Nick reviewed The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Review of 'The Power of Now' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Overall, this had many good points. It is helpful to return to the present when feeling ourselves pulled to the past or future and creating problems where there are none. Tara Brach calls it getting lost in the trance of thinking. In this regard, Eckhart is right about the power of Now, as well as its historical spiritual uses throughout other philosophies, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity.
It is actually very good at bridging the gap in understanding between Eastern and Western traditions, i.e. between misled Christians who worship the man Jesus instead of the actual messages he was trying to teach to lead people to enlightenment. Eckhart skillfully expresses the core spiritual truths by using the mythological framework and figures that Christians are familiar with and that they relate to from habit/upbringing. In this regard it's also a good introduction to deeper spiritual study by referencing other ancient …
Overall, this had many good points. It is helpful to return to the present when feeling ourselves pulled to the past or future and creating problems where there are none. Tara Brach calls it getting lost in the trance of thinking. In this regard, Eckhart is right about the power of Now, as well as its historical spiritual uses throughout other philosophies, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity.
It is actually very good at bridging the gap in understanding between Eastern and Western traditions, i.e. between misled Christians who worship the man Jesus instead of the actual messages he was trying to teach to lead people to enlightenment. Eckhart skillfully expresses the core spiritual truths by using the mythological framework and figures that Christians are familiar with and that they relate to from habit/upbringing. In this regard it's also a good introduction to deeper spiritual study by referencing other ancient texts such as the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Heart Sutra.
However, there are a few points on which I don't think Mr. Tolle has it quite right. For example, he at one point talks about how 50 million people "were murdered to further the cause of communism, to bring about a 'better world' in Russia, China, and other countries" (59). This declaration is one of four times in the entire book where he includes a source citation. Yet this argument blatantly ignores the millions who have died and continue to suffer in order to feed capitalism, a system that values profit over human life. How could humans not be plagued by mental illness and chronic stress under such a system that doesn't care at all for them except as tools for labor and exploitation? It's hard to see how someone could really be spiritually enlightened and still believe capitalism is the least harmful economic system to choose from. It tells those who are that your eyes are not really open--or maybe you're just choosing to remain comfortable and keep it half closed.
That brings me to my other grievance with this author's logic. It is in a way very selfish. Yes, it's helpful to block out unnecessary noise, but at this moment Right Now, it is not just me sitting at a computer typing out a review. It is a breeze blowing through a tree, Ukrainians and Russians fighting, the gambling game of stocks, a child crying because she lost something, a man kissing the person he loves, and on and on... To be enlightened is not to narrow your focus to your Now but to the Now everywhere. To know that at this very moment so many things are happening at once and affecting the overall vibrational fabric of reality... Eckhart seems to suggest anything that isn't happening Now doesn't matter or isn't real. It's too dismissive or other perspectives, even while asserting that we are indeed each nodes in Indra's Net, each our own universe reflecting infinite other universes just by observing and being observed, creating relative truth and perspective through Being.
All this rambling to say, yes, it's a solid introduction to the spiritually enlightened path and can help you tremendously. Practicing returning to the Now by fully inhabiting your body is a powerful way to get into meditating and finding peace among chaos. Just take some of the statements with several grains of salt. Take what works for you and leave what doesn't.
