Credit Where Credit Is Due Part Deux
Count Eckhart Tolle along with Tolstoy as an idea thief
I cannot stand hypocrisy. I cannot stand money-grubbing fake spiritualists.
Yesterday I called a couple of well-meaning writers to task for lauding Tolstoy for stealing Socrates' idea for his own. These quotes are from Socrates:
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
One thing I know, is that I know nothing. This is the source of my wisdom.
Tolstoy said:
We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.
I am willing to cut Tolstoy a break. I wrote:
Giving Tolstoy benefit of the doubt that he did not read Plato and intentionally plagiarize Socrates (in Socrates’ time I understand that knowledge was transmitted orally and that we know of Socrates’ wisdom from Plato’s writings) and mistook his archetypal knowledge (see Rebecca Romanelli’s masterpiece on the topic) for his own original thought.
Tolle gets no such latitude from me when the book with the original thought was first published in 1939. I just read David Gerken’s well-meaning piece:
That is not an original thought of Mr. Tolle’s. Three weeks ago I wrote:
Acceptance and the perspective of life is short
The perspective of the shortness of a lifecycle, when compared to the reality of the eternal life of a soul, provides much comfort. It makes acceptance so much of an easier attitude in which to live.
Those who have paid close attention to the topics I cover know that I believe that 12-step programs leave much to be desired and have much space in which to improve and adapt. Yet, I give credit where earned, and this snippet from page 417 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous profoundly and positively impacted my life:
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation — some fact of my life — unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in [the universe] by mistake. …unless I accept life on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.
Those 109 words contain a lifetime’s worth of wisdom and lessons. They perfectly explain the oft-misunderstood meaning of the Serenity Prayer. If you desire to change the world, great, I sure do. Acceptance does not mean turn the other cheek regarding either a person or the world. It means, in this respect, do not let the situation eat you up inside.
“Life on life’s terms” — the real meaning of “it is what it is”
This is yet another lesson packed into the 109 words. I have often in a conversation responded, “it is what it is.” Many people wince at this. Some believe it too much a cliche that should be removed from our lexicon. The way most people use it should be retired. 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊. wrote brilliantly about this in,
in which Diana also discerns the meaning of the phrase as imparted by the 109 words.
More often than not it is used in a completely meaningless way, coming from a place of “I can’t genuinely accept the situation but I am just going to say these words as if I can”, which is…highly hypocritical. But you don’t actually feel it. You don’t believe it. And, more importantly, you don’t understand what that kind of acceptance implies. That authentic, compassionate, peaceful “it is what it is” is RARE.
I have discerned another, related meaning to the phrase. I live life on life’s terms, play the cards I am dealt, and I do not bitch anymore in the delusion of life not being fair. Life just is what it is.
This is why I do not read books about spirituality. I never even heard of Mr. Tolle until a few months ago. I never heard of Ram Das until a few weeks ago. I have never watched a video of Tolle nor any other self-proclaimed guru. I know that all the answers I need are known to me.
I hope AA sues the shit out of Tolle and his publishers. Then it can afford to fund the campaign to destigmatize substance abuse.
In Rama I create,
Marcus (from the Latin word for hammer)
