The Power of Now is a book by Eckhart Tolle, that sells itself as the road to happiness (sorry he's against using the word happiness, I mean fulfillment).

What I liked:

I liked how he encouraged you to live in the "Now" and to remove yourself from your inner mind and act as an observer. I liked it when it was over.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the style of him answering questions that people pose to him. Just because you answer a question, it doesn't mean the answer makes any sense!

I hate his cocky attitude. I think it's great that he found inner peace and he's trying to help others, but come on he's not a prophet or a god. He espouses such lofty claims without any scientific or even logical evidence, insists they are universal facts of the world, and hides behind a lot of new age mumbo jumbo. I guess you have to be confident about any opinion you have to be taken seriously (the follow the leader mentality), but honestly I didn't like his tone at all, and thought he was condescending in a way that made little sense to me. Also, he didn't really give that much practical advice. All of the advice was about theoretical mindsets that people might have.
If he was my therapist I would go even crazier.

My biggest problem with this book, is the apologetic stance it takes on abuse. Whether that is abuse from your spouse, parents, friends, or strangers he claims that you shouldn't be mad, because "they could not have done anything else". What kind of fatalist BS is that? Imagine if a therapist told that to a rape victim! It kind of reminds me of the stance taken in "Radical Forgiveness", but at least that book acknowledges the issue of not staying in a toxic environment, this just throws the whole thing out the window!

As a whole, I don't think this book is horrible, but he makes such strange claims that it becomes a religion on its own. The fact that Jesus and God are just misunderstood concepts for millennia and we should look at what the spirit is, or that he believes the spirit lives on but not in an afterlife? What does that even mean?

Since human civilization came to be, people have been looking for the meaning of life, and I don't feel any closer to it from reading this book, despite him claiming to have all of the answers.

I think people like this book because it fits into a mold of what we would want an ideal religion to be like. Something that encourages love and acceptance of all people and to be at constant peace. While I think that is a great life motto to live by, I don't think the particular beliefs he pushes are in any way rational, and just because something is appealing on an emotional level, it doesn't mean that it makes any kind of intellectual sense.

I felt like this guy had a very entitled attitude. He reached his current state of inspiration and enlightenment by essentially dropping out and taking advantage of others. After a few years of couch hopping, mooching off of friends and sitting on park benches he came to these "realizations". He wasn't working, or acting as a contributing member of society in any way. I have a really hard time respecting his self serving attitude.
Plus he doesn't really have anything new to say. For anyone with a basic understanding of eastern philosophy and the major religions all of the content in this book will sound very familiar.
I don't think this book or this author deserves all the hype.

I was excited to read this book. I am drawn to the power of thought, the law of attraction mixed with letting go of the past and living in the moment. I thought this book would further teach about how living in the now is so important, as present moment really is all we have. However the way this book was constructed was poor. The Q & A weren't very helpful as the questions posted weren't even any questions I would have asked and oftentimes his answers were rude... say things like "you don't understand what I am saying"... I was like "Hello, I didn't even say that so why am I reading a chapter on something "the book says" I don't understand. By the end it was as if he is saying we should be mindless, thoughtless drones who pay more attention to the leaves of the tree instead of the fact the tree is falling on us about to crush us. He did have several good points, such as not spending so much time worrying and thinking about the things that have already and have not happened yet.

We do need to be more mindful of ourselves in the Now... really pay attention to our actions and the kinds of thoughts we have. Once we recognize a harmful pattern we can have the awareness to change those aspects of ourselves. Living in the present is so important, but the way it was written in this book was just not for me, it was simply as if I was being told what to do and any other way is wrong... not a good tone in my opinion.

