After reading and re-reading the book I felt compelled to go and listen for myself to Eckhart in person. I was curious if his presence would be what was conveyed through the book. I flew to New York shortly after the awful incidents in Manhattan and D.C. and participated in a Meditation Retreat at the Omega Institute. Eckhart conducted a five day workshop that was amazing. 'Life-changing' is the best description for it. He exudes PEACE through his serenity! It was a God-send after the horrible upsetting incidents of the previous week. We didn't retreat from the world, but Eckhart addressed the terrorist attacks from his spiritual frame of reference. Those words healed the hurt and anger, with love. He didn't excuse the terrorists but made clear the insanity that grips the entire human family.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with a yearning for a more spiritual life. An open heart is all that's required to begin down a path to enlightenment. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, and others pointed to this same path. But many of their words became obscured with the egoistic mind of mankind. You needn't change religions, but rather re-read your scriptures with wide open eyes. For the first time I realized what many of Jesus' words were really about.

There's nothing hard here. It's quite simple and almost obvious after hearing from Eckhart's un-obscured view of life. Enjoy!...


Practical tips for joyous living   September 17, 2001
 59 out of 70 found this review helpful

Philosophers like Krishnamurti say that the path of spiritual enlightenment starts with being aware of one's own thoughts. Commentators (of Upanishads and Gita) such as Swami Chinmayananda suggest that spiritual enlightenment is attained when the mind quietens. I have great respect for the above authors. However, I was frustrated for a long time as "watching my thoughts" and "quietening the mind" seemed impossible to achieve.

In this book, Tolle gives very practical advice on how we can watch our thoughts - the idea is to simply live in the present, in the Now. "...Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed. Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. If you find it hard to enter the Now directly, start by observing the habitual tendency of your mind to want to escape from the Now..." is a brilliant piece of advice from the book.

The book is organised in a question-and-answer format and it is easy to read.

When we start reading the book, many questions rise in our heads. E.g.
*How can we forget the past? Doesn't past influence on our current situation?
* How can we not think about the future? How do we, then, plan for the future?
*How practical is it to ignore the time (future)?
All these questions and many other questions that come to mind while reading are answered in the book.

If you plan to read this book please think about the following: many of us read books like these and find them 'interesting'. As long as we are reading the book we feel inspired and we live in the Now. A while later, we go back to our routine and forget about living in the Now. To get the true benefit from this book, my suggestion is to create some measures so that you are reminded of the principles regularly. Some things you can do:

*Write down your questions, their answers and your other thoughts that come to mind, while reading the book. Review these regularly.
*Find people who are interested in discussing the issues relating to spiritual enlightenment and discuss.
*Make it a point to read or listen to books that relate to living the Now, on a regular basis.


A Simple Statement   September 12, 2001
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I feel that Eckhart Tolle makes a strong case for paying attention to the obvious, in paying attention to our "not-so-common" common sense. He is the first to state that he is saying things that many spiritual leaders have said in the past, or perhaps ALL truly moving spiritual leaders have said. His work is in many ways a condensation of those teachings. He quotes Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and others.

He states that all humans have the capacity to "get it", that we are all beautiful people. It is easy to take his words at face value and not actually apply them. I listened to the audio version of his book. For those that feel he contradicts himself, the tapes might be useful: the words of the book are delivered in Tolle's own voice, with his inflections, melting some misunderstanding in phrasing choices. It is often easier to remember something he said 10 minutes ago than something you yourself read over 50 pages ago, and perhaps 2 days before.

I highly recommend Tolle's statement of the obvious. A truly powerful statement is a statement of the obvious, because it cuts through all the mental clutter, all the B.S., everything that keeps us from understanding.

Enjoy!


Very insightful   August 17, 2001
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

I found this book to be very insightful, and not just in a spiritual way. Reading this book has changed how I view the world as a whole.