A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (2005)

In short: traditional Catholic spirituality rewritten in the current vocabulary. The evidence?
Eckhart Tolle (pg.225): (1) non-resistance (2) non-judgment, (3) non-attachment
Ignatian Banners of Christ (in the Spiritual Exercises) (1) vulnerability (2) humility (3) poverty
Or take Eckart’s sense of Presence and the Now. Here’s a quote from “The Sacrament of the Present Moment” by Jean Pierre Caussade, a humble eighteenth century priest
“ And so we leave God to act in everything, reserving for ourselves only love and obedience to the present moment. For this is our eternal duty. This compelling love, steeped in silence, is required of every soul…Pure, simple and sure, it is a straight path along which souls walk with courage and faith, looking neither to the right nor to the left, unconcerned with everything else. “
Or page 78 in “A New Earth” “This is why we call it Presence. The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into this world.” Isn’t this a rephrasing of what it means to be in Christ? To be alive with the Holy Spirit in Christ? There are many such examples.He has rewritten (in a secular language of sorts) the thinking of such classic Catholics as Teilhard de Chardin (on the world wide evolution of the spirit), St. Therese of Lisieux (on the “Little Way” or “Just for Today”) and Brother Lawrence ( living in the ordinary daily task and present moment.)
What is strange is Eckhart’s explicit anti-Catholicism. On page 70, for example, he draws a parallel between the Catholic Church, in the first paragraph, and Pol Pot, in the second. I didn’t uncover any of his own opinions which seemed at odds with Catholic tradition, although there is much that is missing – and vital - a concern with social justice being chief here, or a respect for the discipline of communal life.
I would say that the Catholic antidote to the ego is living in a web of relationships which we call community, where we learn to respond to God’s love in the present moment. Eckhart Tolle’s antidote to ego seems to be rather more solitary and less loving.

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With his bestselling spiritual guide "The Power of Now," Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived in the now. In "A New Earth," Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence. "The Power of Now" was a question-and-answer handbook. "A New Earth" has been written as a traditional narrative, offering anecdotes and philosophies in a way that is accessible to all. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, "A New Earth" is a profoundly spiritual manifesto for a better way of life?and for building a better world.

In this volume the author expands on the powerful ideas presented in "The Power of Now" to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence.

Garbage. Couldn't get past the 1st 2 or 3 chapters. Repeats the same nothing.

While there are a few inspirational bits to it, for the most part, it completely missed the mark for me. ( )