The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle captured my attention with "I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside." (page 9)

Tolle begins by reminding us that it is MIND that has created the illusions that veil the true nature of reality. We are slaves to the mind, most of us completely unaware that we have become lost in the chaos and noise of our thoughts, not knowing that it is also completely within our power to shatter these illusions.

Tolle claims (quite rightly, I believe) that the reason we have gotten stuck so deeply within our own minds is because we identify with it. We think we ARE our minds "because you are identified with it, which means that you derive your sense of self from the content and activity of your mind. Because you believe that you would cease to be if you stopped thinking." (page 18)

The key is within the power of NOW.

Tolle states that we have created a "pain-body", an accumulation of all the pain and negativity from past emotional hurts, and that many of us live almost entirely through this "pain-body". It clouds our perception of reality. It perpetuates the suffering in our lives because we have come to believe that this "pain-body" is who we are. Thus, we find it difficult to break away from the pain, and our light of consciousness doesn't get through the thick fog it creates.

However, "Sustained conscious attention severs the link between the pain-body and your thought processes and brings about the process of transmutation. It is as if the pain becomes fuel for the flame of your consciousness, which then burns more brightly as a result." (page 33)

There is nothing that exists except the present moment. Nothing is real but NOW. Everything else is illusion, and simply creation of the mind. "The whole essence of Zen," says Tolle, "consists in walking on the razor's edge of Now - to be so utterly, so completely present that no problem, no suffering, nothing that is not who you are in your essence, can survive in you." (page 43)

One of Tolle's most salient chapters is the chapter called "Enlightened Relationships". He explains that while it is completely natural to feel physically incomplete (because we are EITHER man OR woman), most of us get caught up in addictive, ego-gratifying relationships that are ultimately about 'self' instead of 'other'. He says that the ability to become fully present in the Now of any relationship can break us from this painful pattern. While explaining this, Tolle also clears up some of my confusion about the Buddhist view on relationships. I was told by my teacher that true 'love' is love that is not exclusive. It is felt to be the same for everyone. I have always had a bit of a problem understanding this, but Eckhart explains it beautifully. "Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not selective. It does not make one person special. It is not exclusive. Exclusivity is not the love of God but the "love" of ego. However. the intensity with which true love is felt can vary. There may be one person who reflects your love back to you more clearly and more intensely than others, and if that person feels the same toward you, it can be said that you are in a love relationship between him or her. The bond that connects you with that person is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting next to you on a bus, or with a bird, a tree, a flower. Only the degree of intensity with which it is felt differs." (page 129) He also discusses how relationships can be a spiritual practise.

If there is one book you read this year (or even in your life) then this should be it. This is one of those 'life-changing' books, of which even an avid reader finds only a few in a lifetime. I will keep this one handy for me to contemplate these words of insight, again and again. Definitley a book for my "Top Shelf" collection. (To see my book collection click here.)

PS...THANK YOU...a million times...you know who you are...