Chora ludzkość — diagnoza i terapia (propozycja Eckharta Tollego)
Ill humanity — diagnosis and therapy (Eckhart Tolle’s proposal)

Author(s): Anna Gomóła
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: Eckhart Tolle is currently one of the most popular spiritual author and teacher. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages while his lectures are available online and on DVD. Tolle is referred to as ‘a soul therapist, a propagator of spiritual awakening’, ‘spiritual guide’ and, most frequently ‘spiritual teacher’. It is this form of activities that his reflections on the human condition are subordinate to. What he seeks to explain is the cause of human suffering and how to remedy it. Tolle’s thought is a syncretic one, i.e. the author refers to a variety of philosophical and religious traditions where he searches for leading ideas (or those that he believes to be the most important in a particular message). As regards both human condition and the whole of humanity, Tolle is interested in what is called the mind. The author refers in this respect mainly to Eastern spiritual traditions and argues that the cause of human suffering lies in the mind, the importunate noise of which prevents one from finding inner peace and stillness. Human problems are caused by both the ego, i.e. the illusory sense of self, i.e. a false ‘I’ constructed on the basis of living conditions, and the pain‑body, or ‘a negative energy field’, which is a kind of separate, invisible entity, “the dark shadow cast by the ego”. Liberation from suffering is possible only by becoming aware of both false ego structures (and thus liberation from one’s identifying with them), and emotional detachment from the pain body’s claims.

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