Tolle begins his journey by imagining the earth suddenly blossoming with flowers, whose scent permeates the whole planet. He believes that this happened 114 million years ago and then writes about how flowers were among the first things that fascinated human beings.
Whoa, Nelly! He’s just jumped 111 million years according to evolutionary models. The colors of flowers and their fragrances, which Tolle insists are messengers and messages from another realm, whose existence enables us to get in touch with our inner beauty, actually evolved those same colors and fragrances to attract billions of insects in order to be pollenated. He’s imprinting his own philosophy upon the existence of flowers as having ethereal beauty instead of pragmatic reproduction cycles.
With Oprah’s backing, Tolle’s readers are mainly women, who are attracted to flowers, so he is reaching into their pre-conditioned mind set in order to make a connection with their souls. He’s very clever and should not be underestimated for his ability to charm and philosophically seduce his readers. But his reasoning for the existence of flowers as a means of giving humankind their spiritual purpose just won’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. Flowers existed for a hundred million years before humankind appeared on the scene. He’s trying to make the process of evolution fit his beliefs. In Tolle’s words, he’s forcing his own ego over the evolutionary process.
Tolle then tries to inolve Christ in his philosophy. He suggests that Jesus knew of this spiritual fascination with flowers, and of how they nurtured the soul towards an awareness of the inner self. However, Tolle is suggesting that Christ’s great “Consider the Lilies” lesson re-affirms his new Earth philosophy. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If Tolle would fully read the text, instead of half-remembering it, he would soon realize that Jesus is not referring to an inner awareness of the self, but to our outer dependence upon God. The text is about a recognition that God providentially supplies our needs through His grace, mercy, and love. It’s not about us or our inner soul – it’s all about God and His blessings.
Matthew 6:28-32 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Tolle will do this throughout his book – twisting Christ’s words to suit his own ideas. And he will call Jesus a great teacher, but never the Son of God. This is what makes his book heretical. Heresy always looks attractive and superficially seems to follow the word of God. But a careful look at the original sacred texts will soon make Tolle’s readers aware that he is presenting half-truths and leading them away from Christ.
The main questions that readers of this book should keep asking themselves are these: does Tolle fully quote scripture, and if not, why not?
