The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

I'm sorry if that sounds really cheesey but there was no other way of saying it. I'm the sort of person who hates self-help (though this isn't 'self help' in the usual sense) and Rikki Lake. In fact I once threw a copy of 'Managing Your Anger' at the person who bought me it. It hit them in the eye. Though they're alright now. It was a long time ago. Water under the bridge and all that. Although they don't speak to me anymore. They just give me a glare (with their good eye). Anyway what am I trying to say. Oh yeah I don't usually go for all this New Age stuff. But this blew me away. The information in this book has the power to sort everything out. And I mean everything.

Trust me.


Stop what you're doing and read this now!   December 23, 2000
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

I have often read books which reviewers claim will change my life. They seldom do. This one certainly has.

Reading even a couple of pages is like taking my habitual mind for a refreshing and bracing cold shower! It's not the intellectual message which the book contains so much as the experience of reading it which makes the difference.

Tolle's approach bypasses the tired, problem-solution way of approaching the world and inspires us to experience the joy of being in the moment - without having to retreat to a mountain in India.

I have found this a profoundly effective book and I urge you try it.


A pertinent and practical guide to spiritual realisation.   November 12, 2000
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

The Buddha once likened spiritual awakening to the putting down of a great burden. It is with a similar sense of relief that one reads Eckhart Tolle's 'The Power of Now', a book free of obscure terminology, intellectualism, recycled belief systems, mysticism and dogma. This is a book written from the heart of spiritual realisation which, unlike the lofty and often impenetrable words of other masters, relates to the modern everyday problems of the genuine spiritual seeker.

Spiritual realisation lies at the heart of our immediate experience, not in some notional rarefied state. This is what Eckhart Tolle calls the Now. It is always there for us to turn to, not dependent on our coming to terms with our past or putting off till we are somehow in a 'better' situation. Most of us are so caught up in such habitual strategies of the mind that we continually miss the point. This is the burden that Eckhart Tolle invites us to put down. By dropping the burden of the habitual mind we can find repose in the timeless moment that is the Now. This can be done at any time in any place regardless of circumstances.

Written in the form of answers to commonly asked questions, based on his experience as a teacher, Eckhart Tolle's book helps us to become aware of the tendency of the mind to dwell in the past or in the future - a tendency which diverts us from the stillness at the heart of our being. With awareness of this tendency comes freedom and what was heavy becomes light. It should be pointed out though that in most cases this realisation is not permanent. The habits of our conditioned mind continually pull us away from this realisation and this is where true spiritual work begins. Eckhart Tolle's book is an invaluable support and guide in this respect.

There are many who have awakened to this truth but there are few who are able to help us so effectively turn our awareness in its direction. In this book Eckhart Tolle gently and persistently calls us back to our spiritual home.