[MUSIC] ANNOUNCER: Today, an "Oprah Show" event. OPRAH WINFREY: This is a great morning. This show, it's a big leap forward. We're setting the stage like never before. FEMALE: These are our Skypes from all around the world. WINFREY: Virtual audience, how great? FEMALE TWO: Hi. Can you hear me? Dottie, you are in segment three. FEMALE THREE: We're coming to Katie in just a second. FEMALE TWO: All right, that's good, that's good, that's good. MALE ONE: Do we have show lights? MALE TWO: Oprah's on the way. WINFREY: To be able to do this is just the greatest gift. It's my favorite thing to talk about and, if you're ready, your life could be transformed, too. MALE THREE: Here we go, everybody. WINFREY: Next. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Just the most exciting thing I've ever done, just the most exciting, I got to tell you. So, for me, every show that we do here has the intention of sparking something for you, the audience that can help you live your best life. Now it wasn't always that way. In the beginning of TV, I was just happy to have a job. But around the '90s, I started to see that this was a really great platform and I wanted to use it for something really powerful in the world. Today, full court press. In just weeks, since I selected the book, "A New Earth" for our book club, millions of people around the world, and I do mean millions, have begun experiencing "A New Earth" for themselves and are awakening to the possibilities of their lives. "A New Earth" is not, let me repeat, not a new religion or a new doctrine. But it really is an invitation for you, the reader, to connect to your authentic self, to begin to connect to your spirit, to your soul, to your inner being, to your consciousness, whichever word you want to use. The one thing I know for sure is, is that you cannot, you cannot even begin to live your best life without being connected to your spirit. It's absolutely impossible. That is the reason why I am doing this show today. Now, we're discussing chapter by chapter in this book how to quiet our minds, how to put our egos in check, how to not be defined by or dwelling in the past, not projecting in the future but to be fully present for this moment now. I promise you this, if you're ready, it could help transform your life, right, audience? [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] WINFREY: It should. You know. In little ways and big ways. So today our "New Earth" students are joining us from all around the world, Iraq, Australia, Mexico, Canada, the United States, and our audience here. Hi, everybody. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Hi, everybody. Whoo, so fun. A worldwide conversation about my all-time favorite topic. So, let's start with Jillian and Doug who are skyping us from their living room in Washington State. Here is their story. JILLIAN: My husband and I have been married for 22 years. We have two grown children and then we have four adopted children. We had a beautiful 5,000 square foot home. We had an 80 mile panoramic view around this home. We had a beautiful pool and a spa and we had beautiful cars, Lexuses, and we had a Russian au pair that lived with us and took care of the children. We had a gardener. We had a housekeeper. Essentially, everything that needed to be done, we hired someone to do it. A little over a year ago, our world came crashing down. We lost 60% of our income. We couldn't sustain the lifestyle that we had built and slowly we lost everything. When we knew the home was going to go into foreclosure, the bank came out and put locks on the garage doors and the back door and we knew that it was getting serious. Ninety days ago we filed bankruptcy. DOUG: I, at some point, had to admit to myself that I had failed at all of those things. I'd lost our dream home, our dream cars, the dream job, the dream business. JILLIAN: When you lay in your bed at night and you put your head on your pillow, and it's quiet, and it's dark, and there's no one there but you, you have to face the fact that you went bankrupt. You hear about it happening all the time, but when it happens to you it is different. It's humbling and it just strips you bare. WINFREY: Jillian said that she suffered from anxiety and was barely able to go out in public and then she joined our web class and says these words from Eckhart saved her. TOLLE: And for many people that's a very important lesson when suddenly they do lose something. It can be a wonderful spiritual lesson. Then you perhaps you suffer and then your attachment gets broken and suddenly you go beyond the attachment. So there have been people who have lost everything and suddenly become free of the ego because the ego had nothing left to identify with. So this can happen. And another important thing to mention with regard to manifestation is the basis for your life is the present moment. You need to, first of all, the very basis for everything is to come to an acceptance of this moment as it is. WINFREY: Wow. So, Jillian, did it take bankruptcy to get you to this moment? JILLIAN: You know, I think that it did. Looking back, I don't really think that I perceived myself as being a materialistic person. You know, we weren't really exuberant