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Amazon Sales - The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $6.63
Your Save: $ 7.37 ( 53% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: New World Library
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 204.4
EAN: 9781577314806
ISBN: 1577314808
Label: New World Library
Manufacturer: New World Library
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2004-09-29
Publisher: New World Library
Studio: New World Library
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: First-rate Book
Comment: Maybe we all should live in the present moment as Eckheart Tolle suggests. Its true are problems are not really affecting us right now in the "present' so why dwell on them constantly. It's hard to let go of all that brain activity and just live in the `now'. As you read the book you learn how to make those changes for a more peaceful life.
I see from reading the reviews on this site some people have recommend my book, "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers: A Message for Everyone," and again I just want them to know how much I appreciate their recommendation, especially at such a excellent site. I wrote this book out of love and for the glory of God and Jesus, not for my own fame or fortune. I welcome people to read my book, I'm sure you'll find this non-fiction account of a loving God just as positive and inspiring.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: ...with a grain of salt...
Comment: For the sake of my review, I see this book in two parts. The first is interesting, strange, helpful and also silly. Tolle does a good job of grabbing your attention with a very workable alternative to dealing with problems. As he explains it, there are no problems. All you have to do is agree with him and make them vanish from your interest.
Part two, about halfway in is when he starts stirring up his trouble. Now that he's got your attention, its time for his re-interpretations of Jesus. And they are interesting. They have merit, but most importantly, they deface the value of Tolle's message. Perhaps it was his own undying need to hold onto something of religious value... but shame on him for first discrediting religion and then rebuilding it. Can't we just get out of religion once and for all?
I put the book down before reaching the last page. I found it repetitious, unbalanced and disappointing.
As I had progressed through the first half book I found the solutions to "quieting your mind" helpful, but equally troubling as the author's philosophy tries to draw you in closer to its end-game of total peace. The problem is that he asks you to let go of not just too much, but everything you might hold dear. All cares and concerns, all of your history and ambitious speculations, you must give them all up for the promise that you don't need them. In other words, "details" are a falsehood, they have no real value. For many, maybe this is helpful. Perhaps for the person that just wants to find a way to survive through life without any sorts of conflict and obstacles this is a good solution. They can finally learn to stand aside and let the world whirl by past them. But for the other half, the go-getters and those eagerly wanting in life, Eckhart Tolle's path to perfection is flawed in the sense that his ultimate message is to "give up" in order to succeed. He seems to fail in understanding that it is "The Journey" that turns us on.
His quick jabs at the falsehoods and misguidance of all modern religion should be hailed with respect, but he destroys his validation as he begins to quote Jesus again and again.
His identification of the Ego vs. the Being, the two opposing entities of our minds that offer "idea modeling", "recall of events", "conflict" and "the use of time" for their existence are presented in a well expressed and simplified manner that should speak to just about anyone, and I found this very helpful. Also, his technique for "quieting the Ego, or mind" in its attempts to overwhelm and misdirect the "Being" away from the "Now" by always only looking back and ahead are simple, clever and productive. But to suggest that the Ego can be eradicated, and that such an accomplishment is in every individual's best interest seemed misguided to me.
Tolle has an answer for every question, skeptic and dismissal of his perspectives in this book, but that does not make him correct. He falls short by suggesting "total bliss" is the ultimate freedom. He forgets that it is also the struggle that defines us, the challenge that inspires us, and the pain that reminds us that we are human after all. I have doubt there is anything he can do to take that away from us, it is the very essence of what separates us from the animals. Time is not simple, it is real and it is complicated.
I now believe that the Ego must be kept in check (as it has a tendency to run amuck and stir all sorts of mischief), but that it is not a complete error. It is an evolutionary function that provides a balance for the brilliant potential we all have within ourselves as we look back, ahead, and into the multi-layered Now.
Customer Rating:
Summary: wow!
Comment: A really awe-inspiring book...loaded with thought- provoking words. Mr. Tolle is truly an inspiration.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The first 1/3rd is good.
