9 Aha! Moments that blow Oprah off the Screen
Bonus slide: Why we like to pick on Oprah
We don’t, really. At least, not in the style of right-wing talking heads like the the other big "O" with a talk-show (left, Bill O'Reilly). We’re keenly aware that Oprah has paid lip service to figures we’ve posted in our series, particularly Eckhart Tolle.
But even when Oprah does so we forgive ourselves for thinking that she speaks with a forked tongue. Tolle’s whole being is about not measuring yourself by “goals” that crop up in the mind’s highly-conditioned grocery list of wants, about not being a hostage to a mind-made story about yourself, and not ransoming your sense of self to what you imagine others might think.
What’s Oprah’s bread and butter? HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD: 25 things never to wear is the roof-line at the top of her January, 2008 issue. Oprah reinforces, and panders to, self-image, the ego’s story and weekend, yuppie spirituality. In that sense, Oprah represents the antithesis of the new female mystics we’ve highlighted on Soul's Code. We’ve already noted the contrast between Oprah and Byron Katie, a fearless seer and public speaker. But don’t take our word for it.
Take Katie's. A case study: Oprah’s gotten a lot of mileage for helping the get-rich-quick masterpiece of magical thinking, The Secret, cross the chasm from New Age chat-room phenom to mainstream blockbuster. When a fan asked Byron Katie about The Secret on her site, here was the response contrasting how diametrically opposed Katie's Work is to the stuff Oprah puts on her show:
The Secret: “You can have whatever you want.”
The Work: “You can want whatever you have.”
The Secret: “My will be done. I know what’s best for me.”
The Work: “Thy will be done (=Thy will is done). What’s best for me is what actually happens.” (In A Thousand Names for Joy, Katie says, “God’s will and your will are the same, whether you notice it or not.”)
The Secret: “You can control your thoughts.”
The Work: “You are not the thinker. It’s not possible to suppress your stressful thoughts. But when you question them, they let go of you.”
The Secret: “You can manifest your positive thoughts as reality.”
The Work: “Reality, already, is the best thing that could be manifested. When you realize this, you’re home free.”
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- AHA MOMENTS, EPIPHANIES and PEAK EXPERIENCES: The trick to having one is letting your soul’s code have its way
- OPRAH WATCH: Her May issue says, “Have Your Own AHA Moment!”
- A priest and psychotherapist shares an Aha! Moment that took a lifetime
- How Oprah fixed my mom
- Why Byron Katie kicks Oprah’s ass
Not knowing is an aha moment, too. I am not sure about Katie. She calls what she does The Work. That descriptive phrase belongs to Gurdjieff if you ask me. He shoulda trademarked it. Life is only real when I am, he said,and I am paraphrasing him a tad.
Let’s face it. People begin as genuinely as they can and if they stay at it long enough, they become genuine fakes, a la Alan Watts. I watch O for the entertainment value. True inner work is not done by buying a bestseller, a pack of Postit notes and a highlighter (that according to a wisecracking friend of mine). Or by watching YouTubes of the masters. Oy.