with, you know, our spending and that kind of thing, but yes, I think that it did take that experience to bring us--to bring me to that point. WINFREY: Yeah. So, how did those words help you, that you heard Eckhart say the other night? JILLIAN: I think the way that the words helped me was to see that those attachments were very, very superficial and that what I was experiencing, the anxiety and the loss and everything, was really just an acceptance of looking in the mirror and seeing myself and finding out what was left when all those things were stripped away. WINFREY: So Doug have you noticed a change in Jillian? DOUG: I've absolutely noticed a change. She's a lot more content with life and me, with the kids, and that's a great thing. She's much more peaceful and it's been a wonderful change over the last few weeks. WINFREY: You were saying, Jillian, that, you know, you lie in bed and you think, "I'm one of those people who just had to file for bankruptcy." How are you then when you wake up the next morning? How are you now with that fact that you had to file for bankruptcy? JILLIAN: Well you know, it's an interesting thing, the ego can really wrap around that concept and take you to some pretty dark places. You know, we consider ourselves to be people that when we make a commitment, we keep our commitments. DOUG: Absolutely. JILLIAN: We built a marriage over 22 years and never defaulted on anything, but I just--I have to say that, when those things are stripped away and you see who you really are. And, now I wake up in the morning, I go to sleep at night, I haven't slept so well in years. DOUG: It's true. JILLIAN: I sleep very peacefully. WINFREY: Really? Do you think you've lost the attachment to things? JILLIAN: I think so. You know, that ego, that voice in your head that's continually feeding you these images. You know, we're raising four special needs kids and one of the roles that I had laid on myself was that I needed to be this perfect, therapeutic mother for these children who had lost their mother. That role nearly buried me and this book helped me to see that. Really, my gift to my children is that I'm present, that I'm with them, that I'm here and that - WINFREY: That's the biggest lesson, I think. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: That's the biggest lesson. And Doug? Doug, I hear you haven't read the book yet. DOUG: No. It's on my list of books to read. I read quite a bit so I'm going to read it next. WINFREY: Doug, we are suggesting, Jillian and I, that you move it up on your list. [LAUGHTER] JILLIAN: Yeah. Thank you, Oprah. [LAUGHTER] WINFREY: Thanks, Jillian. Thank you all. All right, 24-year-old Krys from San Antonio, Texas is now skyping us from her living room. Krys says that her struggle with weight came to an end after reading "A New Earth" tell us about that. That's the miracle I'm seeking. [LAUGHTER] WINFREY: Go ahead. KRYS: I've always been a very active person. I run five marathons, I play sports, I have a personal trainer, I've had like a struggle with food that has kept my weight about 30 pounds above what it probably should be. Then I was reading "A New Earth" and I read on page 86 that "Behind every negative self-concept is the hidden desire of being the greatest or being better than others." And I know that that means a lot of things but for me I realized that it was weight related. The reason why I'm having this battle with my weight is because I really--my inner egoistic desire was to be skinnier than other people or better than other people because I was skinnier. This really resonated, like, inside my entire being, because I don't think I realized that I had that inside of me. WINFREY: So what shifted? What shifted for you after reading it? KRYS: It just helped me let go of that need to be skinnier, be anything-er than other people were. You know, just to be present in my own life and be where I was and not be worried about how I compared to other people. WINFREY: Boy, that's a great comment, "to be anything-er." [LAUGHTER] WINFREY: To be anything-er. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: "Than other people." Okay. And so did that calm you when it came to eating? Did it make you less emotional when it came to eating or what? KRYS: I don't really think I've had any emotional eating since I let go of that. I just, I just eat if I need to. It's like a fuel and I try to be healthy just, because I want to be a healthy person, but if I get upset about something, I don't know, I just have this ability now to sort of just stay in the moment that I'm in. Not always, I mean, it takes work, but I'm a lot better at it than I ever was. WINFREY: I heard you've dropped three pants sizes? KRYS: Yes, I have. Here, look. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Excellent. That's great. The producers told me that you were a size, like, 16, 18, or something and that now you don't even know what size you are, because you let go of that too. KRYS: Yeah, I don't really need to weigh myself anymore. I used to weigh myself several times a day. Like it was going to change from morning to mid-morning, you know? Like I was going to lose 20 pounds or something but - [LAUGHTER] WINFREY: I know the feeling. That is so great, Krys. Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing that. Coming up, the number one question we're getting about our web class. I can't wait to talk about that. But first, here's Jim Carrey talking about "A New Earth." JIM CARREY: Eckhart's philosophy is basically about the idea that the present moment is all we have. That's all there is and all there ever will be and most of us live trapped or lost in the movement of thought. Sometimes I've spent two hours of my day thinking about one person I resent, you know? And going through orations and you know, "If he ever says this, I'll say that," and all of those things and you go--I find myself now, when I get caught up in something like that, becoming conscious suddenly and going "Oh, wait, I'm here. I'm not with that person right now." I'm creating things that don't even exist, you know? And it's useless. It's time badly spent, you know? [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: My friends will tell you that this is absolutely my favorite thing to talk about, connecting to the deepest part of ourselves, yourself, your spirit. In fact, I devoted the May issue of "O" magazine to spirituality. There I am holding the new Legends rose. I actually grew that in my garden. It looks like a cabbage. Inside you'll find 28 artists, writers, thinkers, and doers who write about the moment that defined spirituality for them. It's a great issue, talking about spirituality and what it means in our own lives. We call those "a-ha" moments and one of the artists in that book was my friend Elizabeth Lesser. Elizabeth is an author and the co-founder of the Omega Institute. You may have heard of it. It's one the premier centers for spiritual growth and healing in the united states and Elizabeth has been working with us on our "New Earth" web classes and has one of the most asked questions about "A New Earth" is "Will it interfere with my religious beliefs?" What do you say to that? ELIZABETH LESSER: Well, I don't see why it would. It's not a belief system. It's not another belief system that we have to lay on top of anything we believe in. It's actually--it's almost like saying will putting a spoonful of honey in my tea wreck the tea? It's really a sweetener. If you are a religious person and you practice like what Jim Carrey was talking about previously, being fully present and alive in the moment and let's say your moment is church... WINFREY: Yeah. Ms. LESSER: ...or the mosque or temple, wow, that's just going to make it even better, so - WINFREY: It's the honey in the tea. Ms. LESSER: It's the honey in the tea. It's sugar in the coffee. WINFREY: Sugar in the coffee. Okay. Elizabeth does a great job explaining the difference between spirituality and religion in her book. It's called "The Seeker's Guide." Tell us the difference, as you see it. Spirituality is...? Ms. LESSER: Spirituality is the longing in each one of us, every one of us here in this audience. We long for something more than just getting up and battling our way through life. We somehow kind of sense that there's something more, that we came from somewhere, that we're going somewhere, and this journey we're on in life is really an eternal journey. Religions grew up around those deep questions. "Who am I?" "What's my purpose?" "Where do I go when I die?" Great beings come into the world in all eras who somehow have answers to that. WINFREY: Yeah, so spirituality is different from the religion in that spirituality is the longing for something more and for many people, religion fills that answer for them. But the spirituality is the longing. I just go that in a way I hadn't seen it before. Thank you for that. JIM CARREY: And re-- you're welcome. WINFREY: That was really great. Margit Wires is a Catholic lay minister from Lampasas, is it? MARGIT: Yes. WINFREY: Lampasas, Texas and Margit says that she's changed the way she teaches after reading "A New Earth." How so? MARGIT: What changed for me was that I lived by doctrine most of my life and taught doctrine. And one of the things that changed for me was from Zen, what Eckhart was saying about Zen. That trying to get somewhere, it drained him of the power and that's exactly what I felt I was doing. WINFREY: Yeah. We have that clip. Let's look at that clip. MARGIT: Okay. WINFREY: We have that. We're going to pull it up. Mr. TOLLE: There was a Zen master. He was watching somebody in a competition, archery, and a man was trying very hard to win this competition but he just couldn't make it. And then somebody asked the Zen master, "What's he doing wrong?" And the Zen master said, "His need to win drains him of power." WINFREY: Wow. Mr. TOLLE: And so his need to win is some future--he wants to have some future moment where he's going to be fulfilled. So his attention is not totally in the now. So, the now, where all power resides- WINFREY: Wow. Mr. TOLLE: This power that resides in the now cannot flow then into what you are doing. The openness isn't there. Because to have mastery in any endeavor, whatever it is, you need to be total in what you do. WINFREY: That's what athletes know. Mr. TOLLE: Yes. WINFREY: The great ones know. Mr. TOLLE: And when they enter that they call