I would give the book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle a three-star rating. Much like The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, I do not agree with the book's presentation. This book is about spiritual enlightenment that can be gained through simply living in the present moment, the “now”, as opposed to the past or future. It explains very well how people, in general, tend to constantly live in the past or the future not paying clear due attention to the present moment, not seeing the beauty that is present in front of us because our minds are elsewhere in thought. It explains perfectly just how much we are living in a fog were calling life, where because our senses are not clear we are missing true life, and that experiencing life through clarity of senses is the key to enlightenment.
To explain all of this Eckhart Tolle presents seemingly frequently asked questions he apparently collected and then answers for the general reader in as best way as he can, though he states many times that the reader's mind cannot understand his explanations of the present unless it experiences the present. For most people I am thinking that this was probably a very logical and effective presentation of this type of information, however for me personally it made the book extremely redundant and (for lack of a better term) elementary. For 229 pages Eckhart Tolle goes on and on rewording the same concept ‘be in the present’. He does so in 10 chapters entitled: You are you’re your mind, Consciousness – A way out of pain, Moving deeply into the now, Mind strategies for avoiding the now (these are the strategies your mind will do to keep you out of the now, he does not suggest you to not be in the now), The state of presence. The inner body, Portals into the un-manifested, Enlightened relationships, Beyond happiness and unhappiness there is peace, and The meaning of surrender where the author ends on the essential point: How will you know when you have surrendered; when you do not need to ask that question; which happens only when you become fully present in the now. There is simply not much else to this point, but he repeats it so much to drill it home in every way possible to those who will have so much trouble grasping the concept.
People, in general, have the hardest time being able to ‘let go’ or ‘live in the moment’ because the mind is so against giving up its ego. We use the past and future to feed our egos a relive, daydream, and project instead of simply living and our minds thus never shut up, off, or down they just keep dwelling on what can't be changed and what may or may not ever happen all in this package of time that we never feel there is enough of because we are bound to its constraints that people, in general, put on themselves. Time is irrelevant to the natural order of life and yet people bind themselves to it and are therefore are a slave to it and to what end, none, essentially dying without having experienced anything. Personally, I think the book could have been 226 pages of blank with 3 pages of boldface type explaining the point, and 3 pages is stretching it. It just doesn’t need much paper to explain that to experience life, live in the present day now. When you are in the present day now assess how you feel, anything hurt, anything wrong, if so fix it, if not then you have no problems move onto the next moment. In each moment use every sense and feel the world around you and the life around you. Thinking about something old or something not happening, stop, focus, use your senses and breathe. That’s it!
All of which I personally agree with. While I am aware that I too am a slave to my brain and the constraints of time more times than I like, and I am constantly feeling the incessant need to exercise my knowledge and brainpower, I can honestly say that I do live in the moment more than most people. I never really had terms for it but I never thought that it was weird to stop and smell the roses, and actually, until I read this book I thought that I didn’t do it enough in comparison to the rest of the world and here I do it more than most. I was always under the silly impression that people could shut off their brains unlike me, so from a young age I tried slowing my thoughts down and shutting them off cause I thought I was nuts for always thinking something. Now I know that I wasn’t alone, but that it was good that I thought that way because it has instilled in me, without even being taught, how to stop and enjoy life and see things in HD and hear things with surround sound and feel things with every fiber of my being and experience the vibrancy that is all around. I knew I was doing well too when about 8 years ago I started to dream in vivid HD quality. It was amazing. I started experiencing my senses in my dreams like I never had before and my dreams became a clear reflection of my days. What I was truly taking in, in all its texture and life, I was then seeing even after I shut my eyes.
To explain all of this Eckhart Tolle presents seemingly frequently asked questions he apparently collected and then answers for the general reader in as best way as he can, though he states many times that the reader's mind cannot understand his explanations of the present unless it experiences the present. For most people I am thinking that this was probably a very logical and effective presentation of this type of information, however for me personally it made the book extremely redundant and (for lack of a better term) elementary. For 229 pages Eckhart Tolle goes on and on rewording the same concept ‘be in the present’. He does so in 10 chapters entitled: You are you’re your mind, Consciousness – A way out of pain, Moving deeply into the now, Mind strategies for avoiding the now (these are the strategies your mind will do to keep you out of the now, he does not suggest you to not be in the now), The state of presence. The inner body, Portals into the un-manifested, Enlightened relationships, Beyond happiness and unhappiness there is peace, and The meaning of surrender where the author ends on the essential point: How will you know when you have surrendered; when you do not need to ask that question; which happens only when you become fully present in the now. There is simply not much else to this point, but he repeats it so much to drill it home in every way possible to those who will have so much trouble grasping the concept.
People, in general, have the hardest time being able to ‘let go’ or ‘live in the moment’ because the mind is so against giving up its ego. We use the past and future to feed our egos a relive, daydream, and project instead of simply living and our minds thus never shut up, off, or down they just keep dwelling on what can't be changed and what may or may not ever happen all in this package of time that we never feel there is enough of because we are bound to its constraints that people, in general, put on themselves. Time is irrelevant to the natural order of life and yet people bind themselves to it and are therefore are a slave to it and to what end, none, essentially dying without having experienced anything. Personally, I think the book could have been 226 pages of blank with 3 pages of boldface type explaining the point, and 3 pages is stretching it. It just doesn’t need much paper to explain that to experience life, live in the present day now. When you are in the present day now assess how you feel, anything hurt, anything wrong, if so fix it, if not then you have no problems move onto the next moment. In each moment use every sense and feel the world around you and the life around you. Thinking about something old or something not happening, stop, focus, use your senses and breathe. That’s it!
All of which I personally agree with. While I am aware that I too am a slave to my brain and the constraints of time more times than I like, and I am constantly feeling the incessant need to exercise my knowledge and brainpower, I can honestly say that I do live in the moment more than most people. I never really had terms for it but I never thought that it was weird to stop and smell the roses, and actually, until I read this book I thought that I didn’t do it enough in comparison to the rest of the world and here I do it more than most. I was always under the silly impression that people could shut off their brains unlike me, so from a young age I tried slowing my thoughts down and shutting them off cause I thought I was nuts for always thinking something. Now I know that I wasn’t alone, but that it was good that I thought that way because it has instilled in me, without even being taught, how to stop and enjoy life and see things in HD and hear things with surround sound and feel things with every fiber of my being and experience the vibrancy that is all around. I knew I was doing well too when about 8 years ago I started to dream in vivid HD quality. It was amazing. I started experiencing my senses in my dreams like I never had before and my dreams became a clear reflection of my days. What I was truly taking in, in all its texture and life, I was then seeing even after I shut my eyes.
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