Eckhart takes what can be practical mindfulness meditation with all its benefits, and adds a whole bunch of magical, convoluted mumbo jumbo that makes it not only a hard read, but also a work of fiction. Other than the fact that some sentences just simply don't make sense, it is coupled with vernacular and jargon that he seems to just create out of thin air. Although it may appear that some of those sentences are blowing your mind with some existential perspective that you don't wholly understand, he is actually blowing your mind with his terrible sentence construction using words and ideas that look nice together, but don't actually make sense. Go back and read that sentence again. It is pseudo-science 101, vague ideas and watered down theories put together in order to make them seem cohesive. Now mix some of that pseudo-BS with a few things that do actually make sense and are entirely helpful, and you can trick almost all your readers into thinking that you know what you are talking about! Fortunately the few ideas that do work are well-documented in many other philosophies if you care to look for them, and they make much more sense without Eckhart's spin on them. Using the imagination to explain certain concepts is sometimes helpful, in this instance it clouds the practical simplicity at the heart of living in the moment. Eastern philosophy has known this stuff since forever, though I doubt he has done much research on that, due to some of the sweeping statements he makes in this book. He might as well take a dump on it with his ultimately flawed western visions. If you are a fan of the thinking in the moment premise, and the real power of NOW, read some basic neuroscience/psychology books like 'The Happiness Trap', 'Emotional Intelligence' or 'The Upward Spiral' which have many of the same concepts, but written in a far more practical and direct way.
'The Power of Now' deserves supreme ranks in the Magical New Age Propaganda Army, as Schizotypal people will flock to this book like flies to trash. If you want to indulge some random ideas about the universe L.Ron Hubbard might provide a more interesting read. If you want to join us somewhere closer to reality then you are possibly better off taking a step back, then reading up on Buddhism, Taoism and mindfulness meditation. The Power of Now does make a nice drink coaster though ;-)

(orignally written in 2006)

Books were a major part of my gift giving this year and, being slightly amazon.com obsessive, I used their gift guides to inform my purchases. The guides provided by magazine editors were especially helpful and despite myself, I bought a hell of a lot of the suggestions from O. When I received the box in the mail, I realized that all of the items I had purchased had intended recipients except for one: The Power of Now.

I cracked the binding and read the first line of the introduction:

I have little use for the past and rarely think about it.


Whoa. In most conversations I have that are about life and how to live it, my lack of interest in the past is a common theme. Matter of factly, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I guess I bought this for me." I don't consider myself new age-y at all and struggle with the terminology Tolle uses -- it's hard for me to get down with the "pain-body" and "portals" -- but I do understand the interconnectedness of all things. That this book about the Now found it's way to me now didn't seem "special". It just was.

The book itself is okay. It's significance for me has been in it's ability to get me to focus more on the spiritual concepts I already believe in even if I don't cotton to the namby pamby language. It affirmed some things. It provided some tools for staying in the moment which, as my work life has changed and become more challenging this year, has been a struggle. I'm not usually one for stress but have found myself stressing more as I adjust to new demands. The Power of Now (and my vacation) have helped calm those tendencies.

I'm not a self-help guy and I doubt you will find me grabbing up tomes of spiritual enlightenment often in the future but for the serenity I felt as I closed this book today, I'm grateful.

I recommend this if you're willing to check your cynicism at the door. I know. It was difficult for me, too. But, just for this following "Eureka!" quote, it is worth it:

...change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.


Namaste.

الكتاب مفيد، ملهم، اللطيف في النسخة المسموعة إنها بصوت الكاتب مما يؤثر في الشد إلى الأفكار. الأمر الذي لم أتقبله هو استعمال إسلوب يتكرر عند المستغرقين في منهجية تفكير معينة وهو الإستدلال بالنصوص فوق طاقتها ، حيث إنه يستعمل إستدلالات على لسان النبي عيسى مثلا ويقول وهذا ما يقصده النبي بقوله كذا وهذا ما أشار إليه النبي بقوله كذا مثبتا الفكرة بهذه الطريقة - بالرغم من إنه لا يعتبر نفسه مسيحيا - هو يستدل بمختلف الأديان والمنهجيات ، ومنها الصوفية - نادرا- بيد إن هذا لا ينفي الفائدة والقوة من ما طرحه الكاتب من أفكار، من أهمها التفريق بين الذات وما يسميه العقل الذي هو أقرب إلى النفس في ثقافتنا الإسلامية بحسب وصفه للعقل الذي يوهمنا بإنه نحن. الوصف قريب جدًا لمفهوم النفس المطلوب مجاهدتها.
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Very inspiring and beneficial book. I enjoyed listening to it. It's definitely a book I'll get back and listen to in the future again.

This was a good book for me to read, as someone whose mind can keep her from sleeping. I was surprised by the insight into relationships, and that is probably what I'll take the most from this time around, but I can imagine getting something different every time you read it. Tolle asks you to do something very difficult, to focus on Being, and I can try to adopt some of the practices he recommends.

My 4th time reading it. This time I listened to the audiobook, which was great too.
I got new insights again.