it "the zone." WINFREY: Yeah, I loved that moment too, didn't you all, when he said, "The need to win drains you of power." MARGIT: Yes. WINFREY: It's like run your own race. Any energy you give to somebody else's race takes energy away from you. That changed you? MARGIT: Absolutely it did. It did. WINFREY: And you say Eckhart gave you a different way or reading the book, showed you a different way to look at Jesus Christ? MARGIT: Yes, absolutely. WINFREY: How so? MARGIT: I've always tried to find a deeper inner connection with the purpose that Christ had here on Earth and all my life I thought it was just for Him to die on the cross for my sins. But I now recognize that Jesus actually taught me Christ-consciousness. It's who to be fully human is to be Christ-like. WINFREY: Hello. Yeah. MARGIT: And so it's not--anytime that you, not follow your spiritual calling that you are lesser of a human. WINFREY: Yes. I'm Christian too and I got that a long time ago. I mentioned this also in this book called "Discover the Power Within You" by Eric Butterworth where he talks about the Christ-consciousness. And up until then I was like you Margit, I thought Jesus came, died on the cross, that Jesus' being here was about His death and dying on the cross when it really was about Him coming to show us how to do it, how to be. MARGIT: Yes. WINFREY: To show us the Christ-consciousness that He had and that that consciousness abides with all of us. MARGIT: Yes. WINFREY: That's what I got. That's what I got. MARGIT: Yes, yes. WINFREY: Thank you, Margit. We'll be right back. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Next, Billy Joel's wife Katie and her mom join us via Skype. They had a big mother-daughter moment a few days ago that they're going to share when we come back. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] WINFREY: "This book is about you. It'll change your state of consciousness or it will be meaningless. It can only awaken those who are ready." WINFREY: A couple weeks ago, Billy Joel and his wife Katie were here. She was here for her new book called "The Comfort Table." During a commercial break I chatted with Katie's mom who told me that she was reading "A New Earth" and taking our web class. They are now both joining us via Skype today, Katie from her study in Miami Beach, Florida, Katie Joel's mom Kim who's a teacher, who is joining us from her class in Huntington, West Virginia. So, Katie, I hear you're reading the book now, too? Your mom gave it to you? KATIE: Yes I am. And I have all of my little Post-it notes and I'm highlighting. Actually, I was reading it when I came to your show, I was just a little bit into the book. I had an "a-ha" moment while I was at your show. WINFREY: Okay. And the "a-ha" was what? KATIE: The "a-ha" was, you know, I was backstage and I was feeling kind of nervous. A friend of mine had once told me that nervousness is selfish energy. I never fully understood that until I experienced it for myself. And I read "A New Earth" and I realized that selfish energy, or that nervous energy is actually selfish, because you're making the situation all about yourself. So I walked out onto your set and I looked at you and said, "Oprah, I'm feeling kind of nervous." And you gave me a big hug and we turned around to the audience and you said, "She doesn't need to be nervous, does she?" And I looked out at them and I thought, "Today's really about them. It's about them having a good time and enjoying being here on this show." So I took a deep breath and I was able to leave my nerves behind and I made peace with the present moment. And I enjoyed every moment of it. And since then I've done a couple other television interviews and I haven't been nervous for a single one of them. WINFREY: Wow, that's really good. And that was--may I say this to you? Truthfully, the other day Andre my hairdresser came in and he made some meatloaf and I said, "This was not Katie Joel's recipe." KATIE: [laugh] WINFREY: Needed to use that recipe. Katie's mom Kim told us what Eckhart said in class had really helped her. Let's look at that. Take a look. Mr. TOLLE: Sometimes when children become adults, the adult children are still treated by their parents, parents who are stuck in the role of parent - WINFREY: They can't let go of the role. Mr. TOLLE: Yes. So they believe, unconsciously, that they need to continue to protect and ultimately control what the child does. WINFREY: Yes. Because you don't parent a child the same at every age. Mr. TOLLE: No. WINFREY: Absolutely. Mr. TOLLE: Yeah. WINFREY: Boy, was that good for some parents to hear. So, why was that an a-ha moment for you, Kim? KIM: Well, you know, right before I watched Lesson Four I called Katie up and I wanted to give her some advice about something and she wasn't really up for it. And, she really wasn't in the mood for my unsolicited advice at the time. And she got defensive and we really didn't hang up on good terms. And then I immediately watched lesson four on role playing. That's when I had my "a-ha" moment, because I caught myself playing the role of mother and unconsciously saying, "I know what's best for you." And I thought it was my obligation to give her advice rather than--whether