Though you make an interesting point and illustrate a danger in listening to "new world gurus", I disagree with the premise on which this was written.
Tolle has acknowledged the sources that allowed him to put into words what he calls his transformation. Some of these include the Tao Te Ching, the Bible, Sufi proverbs, Zen Buddhist concepts and various spiritual teachers popular throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s.
It might seem easy to imitate a spiritual guru. "Just sit there and charge people $100 to do nothing and listen to me peacefully drone for three hours." Of course, "living the life" (and dealing with the pain body) is not as easy. From what I have seen, he has demonstrated the truth of his own ideas.
Remember that he used to be an academic who would have likely jumped into the realm of language and literature, fields Tolle likes to refer to as "mind dominated" positions trapped within the stifling world of the "academic". Academics have done many great things in this world, but they're often accused, and rightfully so, of resting their laurels in "ivory towers". Why is Tolle different, and why should you listen to him?
Because he's not an ivory tower theorist. Would you rather see his ideas die with him and his flower power generation? Would the world be better without gurus to tell us what we've all forgotten? Maybe you'd like to see more money in the hands of corrupt bankers, power-hungry politicians and world leaders or inflammatory Hitler-esque dictators. Maybe the world would be a better place without some guru charging money to thrive in a mind-and-money dominated world while others take advantage of the people in more insidious manners. Maybe he should GTFO and let us return to our corporate cubicles, the sheep we are, the better to be herded.
Some ideas need the backing of thousands of years of repetition, like democracy, which died with the Greeks for a "couple" centuries, and sexual liberation, which arose independently in less mind-dominated cultures at least dozens of times before being eradicated by the spread of organized religion. The Power of Now has within it one of those ideas. Ideas are perspectives, one of an infinite number of perspectives that all point beyond the idea. To what? To something real.
I say let him talk. I say let him rearrange the contents of his books and sell more stuff, so that more people can learn. Learn what it means to be free.
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