The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

4.5 stars ⭐️

* How will I know when I have surrendered?
When you no longer need to ask the question!

Eckhart Tolle has written on the philosophy of the mind and the state of now. The state of “being.” When we surrender ourselves to the now, we let go of the past and forget about the present. We steer and drive far away from the past and the pain, suffering, regret and all the burdens it carry’s. The present brings anxiety, phobias and fear that we have no control over. Therefore, surrendering yourself to the now, gives you the full potential to see the true being of who you are, and to live for the moment. Whatever there was, is not real. For what is now, is the realest it will ever be. You are now!

A very powerful message and different look into the philosophical mind and questions on how we respond to the world around us.

The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle

The book is intended to be a guide for day-to-day living and stresses the importance of living in the present moment and avoiding thoughts of the past or future.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «آدمی دیگر»؛ «تجربه حضور در لحظه ی حال»؛ «تمرین برای رسیدن به جادوی اکنون»؛ «تمرین نیروی حال»؛ «زندگی ایده آل و آرامش درون»؛ «زیستن در حال»؛ «شور حال»، «قدرت اکنون»، «قدرت حال»؛ «قدرت حضور در حال»؛ «کلیدهایی برای زندگی سالم و بهتر»، «لذت حضور یا اقتدار اکنون»؛ «نیروی حال»؛ «نیروی حال رهنمونی برای روشن بینی معنوی»؛ «شکوه زندگی در لحظه ی حال»؛ نویسنده: اکهارت تول؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز پنجم ماه ژوئن سال2002میلادی

عنوان: تمرین نیروی حال؛ نویسنده: اکهارت تول؛ مترجم: فرناز فرود؛ تهران، کلک آزادگان، سال1381؛ در109ص؛ شابک9649306331؛ چاپ چهارم سال1384؛ چاپ پنجم سال1386؛ شابک9789649306339؛ چاپ ششم سال1389؛ چاپ دیگر سال1393 در111ص؛ موضوع زندگی معنوی از نویسندگان آلمانی تبار کانادا - سده20م

با عنوان: ل‍ذت‌ ح‍ض‍ور، ی‍ا، اق‍ت‍دار اک‍ن‍ون‌؛ اک‍ه‍ارت‌ ت‍ل‍ی‌ (تول)؛ مت‍رج‍م دل‌آرا ق‍ه‍رم‍ان‌، ف‍رح‌ن‍ازح‍ی‍دری‌؛ تهران، سخن، سال1386؛ در367ص؛ شابک9643721671؛

با عنوان: شور حال؛ مترجم: سوسن پیرنیا؛ تهران، بافکر، سال1388؛ در250ص؛ شابک9789649098128؛

با عنوان: زندگی ایده آل و آرامش درون؛ مترجم: پروین خیاط غیاثی؛ تهران، نوآور، سال1389؛ در248ص؛ شابک9789642804498؛

با عنوان: زیستن در حال؛ مترجم: مهدی الوانی؛ تهران، نشر نی، سال1389؛ در271ص؛ شابک9789641851790؛

با عنوان: قدرت حال؛ مترجم: غزال رمضانی؛ تهران، وانیا، سال1393؛ در280ص؛ شابک9786006564296؛

با عنوان: تمرین نیروی حال؛ مترجم: فاطمه مشایخی؛ تهران، سیوا، سال1394؛ در130ص؛ شابک9786006974118؛

با عنوان: قدرت اکنون؛ مترجم: مهدی خاتمی؛ تهران، آرنا، سال1394؛ در249ص؛ شابک9786003561373؛

با عنوان: آدمی دیگر؛ مترجم: سیامک عاقلی؛ تهران، نامک، سال1395؛ در220ص؛ شابک9786006721583؛

با عنوان: تجربه‌ی حضور در لحظه‌ی حال آموزش‌های ضروری، مراقبه و تمرین‌هایی برای زندگی آزاد و رها؛ نوینده: اکهارت تله؛ مترجم: ئاسو همایون‌نژاد؛تهران، فراروی، سال1387؛ در124ص؛ شابک9786005947120؛

و ...؛

یک شب، در سال1977میلادی، در سن بیست و نه سالگی، پس از سالها رنج ناشی از افسردگی شدید (تمایل به خودکشی)، یک دگرگونی ژرف را تجربه می‌کند، آن شب، در حالیکه با رنج غیرقابل تحمل افسردگی، از خواب برمی‌خیزد، به یک شهود دگرگون کننده دست می‌یابد؛ او این تجربه را، اینگونه روایت می‌کند: «من نمی‌توانستم خودم را تحمل کنم؛ ناگهان پرسشی به ذهنم آمد، که جوابی برایش نداشتم؛ این من کیست، که نمی‌تواند خودم (سلف) را تحمل کند؟ ناگهان، با یک فضای خالی، روبرو شدم؛ در آن لحظه، نمی‌دانستم، که خودِ ساخته شده توسط ذهنم؛ با تمام سنگینی، و مشکلات و زندگی کردن، یا در گذشته ی ناخوشایند، و یا آینده ی ترسناک؛ فروریخته، و ناپدید شده است؛ فردا صبح، که از خواب برخاستم، همه چیز، در صلح و آرامش بود؛ چون دیگر از خود (سلف) خبری نبود؛ تنها بودن، و حضور را، تجربه می‌کردم؛ تنها مشاهده گر بودم»؛

