It took me about a week and a half to finish reading Eckhart Tolle’s popular book, titled “The Power of Now” for my 8 Week Book Reading Challenge. I was sure to spend extra time re-reading certain concepts and principles so that I could have a better understanding of his materials.
While difficult to read and comprehend at times, The Power of Now is without a doubt a remarkable book.
I kept hearing more and more about it through friends and other members of the “community“, so I decided to check it out. And, interestingly enough, Eckhart Tolle happens to live in the Kitsilano area in Vancouver (where I live).
The book is written in a cool FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) fashion. Because spiritual enlightenment can be difficult to understand, he focuses on answering questions from others throughout the book. I found this very useful and it helped me have a clearer understanding of his ideas.
The primary principle in the book revolves around the concept of “being fully present.” Or, in other words, “living in the NOW.”
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation. Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”
Eckhart talks about how people are constantly thinking compulsively throughout their day-to-day lives. This is what I usually refer to as “stuck inside your head” or in a completely “logical” state of mind.
They’re either thinking about the PAST or the FUTURE, rather than embracing the moment fully for what it is.
In relation to approaching and meeting women, the secret to receiving positive responses and generating high levels of attraction revolve around your emotional state”, or as Eckhart says “being in the moment.”
And, ironically enough, conditioning guys to think less and be more and more “in the moment” is the one thing that is stopping the typical guys I coach from massive success with women and dating. It’s usually because they’ve been CONDITIONED their entire lives to be compulsive thinkers and analytical, and their lifestyles reflect that — for example, sitting at home avoiding parties and social activities to be on the computer.
Eckhart describes a state of intense presence as “free of thought.”
“Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature does not really exist for them. They might say, “What a pretty flower,” but that’s just a mechanical mental labeling. Because they are not still, not present, they don’t truly see the flower, don’t feel its essence, its holiness — just as they don’t know themselves, don’t feel their own essence, their own holiness.”
Another really interesting concept that Eckhart talks about is “The Ego’s Search for Wholeness.”
“People will often enter into a compulsive pursuit of ego-gratification and things to identify with in order to fill this hole they feel within. So they strive after possessions, money, success, power, recognition, or a special relationship, basically so that they can feel better about themselves, feel more complete. But, even when they attain all these things, they soon find that the hole is still there, that it is bottomless.”
“As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has just been fulfilled. Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”
This part of the book completely made sense to me. What Eckhart is saying, is that nothing external can make you complete. People spend their entire lives trying to ACHIEVE certain things — an expensive house, a lot of money, a beautiful girlfriend — in hopes that they will finally find their happiness. But, they’re only doing it to meet a certain NEED that they have or to fill up that emptiness inside of them.
It is all too common that guys jump into the community hoping to meet a girlfriend so that they can feel better about themselves and be whole. Bullshit. I was there for the longest time, too. Until, I finally realized that a woman wasn’t the answer.
The other segment of the quote from Eckhart is how people use these external sources to define WHO THEY ARE and their IDENTITY. But, if your base your sense of self on these external factors, you have no control. What would happen if one day you lost your job, your girlfriend, or become old and lose your physical appearance? What would happen to your confidence?
Those material things will always come and go… but it’s WHO YOU ARE is what you get to keep.
I kept adding post-it’s to so many different parts of the book, because I found passages that were pure gold. He talks a bit about relationships which I found interesting.
“If you cannot be at ease with yourself when you are alone, you will seek a relationship to cover up your unease. You can be sure that the unease will then reappear in some other form within the relationship, and you will probably hold your partner responsible for it.
All you really need to do is accept the moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”
Again, Eckhart talks about how a relationship will not make you fulfilled and how most people jump into them due to insecurity and loneliness. If you find yourself needy and longing for a companion, then I’d suggest making a commitment to yourself to be single for a certain period of time so that a relationship isn’t an option. When you learn to become fulfilled and comfortable alone and with who you are, you will instantly become more attractive to everyone. It’s because you’re already ABUNDANT emotionally.
The last idea that I will mention that Eckhart talks about what holds people back from changing and transforming their lives.
“The mind, conditioned as it is by the past, always seeks to re-create what it knows and is familiar with. Even if it is painful, at least it is familiar. The mind always adheres to the known. The unknown is dangerous because it has no control over it. That’s why the mind dislikes and ignores the present moment.”
I think this is one of the primary reasons why people will never change or become the best they can be. This is what limits them from extreme growth and the ability to step outside their comfort zone.
