I was very confused by this book THE POWER OF NOW A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. I purchased this book a few months ago, have read it, put it away, reread many parts of it and am still confused. It will be hard for me to properly review this book as I disagree with many things the author Eckhart Tolle has to say. Maybe it was over my head but I don’t think so, as I have read many books on spiritual understandings. I have read the Bible, Koran, Torah and even Zen but this was by far to strange for me to really get what the author was telling his readers. I have not read about Buddha or Hindu but this author seems to have his own religious beliefs to encompass them all.

RECOMMENDED BY MANY
I purchased this book with a group of books I had in mind to give my son who has helped me so much during my husband’s illness. My son and I had many chances to talk about many subjects, including religion, relationships, family and golf. I thought this book would cover many of the things we talked about, except golf. I finally sent him the Zen Golf and he enjoyed reading that book. After I read this book THE POWER OF NOW it did not seem like the kind I wanted to send, since I could not go along with his philosophy. There are 12 personal recommendations for this book from the inside to the front and back covers. This is the most recommendation I have read on any book; one I noted was from “O” the Ophra Magazine. It read a reminder to be truly present in our own lives and liberated from our past and future. It can transform your thinking. The result? More joy, right Now! All the reviews of this book listed in Amazon.com raved about it, I must have missed something or I am already in the NOW and don’t know it.

DIFFERENT FORMAT
The book starts out with thirteen pages of Preface, Forward and Introduction. In the introduction the author introduces you to what the book is about. He prints out a little symbol that whenever you see this sign you are to pause and think about what he has written. This sign shows up throughout the book. When I finally came to the first chapter titled, “You Are Not Your Mind” this title set me back right away, as I believe that it is through the mind we become the person we are. Through our past experiences and learned knowledge we grow to live out our life through the mind. This author stresses not to live in the past or in the future, as it is the NOW that we will find total happiness and spiritual enlightenment. He explains in this first chapter that enlightenment rises above thought as in the following quote; I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy. I have to disagree with that statement.

TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE NOW
Eckhart Tolle the author spends much time discussing the mind and moving beyond the mind. This book is divided into chapters but each chapter has separate headings, following each heading are questions people may have about these teachings such as I feel that there is still a great deal I need to learn about the workings of my mind before I can get anywhere near full consciousness or spiritual enlightenment. The author answers in this way; No, you don’t. The problem of the mind cannot be solved on the level of the mind. In the following sections he tries to explain that you do not seek your self in your mind. He relates that if you try to find yourself in your mind ego takes over and you become dysfunctional and you are ruled by emotions and fear. It’s as if nothing exist outside of NOW. He explains it as thus; The more you are focused on time – past and future – the more you miss the NOW the most precious thing there is. Of course we live in the present and what we do shapes our past and our future. The author leads us to believe that our spiritual self is only in the present or NOW and we can only find our true being by becoming entranced in the NOW.

THE INNER BODY
I say if you can’t find your true self in your mind where does one look. The author suggests that one is to feel with the inner body as a single field of energy. He suggests using meditation as a way to get in touch with your inner body. He says to not just think with your head, but also think with the whole body. I know some people think with the lower part of their torso, this part of the body runs their life. I don’t think the author was talking about that being ones inner being. He also relates that when the mind is running your life conflict, strife and problems are inevitable. I say that the mind is the center of our senses, our memory and our sub-conscious. It is here that we learn, produce energy, create, store up memory and train our sub-conscious in the manner of how we live our life.

AUTHOR’S EXPLANATIONS
I could not find in this book where the author talks about ones soul or if this is what he means by the inner body, he quotes many religious writings such as the Bible, Buddha, Zen and Hindu. He goes into much detail of how to handle, emotions, fear, love, anxieties, sexual matters, addictions, disagreements etc, by concentrating on the NOW and your awareness of spiritual enlightenment. Many places in this book left me completely bewildered, as I could not make any sense out of what he was trying to portray. I include just one sample; To become conscious of Being; you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks of your spiritual journey. It will free vast amounts of consciousness that previously had been trapped in useless and compulsive thinking. A very effective way of doing this is simply to take the focus of your attention from thinking and direct it into the body, where Being can be felt in the first instance as the invisible energy field that gives life to what you perceive as the physical body. This is an exact quote, this book is full of such phrases that is suppose to be deep thinking but screwed up my brain. When I read such things my mind wonders to such things as what can I fix for dinner.

CONCLUSION
Another problem I had with this book is that at several places throughout the book the writer asks questions as if another person is asking them, then the author proceeds to answer his own questions. This hardcover book has 191 pages. New World Library of 14 Pamaron Way, Novato, California 94949 published this book in 1999. Originally published by Namaste Publishing Inc.of Canada in 1997. Eckhart Tolle was born in German, graduated from University of London and was a research scholar at Cambridge University. At twenty-nine years of age he had a spiritual transformation and changed the course of his life. He resides in Canada and travels extensively and gives informative talks, teachings and retreats. One can check out the web site of the publisher at www.newworldlibrary.com or e-mail escort@nwlib.com. I purchased this book new from Amazon.com for $15.37, it sells used for $13.99. FINDING ONES WAY IN THIS WORLD TAKES ON ALL AVENUES OF STUDY, FIND YOURS!!


Recommended: No