The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

by Eckhart Tolle

book data

4,093 ratings, 4.06 average rating, 1,000 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		42%
4		31%
3		18%
2		5%
1		2%

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published

September 29th 2004 (first published 1997) by New World Library

binding

Paperback, 224 pages

isbn

1577314808 (isbn13: 9781577314806)

description

Ekhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly ...more

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04/23/08

Sean O'Neil rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap

recommends it for: fools and idiots

What a pompous fraud this guy is, this Eckhart Tolle. He steals the classic works of Eastern cultures and repackages them in a poorly-written and impossibly stupid manner. He talks about rocks being alive. But he doesn't say what makes them alive, what gives them that metaphoric quality.

This is metaphysics presented in a Naked Emperor fashion, packaged for those who are ill-educated and cloistered in a materialistic Judeo-Christian (read: American, British, Israeli) mindset. Noth...more What a pompous fraud this guy is, this Eckhart Tolle. He steals the classic works of Eastern cultures and repackages them in a poorly-written and impossibly stupid manner. He talks about rocks being alive. But he doesn't say what makes them alive, what gives them that metaphoric quality.

This is metaphysics presented in a Naked Emperor fashion, packaged for those who are ill-educated and cloistered in a materialistic Judeo-Christian (read: American, British, Israeli) mindset. Nothing original here. Nothing personal or meaningful shared. Just another confidence scam in the bunko career of Meister Eckhart.

Look, the problem with his thesis is massive: he wants us all to live in the moment, for the moment. He wants us to free our minds of those negative cycles of thought related to past and future events. He says that our state of mental health depends on living in the present moment.

What he has done is bastardized and made utterly toxic one of the central themes of Buddhism. He corrupts it by suggesting that the past and future are irrelevant, and we should ignore negative thoughts.

Negative thoughts about the past are what make up the thing we call our "conscience," the thing that directs our sense of propriety, of ethical behavior, of moral relationships. I don't mean as "moral" that shit Jerry Falwell preached. I mean principles put into action. I mean this: god damn it, we Americans _should be_ anguished and guilt-ridden about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We murdered Japanese innocents by the millions. We should be haunted by Bush/Cheney's slaughter of innocent Iraqis. Over a million have been murdered just to secure access to oil and create a geopolitical stronghold in the Middle East for future incursions into other oil-producing nations.

And as to the future: we should be worried about the future effects of present thoughts and present courses of action. Focusing only on the present moment means we aren't responsible for what happens outside this immediate present moment. That's pure bullshit! Pure, utter, unadulterated bullshit!

The only valid point Tolle has is this: it is mentally unhealthy to obsess endlessly over things that we didn't cause in the past, and over things we can't control in the present, and over things that have no likelihood in the future.

He doesn't need 220 pages to make that point. He doesn't need a book. He doesn't even need a whole page within a book.

Tolle is a fraud at best. At worst, he is a force for excusing immorality. Joseph Goebbels would love Eckhart Tolle if Goebbels were alive today. I'm sure Karl Rove loves Tolle.(less)

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07/16/07

Stacy rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: anyone interested in evolving spiritually

Mr. Tolle spent two years sitting on park benches and simply "living in the moment" prior to writing this book. I doubt whether I will ever take the time in my life to do such a thing, however the suggestion he offers that we all spend a ridiculous amount of time either worrying about the future, or dwelling on the past has impacted me in a huge way. Until I read this book, I never noticed how in sane my mind can make me if I choose to let it. Tolle implores the reader to take the re...more

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07/24/08

Erin rated it:

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: No One

There is no nice way to say this. I hated this book with a fiery passion. It did not make me feel at peace. Rather, it made me want to chew off my arm. I bet if we asked Eckhart Tolle why I felt that way, he'd say that I wasn't really listening to his message.

My problems with the book were as follows. First off, the tone of the book was extremely condescending. Written in a question/answer format, many of the answers started out with "You're not really listening" or "...more

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07/02/08

Kristoffer rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction

There is a point in our lives when we say enough is enough. This is what this book is about. In one of his greatest works Eckhart Tolle teaches us the real meaning of spirituality. He teaches us the importance of the present moment. Through the recognition of the ego he makes us aware of how it destroys our lives. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for the real meaning of their lives and to anyone who is sick and tired of the usual thing.

The first time I encountered this...more There is a point in our lives when we say enough is enough. This is what this book is about. In one of his greatest works Eckhart Tolle teaches us the real meaning of spirituality. He teaches us the importance of the present moment. Through the recognition of the ego he makes us aware of how it destroys our lives. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for the real meaning of their lives and to anyone who is sick and tired of the usual thing.

The first time I encountered this book was when Oprah was introducing her book club selection, a new earth. I heard her mention this and while I was searching in the online catalog of our school library here in the Philippines I found it available for borrowing. So I immediately read it in the course of five days. After reading it the first time I understood its message intellectually. This was the reason why I didn't apply it in my life. But a few days ago I started having panic attacks and I was on the verge of suicide. I was so frustrated because I made a wrong decision in shifting my courses here in my school. I was so depressed because I didn't really know what I wanted with my life. It seems that the world is so full of shit. When this became worse I consulted our school counselor. However it seems that it is not enough. So without any real reason at all I started watching Oprah's videos about A New Earth and I remembered this book. I borrowed it again yesterday and just awhile ago I finished reading it. Then I began to understand it not on the level of the mind but at the level of the spirit. And without incident I became enlightened. I am still starting to feel its benefits at this moment. I started accepting what is rather than identifying myself with the ego. I can't say that I'm happy after reading this book like some "self-help" books would like you to be. But I can say that I am at peace because I aware of the workings of the ego and not identified with it.
So if you've had enough of the madness of this world I definitely recommend this book. But don't just understand it, apply it.
(less)

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05/08/08

Jeff rated it:

I like Echkart Tolle. I recommend this book if you are into new age spirituality or not. Even if you aren't into spirituality at all, check it out. I mean, jeez, spiritual enlightenment for less than $20, how could you go wrong?

I sometimes struggle with doubts about him, but I do this with all spiritual teachers. Another reviewer described him as a "pompous fraud" who "steals the classic works of Eastern cultures and repackages them in a poorly-written and impossib...more

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02/19/08

John rated it:

bookshelves: goodreads, religion

Read in July, 2004

Tolle's book is an important one, a much needed reminder that is too easy to forget. All too often people can pass entire lifetimes 'missing the moment.' One can, like the worst type of junkie, become so comfortable with-and so used to-anxiety, worry, and procrastination that to simply experience tranquility in the present becomes an impossibility. For such people, the simple and inspirational teachings that The Power of Now details can incite a revolution in one's experience of being alive. Tha...more Tolle's book is an important one, a much needed reminder that is too easy to forget. All too often people can pass entire lifetimes 'missing the moment.' One can, like the worst type of junkie, become so comfortable with-and so used to-anxiety, worry, and procrastination that to simply experience tranquility in the present becomes an impossibility. For such people, the simple and inspirational teachings that The Power of Now details can incite a revolution in one's experience of being alive. That being said, though, this book possesses flaws and confusions that must be sifted through using a keen sense of criticism (yes, this too, is an important faculty of the healthy human being).
First of all, becoming present is a practice-not a realization. I'm not sure Tolle makes this clear. Like any 'new thing' the appreciation of the present moment can seem novel and exciting but if one doesn't make it a practice and use discipline to habitualize the practice, then one will have merely another gimmick, a spiritual toy to play with for a while and then put aside. The reason why all the schools of enlightenment require masters and students and instills its practitioners with discipline and a set of methods is because nothing in life comes all at once but must be cultivated with care over a period of time. Because of this truth, I genuinely doubt Tolle's claim that after his midnight awakening he was 'all-at-once' transformed, never to require further training or practice. The experience he describes at the beginning of the book might just as well be labeled a psychotic break as a religious experience. Either way, the genuine appreciation of the moment can neither be totally 'on' nor totally 'off.' It is a variable experience that can be developed but will always remain part of the organic experience of being alive. Be wary of those who seem to show no anger, no sadness, no flaw-such people are usually very good actors and nothing more. Spend time with such people, in different types of contexts, to reveal the true human being. No unidimensional personality can exist in reality. We are always part of our context and environment and no matter our training or character can be expected to occasionally fall short of others' expectations.

A guide to enlightenment, then, should teach us that enlightenment is neither a great distance away nor too near. It is thoughtful experience revealed through action and word. I have seen car mechanics who are enlightened beings when they work on cars but atrocious when with their families. I have met novelists who convey all the wisdom in the world through a pen but seem haughty and fractured in normal human conversation. And I have met spiritual 'masters' who secretly creep away to have sex for the sixth time in a day or to check their stocks on the internet. Enlightenment is a myth, and some people treat it like a commodity to purchase or sell. To live well requires the experience of the present-often-but not all the time and in all situations.

Joseph Campbell once expressed the opinion that the type of enlightenment we have become familiar with is unique to a conception of self that was once fairly common in Asia. The type of self most moderns live by, especially we very 'special' Westerners with our love for 'Individuality' and 'Self-Expression,' excludes the possibility of such an experience. Perhaps it is time, then, we drop this idea and redefine what enlightenment should mean now, and to people like us.

Use this book as a pointer and compass, not as a map. The Buddha said it best, Be Lamps Unto Yourselves. I would add-and don't hide from the dark when it comes.
(less)

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09/23/07

Edbato rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: everyone!

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 simpl...more

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09/23/07

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0340898917)

bookshelves: witchynonfiction

Another one of those awesome, life-changing books!

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

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01/31/08

Jillian Clemmons rated it:

bookshelves: favorites, philosophy, self-help-how-to-s

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Jillian by: Oprah
recommends it for: Tracy Baptista

I was skeptical of this book at first since I can't stand Dr. Phil and this guy is like Oprah's spiritual guru and sometimes as much as I love her-she's got some strange ideas about who is enlightened and who is not...but I loved this book. I've read a few books with similar messages-about living in the present, being mindful, and grateful-it's a very zen-like message-but this book was different. Tolle explains that we are not our thoughts.

"The very fact that we can objective...more

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12/10/08

Natali rated it:

Read in December, 2008

I passed this book dozens of times in my yoga studio back in 2003. It was so popular and its praises so well sung by my yoga teacher, Steve Ross, that I thought it must be a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo. I didn't want to read it because I thought that it would entail jumping on some Los Angeles hippy bandwagon.

I opened myself up to Eckhart Tolle after watching him on Oprah's Spirit Channel and I'm so glad that I did. This book is really great. It contains such simple philosophy that...more

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07/26/08

Jason rated it:

Read in December, 2006

(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 r...more (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. (less)

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03/11/08

Bell rated it:

bookshelves: religion-sprituality-magical

Read in March, 2008

It's ait. Actually, I picked up the wrong book. (or, did I?) I meant to pick up Oprah's book club selection "A New Earth" also by Tolle.

I wasn't paying attention when I took this one. (or, was I?) JK

It's better than most self-help, spiritual books. It's more thorough and its question-answer format is helpful for the most common questions Tolle has been asked over the years. It's clearly and simply written so that the depth of his message is understandable, b...more

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06/30/08

Steph rated it:

bookshelves: not-worth-it

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: Someone at the bottom of the hole with no way out

If you are looking for a self-help book, then go a head and read this one - it may actually help you. Otherwise, don't give it to someone else unless they are already actively seeking self-help/enlightenment advice.
Honestly, I couldn't get past the first chapter of this book. An acquaintance gave it to me; apparently he was worried that I wasn't a happy camper. It's closer to the truth to say that he has a bad tendency to try to change people when they don't fit he pre-determined picture o...more

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06/26/08

Karen Mcintyre rated it:

bookshelves: spirituality

Read in June, 2008

If you can get past the initial assumptions like--
"If I cannot live with myself there must be two of me" nonesense --- there is much worthy of thought --- OH dear there I go thinking and according to Tolle the mind is not my friend! He suggests that the mind uses us for its own purposes rather than our using it to analyze -- in fact part of his formula is not to overthink things! I personally am glad that not everyone buys this idea! A little thought goes a long way to help us...more

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12/14/07

Fred rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2008

recommended to Fred by: friend
recommends it for: most everyone

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) hav...more 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. (less)

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05/01/07

Andi rated it:

Read in December, 2006

recommends it for: People with busy minds that need to slow down

This book is an excellent guide to shutting of your brain noise. We let our brains run us mad most of the time, and never really stop to enjoy the space we are in. Always dwelling over the past, or fretting about the future. This book points out that the future is 100% unpredictable (so stop making up stories about what is going to happen when you have absolutely NO IDEA) and to stop worrying about the past because no amount of energy devoted to the past will change it. Instead, be in the now; b...more

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01/08/09

David is currently reading it

bookshelves: currently-reading, philosophy

An acquaintance recommended me this, and I read much of it when my ma checked it out. Eckhart is very interesting, but what I have read seems to be written from one slightly Eastern viewpoint: he says the mind is problematic and limited. That is funny: a book such as this is intellectual, so he is being pretty Western but rejects (maybe unconsciously) a/the major Western (cultural) idea and its(/his) potential.

In Sanskrit (maybe not in Chinese,) there are enough words that are used...more

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06/21/09

Geoff Moller rated it:

Read in June, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Synthesis - that's what this book attempts. I believe it succeeds wonderfully. Tolle has spent half a lifetime studying Jesus, Buddha, Tao, Stoicism, Sufi Islam and more. His conclusion is that many major religions, at their core, are expressing the same ideal - the same perfection.

Tolle's gift is clarity - many of his sources promote the same beauty, but often the message is veiled in parable or riddle. There are valid reasons to encrypt an unpopular message (you can't kill an idea,...more Synthesis - that's what this book attempts. I believe it succeeds wonderfully. Tolle has spent half a lifetime studying Jesus, Buddha, Tao, Stoicism, Sufi Islam and more. His conclusion is that many major religions, at their core, are expressing the same ideal - the same perfection.

Tolle's gift is clarity - many of his sources promote the same beauty, but often the message is veiled in parable or riddle. There are valid reasons to encrypt an unpopular message (you can't kill an idea, but you can wipe out its transmitters for a few thousand years), but this book is a testament to the fact that we are in an age of awakening.

The greatest challenge in accepting the theme of this book (and its influences) is to surrender your mind (its compulsive thinking and its attachment to time) and ego, to surrender the division that separates us from ourselves, each other, and from the world. As he explains, it's a frightening concept for anyone to relinquish their ego and pain-body, to give away that which one associates with as their identity:

"You see time as the means to salvation, whereas in truth it is the greatest obstacle to salvation"

Nothing fires people up more than religion and faith, so expect to see a wide variety of extremely positive and extremely negative reviews. Tolle's challenge (along with those he attempts to aggregate) is to help lead you towards something which, at its core, is indescribable. That which cannot be named or spoken - that which ultimately cannot currently be described in human language. This is a very challenging thing to communicate - too much for the pure academic and scientist inside us to accept, so the natural instinct of the mind is to resist. Many will lash out against Tolle as an authority figure, but I think he does a great job of decoupling himself from the process, as in:

"There is nothing personal in this: I am not teaching you. Your are consciousness, and you are listening to yourself."

Some people are put off by the format (sort of a Socratic dialog) which proceeds as the book develops, but I think Tolle simply published the very common questions he received over and over again. I think the questions were reasonable and were probably very helpful for many initial doubts.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.(less)

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04/30/09

Lindsay rated it:

Read in April, 2009

This is my second Tolle book, and I found it another powerful read. This book took me longer to grasp than A New Earth, but again I found it to be very powerful and enlightening as a way to grasp the fullness of life by being fully present in the moment, accepting your life situation as it is right now, finding peace by doing so, and then making the best choices for life from this moment. The past has passed, the future hasn't happened, Now is what counts and what is your life. Enjoy it and make...more

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09/18/08

Seif rated it:

Read in September, 2008

I am currently reading this book, and find it so interesting, it's hard to stop reading! Every night, I lie down and practice the techniques of meditation and thinking in order to attain a clear mind. My father recommended this book to me, and I would recommend it to anyone, especially those with anxiety or phobic disorders. It goes over what your mind really is, and a way to clear it from all bad thoughts, addictions, or anxiety or phobias.

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quotes from this book

"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. " More quotes...