This is quite a funny discussion between Tom and Camarda (Adam?). I think a lot of it boils down to your different styles of thinking about and explaining ideas. I tend to agree with Tom that the tone of the book is wishy-washy, arrogant and pretentious, that Tolle takes things a little far and that some of what he says might not even make sense. I tend to agree with Adam that it's a
very worthwhile book to read and is probably a lot more coherent than it seems at first glance.
Tolle is not saying thinking is bad full stop. I have the book here so I'll try to explain it better. In Chapter 1: You are not your mind, he says the following.
Quote:
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The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly [...] It is there to be used for a specific task and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful.
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Then, in the same chapter he talks about trusting feelings rather than thoughts. He is not saying everyone's feelings are always absolutely correct. It's just that if you want to know the state of your own mind, and if there is a conflict between how you think you feel and how your body tells you it's feeling, then you should trust your body rather than what your mind seems to be thinking. Often we are not conscious of all of our thoughts: we can feel nervous while thinking we are not worried for example, but the feeling reflects something that is going on in your head even if you aren't aware of the thoughts.
In Chapter 3: Moving deeply into the present, he defines "clock time" as time used in a practical way with a focus on the task at hand, and "psychological time" as "identification with your past and continuous compulsive projection into the future". Clock time is essential for everyone, whereas psychological time is always harmful. Clock time includes thinking about logical patterns, science and planning events as well as learning from the past, as long as the focus is on the present moment. This last bit is not totally clear to me tbh but he gives some examples:
Quote:
If you made a mistake in the past and learn from it now, you are using clock time. On the other hand, if you dwell on it mentally and self-criticism, remorse or guilt come up, then you are making the mistake into 'me' and 'mine': you make it part of your sense of self, and it has become psychological time, which is always linked to a false sense of identity. Nonforgiveness necessarily implies a heavy burden of psychological time.
If you set yourself a goal and work towards it, you are using clock time. You are aware of where you want to go but you honour and give your fullest attention to the step that you are taking at this moment. If you then become excessively focussed on the goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfillment, or a more complete sense of self in it, the Now is no longer honoured. It becomes reduced to a mere stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value. Clock time then turns into psychological time. Your life's journey is no longer an adventure, just an obsessive need to arrive, to attain to 'make it'.
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That turned into a longer quote than I intended but I'm a sucker for good writing! Anyway these ideas of Tolle's seem ironically very thought-provoking.