Comment: The first third of this book, the one that sets up the theme to which the title refers, is good. It basically states that the majority of our pain comes from our focus on the past (guilt, regret, blame, anger etc.) or the future (stress, anxiety, worry). The only thing we can impact, and the only thing that is truly real, is the now. Tolle encourages us to focus on the present moment, and he gives us ways that we can settle our thinking mind in favor of just being in the Now.
As Tolle expands on his concept, he weaves in concepts from Eastern thought and modern meditation/philosophy, such as the Watcher (the thinker who observes our thinking mind), and the unified consciousness. But then the book devolves into New Age mumbo-jumbo as he tries to encompass everything from improving marital relationships to improving our immune systems to ending world hunger. He makes grand statements as if they're fact, without supporting them in any way, and then goes on for a page building on those statements. For example: "Even a stone has a rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and molecules would disperse." Oh really? It's a psychological bond, not a physical one that holds atoms together? When I read sentences like that, it's hard not to become cynical. But let's put cynicism aside, and let's avoid the temptation to argue science vs religion, because that's not my criticism of the above statement. I'm sure there are belief systems that would support that atoms are held together by consciousness, but I'm not going to take Tolle's word for it. He needs to lay some groundwork.
He makes an attempt to incorporate different belief systems, Western and Eastern, but he does this by force-fitting bits of scripture that support his point rather than dealing with the themes of these belief systems. Trying to be holistic is good, but, again, I much prefer someone like Ken Wilber, who lays a foundation and thoughtfully creates a map of the systems.
There are also a couple of stylistic elements that I found annoying: First, the entire book is written in a question-and-answer format. I've seen this convention before, and in itself it's annoying enough, but in a few instances the "answerer" didn't even answer the question asked, or admonished the "questioner" for asking the question. Pointless. Second, Tolle has the arrogance to insert a special symbol into the text when he wants the reader to stop and, not just consider what he's said, but to "become still, and feel and experience the truth of what has just been said." Give me a break. (By my estimation, he greatly over-uses the symbol.)
But my biggest beef is that the last two-thirds of the book reads like the underpinnings of The Celestine Prophesy. Tolle takes what is a great premise at the beginning, then bogs it down with unnecessary chapters of New Age jibber-jabber. One example: "When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious behaviors, you won't feel the need to react to it, so you don't give it any reality. Your peace is so vast and deep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction. Animals, trees, flowers will feel your peace and respond to it."
It's unfortunate that Tolle finishes the book with this kind of stuff, because the first part has some great, concrete and original thinking.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the power of now
Comment: I heard about this guy several years ago but never took the time to pick up one of his books until this Christmas. Incredible....I'm certain this man doesn't have a creative bone in his body nor does he have an original idea to discuss. Everything, and I mean everything, has been stolen from Zen Buddhism at a minimum and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he lifted ideas from other eastern religions and philosophies as well. That alone wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that he doesn't appear to give credit where it is due. A simple blurb in the introduction, or his bio' on the back page, explaining how he was "strongly influenced by eastern religion/philosophy" would suffice. The fact that he didn't take the time to do this is disrespectful, deceptive, and plagiarism.
What he's done is comparable to writing a book entitled "10 Great Rules to Live By" and then going on to explain how one shouldn't kill, steal, or commit adultery (you get the idea) without once mentioning the bible. The obvious difference is that most westerners have heard of the 10 commandments but have little knowledge of Zen Buddhism. Maybe Tolle could use this concept for his next book and peddle it to easterners.
At the end of the day if his regurgitation of Zen Buddhism, dumbed down and then spoon fed into the mouths of spiritually hungry westerners (who are too lazy to connect the dots themselves [which is 50% of the journey]) works, than who am I to bash it? Bottom line is this guy shouldn't be touting these ideas as his own. I wonder if he believes in karma?
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Editorial Reviews:
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It's no wonder that The Power of Now has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death." Featuring a new preface by the author, this paperback shows that only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment.
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