Interview with Richard Abanes about Tolle, Part 4

July 17, 2008 Posted by Roger Overton

Hinduism teaches reincarnation. Does Tolle teach that as
well, or does he have some other view of the afterlife?

Tolle has said very little about reincarnation. Sometimes he sounds like he
does indeed embrace reincarnation. Other times he doesn't sound quite so
certain. His clearest statement on what happens to us after we die is less than
encouraging — i.e., he declared that he really has no belief about it at all.
When asked by Oprah, he simply responded: “I don't give it any
thought.” He went on to explain: “I know that the essence of who I
am, which is the essence of who you are, is indestructible. I know that
directly on a feeling level, and you can also know it even if you talk to a
physicist. He will tell you that energy never gets destroyed.”

In other words, he really doesn't know what is going to happen to people. The
best afterlife that Tolle can offer is either: (a) absorption into an
impersonal, universal energy force; or (b) transformation into some kind of
“form” that Tolle cannot even predict beyond just some sort of
absorption/transformation of their life essence into some kind of metaphysical
energy field that fills the cosmos. As he put it: “Transformed to-either
to join with the source, or to go through further experiences, experiences of
awakening” (I see this as one of those hints at possible reincarnation).

God, on the other hand, has promised an infinitely better destiny to those who
accept his gift of salvation made available through Jesus Christ, who said,
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he
who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). “Everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13), said Paul, who
also revealed that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Consequently, our responsibility as
Christians is to share truth with those still lost and dying in darkness (2
Cor. 4:3-6), in desperate need of hope and help: “Blessed is he whose help
is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Ps. 146:5).

We've looked a lot at how
Tolle's teachings differ from Christianity, but not all of his followers are
(or claim to be) Christians. How do you think we can best approach Tolle's
non-Christian followers with the gospel?

There are a few good
witnessing approaches to one can take when speaking to followers of
Tolle.

First, pointing out the
way Tolle often contradicts himself might be a good route to
traverse. For example, he claims:“Many ‘religious’ people . . . equate truth
with thought, and as they are completely identified with thought (their
mind), they claim to be in the sole possession of the truth in
an unconscious attempt to protect their identity.” At the same time,
however, it is none other than Tolle who has claimed, “There is only
one absolute Truth, and all other truths emanate from it. When you find
that Truth, your actions will be in alignment with it.” Isn’t Tolle
being “identified with thought”? Isn’t he just being “religious”? Isn’t he
merely trying to protect his identity? Asking such questions could open up a
doorway to discussing consistency of thought and belief — which is what we
have in Christ.

Second, discussing the nature of truth and
how we can know truth might also be a worthwhile tactic. To do so, one
must bring up Tolle's test for truth — in other words, how he knows what he
knows. His Truth, he maintains, can only be found by intuition, internal
knowing, and emotion, as the following quote shows:

Something from within—not
from our conditioned mind
but from the deeper level of unconditioned
consciousness—
responds immediately. Often all that is
needed to evoke this
response is to listen to one statement of
Truth and imme-
diately there’s a response. Because we all
carry the Truth
within us as our essence, we recognize it
immediately.

This is a tenuous position to take—i.e., that
truth can be validated by a subjective response (in other words, a
feeling). It is reminiscent of the “burning in the bosom” sensation cited
by Mormons as divine proof of the Book of Mormon (BOM).7 According to
Mormons, the sensation comes to those who, in faith, ask God to give them
the “burning” if the BOM is true. Once they receive this feeling, the
issue is settled. But can a feeling adequately measure truth? What if one
person’s feeling conflicts with another person’s feeling? Which is
true? So far, we already have at least two opposing feelings.
Devout Mormons would never accept Tolle’s teachings, while Tolle’s
devotees would say that Mormons do not have his Truth. After that, we have
Muslims, who often say that they, too, feel their faith is true. And what
about my own feelings that tell me Tolle’s views, Mormonism, and Islam are
all false, but Christianity is true

Clearly, feelings are not a very reliable
standard by which to measure truth. They are vulnerable to all sorts of
factors that might taint them: a confused state of mind, emotional
attachments, doctrinal preconditioning, adrenaline in the brain due to
over-stimulation, even lack of food and/or sleep. More important,
scripture nowhere describes feelings as a reliable truth detector. In
fact, the Bible tells us that the heart, the seat of emotion, is “deceitful
above all things” (Jer. 17:9). Nevertheless, Tolle confidently relies
on nothing but his feelings, going so far as to forcefully attack any reliance
on the mind or thinking in one’s search for truth. The doctrinal results
that spring from this kind of non-thinking are not only unbiblical,
but befuddling, illogical, and self-contradictory. This is very different
than the linear, logical, consistent approach Christianity offers to our basis
of faith, which is rooted in scripture.

Finally, the issue of absolute evil can be
raised. Tolle teaches that absolute evil does not really exist! It is all an
illusion — i.e., our minds have become so attached to the illusory forms we
see, that we only think the things we label as evil, truly are evil in an
absolute sense. A drive-by shooting on some inner-city street that takes
the life of an innocent child—not evil. The kidnapping and torture of
Americans in the Middle East—not evil. Sexual
abuse perpetrated by a pedophile—not evil. The Nazi Holocaust—not evil.
Our perceptions of these things as evil are just that—mere perceptions.
Most unbelievers would be very hard-pressed to accept that such things are not
truly evil. But we as Christians must help them see the such a flaw in Tolle's
teachings. If we can do that, then we have opened the door to discuss such
biblical issues as true good and true evil, sin and it's consequences, and
forgiveness, which raises the topics of Jesus and the cross.

Ultimately, however, only scripture and God’s
Spirit will open the spiritual eyes of someone like Tolle (and his
followers). For it is the Holy Spirit who really leads someone to
repentance (Luke 12:12; John 16:8; Acts 4:8–12; 7:51; 1 Thess. 1:5; 4:7–8),
telling them not to “harden” their hearts (Heb. 3:8). And we also have the
assurance that scripture is “living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). The
answer, therefore, is to pray and follow the Spirit’s lead in sharing
biblical truth.