While they’re already living a lame, shitty life that they’re clearly unhappy with — at least it’s COMFORTABLE. It’s often easy to stay where it’s comfortable, then to venture out into the unknown.
I’m going to end things here, so that this post doesn’t get too long and out of control. But, believe me, I could have gone on and on and on with more quotes and ideas from Eckhart. Remarkable book. No wonder Oprah raves about him and has added him to her book club.
If you want to check out this book, you can purchase it from Amazon here. The only warning I have is that it can be difficult to read if you’re unfamiliar with reading books on spirituality and enlightenment. Some of the stuff can be difficult to grasp, but it will sink in and it is definitely worth it.
Cheers,
Stefan
Executive Coach
Lifestyle Transformations
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How knowledgeable are you on this subject? Either way, I strongly recommend meditation. I’ve been avidly into chakra meditation for two years now and I can attest to what Tolle is saying. Can you imagine having no anxiety, fear or stress or worry? This shit works! For me , it started out as a relaxation tool, but turned into much, much more. I’ll only describe a bit here as there is too much to explain. In deep meditation, time and space do not exist which is sort of the opposite of your normal waking life in which you experience only what your eyes allow you to see. You are not your physical or mind body in this state. There’s no ego needs here. Just quiet, empty, vast, formless space. There are times when I feel like a rag blowing in the wind or my body feels like a hard plastic shell, but the inside feels like a formless vapor. Although I’ve never done acid, it felt as though I wasn’t going to come back out of this state. One of the many things I’ve gained from this is the ability to see the truth in life. It’s like things get downloaded into my head. It’s interesting and scary at the same time.
Wow, very impressive review. Interesting stuff, too.
Guys think themselves out of sex with women. They want to be seen as cool, they don’t want to fuck it up, so they’ve come to believe they have to be analyzing and overthinking their best or else they’ll miss opportunities.
It’s the flow and enjoyment of the interaction that is attractive and enjoyable. It’s annoying to be interacting with someone who doesn’t care what you say because they’re busy thinking about the past and future. But we also ruin the experience for ourselves by not enjoying the sounds, feelings, and visuals of the present moment because our focus is turned inward.
This is definitely on my list of 1,234,028 books to read.
To be critical, “The Power of Now’ is just warmed over Zen dookie with a little New Age marbled in with identity psychology as icing on the half-baked cake. Every five to ten years, the same crap comes wrapped in a different package. “I’m OK; You’re OK”, “Your Erroneous Zones”, “Men Are From Mars; Women Are From Venus”, and so on. Want to make a million dollars? Start collecting your material now, particularly “hip” words and concepts, and then get yourself a mail-order degree or some kind of honorary PhD, open a self-realization ashram and talk in a calm monotone and have an ever present benevolent all-knowing smile on your face. About five years from now when Tolle is fading from the universal collective ego (how about that!), write your book along the lines of “How to find your place in cosmic consciousness” or “Realize God’s Purpose for Your Life and become Rich”, and so on. As one contributor said, “This shit works.”
Nathan, what I really meant was that meditation works, not necessarily what Tolle preaches. Basically, he said he became enlightened overnight… I don’t believe that as that is something that takes time. I don’t subscribe to everything he says but believe living in the present is the key to being happy. Worrying about the past and future caused me to lose the ability to see obvious opportunities. It’s like an overloaded computer drive- it can’t work to it’s full potential and if you clean out all those old files, it will work much more efficiently, won’t it? So if you can clear the clutter out of your mind, there’s much more possibilities, wouldn’t you agree?
Hi Stefan,
Thanks for this review. I have recently watched a 4 day seminar called Real Social Dynamics: Blueprint, and Owen, the author, takes many of his values from Eckhart.
So I thought I would check out the Power of Now. I obtained the audio version yesterday. By the way, unlike most books, the audio book is actually read out by the author himself! I think this makes all the difference, otherwise I might have trouble internalising the detail.
So far, only 2 chapters in, and despite an introduction to Tolle from another teacher, I am already blown away. I can see how so many of the world’s problems, not just the big but also the trivial, are driven by living in the past and the future and not the now. Incredible.
What I would like to ask you is, how has your world changed in the months since you wrote this blog post and read the book? Have there been gradual changes to your way of thinking? And how has this translated to your lifestyle or relationships?
I’m curious to know. Of course, that means that I am thinking too much about the future already and missing out on the NOW
Chris
http://www.Grow-You.com