The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Elkhart Tolle
An endorsement by Oprah Winfrey helped to increase sales, and over two million copies have been sold. The author, Eckhart Tolle, was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. He does not claim to be a member of any specific religion. He uses principles from Christianity and Buddhism, A Coarse in Miracles and The Bible. Tolle's message of the entire book appears in the title. The book is divided into ten chapters, plus the introduction. Tolle uses a question/answer format to anticipate reader reactions. From the beginning, Ekhart Tolle assures the readers that "You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are!"
In chapter 1, Tolle states: "you are not your mind" and that the greatest obstacle to enlightenment is the mind. He claims that identifying with what's on our mind creates a barrier due to labels, images, and judgments that cross our consciousness. Tolle tells the reader to remember that "you are one with all this is." In reference to this oneness, Tolle says that the mental movies complete with inner-voice soundtrack is a "result of all your past history as well as of the collective cultural mind-set you inherited." Tolle encourages the reader to be in the here and now, to be alert and aware but not thinking, just like in meditation. He states that success with this practice can be measured by the degree of "peace that you feel within." In order to achieve enlightenment, Tolle tells the reader to "rise above thought."
In chapter 2, Tolle tells the reader how to recognize the ego, which feeds on external things, such as possessions and social status. Tolle ends the chapter by giving the reader a riddle: "Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret to life is to die before you die, and find that there is no death." The book cover states, "Tolle uses simple language." The language may be simple, but the concept about the secret to life is complex. In other chapters, the principles are obvious: "The more you are focused on time, past and future, the more you miss the now." Tolle gives the reader a powerful lesson on time: "Any lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now." His book is a dichotomy of his beliefs: He tells readers to pause between chapters to mull over the concepts while telling us that our troubles arise because we think too much. He says we analyze too much, then tells us in chapter 4: "Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation." Isn't that analyzing?
Chapter 8 could cause controversy. Tolle says that "women are closer to enlightenment" than men because "it is easier for a woman to feel and be in her body." Tolle dares to explore the menstrual cycles as painful due to the collective consciouness of being subjugated and exploited by men. Furthermore, Tolle states:"The number of women who are now approaching the fully conscious state already exceeds that of men." How is that measured? Many books are written about the power of the present (versus reflecting on the past and/or planning for the future); about embracing the journey (versus focusing on the destination); and about enjoying the process (versus focusing on the product).
Review completed by Lynn C. Tolson, author of Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story
