The
Book
The
Power of Now – A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckhart
Tolle
What
It’s About
Now, the present, this moment, are
all we have. It is also all we
need. The past is useless because
it cannot be changed. The future
is useless because it is imaginary.
Being stuck in the past leaves us filled with regret. Being obsessed about the future fills
us with fear. It is only in the
present that we can put the past and the future in proper perspective. It is in the present, in the Now, where
we can find God, and where we can find peace.
Tolle made this
discovery for himself while undergoing an prolonged period of depression. His emotional pain became so great that
he cried out, “I cannot live with myself any longer.”
This thought
repeated itself until Tolle wondered if there were two of him – the “I” and the
“self” he could not live with. He
then wondered if only one of these personas was real. He then had an inexplicable spiritual experience that he
doesn’t remember, but when he woke up, he felt an indescribable peace, which
lasted for the next two years.
Even while enduring homelessness his peace never left him. He read and studied under spiritual teachers
until he became one himself, teaching others to have what he has, the power of
Now.
The greatest enemy
to this power is the Pain Body.
The Pain-Body, an almost parasitic entity, lives within each of us,
constantly crying out for attention and control. It feeds on unhappiness and it is always hungry. To fight this enemy within, we must be
conscious of our thoughts; we must “watch the thinker.” It is our unconscious and
egoistic thoughts that strengthen the pain-body. Again, many of these thoughts center around the past or the
future and put these both in a negative light.
Being in the Now,
however, can alter not only our thinking, but our moods, our actions, and our
relationships with others and with ourselves. Being in the Now is the same as being with God (or being
“one with Being, as Tolle calls it). The Now is where God is, and it is where we should be.
Why
I Picked This Book
Other than the Bible, I have not
had a book cause me to have a spiritual experience. But upon beginning this book, I felt an enormous
undercurrent of joy that lasted for several days and could be felt by others
around me. I hesitate to share
this because I can’t claim that everyone will have the same experience as
me. In addition, even Tolle
himself says that no spiritual experience lasts forever. Still, it was powerful and unexpected.
It is not an “experience”
that we should look for, but rather transformation, inner transformation. This book has helped me to do
that. I am not “enlightened” yet,
but when I am in the Now, I am completely at peace and in those moments I am
enlightened. Enlightenment is also
not the goal. The goal is to be
present in each and every moment.
Knowing that I am not present is a form of presence. When I am fully present, I am at peace,
and I can live and work in a state of peace, joy, and love.
I have read or
listened to this book several times and it always gives me comfort.
How This Can
Help You
If you’re like me, or like most
people, you might find your thoughts constantly in the past or future. This book gives practical advice and
exercises on how to get to the Now in relationships, and in life. This book will teach you how to be more
present, and thus less worried, less angry and more patient, peaceful, joyful,
and loving. Like The War of Art, it is one of my top ten books.
Quotes
from the Book
“Realize
deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus
of your life.”
“Time isn’t precious at all,
because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the
one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you
are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most
precious thing there is.”
“If your mind carries a heavy
burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates
itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this
moment is what shapes the future.”
“Once
you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let it go,
and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would
threaten your identity as a depressed, angry or hard-done by person. You will
then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common
phenomenon.
It is also insane.”