And so it goes

I was surprised to find that my post on the Buddhist monk was picked up by another blog, where it led to a long and rather interesting discussion.

I never actually thought that my observations on this topic would generate much interest.

Also, here's a critical review of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, which makes some points I'm inclined to agree with. For instance:

[As a young man] Tolle had a "splitting" of his mind from his "essential being", somehow detaching from the former and finding himself living in the latter. Of course, as is usually true in breakdowns, this did not create a particularly good situation, and Tolle spent a couple of years unable to work, homeless, and spending all day sitting on park benches going "WOW!" as he looked at the world through eyes not being filtered by the mind/ego. Somehow he transitioned from "crazy guy on the park bench" to "seminar leader" (the book is rather hazy on how that happened), and had a new career telling people about living in a timeless "now" state...

He repeatedly mentions "surrender", defined as almost a Taoistic concept of "going with the flow" rather than resisting one's life situations, but this still seems to only point towards a world filled with blissed-out glassy-eyed staring "in the Now" people, balanced both on the esoteric edge of "the end of time", and the exoteric park bench. Unfortunately, any question of "what then?" is destined to be brushed off as only being some sort of "ego ploy".

I want to add, however, that I still think Tolle is well worth reading and that his approach can be usefully incorporated into our lives, as long as we don't go overboard with it. The ability to shift into the Now can be extremely helpful in dealing with anxiety, anger, or everyday worry. In fact, it is one of the most useful self-help techniques I've ever learned.

So I'm not trying to belittle Tolle or mock him. I just think that his approach is not the be-all and end-all. It's another tool in the toolkit, another chord for the guitar, another entree on the menu. You get the idea.

And here's a different telling of the monk story, with readers' responses. Some of my favorites:

The monk's calmness is admirable, but the idea that one should not speak the truth when confronted with a lie is potentially very harmful.

Perhaps it is too obvious that "Is that so?" is both a passive challenge to the accusers and an invitation to look more deeply into the matter -- both of which were repeatedly declined. The [monk]  wisely declines to force the issue, accepting minor injustice while avoiding greater disharmony.

That girl is a lying slut.

When I read this story for the first time I thought that the only words that [monk] knew were "is that so?" I then thought that couldn't be right so I read it again. Now I just don't know what to think.

So what?

Another version, with interesting commentary, is here.

Yet another version. A Google search yields many more.

I'm beginning to think that the purpose of the story is just to stimulate thought, and not to point to any moral at all.

Comments

[william]

"It's another tool in the toolkit"
Tools are helpful but it is the mentality behind the tools that is the essence of life. (Gee I wish I had Michael’s creative writing ability as this previous sentence could be stated so much better.)

I worked as a consultant for 20 years teaching lean flow and six sigma and most of my clients wanted “tools for their toolkit.” The hidden meaning by CEO’s and CFO’s: teach my employees some tools that will make our organization superior and more profitable, but! we don’t want to change how we manage our employees or how we view the world.

As far as Eckhart someone loaned me his tapes several years ago and I heard on one of the tapes, “we humans have fallen from the grace of god.” These are interesting comments from a person that appears to claim self-realization and to live in the Now.

[Matthew]

I agree with William here.

Tolle, Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, mystical religions, etc. are not fundamentally about teaching useful new techniques, but about holding up a mirror to the one who thinks he wants and needs techniques, a "toolkit", etc. and showing that apparent entity what is really going on.

[william]

Not that I am against tools. By using a tool called system mapping I was able to teach some participants how systems impact human and organizational performance.
Little known fact about 95% of human errors can be attributed to system performance.
Motorola doubted me big time on this one so they did research on over 400 errors they had previously labeled human errors. Less than one percent proved to be attributed entirely to human error.
We blame politicians for the problems in our country where research would show that over 95% of those problems are systemic.
Easier to blame a human then change the system. School shootings are a classic example.

[Matthew C]

We blame politicians for the problems in our country where research would show that over 95% of those problems are systemic.

Personally, I think we need to blame God for all of it. ;-)

[william]

Whoops in talking about human errors I made one. The percent was 10% not 1%.

Without errors there would be perfection and you and I Michael C would not be communicating on Michael P’s blog. There would be no us to communicate.

There the mystery of sin and evil has been solved.