Opinion of the Power of now book?

[Thenewguy]

Just wondering how this board generally feels about the book and it's message and if it coincides with the message of this site.

[Dragonslayer]

I'm not this board, but I found it too “new age” for me personally.

[Tim]

It's an alright book. If you're not familiar with the concepts of being in the moment, transcendence and enlightenment then it's probably worth your time as a good introductory text. I also read A New Earth and personally got more out of that, though the Power of Now is far more celebrated. If you read it though, understand that it's not even really giving you a 101 on Eastern spirituality, and you should look at other texts beyond it afterwards.

[Thor]

Got bored with reading it after the first three chapters

[Victory]

(07-29-2012 02:46 PM)Thor Wrote:  Got bored with reading it after the first three chapters

I agree with Thor, I got bored after a few chapters. Yet I enjoyed the over all idea behind it. I just got bored with the format of it.

I did just finish reading The Way of the Superior Man
By David Deida
After reading it, I felt that I wanted to read Power of Now again.
Deida's Book really connected with me, Power of now not so much.

[Anthony]

I'm a fan. I read it while in a really bad place in my life (having to do with a relationship). It helped get me through.

It gets repetitive, though, so had to fly through it, and kept practicing implementing what it teaches.

I didn't see it as an Eastern philosophy thing at all or anything greater...just saw it as a way to stay calm and neutral about things with perspective when in "bad" situations.

[Starsailor~]

I'd agree with Tim that you should read A New Earth instead - much more accessible and entertaining.

I'd disagree that you need to read anything else on Eastern philosophy though, unless you suddenly become very interested in it. Maybe get a book on meditation to complement Tolle.

[James]

It's funny to hear people say they got bored after reading a book about being in the moment/meditation/enlightenment. Seems like you weren't "ready". If you get "bored", then you're not in the moment. You're thinking of things in the future or past. It's a really simple concept but most of us are so used to a fast paced, stressful thought cycle.

I know he blew up out of nowhere and I feel like it all died down now but I think his message was really good. I think it was the easiest way to get into those teachings.

I actually went to one of Eckhart Tolle's presentations in my city. The person beside me couldn't sit still and couldn't understand any of his concepts while I thought they were really profound and altering. I think everyone is in a different place.

He said that the best thing he ever achieved in life was the ability to stop thinking. Not the huge success with his books etc, but just to stop the internal chatter and worrying etc. I thought that was really amazing especially when most people in our society are just filled with ego/worry and can't even distance themselves from their actions/thoughts/beliefs. They're running on auto pilot.

I haven't pursued the whole Buddhism thing since then but I found his books and lectures to be really calming and helpful. It especially helps with removing your ego/insecurity because it's all artificial. I'm sure it's something that takes a lot of experience to discover within yourself.

I would definitely recommend reading any of his books.

[luda]

I like the message he portrays in the book but the Power of now ,in my opinion, is too repetitive. I also got bored of it after I was a few chapters into it

[DerDomi]

Eckhart Tolle is definitely quite spiritually advanced (as in "enlightened") and he conveys a very important message. However, I have two objections on how he presents it

1) He is too critical of the thinking mind. Yes, most people are way too attached to their thinking processes and take them way too seriously which makes them completely oblivious to the real world in front of them. However suppression doesn't work. The goal shouldn't be to have no thoughts at all but rather to change one's relationship to them. That means: Non-identification, Equanimity and also compassion for the part of oneself that derived from one's history and that is now producing all these thoughts.

2) He describes his experience of the present state quite well, but I found it to be not so helpful and explicit in terms of how to arrive there. I had the impression that the "carrot is dangled in front of your face" but without a way on how to get there. That, combined with a subtle blaming flavor that is common to a lot of self-help ("Why are you so lost in your thoughts?! It's so easy, just be present!").

So, the message is quite good but it could be conveyed a bit more skillfully.

[Qlue]

In my opinion, anything Spirituality related is avoidance and escapism. I wasted a lot of time with spirituality. Albert Ellis (one of the founders of CBT) talks about his patients naturally stopped doing spirituality once they got their real world issues resolved.

Stay away from that crap, I've wasted a full year with both traditional and new age bullshit. Get your problems fixed through a professional, or go out and take action. If anything the only "spirituality" book I recommend to people is Fight Club, to give them a wake up call on how they're wasting their life.

[curiosity]

The subject book: TL;DR.

I only listened to his audio Through the Open Door. It is his "best of" album:
http://ruthlesstruthnexus2.artisteer.net...open-door/

With spiritual teachers it's like rock and roll. Chose one that fits you. Chose from 141 and counting: http://batgap.com/

By the way do you get what Mark wanted to say in his post?
http://postmasculine.com/why-self-help-sucks
I could not comprehend it perhaps because my native tongue is not English. (I'm not for or against Tolle, just asking. By the way, so far I knew him as a spiritual teacher not a self help teacher.)
It's a post titled Why Self Help Sucks on a blog with a description as Self Development for Men.

I read This Is Water too. Not twice, only once though. It reminded me a little Steve Jobs' infamous Stanford speech with the latter's message more comprehensible. Sorry if that's not deep enough of a comparison to you. But hey, that guy committed suicide in the end.