“A New Earth” + “Purpose Driven Life” Synthesis: How to Live a Life on Purpose with Eckhart Tolle & Rick Warren

At first glance, you may be surprised to see the names Eckhart Tolle and Rick Warren in the same sentence. Your surprise may turn to sheer shock when I propose to you that 80-90% of their messages are the same. How could that be? After all, isn't Eckhart Tolle a New Age spiritual teacher? And, isn't Rick Warren the pastor of an evangelical Christian megachurch? Surely that must mean they are on completely different ends of the spiritual/religious spectrum. However, after reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle and The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren back-to-back (and taking 10,000+ words of notes from each book), I noticed way more similarities than I did differences. After some quick searching, I was unable to find any content that compared these two life purpose powerhouses. Both authors have sold millions of books—if you search Amazon for "life purpose," you'll see that these two books each have thousands of ratings and reviews. The only other book up there with them is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Please keep in mind, the insights and synthesis provided in this post are from my own personal interpretation of the books and messages. Your takeaways may be different than mine. If they are, I'd very much enjoy a constructive conversation in the comments!   Premium Post Contents: Background:

• About Eckhart Tolle
• About Rick Warren
• The Purpose of the Books
• Eckhart Tolle Definitions & Synonyms

3 Noteworthy Ways the Authors Differ:

1. Spirituality vs Religion
2. God is Love vs God is the One Life
3. Starting with Yourself vs Starting with God

55 Ways the Authors Are Similar:

1. Source = God
2. Higher Order/Master Plan
3. Universal Intelligence
4. Universal Purpose
5. Eternity
6. Interconnectedness
7. Impermanence
8. Heaven
9. Ultimate Truth
10. Ultimate Purpose
11. Without Purpose
12. Inner/Shared Purpose & Outer/Specific Purpose
13. Being vs Doing
14. Awakened Doing
15. Christ Within
16. Relationship with Consciousness/God
17. Spiritual Truths
18. Spiritual Growth
19. History of Humanity
20. Default Humanity
21. Compassion
22. The Good News
23. Transformation/Transcendence
24. Key to Change
25. Aliveness
26. The Present Moment
27. Presence
28. Seeing
29. Lightness vs Darkness
30. The Thinking Mind
31. Content of the Mind
32. Dark Side of the Mind
33. Sin
34. Ego
35. Comparison
36. The Self
37. Real Identity
38. Essential Self
39. Poor in Spirit
40. Love
41. Happiness
42. Enthusiasm
43. Unity
44. Success
45. Consumer Culture
46. Materialism
47. Busyness
48. Circumstances
49. Pain
50. Suffering
51. Surrender
52. Death
53. This Generation
54. Your Responsibility
55. A Final Watchout