THE POWER OF NOW: A GUIDE TO SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library, 2004)
A book like this wouldn’t have become such a best seller without it containing a modicum of truth and wisdom.
Ekhart Tolle has won high-profile fans in the form Oprah Winfey, Jim Carey and Meg Ryan as well as hundreds of enthusiastic endorsements on Amazon, exemplified by one who gushes: “I have no words to describe how profoundly this book has changed me AND my life. This book is unbelievable!. I was mesmerized by every word … AWESOME! Whewwwww!”
I think it is hard to argue with statements like “every addiction starts with pain” and I am willing to go along with the notion that we should live more in the moment rather than dwell on what might have been or what might be.
As William Henry Davies wrote in his poem, Leisure: “A poor life this is if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”. The accelerated lives we lead means that, more than ever, we need to give ourselves time and space to take stock of where and who we are.
But to turn all this into a spiritual teaching is over egging it a bit. Tolle’s guru qualifications are very flimsy. His epiphany came during a sleepless night at the age of 29 after which he overcame his suicidal tendencies with a realisation that nice things happen when you just stop thinking. This might have been an excuse to overdose on daytime TV but he decided that becoming a spiritual leader was better career move. Continue reading