she asked for it or not. I realized that I need to learn that this is a role that's no longer required of me. She's an adult and I need to be there for her, um, on a different level. And, you know, Eckhart said when you play roles you're unconscious. WINFREY: Yep. KIM: So I just want to be more conscious and more present for her. Not in the role as mother. WINFREY: Did you feel that shift from her, Katie? Did you feel that shift? KATIE: Yes. I was so glad that she watched that class. [LAUGHTER] KATIE: I apologize. And, you know, I mean, she still--I know that she's coming from a good place and there are times when she'll call me up and say, "Did you eat your vegetables today and did you take your multivitamin?" WINFREY: Yeah. KATIE: You know, and I know she's coming from a good place, but it feels really good for me to know that she's aware now and that I do notice a change in her. She hasn't been calling me and giving me unsolicited advice. When we talk I feel more like we're having a conversation, like she's one of my friends. My mom's my best friend. WINFREY: She's in the now with you, that she's being present. Thanks, Katie. Thanks, Kim. KATIE: Thank you. WINFREY: Okay. We'll talk again soon. KIM: Bye, Oprah. WINFREY: Bye, bye. Back in a moment, everybody. We'll be back in a moment. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: "Illusion will never satisfy you. Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free." WINFREY: Coming up, how my friend Kidada Jones says she's been changed by "A New Earth." [MUSIC] [MUSIC] WINFREY: Now let's go to Los Angeles where my friend Kidada Jones joins us via Skype from her dad, Quincy's, house. Kidada was in our third class a couple weeks ago with this question. KIDADA: Okay. My question is this book hits me really, really deep in my heart and I know it to be the truth, but I have such resistance and I feel like if everything in form is illusion it feels really disenchanting. And I'm at a point in my life where I have goals, I'm excited about my career, I want to have kids, I want to meet a great partner. If it's all illusion, where's the fun? WINFREY: Well we--And I said to you, Kidada, and even to Eckhart the next week that I don't think we fully answered your question that week, but the next week you said you felt it got answered. Right? KIDADA: Yes, it definitely got answered the next week. WINFREY: Well, people are still on message boards saying, "Kidada, listen, I'm thinking the same thing." I think that question resonated with a lot of people. What did he say that resonated with you, now? KIDADA: I would have to say that his very specific instructions of feeling the subtle body, breathing, paying attention to nature, those very specific instructions brought a space into my life that I haven't experienced. And within the space came all these gifts : compassion, patience, a new-found one-ness. All of my time kind of slowed down, everything just like kind of had brakes. And when I pay attention to those very specific directions it's a whole new reality for me. WINFREY: Really? Are you able to be more present? KIDADA: Oh, yes. When I access those specific points that he tells us, I am definitely able to be more present. And it feels like a veil just like--whoosh-- and then all of a sudden I'm just here. And I hear things, and I see things, and I smell things, and I feel them. WINFREY: Meaning what? You used to be in conversations with people and waiting for the - KIDADA: Here. WINFREY: Yeah, in the head, like come on, come on, get it - KIDADA: Here. All the time, like a freeway, a mind freeway. This just feels like a break. It just feels like one big break. WINFREY: Wow. And you feel a greater sense of confidence? KIDADA: I feel a greater sense of confidence. I feel a greater sense of togetherness. I feel like we're all on the same path. We're all headed to the same thing and there's no need to be judgmental. WINFREY: Yeah. KIDADA: It's more important to be compassionate. WINFREY: I saw an e-mail last week I think that you sent to Jill, one of my producers, and you were saying that immediately after the web cast that you and your family and friends get on the phone and talked about it. Haven't you noticed how--and all of you, have you noticed--how this changes your conversation with your friends. Has this changed you conversation? We're all not just talking about each other, gossiping all the time now? We got something better to talk about. KIDADA: Yeah. Now the conversation is rich. WINFREY: Yeah. Rich. WINFREY: So, is your dad--is your dad up yet? KIDADA: He probably just went to sleep a few minutes ago. WINFREY: Yeah, I know. [laugh] Well, thanks, Kidada, we'll be right back. Thanks for sharing with us. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Coming up, Penny from Ontario, Canada is facing what may be your greatest fear. We'll talk to her next. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] WINFREY: We have Penny Frappie from Ontario, Canada who says she's also been practicing staying present, even though she's facing her greatest challenge. Take a look. PENNY: In 2004, I was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Doctors estimated I probably had about five years left to live. The cancer has spread to my lymph nodes. I've done 18 rounds of chemotherapy, which has left me nauseous and throwing up. Recently, my depression has been getting worse, because I'm now approaching the five-year mark. I'm coming to terms with my mortality, thinking about how I'm going to die, when I'll die, and if it will be painful. WINFREY: That's real. Penny is Skyping from her kitchen in Ontario. Penny, what connection did you make for yourself through reading "A New Earth"? PENNY: Hi, Oprah. WINFREY: Hi. PENNY: This was really depressing for me. It consumed me. It consumed me so much, the thoughts were running and running in my head to the point where it was really, really overwhelming and then I got the book. There's a page--can I-- would you allow me to read this for you? WINFREY: Yeah, I would allow you. PENNY: This is what changed me. In the book it says while he was walking through the park with a friend, "Once you realize and accept that all structures or forms are unstable, even the seemingly solid material ones, peace arises within you. This is because the recognition of the impermanence of all forms awakens you to the dimension of the formless within your yourself, that which is beyond death. Jesus called this eternal life." And that's when I knew. That was my "A- ha," that's what he meant." I am going to live on and this is what--this is what- WINFREY: So, you were ready for it, actually, because I'm sure you've heard that in different forms before because that is the teaching of Jesus Christ about eternal life, but you were ready and open to hear it in a different way. So, do you fear death still? Do you obsess about it still? PENNY: No. I'm excited. Like, I don't want to leave now, I like being here. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: This is what's so interesting. You know, last week I asked this question, at the very end, I asked this question of Eckhart. I think it's one of the best moments I've had with him where I've asked him, did he fear death. And he was as strong and resolute about it as you just were. Let's look at that. WINFREY: So, let me ask you the big question. You have no fear of death? Mr. TOLLE: No. No. The ego has dissolved and so, only the ego fears death. I know there is no death. WINFREY: You know there is no death. Mr. TOLLE: [laugh] WINFREY: Okay. Tell me how. Mr. TOLLE: Usually, when people talk about immortality, they use certain arguments, perhaps from physics, they say the energy never is destroyed, energy can only become transformed. WINFREY: That's right, transformed. Mr. TOLLE: So the vital energy that is your life, because energy cannot be destroyed, must survive in some form. That's often the argument for the survival that life--there is no death, only the form dissolves. WINFREY: Right. That's right. Wow. What did you think of that moment, Penny? PENNY: Oh, that blew me away, Oprah. It totally blew me away. WINFREY: Wow. So, are you living your life differently now that you're not obsessing about dying? PENNY: Oh, my goodness, yes. I planned a trip to Vegas. [LAUGHTER] PENNY: Even when I bake a pie now, it's like, I smell it, I feel the dough. [APPLAUSE] PENNY: I know my body's crumbling. Like, I'm out of energy a lot and it's probably happening, but at the same time, it doesn't scare me. I don't fear it. And last night--I want to tell you this, last night, I went to bed and I was thinking about the show and all of a sudden, when I took a really deep breath and I became present, I thought, when I'm present, I realized that I'm the seer witnessing this miracle that I call life. I thought, wow, that's cool. WINFREY: Wow, Penny. You've been--boy, you've inspired all of us today. We're inspired by you. We're going to hold you in the light. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: We're going to hold you in the light, keep you in our prayers. We'll be right back. That was great. WINFREY: Coming up, how "A New Earth" is helping US Army captain Mason Weiss face the fear of living in a battle zone. We'll talk to him next. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] WINFREY: "Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you're having at this moment." Next, we're going to one of the most volatile areas in the world, Baghdad, Iraq. US Army Captain Mason Weiss is joining us via satellite from the US Embassy there. Captain Weiss, your mom sent us an email saying that you're a big fan of "A New Earth." And so, first of all, how are you and how are things there? CAPTAIN WEISS: I'm fine, thanks. Things here have been eventful for the past couple of weeks. I'm in a base that's close to Sadr City and we had rockets and mortars getting shot over us and at us and landing fairly close to where I live. So we had a number of occasions where we had to run into duck-and-cover shelters and drop what we were doing and walk around in body armor. So it's been quite an experience. WINFREY: How has this book helped you? Cpt. WEISS: It's helped me a lot. My mom gave me it to me to read before I came here and I realize at any moment, not to sound melodramatic, but I could be casualty number 4,003 or 4,004 and, you know, that can drive you crazy. So I've tried to just calm