of his, I find it spoils his writings for me. Edit: Yes, this is a petty nit. It's just me being honest about where I am.

Wrap-up
I looked for others with similar thoughts, and found a couple others who also have gripes: SpiritualTeachers.org has an objective review and Guruphiliac slings mud as usual, though Guruphiliac has not read Tolle's books. In general though, there are people who ignore him and write him off or revere him unquestioningly.


Despite these points of confusion, I still find the writings of Tolle incredibly poignant, relevant, and heartfelt. I hope that there's an answer to some of these things. Has anyone else wrestled with these things? Do you have a perspective that could help?