Oprah’s A New Earth

Posted on March 27, 2008
Filed Under Spirituality | Leave a Comment

Oprah’s A New Earth – For the last 4 weeks Oprah Winfrey has been sponsoring an internet broadcast featuring her latest book club selection, “A New Earth – Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle.Did I watch it? Well I haven’t been able to catch the live broadcast on Monday evenings but I have watched the archived broadcasts or listened to the soundtracks.A lot of the conversation centers upon the ego. Here is a definition from Wikipedia:“Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the ‘psychic apparatus’ defined in Freud’s structural model of the psyche; they are the three ‘structures’ in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described.The actual terms ‘id’, ‘ego’ and ‘super-ego’ are not Freud’s own, but are latinisations originating from his translator James Strachey. Freud himself wrote of ‘das Es’, ‘das Ich’, and ‘das Über-Ich’ — respectively, ‘the It’, ‘the I’, and the ‘Over-I’ (or ‘Upper-I’).

The concepts themselves arose at a late stage in the development of Freud’s thought: the ‘structural model’ was first discussed in his 1920 essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” and was formalized and elaborated upon three years later in his “The Ego and the Id”. While much of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis has fallen out of favor in the scientific and medical communities, the id-ego-superego construct gained such notoriety in Freud’s lifetime that it remains to this day a common way for laypersons to consider or “understand” the human subconscious”.

One of the primary points being continually emphasized on the program is that we are more than our ego. It is apparent that Eckhart is heavily influenced by Zen thought. He would hesitate to call it belief because belief is a function of the ego. Are you confused yet?

I noticed that Oprah will interject her clarifications on a regular basis in an effort to keep the audience from being left behind. Eckhart is obviously a deep thinker but I think he would be the first to admit that God can not be found only through thought – even if it is deep. By the way, Eckhart would not refer to God as God but he would use the term consciousness or possibly presence. For the record, Oprah and I both identify ourselves as Christians but our practice of spirituality seems to be very different. I think we both would say that we are not religious – neither was Jesus.

I like this reference from “The Message” about the ego:

Galatians 2:19-21 (The Message)

19-21What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Till next time, Jim

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks

Comments

Leave a Reply




Site Build It!
Subscribe in a reader