این احساس ادامه پیدا کرد، و او، حسی نیرومند از آرامش را، در تمام موقعیت‌های زندگی، تجربه کرد؛ «تولی» تحصیلات دکترای خود را، نیمه کاره رها کرد، و به مدت تقریباً دو سال، بیشتر وقت خود را، در پارک «راسل»، در مرکز «لندن»، در حالتی از سرخوشی ژرف، به تماشای جهان نشست؛ «اکهارت تله (تولی) (زاده روز شانزدهم ماه فوریه سال1948میلادی در آلمان)، نویسنده و معلم معنویِ، و شهروند «کانادا» هستند؛ ایشان پس از انتشار دو کتاب پر فروش «نیروی حال»، و «زمین جدید»، به شهرت رسیدند؛ در سال2011میلادی، از سوی «واتکینز ریویو» به عنوان تأثیر گذارترین شخصیت معنوی جهان، معرفی شدند؛ در سال2008میلادی، ستون نویس «نیویورک تایمز»، ایشان را، محبوبترین نویسنده ی کتابهای معنوی، نامید؛ «تولی» ادعا می‌کند، که بیشتر سالهای زندگی خویش را، تا پیش از بیست و نه سالگی، که دستخوش یک دگرگونی درونی شد، در افسردگی، بگذرانده است؛ پس از آن تجربه، او چند سال را، بدون کار، و سرگردان، اما در حالت سرخوشی درونی، گذراند، و پس از آن، یک معلم معنوی شد؛ بعدتر، او به «آمریکای شمالی» مهاجرت کرد، و کتاب «نیروی حال» را، در سال1997میلادی منتشر کرد؛ او ده سال در «ونکوور کانادا» زندگی کرد؛ تا سال2009میلادی، تنها در «آمریکای شمالی»، سه میلیون نسخه، از کتاب «نیروی حال» و پنج میلیون نسخه از کتاب «زمینی نو (زمین جدید)» به فروش رفته است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 29/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 15/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

It would be easy to dismiss this book as a fruit-salad of New Age and pseudo-buddhist clichés, mashed to a fine purée of nonsense and sold as a cure for what ails you in our age of secular alienation. In fact, that is what it is and that is what I'll do.

The book opens with what readers of religious texts, the erowid archives and Huxley's The Doors of Perception will recognise as a classic mystical experience, epiphany or trip:

"One night not long after my twenty-ninth birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread... `Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the `I' and the `self' that `I' cannot live with." "Maybe," I thought, "only one of them is real."... I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. Then I felt drawn into what seemed like a vortex of energy. It was a slow movement at first and then accelerated. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words "resist nothing," as if spoken inside my chest. I could feel myself being sucked into a void... Tears came into my eyes. I got up and walked around the room. I recognized the room, and yet I knew that I had never truly seen it before. Everything was fresh and pristine, as if it had just come into existence. I picked up things, a pencil, an empty bottle, marveling at the beauty and aliveness of it all."

After this experience, Ulrich Tolle became a vagrant mystic for a period, rechristened himself Eckhart (presumably after 13th century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart) and eventually became a spiritual teacher, author and talk-show guest with extraordinary success.

The primary thesis of the book is quite sensible, if unshattering. We exist only in the present; our past and the future are mental constructs. It is a shame that our enjoyment of the present is so often ruined by regrets about the past and worries about the future. By being more intensely focused on the present, we can be more content and more fulfilled.

As this doesn't fill 229 pages we are treated to, among other things, lengthy discourses on the "pain-body", an interesting theory of menstrual flow as a means to enlightenment and the surprising finding that as a member of the human race, I carry personal complicity and responsibility for all crimes and genocides of the twentieth century including those carried out before my birth.

The style is generally chatty, though Eckhart occasionally uses a faux-dialectic to bring up obvious objections to his line of thought, to which he responds with withering scorn. One helpful feature is the use of a pause symbol (§) to indicate points at which "you may want to stop reading for a moment, become still, and feel and experience the truth of what has just been said".

The text is interspersed with brief analyses of quotations from various religious traditions, apparently garnered from many weeks studying fridge-magnets.

§

I am glad to have read the book, if only to have gained a greater understanding of contemporary popular New Age/spiritual literature. If this book changed your life, please do not attack me but have compassion for my ligatures to mind and pain-body which impede my understanding of it.

___
This is (unfortunately) one of my most-liked reviews. I'd just like to add that I don't automatically hate all writing on these themes. I would warmly recommend Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shunryu Suzuki), The Miracle of Mindfulness (Thich Nhat Hanh) and The Courage to Be (Tillich) among others.

