The Power of Now

"The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" is a self help book by Eckhart Tolle. It was first published in 1997, and has grown in popularity since Oprah Winfrey recommended it in her magazine, "O", in 2000 [http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-03-02-oprah-tolle_N.htm From Power to Purpose] usatoday.com, March 2, 2008.] (though it was never one of her book club selections). It has been on the New York Times Best Seller list and has been translated into 33 languages. [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/eckhart_tolle/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=Eckhart+Tolle&st=nyt Eckhart Tolle Biography] New York Times, Times Topics, March 5, 2008.]

The book focuses on spirituality and promotes no specific religious denomination. The book begins with Tolle recalling his initial transformational experience in 1980. The book covers topics including the personal and collective forms of the ego and the emotional "pain body."

Theme

The book teaches that, while our use of time has a practical aspect, most people are lost in time and are only peripherally aware of the present moment, or the "Now". In doing so, we make the present moment a means to an end for future fulfillment, and we become what Tolle calls unconscious. In this unconscious mind-state, we are easily controlled, live in fear, and manifest other egoic behaviors. He explains that to the ego, this future is going to save us (retirement, graduation, job promotion, etc), and that it will inevitably kill us. This paradox of how we view time adds to our anxieties and fears.

Tolle also talks about how our ego over-amplifies the past as 'my story.' The ego identifies with its story so it can have a sense of self. It does not matter to the ego if this story is happy or sad. In the book he says that our unhappiness is our own creation brought about by rejection of the present moment.

In the book Tolle also talks about the emotional "pain body", explaining that emotional pain from the past builds in the body. He explains that the ego and pain body help to feed each other in a cycle of torment that we inflict upon ourselves. He gives advice on how to free ourselves from the pain body.

Most of these themes are a restatement of Buddhist principles that life is "dukkha" unless man can free himself from 'attachment'.Fact|date=April 2008 Specifically, his focus on meditation and focusing the mind on the body to bring our awareness that our mind is not who we are is a Zen Buddhist precept.Fact|date=April 2008

Publication History

Eckhart Tolle, "The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment"
Namaste Publishing: 1997, ISBN 0968236405
New World Library: 1999, ISBN 1577313119
New World Library: October 1999; 2004, ISBN 1-57731-152-3 (HC) ISBN 1-57731-480-8 (PB)
G.K. Hall: 2000, ISBN 0783891954
Hodder Headline, Australia: 2000, ISBN 0733613764
Hodder and Stoughton: 2001, ISBN 0340733500
Hodder & Stoughton: 2005, ISBN 0340898917
Hachette Livre Australia: 2005, ISBN 0733620442

References

External links

* [http://users.tpg.com.au/wookie99/ Summary of the Power of Now] Chapter by chapter summary of the first 3 chapters of the book.