Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Download Description
Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The Power of Now, already a word-of-mouth bestseller in Canada, the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical. In The Power of Now he shows readers how to recognize themselves as the creators of their own pain, and how to have a pain-free existence by living fully in the present. Accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned, he says, by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living present, fully, and intensely, in the Now.

Amazon.com
Ekhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle's clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who's ever wondered what exactly "living in the now" means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container--more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness.

Tolle packs a lot of information and inspirational ideas into The Power of Now. (Topics include the source of Chi, enlightened relationships, creative use of the mind, impermanence, and the cycle of life.) Thankfully, he's added markers that symbolize "break time." This is when readers should close the book and mull over what they just read. As a result, The Power of Now reads like the highly acclaimed A Course in Miracles--a spiritual guidebook that has the potential to inspire just as many study groups and change just as many lives for the better. --Gail Hudson

From AudioFile
The author shares ideas about personal integration with uncommon eloquence and a deep understanding of the human condition. Our true identity is in our moment-to-moment experiences rather than in our past or future. Concern about anything but the present is an unhealthy identification with the mind that can only cause pain and an illusion of control. Being totally aware of ourselves in each moment actually requires little effort or direction if we stop our thoughts long enough to find the pure consciousness that exists in the gaps between them. These ideas will be radical for most Westerners, but they are so smoothly elucidated that almost all seekers of inner truth will find something of value in the program. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Perfect
Possibly the best book I've ever read! Usually self help books and "methods" talk about positive thinking without really giving you the tools to achieve it. This book is full of common sense and there for makes it easy and effortless for you to relate to the message.

A few pearls of wisdom, but...
Like every other philosophical or religious book, this has a few pearls of wisdom. But, like most books, you need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I do find it interesting that after he claims that he "attained enlightenment" by realizing the illusory nature of the mind (and ego). Yet he then had enough mindfulness (and ego) to change his birth name from "Ulrich Tolle" to "Eckhart Tolle". Why? To invoke the mysticism of Meister Eckhart (one of his favorite authors)? As a marketing ploy? A successful marketing ploy, it turns out. This incident is avoided in the book, but biographies on the author mention otherwise.

Anyway, the first five chapters were very good, practically an exposition of a single verse of the Bhagavad-gita: "For one who has conquered his own mind, his mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind acts as the worst of enemies." (Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, verse 6).

After the fifth chapter, though, this book goes way downhill: although the author keeps hammering in the point that "we are not our mind", he then says and stresses that "we are our body" (page 116). This is backwards thinking.

I'm happy that others have found this book to be useful. It may have some truth in it, but it is not the whole truth. I just hope people understand that.

There are not enough stars to give this book
Life changing, soul touching, amazing experience. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. There are not enough stars to rate this book. Every page is highlighted. Incredible wisdom, knowledge and communication skills on the part of the author.