myself down and stay in the present moment and realize that, you know, I'm probably going to live through this. And when I get back home, I don't get a gift certificate or anything with all that wasted energy worrying about it or worrying about what might have happened. So I think it's helped me tremendously to separate my thoughts from my body and to just try to stay in the present moment, which so far has been very bearable. And everyone else has had to deal with this as well. I'm not the only one in this situation. WINFREY: And I hear it's helping you also cope with stress and exhaustion and that you carry a card someplace with the "New Earth" principles on it for yourself? Just to kind of remind you? Cpt. WEISS: Yeah, I have it here if you want me to show you. WINFREY: Yeah, sure. Wow. Cpt. WEISS: Yeah, I wrote this before I left. I read the book and I wrote some things out and I just changed it to first person, and then I laminated it, and I carry it around with me, and periodically will read over it just to try to get some perspective. WINFREY: Yeah. What is it you have on there? Cpt. WEISS: There's about 10 things on here. WINFREY: Okay. Read a couple of them that really help you. Cpt. WEISS: Okay. Well, the first thing, it says, "Getting through Iraq and beyond: some practical steps." I wrote "Be aware that what I think to a large extent creates the emotions that I feel. See the link between my thinking and my emotions. Rather than being my thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them." WINFREY: Wow. Cpt. WEISS: And then at the very end, I say, "Telling myself stories or narratives may be a huge mistake, whereas facing facts is always empowering." WINFREY: Wow. Well, Captain Weiss, your mom is here. She hasn't seen you since September and wanted to be able to see you and say hello. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Lily, say hi to your son. Lily, what do you want to say? What do you want to say to your good son who read the book you gave him? [LAUGHTER] LILY: Oh, I feel honored to be here and grateful. I don't need to give him any advice. I think he's--he gives me more advice and he's equipped and I know he's touching all the people that he meets over there, because he is talking to people from all over the world and even though this experience is touching him, I'm sure he has an effect on everyone that he meets, as well. I want him to know he's loved. You're loved, Mason. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: Thank you, Captain Weiss. Stay safe. We appreciate you and all the men and women who are bravely serving our country. Thank you so much. We hold you up. We'll be right back. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: When we come back, how "A New Earth" is helping Jenny from Sydney, Australia deal with her troubled marriage in a new way. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Mr. TOLLE: Sometimes people are shocked when they marry somebody or they start living with somebody, and this lovely man or woman that they start--that they love so much, one morning, suddenly, he or she turns into a little monster. And again, immediately, if you are not present, pain-body will arise and you become defensive. Anger will arise. [laugh] WINFREY: And you're in it. You're drawn into the drama. Mr. TOLLE: Yes. So it requires great alertness not to be drawn in. WINFREY: Right. WINFREY: Well, Jenny Mason is now joining us from a friend's house in Sydney, Australia. Jenny says that moment helped her deal with a troubled marriage. How so, Jenny? JENNY: Hi, Oprah. Well, I first became separated earlier this year. I had been married a year, just over a year, and I felt my husband changed quite a lot, and we wanted different things, and it was overnight. And at first my reaction was an egoic one, and I was angry and I reacted with self-pity, and "Why is this happening to me?" And I usually would role-play in that situation. WINFREY: So it's helped you to see the whole relationship differently, your roles, the roles that you were playing. JENNY: Definitely. WINFREY: And you've--I heard from the producers that you said it's changed the way you react to your husband's anger. How? JENNY: Definitely. Instead of reacting like I used to react with him, I would react with anger as well. Reading Tolle and accepting what he is and realizing that we're both about pain-bodies, we're just trying to be built up, and our egos were trying to be inflated, that really helped me, when I read Eckhart say that's what was happening, to not do that, and to let go of that was quite a relief. WINFREY: Yeah. Two pain-bodies sitting in the same kitchen. That's it. Thank you so much, Jenny. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] WINFREY: "Humanity is faced with a stark choice : evolve or die." Well, thanks to all of my Skypers. Thank you for joining us. [APPLAUSE] WINFREY: USA and around the world. Don't forget, Mason, you are loved. Penny, we'll be holding you in the light. I hope you at home will give yourself a chance to experience "A New Earth." The book is in bookstores right now. The publisher says it's flying off the shelves. Bye, everybody. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC]
