Ekhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle's clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who's ever wondered what exactly "living in the now" means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container--more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness.

Tolle packs a lot of information and inspirational ideas into The Power of Now. (Topics include the source of Chi, enlightened relationships, creative use of the mind, impermanence, and the cycle of life.) Thankfully, he's added markers that symbolize "break time." This is when readers should close the book and mull over what they just read. As a result, The Power of Now reads like the highly acclaimed A Course in Miracles--a spiritual guidebook that has the potential to inspire just as many study groups and change just as many lives for the better. --Gail Hudson


From AudioFile
The author shares ideas about personal integration with uncommon eloquence and a deep understanding of the human condition. Our true identity is in our moment-to-moment experiences rather than in our past or future. Concern about anything but the present is an unhealthy identification with the mind that can only cause pain and an illusion of control. Being totally aware of ourselves in each moment actually requires little effort or direction if we stop our thoughts long enough to find the pure consciousness that exists in the gaps between them. These ideas will be radical for most Westerners, but they are so smoothly elucidated that almost all seekers of inner truth will find something of value in the program. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The Power of Now, a #1 national bestseller, the author describes his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical. In The Power of Now he shows readers how to recognize themselves as the creators of their own pain, and how to have a pain-free existence by living fully in the present. Accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned, he says, by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living present, fully, and intensely, in the Now.

FROM THE CRITICS

AudioFile

The author shares ideas about personal integration with uncommon eloquence and a deep understanding of the human condition. Our true identity is in our moment-to-moment experiences rather than in our past or future. Concern about anything but the present is an unhealthy identification with the mind that can only cause pain and an illusion of control. Being totally aware of ourselves in each moment actually requires little effort or direction if we stop our thoughts long enough to find the pure consciousness that exists in the gaps between them. These ideas will be radical for most Westerners, but they are so smoothly elucidated that almost all seekers of inner truth will find something of value in the program. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

In The Power of Now, author-sage Eckhart Tolle uses words to guide readers beyond words. Pointing to the portals of the eternal present, this practical mystic's modern gospel offers transcendent truths that set us free. (Dan Millman, author of Everyday Enlightenment and The Laws of Spirit) — Dan Millman