The Creation of Now has been revamped with a new design and layout. This is more than just a facelift; I’ve also sharpened the site’s messaging. Essentially, I believe bestselling author Eckhart Tolle—the most popular independent spiritual teacher in the world—owes an unacknowledged debt to earlier modern writers. My detailed comparative analyses of Tolle’s work with that of Maurice Nicoll and Barry Long, among others, convinced me that he drew upon their work without properly …
The work of bestselling spiritual author Eckhart Tolle shares a surprising number of similarities with prior writers, my research has revealed. With hundreds of uncanny correspondences uncovered, the question must be asked: can they all be a coincidence? Find out why I think that’s unlikely, and believe that Tolle has unacknowledged debts.
15 years before he was plucked from obscurity by US talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, the German-born Eckhart Tolle was a nondescript figure attending Barry Long’s spiritual talks in Highgate, London. Did Eckhart Tolle, now a bestselling self-help author and popular spiritual teacher, plagiarise his former teacher Barry Long? Compare their words side-by-side and decide. This article is perhaps the most extensive comparative analysis of their work ever published.
In his bestsellers, Eckhart Tolle tells us we have a “pain-body” carrying our “living past”—a concept closely resembling ideas in Maurice Nicoll’s earlier writing. View side-by-side comparisons of more than 40 similar statements they’ve made.
Eckhart Tolle writes that negative states are contagious, toxic, cause illness and misery, yet we take pleasure in them like a drug—echoing what Maurice Nicoll wrote decades earlier.
Eckhart Tolle closely corresponds with Maurice Nicoll in describing how self-observation gives us a conscious “power of choice” over how we react to people and events. By becoming responsible for our inner states, whatever happens in life, we can attain “inner freedom” and inner peace, they similarly explain. View side-by-side comparisons of their words.
Eckhart Tolle mirrors Maurice Nicoll in making “the light of consciousness” integral to the practice of self-observation and inner spiritual change. Self-observation brings our dark, unconscious aspects into the light of consciousness, they say, making inner transformation possible.
The way Eckhart Tolle teaches self-observation, an inner practice for self-change, has much in common with Maurice Nicoll’s earlier writing on the subject. Similar extracts are compared side-by-side in this article, showing a close correspondence between these authors.
Before Eckhart Tolle popularised the “Power of Now,” other Western authors wrote about the present moment. This articles features some comparisons with some of his precursors, which show clear similarities. Passages are presented side-by-side, so they can easily be compared.
This site has been renamed “Creation of Now” to better reflect its subject matter. This was a phrase Fourth Way teacher Maurice Nicoll used for being conscious in the present moment—a major theme I explore here.
Eckhart Tolle bears a striking similarity to Maurice Nicoll in describing a law of opposites affecting all life and our inner states—and how to reach a state of consciousness with “no opposite.” A detailed comparison of their remarkable similarities on this theme.
What do we mean when we say “I”? Authors Maurice Nicoll and Eckhart Tolle describe three distinct aspects that shape our core sense of identity—and the answer. I explore how they closely correspond on these concepts yet differ markedly on other self-knowledge matters.
Self-observation allows us to take responsibility for our inner state, whatever life’s external conditions, Maurice Nicoll and Eckhart Tolle convey. We can see and transform inner reactions as they happen, they suggest, and gain “inner freedom.” I examine their many similarities in describing how this practice shifts our inner approach to life.
All pictorial comparisons of similar author quotes, displayed in my various articles, have been brought together in a slideshow gallery. Most compare the words of Maurice Nicoll and Eckhart Tolle; some also feature Barry Long. Viewed as a collection, they illustrate many thematic and descriptive commonalities.
Maurice Nicoll vividly described how self-observation casts “the light of consciousness” inwards—illuminating “the darkness of unconsciousness” and transforming it. In doing, he fused Jungian ideas with Fourth Way methodology. I explore how Eckhart Tolle echos Nicoll on this theme, both descriptively and conceptually.
Self-observation is integral to inner-transformation, Maurice Nicoll and Eckhart Tolle affirm. We must impartially observe the unconscious stream of thoughts, emotions and reactions occurring in us, they say, and cease identifying with our inner states. This is a close look at the similar ways they explain this practice.
Bestselling author Eckhart Tolle is ranked among the world’s most spiritually influential living people. Self-observation is central to his self-help message. Yet the way he conveys this present-moment practice owes much, I argue, to the earlier work of Maurice Nicoll, a Jungian psychiatrist turned Fourth Way teacher. This is an introduction to a series of articles examining their many similarities on the subject.
Eckhart Tolle’s signature “pain-body” concept closely resembles ideas taught earlier by Maurice Nicoll and Australian mystic Barry Long.
Author Gary Lachman is to release a new biographical book on Fourth Way teacher Maurice Nicoll, whose work I’ve been discussing here at my blog. This is welcome news. Lachman is one of today’s foremost writers on the history of western esotericism/mysticism and its influence upon, and relevance to, our culture and consciousness.
Mindfulness or present-moment awareness is popular today. Many modern sources emphasise having awareness in life’s everyday activities, not just meditation sessions. This trend owes something to the early 20th century Fourth Way tradition, I argue, which advocated pursuing spiritual development in ordinary life—by consciously observing and changing one’s unconscious reactions in the moment.