My Guru

Very rarely do I encounter things that change the way that I view myself, my relationship with those around me, or my function as a human being in the drama of life. However, when one finds such things, I believe it is in everyone's best interest to share the wealth, as it were.

Now my love for Oprah Winfrey is no secret. I love that woman, and I want to be like her. I want sit in front of a television camera everyday for an hour and have soccer moms swoon over my every word. I want to have a Gayle to do my bidding, and a moderately less wealthy boyfriend that is comfortable living everyday in my enormous shadow.

Now, I very rarely watch the Oprah show. I have other things going on at 3 in the afternoon, like getting liquored up and riding around on the bus. However, I do have this knack for having to know exactly what is upsetting right wing Christians at any given moment. When I hear that Spongebob is gay, or that new Disney movie is destroying America with its leftist agenda, I simply must know more. I must see the movie, or read the book, or whatever it is. I get my summer reading list from whatever material Focus on the Family is boycotting that month. This is how I encountered Eckhart Tolle.

I was cruising youtube one afternoon a few months ago when I came across a video for "The Church of Oprah, EXPOSED!!" Um, hello. I simply could not resist. The video dove into a slue of righteous indignation over Oprah's new book club selection, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, and the imminent threat these ideas posed to the world. It was linked to other videos that went into more detail about how Oprah had left her Christian roots and been swayed by other teachings and gods, and how this was fucking everything up. Essentially, they label the book "New Age," which I am pretty sure is code for "we haven't read the book."

So, of course, I had to read the book. And it honestly changed my life. Like I said, it changed the way that I viewed myself and my relationship to those around me. The basic premise of the book is that there can be an evolution of consciousness on the planet as consciousness becomes aware of itself. As you realize that you are the conscious presence behind the thoughts and emotions that you are having rather than being completely identified with them, you can experience a freedom that is not possible otherwise. Most people live their lives completely lost in the head, completely consumed by the thoughts and emotions that are going on inside their bodies. Acting and then reacting in a vicious cycle, not realizing the absolute insanity all of it is.

It has been an interesting turn of events. It was back in May that I read the book and was introduced to the idea of "remaining present." It is the practice of bringing your attention continuously to the present moment and quieting the mind from the background static that so often clouds out the uniqueness and beauty of the present. It is a great place to be, and something that gets more and more natural over time.

It is also not a new idea. My new roommate, Rachel, runs a mediation group here in Seattle called Dharma Punx. It is not associated with any particular religion, but gets a lot of its inspiration from Buddhism. I have been to the group a couple of times since being here, and it has been astounding to me how much of what I was exposed to in Eckhart Tolle's books have been around for 2500 years. Be aware of your breath, scan your body with you attention, surrender to what is and stop resisting that which you have no power to change. Be with yourself. Be still.

Immediately I am struck with how odd it is that I had never heard any of this before now. I am 25 years old, have a college education, and I have never learned just to be. The peace that can open up in your life if you will just surrender to what is astounding. I have never realized how much of the teachings of Christ, which I literally have memorized, align with the teachings of the Buddha on how we as human beings should live. What our relationship is to each other and what our relationship is to the source of life, God...for lack of a better term. But you don't learn any of that in church.

So, I can honestly say that I am so pleased that this book and I crossed paths. Generally, when the Christians are upset about something, I look on with intrigue and usually just end up shaking my head and saying something like, "Oh, Christians." But this time it was different.

I realize that this book is threatening to them because it is something they cannot control. It challenges their monopoly on the divine, and gives power back to people that have been disillusioned by the whole concept of a personified God, with his anger, radical opinions, and preferences. It brings to life the teachings of Jesus, and I suppose this also offends most Christians. They have long determined what Jesus meant about things and nothing new can be presented without labeling it as blasphemous. And, like with most things that get religious people in a twist, I assume that most of them have not read the book. I know most of them have not read the Bible.

So I give my triple stamp of approval to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey for bringing this teaching to the soccer moms and the religiously disenfranchised of the world. Pick yourself up a copy, it might change your life. But, in the words of Levar Burton, from the hit show Reading Rainbow, "you don't have to take my word for it."