It's a great book if you want to read something "spiritual" or if you want to get into it for the first time, because it's format is in questions and answers there might be questions answered that you would ask.

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It's a few years now since I've read this for the first and second time. In the meanwhile I have learned so much about spirituality, that now for the 3rd time reading it I got even more out of it and had new realisations with my evolved understandings. <3

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This was my second time reading it. As I already said after I've read it the first time: If I should pick only one book which every human being should read, I would pick this one. Seriously, read it!

The suggestions in this book are similar to suggestions I've heard from someone I know who is in psychic school. He told me about root chakras and staying grounded while being in the center of your head. Reading this book, I believe being present is similar to these teachings.

When you are grounded, no negativity can enter your space. You are connected to the Earth, no harm can come to you, it only takes a little focus. Similarly, when you are present, no negativity can enter your space. The book even mentions that you can diffuse other people's negativity by being present, similar to psychic healing! The book also talks about listening to your mind as a separate entity. Hear your thoughts, laugh at your thoughts, try to understand your thoughts, but don't let your thoughts rule you. By doing so, your mind will eventually become calm. The spaces between thoughts will lengthen, and you will automatically become present in the process.

This act of being present, without thought, only feeling, not focusing on things or noise, but paying attention to absence and silence, is what allows you to achieve enlightenment. The Power of Now also teaches us how enlightenment is not a difficult thing to seek out. It's already inside you, you just have to look inside to find it. The only problem is your mind gets in your way. Your mind creates fear and pain to prevent you from letting go of the mind-created fear and pain. It's a never-ending process if you allow your mind to rule you, but all it takes is taking a step back and saying to yourself, hey, my mind is creating problems out of nothing. There are no problems. As long as I am present my only concern is that I'm happy to be alive. No problems or worries can enter my space as long as I am only living this moment. It's when you linger in the past or future that worries and problems start to creep up. It's the Power of the Now that lets you overcome basically any problem that you may encounter.

This is some pretty powerful stuff. I'm sure a lot of people find it hogwash. I'm sure a lot of people get turned away once it starts talking about God being inside you. But the parts where it talks about anger and depression and all the negative emotions that seem to control your life, those are the parts that speak truth. And this book gives you the tools to overcome those emotions. One way is to work through pain, by focusing on it, not thinking about it, but just feeling it. Eventually the pain goes away once you are present. This book really is a marvelous tool.

I definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in evoking change in their life. Some people aren't ready for that sort of change, however. But to those that are ready, read the book, and try to do what it says. It won't hurt for sure. And if you do what it says, you'll start to feel, hey! this really works! But it's a process, and the change can't happen overnight. It takes a great deal of concentration and practice to take effect. But practice makes permanent, as one of my good high school teachers said. :)

I have to admit, I loved this book.

This is a hard one for me. I have it in audio book and am letting it rest.

Now I have finished it and rated it now. This is a good book because it has a lot of wisdom in it and meshes very well with other great spiritual teachings that are at the top of my list. It also meshes well with my own experience and common sense - a guideline that Buddha gave.
Bottom line, religious organizations from the major lines (Catholic, Protestant, or even evangelical or any other kind) have basically taken some spiritual teachings (ex. by Jesus) and kept the parts that fit in with their goals of having power over people and keeping them under control through guilt and fear. But they add to the few kernels of original teaching that they kept and then added their own ideas which were attributed to some ancient times and places. They use these "doctrines" in getting "the people" to do their dirty work (from Crusades to selling pardon from sin to obtain money to build Rome to more recent wars in Iraq or Viet Nam).
But Tolle, like 'A Course in Miracles' and Buddha and other sacred teachings that haven't been "revised", even the new scientific directions of quantum physics, teach that we are ALL children of the creative power, and that power is within us all, even though we may not be aware of it (we are not awake) to see that there is oneness and unity and connection one with all.
We have had our unified mind "stolen" or borrowed by the divisive ego mind, which teaches us that we are separate, lacking, sinful, and should judge ourselves and others; keep for ourselves and find ways to identify tne "me" as Tolle calls it: we create definitions based on color, sex, age, intelligence, and a myriad of other factors that our ego creates and then comes up with ways to measure, apply and define.
The more complicated we can make it the farther away from truth we get (from our own truth). It leaves us sleeping rather than awake. But Tolle has some simple ideas, not complicated, and they can help us to awaken and undo this maze of ego contamination.

