free online coarse - Ken Wilber, Byron Katie, Bill Harris, Genpo Roshi

[wolfgang]

Wonder if Tolle knows he causing spin offs and people are using his name to promote. Although this is free.

FREE Online Course Offer :: Mastering Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now

[SunnKali]

Wolfgang - Thanks for the info. This might be interesting and free is good He did something similar with The Masters of The Secret a year or so ago.

[Anand Dhillon]

I'll definitely look into this.

Thanks!

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by wolfgang

Wonder if Tolle knows he causing spin offs and people are using his name to promote. Although this is free.

There is nothing wrong with riffing on a trend or fad. Gets people to look. Their material is all original commentary and teaching so nothing illegal is happening. I'm sure Eckhart applauds it.

I listened to the first installment from Genpo Roshi, the western zen master. I don't think he's so compelling that I'd hand him $50K for an intensive several day long session with him and four other students (that is actually one of the things he offers on his web site) but I do like his talk of balance between being "in the now" and functioning effectively in the real world and ways of smoothly moving between and combining these states. He seems to be one of the few people to admit that states of bliss are all well and good but don't exactly mow the grass or pay the bills.

All the talk of having conversations with parts of your self (the controller, the ego, the narcissist, etc) seemed a little odd until I realize that we all have these inner dialogs anyway. Might as well own them.

--Bob

[dali]

I have been doing the course since it started and have enjoyed it very much. However I dont think Ken has fully appreciated what Tolle is saying and something in me worries that the whole Buisness side of the Spiritual world is worrying that Oprah and Tolle are giving it all away for free. There are a lot of teachers out there who charge a fortune for the stuff Tolle writes about and something in the way Ken presents his on line class makes me feel that they are a wee bit worried. Anyway I dont think Spirituality should be available only to the wealthy and I applaud what Oprah and Tolle have done.Can you imagine Jesus, Buddha or Confucius running around charging people for FREEDOM and only letting them in if they were of a certain income bracket.Oh of course the wealthy have successfully manifested the right of entry. I keep forgetting that and the poor have no faith, well not enough to get into eg weekend courses in New York. they have not as yet successfully manifested the money so they will have to wait until they do.Its interesting listening to these guys though. Byron Katie next week, She is quite a remarkable woman. I might of course be missing the point about the money side of it all but I would like to see it available for people who cannot afford the rates they all seem to charge for participation in something that they all got for free in the first place.What do you think?

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by dali

I might of course be missing the point about the money side of it all but I would like to see it available for people who cannot afford the rates they all seem to charge for participation in something that they all got for free in the first place.What do you think?

My first impulse about Genpo's "fifty thousand dollar special" was that a red flag was waving somewhere but in fairness to him he does accept whatever you can afford for most of what he has on offer. Catering to the independently wealthy with boutique services is meant to help finance things for the less fortunate. I won't judge the man just because he vacuums in a quarter of a million dollars on one intensive. It's all in how he handles it, what kind of lifestyle he leads, what kind of integrity he has. All of which at this point I know nothing about. But if he has the bad taste to drive a Corvette or live in a mansion then I would have some concern about that.

Is Ken running scared? I wouldn't pretend to know. I didn't really get that. Besides, Eckhart isn't giving anything away. He has two runaway best sellers. He charges for most of his videos and audios. He has probably gained more in increased book and DVD sales from his exposure on Oprah than he "lost" on doing the "free" webinar.

I think Ekhart is really doing Ken and others a favor. He's generating millions of interested people, and Ekhart doesn't really even have the organization to absorb them all. There's plenty for everyone. And I would like to think that most of these gurus don't think of it as a zero sum game.

Is there a lack of concern / love / burden for the sick, poor and downtrodden?
I have always felt many new age teachings, particularly LOA, have a mean streak like that to them. It's a fine line. I think people's suffering shouldn't be dishonored / dismissed / discounted even when it's self-inflicted. I think equanimity should not suck the compassion out of us. I also think that teachings derived from Buddism have a built-in disincentive for people way down the hierarchy of needs with very little time or capacity for contemplation. However, none of these concerns has anything to do with the popular wave created by Eckhart.

Well I don't see televangelist-style exhibitionists strutting around exhorting the faithful for their offerings at least. I'm more concerned about the challenge this presents to these teachers to remain present and free of attachment. All this attention and popularity could put them off their game. I'm also concerned about the hucksters and wannabees that will probably start sticking to the whole thing like barnacles if it gains much more popularity. But these are, on the other hand, normal growing pains.

--Bob

[dali]

Fab.

[Rhythman]

$50k for four days! I am in the wrong business.....haha

I enjoy listening to various spiritual teachers. This is a good format to do just that.

Thanks for posting the link.

Rhythman

[dali]

I listened to Byron Katie last night. I think her Work has got to be the most amazing thing I have ever come accross. Its so simple. Now I am going to aim at doing the nine day school at some point. How to get the money for it?That is the question. Any good, easy to follow tips on manifesting for it anyone?

[liverpool footballer]

This course is quite interesting, but after genpo roshi and ken wilber, it began to become quite repetitive so i suggest people download the transcripts and flip through them to see if its just repetition of the same things and promotion of the other teachers.

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by liverpool footballer

This course is quite interesting, but after genpo roshi and ken wilber, it began to become quite repetitive so i suggest people download the transcripts and flip through them to see if its just repetition of the same things and promotion of the other teachers.

I am indebted to none other than Bill Gates here, who, so far as I know, invented a term that happens to describe most podcasts very well: "low bandwidth". If you really throw out all the fluff and excise the take-away points you haven't heard before, it's not uncommon to spend 60 minutes listening to a podcast in which all the insight occupies maybe 45 seconds. That's why they are good for treadmill work at the health club or long car trips, and not the medium of choice for 99% of all other situations.

When it comes to published material you have to remember that it's often heavily padded to fit the format. Buyers feel cheated if they get 5 minutes when they expect 60, and they expect to get a certain number of pages when they spend $20 on a book.

--Bob