A New Earth Part 2

Sadly, I agree with Mr. Tolle’s assessment of religion. People have used religion to further suffering. Instead of promoting peace, much of the Christian religion has promoted war. War has created untold suffering. All of this is done in the name of Christ. Lately, many other religious people have contributed to the suffering of the world. All of these heinous acts have been done in the name of their deity. For Mr. Tolle, the answer is not more religion but more spirituality.

To be spiritual is not the same as being religious. The new spirituality is a transformation of consciousness. It is a new thought system that frees one from the ego. What Mr. Tolle calls for is a flowering of consciousness that creates a kind of cumulative effect on the world. So the new earth is but the outward manifestation of a new consciousness, a new way of being in the world.

I agree with Mr. Tolle, the world needs change. Dr. Martin Luther King said, our choices are not between nonviolence and violence, but between nonviolence and nonexistence. In this sense, Dr. King was calling for a transformation of consciousness when it came to race. Could this country be in for a sea change of transformation if an African-American is elected president? Not only do we need a new spirituality outside of the mainstream churches. We also need a new mindset within mainstream churches. For too long, we have made an emphasis on right doctrine as the common denominator of mainstream religion. Maybe what we need know are new spiritual practices.

Maybe we should define our faith by how we practice the ethic of love that Jesus preached. Maybe we should define ourselves as people of faith by how we treat each other. The title of the book comes from the prophecy in Revelation that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. While I do not share Mr. Tolle’s esoteric interpretation, I do hear his call for change. If we love people as Jesus taught, will we be able to create “heaven on earth?” What do you think?