The Power of Now: The Global Phenomenon: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (Cover may vary) Paperback – Import, 1 Feb. 2001

If I had read this book 25 years ago, I would have struggled to really grasp what it talks about.That has nothing to do with getting older. What is relevant is that it fully describes a state of enlightenment that I went through nearly 20 years ago.At that time however I did not mentally understand it or even want to try. Everything was totally perfect just the way it was.Tolle mentions somewhere else, maybe on You Tube that The Now cannot be desribed mentally, because it is beyond the mind. And it would be like trying to explain to someone who has never eaten honey, what it really tastes like. Volumes could be written and illustrated with explanations and beautiful pictures of bees and flowers and hives. But until that person actually tasted honey, it would be futile.During my enlightened phase, or pure Presence, all my mental ramblings were no longer there, that was perhaps the most significant thing. Pure peace and listening to music as though I'd never heard it before, full of awe. Completely at ease yet totally alert and aware of everything as if with new eyes and ears. AND without identifying with things. I remember it dawning on me with great impact, "Wow, how come I've lived all my life like I have (In the Mind) and this is how it is really meant to be.I will add, for skeptics that I was not under the influence of any illegal substances, nor ever have been.These days however, whenever if sit in the garden in summer, I'll be thinking "That Lavender needs trimming back, or I must cut the lawn, and then the hedge needs cutting." Whilst the guy next door, has garden knee high in weeds and he's dozing in his deck chair. Neither of us are "Present".Being present, I would be fully alert and very relaxed and see the plants and lawn, but would not be identifying it mentally and would just "feel" pure "joy" and a oneness with everything, timeless, no thoughts. Of course when I "Need" to think about something, like preparing lunch I can, BUT my mind will not keep running off in all different directions thinking, "Oh yes, that ham was a good price from Asda and I met Fred Smith in there who was telling me about their Janice who went to the dentist last week and had a root canal. When's my dental appt due. By, that dentist I go to has got a real good car now.........." I would be fully focused on what I need to do to prepare lunch and giving it my full attention.Perhaps the closest I had ever been to being Present, or in The Now , were rare times and even from childhood, (because kids are naturally more present} and very transitory too,was when I was stood in the middle of a woods and just listening and watching a babbling brook in a stream, and feeling completely peaceful and grounded and totally content. Pure consciosness, but within a few seconds... gone.20 years ago, that state stayed with me for several weeks! And another very poignant thing is that I had this secure, grounded contentment that was not affected by anything externally. In other words, I would act upon things that needed it but did not "react".If driving and someone cut across my bows, I would act by applying the brakes but felt no anger or upset in the least. I am naturally quite patient and in instances where this does happen, I have learnt to be tolerant, and accept what is without reacting, but even with my patience, it still disturbs my equilibrium slightly. But I know mentally that it's my ego that's been bruised. HOW DARE you cut in front of ME!That is all on the mental level and understood on the mental level.BUT If I were totally in the NOW, as Tolle explains, and although I would be realistically aware and alert of the danger, my equilibrium would be undisturbed, and I would still retain the alert inner joy and acceptance of WHAT IS. Tolle is in this state permanently and is totally non egotistic.Why do I need to sit on this laptop and write this. Basically it's my ego. Look at me, read what I say, my life and my story, and whilst I type these wodrds I'm on a little bit of a buzz from it, but then it's just another quick fix. I could get a real spin and use Facebook much more and get addicted. The Mind is in the driving seat far too much aided by modern technology.I try not to get frustrated at not being able to "get back" to what I found 20 years ago, and I've tried and tried, and know it's all still within, and remembering what that was like because I've "experienced it!" And I know mentally that all the searching and reading is futile. As Tolle says, we digest food but we don't need to understand the digestion process.I could go on and on...I do sincerely hope that what I have written helps someone, and give it purpose.I have read many books before this and many since in my quest but nothing at all compares with THE POWER of NOW. The other books are good too but it is all the fundementals are all here.(Tolles interpretations of The Parables in the bible make sense to me. However, he says that Christ was just another great spiritual teacher like the others. But, Jesus claimed in many places, that he was the son of God. No other spiritual teacher ever claimed to be such. !!! ?)I

I read this book for the first time as a 24 year old student. Having just gone through a big painful breakup, it had a huge impact upon me. It lit a fire that has never died since. It triggered at the time a blissful, wonderful period where I felt as though there was so much beauty in every ordinary thing and song I could hardly breathe with it all.This is not a book you read for self-help. It makes a mockery of such books, in fact. The self-help books that give your mind a focus, a mission, a purpose, the ego a cause... yeah, this isn't that. Some people read it for that, and then throw it away scathing: "what was that, what kind of rubbish did I just set eyes on?". If you'd notice - they're quite passionate about it too. This stuff is too real. Rubs their ego the wrong way.If you're not ready for what this book has to offer - you may hate it, as some of the reviewers here did. You'll talk of 'incomprehensible drivel', and 'nonsense'. The reason they say this, is because they're just not ready. It is that simple. It's my believe that a person has to go through some pretty hefty horrible stuff in their lives to be really ready to 'awaken' traditionally. It's a HARD process for a lot of people. You have to be ready to give up your old self. Ready to give up your old thinking patterns, old ego. You have to be done and tired with it. Those one star people are not. They like where they are, and are defined by their form level selves - they do not want to go any higher than that. It's that plain and simple.In fact - this is the most profound teaching I ever had the pleasure of finding. I'm 28 now, the book sits atop my shelves being regularly picked up. I am by no means a complete and enlightened person. I get dominated by thought, by ego, by pain sometimes, I'm human after all..., but now, I am able to find release and respite from it, I find full hours or even full days where such bliss fills me and quiet in my mind that it's as though I were in a mini heaven... I don't know how to describe the feeling but it's like being one with God, all that is.Two things to mention from the low reviews:Stress is well recognised (alongside anger and other negative emotions) by the medical community to have a detrimental impact upon the physical body and ailments. There are uncountable numbers of studies to this end. This knowledge grows every day. Eckhart hones in on this. This is pure fact.Focusing on the Now: does not mean forgetting the future. It means, and is explained in the book, as moving fully into this moment, surrendering to all that is, as completely and fully as you can, while remaining conscious of the fact that you still have 'clock time', but are not dominated by it as you once were. You use it to plan. To put things in a diary. To make a date. But that's all. Other than that you pay brief visits to clock time, living mostly in the now. Most people pay brief visits to Now, living mostly in clock time. (Reminisce, envision future, reminisce, worry)If you are,A) Done with feeling as bad as you doB) Ready to give up what no longer serves youC) Ready to allow in a higher power some might call God, others may feel is simply, HomeD) A human being --Then buy it and read it with as open a heart as you can. You will bloom.