What to say about this book? It earns glowing reviews from some and evokes visceral anger in others. I can understand that. It is that kind of book. As for me, I really enjoyed it, and I find it difficult to explain why. By all accounts, I shouldn't have—I am a skeptic with a profound fondness for the scientific method. I don't care for New Age spirituality. So what's the deal?

Had I followed my initial instinct, I never would have added this book to my "read" list. I don't want people to know I read it. I fear it makes me seem desperate, gullible, maybe even a bit of a loon, as though I'd wandered away from my typical reading of serious literature and into the land of the quacks, a Don Quixote not of knight-errantry, but of hemp-clad-spiritual-self-help-istry.

But is this fear justified? After all, I had been a closet meditator for years because of this same insecurity. I would hide my meditation cushion when friends and family visited my home, lest they ask questions and I be forced to explain myself. Every time I sat on the cushion, I felt silly; but one day, I realized something—I was just sitting there. That's all. Just sitting. Surely sitting is nothing to be ashamed of. It was my beliefs about meditation that had embarassed me, not the sitting itself.

So I had learned that my fear of reading The Power of Now was rooted in my desire to protect myself from feelings of shame and embarassment. That was the silly thing: avoidance out of fear of social condemnation. So, yeah, I read the book and liked it.

The core message of The Power of Now is that we perpetuate our sense of self at the expense of true experience. By stripping away our web of concepts and beliefs, we can see ourselves and our world unfiltered. All of our beliefs, good and bad, are mental constructs with no objective reality. And since we use these beliefs to define ourselves, we are very reluctant to get rid of them even when they make us miserable. After all, without them, who are we?

But once we see things as they truly are, we can go from believing that we are separate from all things to knowing that we are a manifestation of all things, whether it be God, the Universe, Being, or whatever concept we find convenient. We are windows of consciousness through which, as Carl Sagan put it, the universe can know itself. Once we begin to internalize this—not just know it on the conceptual level, but to really internalize it—all of the beliefs we've built fall away and suffering ceases.

It's an ancient message. Tolle has extracted core teachings from Mahayana Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and Gnostic Christianity, and has reworked them in a way that proclaims no dogma and no cultural trappings. There is an old Buddhist saying: "There are 84,000 dharma doors." There are infinite ways in which truth can be realized. Tolle has simply provided us with another door, and it's a decent fit for the pervasive narcissism of the Internet age.

Tolle has the unique ability to jolt one's mind out of conventional pattens of thinking. I am reminded of old Rinzai Zen masters who gently whacked their students with a stick, a keisaku, to pull them back to the present moment. Tolle is like a keisaku, and he is very effective at continually refocusing the reader's mind. As you read, you might find yourself building up beliefs about what he is saying, and Tolle, knowing this is happening—WHACK!—quickly shatters them before they can solidify and cause confusion.

Despite the New Agey tone, Tolle's words carry a powerful kernel of truth. It doesn't matter if we speak in Buddhist, Hindu, New Age, or Christian terms, the message remains the same. So when I encountered pseudoscientific concepts like "vibrational energies" and the feminine "pain-body" in Tolle's work, I suppressed my instinct to toss the book across the room (my Kindle actually, which is too precious to toss no matter the offense), and I tried to reword and internalize the message. Doing this, I often had the strong sense that Tolle was on to something, even if his language was vague or unscientific.

With anything as successful as this book, it's hard to escape the sense that we're being sold on something, but I don't think this invalidates the core message. As a book, The Power of Now can stand entirely on its own. Nothing more is needed. Yet, many of us are seekers, and when we sense a bit of truth we flock to it, even if it keeps up seeking rather than finding. I recommend completely ignoring Tolle's commercial juggernaut. Just read the book and stop there.

Often, when we suffer, we are often told we need to elevate our self-esteem through affirmations or to use logic to circumvent negative thinking. As most of us eventually learn, we can't build up our self-esteem to escape the harm caused by lack of self-esteem. Eventually, that buttressed sense of self will falter, be it illness, a few more pounds gained, a lost job, or a troublesome co-worker. However, through present moment awareness, we disengage the thinking mind, and the noise just stops. We can finally see through our own nonsense. Instead of running faster on the hamster wheel, we decide to jump off.

This is the message I heard. It might not be the one you hear. Whether or not you'll enjoy this book or benefit from it is determined largely by who you think you are right now. If you're open minded and willing to bend outside of your comfort zone, read it, but don't overthink it.