Eckhart Tolle – The Power of NOW

It took me almost 2 weeks to finally finished reading Eckhart Tolle’s popular book, The Power of NOW. Fiuh…

At first glance, this book seems like just another book  in a growing genre of books full of tips on how to be more mindful and awake in our daily life, but Tolle’s clear writing and the obvious depth of his experience and insight set it apart!!

While difficult to read and comprehend at times, The Power of NOW is without a doubt a remarkable book. Because spiritual enlightenment can be difficult to understand, using FAQ format throughout the book, Tolle weaves his words and focuses on answering questions from others throughout the book.  I found this very useful and it helped me to have a clearer understanding of his ideas.

The primary principle in the book revolves around the concept of “being fully present.”  Or, in other words, “living in the NOW.”

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the  practical aspects of your life situation.  Always say “yes” to the present moment.  What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is?  What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?  Surrender to what is.  Say “yes to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you”

Tolle talks about how people are constantly thinking compulsively throughout their day-to-day lives.  That we are constantly preoccupied with looking both backwards and forwards. We focus on the past because this is what gives us our sense of identity, and what has led us to the life circumstances that we currently face. And we focus on the future because this is where all our dreams, hopes and fears will play out.

“Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature does not really exist for them.  They might say, “What a pretty flower,” but that’s just a mechanical mental labeling.  Because they are not still, not present, they don’t truly see the flower, don’t feel its essence, its holiness — just as they don’t know themselves, don’t feel their own essence, their own holiness.”

Most of us are familiar with the mantra that ‘It is the journey that counts, not the destination‘, but Tolle puts this into a genuinely meaningful and practical context. By allowing our ‘mind self’ to be caught up in dreams of how our life will be better at some time in the future – if only we can win the lottery, get that better job or house, move to that other place, or find that special relationship, we yearn for external pleasures that, even if we gain them, will bring only temporary fulfilment – followed by a thirst for more, or an equal potential for emotional pain because things we have gained can just as easily be lost or taken away.

By contrast, he emphasises that real joy comes from within, from just ‘being’ in the Now, and from recognizing the simple beauty of all other forms, and our underlying unity with them. Tolle accepts that there is nothing wrong with planning for the future, or even hoping to build on or improve your life situation. But the trick is not to pin all your hopes on the future, and to obsess about it to the extent that you spend your whole life thinking about it and missing out on the Now, and just being. And you must be prepared for your plans to go wrong, or for the fact that success is nearly always balanced out by failure.

Moreover, you can concentrate on the Now by being totally engaged in the current activity you are performing as part of your plan for a better future. Give it your full attention, and perform it as something worthwhile in itself, with no thought for the desired outcome. This is the path of inner peace and balance.

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Another really interesting concept that Tolle talks about is “The Ego’s Search for Wholeness”

“People will often enter into a compulsive pursuit of ego-gratification and things to identify with in order to fill this hole they feel within.  So they strive after possessions, money, success, power, recognition, or a special relationship, basically so that they can feel better about themselves, feel more complete.  But, even when they attain all these things, they soon find that the hole is still there, that it is bottomless.”

“As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has just been fulfilled.  Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things.  It needs to be both defended and fed constantly.  The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications.  None of these is you.”

This part of the book completely made sense to me.  What Tolle is saying, is that nothing external can make you complete.  People spend their entire lives trying to ACHIEVE certain things — an expensive house, a lot of money, a beautiful girlfriend / a rich boyfriend — in hopes that they will finally find their happiness.  But, they’re only doing it to meet a certain NEED that they have or to fill up that emptiness inside of them.

The other segment of the quote from Tolle is how people use these external sources to define WHO THEY ARE and their IDENTITY.  But, if you base your sense of self on these external factors, you have no control.  What would happen if one day you lost your job, your spouse, or become old and lose your physical appearance?  What would happen to your confidence?

Those material things will always come and go… but it’s WHO YOU ARE is what you get to keep.

I kept adding post on so many different parts of the book, because I found the passages were so pure gold…

Oh….what’s more! He talks a bit about relationships which I also found interesting.

“If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease.  You can be sure that the unease will then reappear in some other form within the relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for it. All you really need to do is accept the moment fully.  You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”

Again, Tolle talks about how a relationship will not make you fulfilled and how most people jump into them due to insecurity and loneliness.  If you find yourself needy and longing for a companion, then I’d suggest making a commitment to yourself to be single for a certain period of time so that a relationship isn’t an option.  When you learn to become fulfilled and comfortable alone and with who you are, you will instantly become more attractive to everyone.  It’s because you’re already ABUNDANT emotionally.

The LAST idea that I will mention that Tolle talks about what holds people back from changing and transforming their lives.

“The mind, conditioned as it is by the past, always seeks to re-create what it knows and is familiar with.  Even if it is painful, at least it is familiar.  The mind always adheres to the known.  The unknown is dangerous because it has no control over it.  That’s why the mind dislikes and ignores the present moment.”

I think this is one of the primary reasons why people will never change or become the best they can be.  This is what limits them from extreme growth and the ability to step outside their comfort zone..

OK, I’m going to end things here, so that this post doesn’t get too long and out of control (or it does already? :p)

Of course no summary like this can do any sort of justice to the full power of Tolle’s message, especially the eloquence and strength of his words, and the fact that he writes in such a way that the real underlying message is received more on an intuitive level than a conscious one. So this should act as an introduction to urge YOU to read “The Power of NOW” in full.  Simply click here to download “The Power of NOW” Audio Book torrent or here to download “The Power of Now” E-Book.

IT IS a remarkable book.  No wonder Oprah raves about him!

ps. Especially THANKS to my admirable boss for recommending this marvelous book!