How Many time during the day have you caught you're self lost ?

Lost in thoughts , memories or mental dialogues ?
What should've happened ? What will happen ?
Why didn't I say this ? Or Do that ?
how many times have U caught yourself 20 minutes later completely indulged in thoughts and carried away with emotions about things that exist ONLY in your head ? Things that never happened , or happened a very long time ago ?

In my case , many many many times !

This book will help you to look up , look around and realize how many times during the day you drift to " unconsciousness " ,or carry yourself around with absence , almost hypnotized . so lost in your mind that you stop noticing beauty and things for what it is and People for who they are .
A life changing book , one that you'll keep remembering your self before reading it and after reading it

So deep , so true , so simple , so fascinating that every words resonate within you powerful , vivid and good .

and Like many great books the name really does not do it , and where a title like " the power of now " may sound like an enthusiastic personL trainer who pushes you around shouting " now now now ! " , it's really not that type of books where the author seems to ask you to " let go of the past " and " embrace the life " and just shower you with all kind of possible clashes oozing Superficiality and unrealistic Attitudes ..

Deep philosophy is envolved , understanding for many spiritual act in many religions , clear , coherent and such a deep elightment as best as it can be in a written form

To be fair I did not complete this book. Although it came highly recommended it violated several principals I hold closely.

Over the years I have noticed a trend among "spiritual" and "self-help" books. Several that I had found very powerful at first made certain statements and conclusions that, upon investigation, turned out to be constructed from pseudo-science and extremely liberal interpretations of factual evidence. This left me feeling betrayed.

They all had some common elements. Statements like "I have the best truth" or "only truth" or "my investigations have given me a unique insight". Another big one is a statement at the beginning of a special and unique form of presentation that "has proven to be effective".

These have become common and so many "fad" books employ them and Mr. Tolle employs them with a wide brush.

I've practiced mindfulness for years. One of the great things about the practice is there is no singe or "right" way. It varies by the individual.

In place of this book I would recommend Jack Kornfield's "Beginning Buddhism" or the free series of Dharma Talks from the Insight Meditation Center which can be found at AudioDharma.org

Yeah. I needed this.

I’ve been living not so much in the past, but definitely the future. But Eckhart Tolle tells me that’s just an illusion. The only thing I can FEEL is the present. It’s the only thing I have. Oh, sure, I need to take care of things so I don’t perish. But the only reality is now.

“Surrender.” I like that. Surrender to what’s happening now. Surrender to my circumstances. Accept it, own it.

Be an observer of my thoughts. I tried it, tried to think of my thoughts coming out of a mouse hole. Closed my eyes and waited. And you know what? For a while there, nothing happened. It felt pretty good. He wanted me to live with “no mind.” Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but I took that to mean “feel more than think.” My mind can get in the way of happiness, or just of my being present.

Meditation is part of it. Being in the Now means being aware of pain, of my current circumstance. I meditate, and I can feel my achy heels, my itchy toe, my full lungs. I was there, and I accepted it, and it was nice. Nice to forget past and future.

It comes in the form of questions. An unnamed narrator asks Tolle questions, and he explains his answers. It’s something of a conversation. I liked that format.

Tolle refers to religious texts, mainly Jesus and the Buddha. But he does it for context, to explain his points. He uses them as examples of that “present” behavior, their philosophy of succumbing to what’s happening around me. I sometimes blanch at too-religious literature, but this wasn’t that.

I read slow at first, like I should. But I couldn’t help myself, so I kinda sped through the middle sections. I need to go back and treat this like a workbook. Try out some of the exercises.

Outstanding. Another good effort toward my quest for positive thinking.

Upon 2nd reading of this book, I realized that any form of negativity I may have in the moment actually reflects a resistance to the present moment - a refusal to accept the here and now (which is the only reality).

Previous to this, I had thought that negativity simply is - and therefore should simply be noticed and accepted as part of the current reality, and not struggled against.

True, negativity shouldn't be railed at nor struggled against - but should instead be simply noticed. And noticing negativity includes awareness that it involves my resistance to the here and now, and my choosing instead to be wrapped up in my thoughts - and that there is a liberating alternative that is actually what is true and real.

Even though I started with a bit of "resistance" to this book, however, it turns out to be what I needed the most - peace within. What you couldn't grasp at the beginning will all make sense at the end. The author writes in a profound and eloquent style, providing necessary examples of our everyday life with a seasoning of eastern/Sufi philosophy. The Power of Now is a powerful book of answers to the main and maybe only problems we're having in life. Whatever you would feel to have a grab at: addiction, suffering, depression, happiness, love, hate, nothingness, negativity, forgiveness, acceptance, understanding, tragedies like the death of a loved one, you name it! I really owe many thanks to my friend Mariam H. for recommending this book to me, really worth every page even though I had a break from reading it at some point in the past but it doesn't matter now. To truly appreciate this book, you have to really live what you learn from it, start with the relations you're having with friends, family, colleagues, co-workers or people you pass by in the street, or animals or trees! anything really.