Eckhart Tolle ( ; ; born Ulrich Leonard Tölle, 16 February 1948) is a German “spiritual teacher”
In 1961 he moved to Spain to live with his father, where he "refused all forms of formal education between the ages of 13 and 22, preferring instead to pursue his own creative and philosophical interests". At 15, he was "heavily influenced" After attending the University of London, he enrolled in a postgraduate program at the University of Cambridge in 1977.
Spiritual experience
One night in 1977, at age 29, after having suffered long periods of depression, Tolle says he experienced an "inner transformation". Recounting the experience, he says: