The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (Self-Dialogue Book Review)

The book we’re talking about today is The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle. What led you to read the book?

Someone on YouTube was raving about it. She said that it was one of the books that changed her life. So, of course, it piqued my curiosity. And I already had my own copy. I tried reading it years ago but couldn’t get into it at the time; it seemed like Tolle was speaking in another language. But it was different this time around. I think I was at a point in my life where I was ready to receive the message.

And what is Tolle’s message?

Oh, boy. Good question.

Thank you.

Tolle says that there is only the present moment – the Now. He encourages us to live, to Be, in the present since that’s all there is.

How about the past and the future? Has he heard of those?

He says that the mind’s tendency to compulsively focus on the past and on the future denies our capacity to live fully in the present moment. If we don’t embrace our lives as it is happening, which only ever happens in the present moment – the Now – then we aren’t truly living.

Our only reality exists Now. We only live in the Now. The past has already passed. All that is left are our memories, stories, and thoughts about it.

And the future is only ever a thought – and a lot of those thoughts for many of us are fraught with fear and worry. But we can’t live in the future – it isn’t physically possible – despite what we see in movies like Back to the Future.

Once tomorrow arrives, it will no longer be “tomorrow” but Now.

So how does one become *air quotes* enlightened?

Tolle says the way to enlightenment, Being, and consciousness is to still your mind.

Ha! Good luck with that.

Yes, it can be a challenge, especially for those of us who strongly identify with our minds, namely our egos, and the destructive self-talk that consume us on a regular basis. But it is possible. Before his spiritual awakening, Tolle was on the brink of committing suicide, that’s how overtaken he was by his mind.

The first encouraging step is becoming aware that you, your true Self, your Being, are not your thoughts. Acknowledge your thoughts as simply that – just thoughts, conditioning, concepts, and stories. Awareness or consciousness begins when you realize that you are not the thinker but are in fact the one “watching the thinker” – you are the observer, the witness. This awareness is the beginning of separating your sense of self from your thoughts.

Your thoughts can never begin to adequately and fully encompass who you are. Your Essence is beyond language, which is why it can only be experienced and felt in its fullness through stillness, by going within. We do not find wholeness and peace in the external world.

You mean meditation?

Yes. Or mindfulness, although Tolle does not use that term. To start practicing being in the Now, he suggests bringing our full attention to any activity we are performing – no matter how mundane or routine it may be. Pay attention to every detail of the task, involving only the senses rather than attaching labels or language to what you’re doing. In this way, you are simply being rather than thinking. You can also focus on your breathing, of course.

The purpose of all this is to raise consciousness and to bring you into the present moment, thus disconnecting your sense of self from the “the voice in your head.”

Tolle says that “[t]here is one certain criterion by which you can measure your success in this practice: the degree of peace that you feel within.”

I’ve gotta say this is all a bit too woo-woo for me. Let’s call it a day with a quote you liked from the book, shall we?

“When your deeper sense of self is derived from Being, when you are free from ‘becoming’ as a psychological need, neither your happiness nor your sense of self depends on the outcome and so there is freedom from fear.”

Wouldn’t that be a wonderful freedom? To just live and be without the compulsion to seek fulfillment and a sense of self in the external world by doing this or that to become “somebody”?

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful freedom to know deeply that we are already enough NOW?