Book Therapy : Let's Talk About Enlightenment | The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Let's dip our toes into the lessons of enlightenment shall we?

What is enlightenment exactly? Well Eckart Tolle describes enlightenment as, “a radiant joy of Being, and the deep unshakable peace that comes with it”.

Doesn't that sound a bit crazy? Um yeah it does. But not the bad kind of crazy, the good kind.

The Power of Now was one of the first few 'self-improvement' books I ever read. I'm not a fan of describing that genre as 'self-improvement or self-help' as I feel like it has a 'feeble and helpless' connotation to it. But it is what it is, and this is a book that improves and helps you, which is what it did for me. I did not pick up this book in the attempt to dissolve any misery or woes in my life, but when Oprah says “you gotta read this book” well it’s kind of hard not to read the book, ya know!

But I always had this itching feeling that there was 'more' to this human experience than being a participant of the rat-race we call life. And while reading this book I was relieved to find out that there were more humans out there that felt the same way.

The first time reading this book, I couldn't help but feel "yaaasssss....hallelujah there is something more to life"...however, I also was left with the feeling that this 'enlightenment' was something a bit unachievable for me. Years passed and I read the book again. This time with a bit more life experience under my belt and with a bit more awareness.

This book is a great guideline of 'how we can or should' be in life. Of what matters. A lesson about why the past only fills you with regret, the future is not here yet and that we simply only have this moment, right now...THIS is life and the present is the only moment we will be able to truly feel peace in regardless of the past or future. There are so many quotable piece in this book. The entire thing could be a bumper sticker for 'achieving enlightenment' and I think it's something worth reading for everyone.....but for me, there is a but...

But, prior to you reading this book I would like to make a couple (or a lot) of notes so that you can brace yourself, and perhaps you may find my point of view useful.

I would like to point out that Eckhart Tolle is one lucky m*ther f*cker. Yeah I said it! He is.

There are not many people in this world who are regarded as 'sane' after telling their own life stories like his. Tolle, himself, was a regular participant, or victim, in this world's rat race when he went to bed one night with a head ache and simply 'woke up enlightened'. That's it. The entire world and his sense of being had changed for him. His old self was gone and it had been replaced entirely with his new 'I AM ENLIGHTENED' persona and subsequently he spent the next couple months sitting on a park bench engrossed in this blissful state of being. He had no mile-high-piles of self-help books on his night table, no engagements with incredible spiritual leaders, no yearnings and subsequent learnings on how to be different. He simply just woke up ENLIGHTENED. Now that's one lucky guy if you ask me.

It may sound like I am mocking him, and perhaps I am, but I have not altered his story at all. And my problem with Tolle, besides perhaps a tinge of jealously that I did not get hit in the head with the same magical, enlightenment stick, is that his message is not instantaneously attainable for most of the population. While it is great that he has wrote many books (while making millions in the self-help industry) and is trying to tell those who are NOT enlightened what it is TO BE enlightened, I'm not sure one can really accurately describe HOW to do this, if he himself did not have to achieve this by any means. It's like getting a copy of a Graduate Diploma from Craigslist without actually having to go to school. Just sayin'.

He was simply 'gifted' with this new way of being. It's like he pressed the easy button and woke up 'high on life' which he claims is now his permanent state of being. So I am curious as to how the rest of us can learn something from him, that he himself did not in fact have to learn at all?

Alas, I'm starting to rant a bit. But I think my overall point is, while he has some very valuable things to say (ahem a lot of which comes from the learnings of Buddha...just saying)...if you do not achieve enlightenment after reading this book, don't sweat it.

As a very wise women once told me, it is not actually 'enlightenment' it's 'enlightening'. The difference, I realized, is that 'enlightenment' is a noun. It's a thing. Whereas, 'enlightening' is a verb, it's an action. So really, to achieve this “radiant joy of Being, and the deep unshakable peace that comes with it”...you have to take action in order to do that. It's a conscious action at every given moment to stay in the moment...so to achieve this radiant joy of Being we must actively participate in the 'trying' part. All while still enduring what is really going on in our lives; the good, the complicated and the struggles. Because real life is real....and we don't all have the luxury of being hit in the head with the 'blissful stick' and are able to sit on a park bench for a couple of months while wearing our new badge reading "Hi my name is Jenny and I am now Enlightened".

And while he claims that he does not identify with any religion, a lot of which he writes about are the teachings of Buddhism simply regurgitated. But for me, I believe learning some teachings of Buddhism helps us see past the fog of illusions in this life and become a little more 'awake'....so Buddha or Tolle...either is good. One is just a bit more tight with Oprah, so take your pick.

All that being said, I think his message is great. It's worth reading. Even now, with my raised eyebrow, I still go back and listen to his audiobook as his mesmerizing voice soothes my soul.

Check it Out on Amazon

Also read Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright. I highly recommend this one!

Quotes from the Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment ― Eckhart Tolle

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”

“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

“I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.”

“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”

full disclosure: links to the amazon marketplace mean that if you click it and purchase something, you will not be charged extra in any way...I pinky swear...I will however receive a small kick-back as a thank from Amazon for giving them a 'shout out' and any earnings will contribute to the coffee and wine required for inspiration for this blog.