Anthony Robbins is OK if you take his book/videos as a kind of pep-talk, but Eckhard Tolle? I suffered through the deeply neo-religious, anti-rationalist The Power of Now. I would not recommend that to anybody.
Actually both authors have in common that their practical advice is much better than their skill at theorizing.
Actually, most self-help authors have this in common—it’s just that some are also bad at the practical advice.
Contrary to sometimes-popular belief, a correct theory is not a prerequisite for having useful advice.
Well said; it’s a very good point when thinking about, say, Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey, David Allen or Dale Carnegie and a couple of others. They are interesting enough to overcome the ‘cringe-factor’ of their semi-scientific theorizing.
But Eckhard Tolle goes way beyond that, coming up with his own metaphysics and ontological meanderings… That’s just too much for me.
David Allen, as in “Getting Things Done”? I find it odd that you would put him in that category: his book is a concrete organizational system he’s developed from working with many clients.
Well, David Allen’s system is a bit different in the sense that it is much more concrete and comes with less how-the-mind-works baggage (though still a bit), but you are right, ‘semi-scientific theorizing’ is a bit too strong a term for that…
Anyway, regardless of theorizing, I have found GTD concepts very useful in daily life / work.
But Eckhard Tolle goes way beyond that, coming up with his own metaphysics and ontological meanderings...
Actually, I didn’t notice that there was anything Tolle said that wasn’t already in some interpretations of various Eastern religions; he just occasionally gave clearer, more modern examples of the patterns people get into.
Actually both authors have in common that their practical advice is much better than their skill at theorizing.
Actually, most self-help authors have this in common—it’s just that some are also bad at the practical advice.
Contrary to sometimes-popular belief, a correct theory is not a prerequisite for having useful advice.
Well said; it’s a very good point when thinking about, say, Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey, David Allen or Dale Carnegie and a couple of others. They are interesting enough to overcome the ‘cringe-factor’ of their semi-scientific theorizing.
But Eckhard Tolle goes way beyond that, coming up with his own metaphysics and ontological meanderings… That’s just too much for me.
David Allen, as in “Getting Things Done”? I find it odd that you would put him in that category: his book is a concrete organizational system he’s developed from working with many clients.
Well, David Allen’s system is a bit different in the sense that it is much more concrete and comes with less how-the-mind-works baggage (though still a bit), but you are right, ‘semi-scientific theorizing’ is a bit too strong a term for that…
Anyway, regardless of theorizing, I have found GTD concepts very useful in daily life / work.
Actually, I didn’t notice that there was anything Tolle said that wasn’t already in some interpretations of various Eastern religions; he just occasionally gave clearer, more modern examples of the patterns people get into.