NOW


Eckhart Tolle (1999). The Power of Now: 

                                   A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment


While attending two universities, Tolle has no formal degrees...he is self-taught and bases his teachings on personal experience.

Often there is a "pause" symbol (an elongated "S" shape with a dot at the center of the upper and lower curves) positioned in the center of the page following a paragraph, reminding the reader to pause and experience/reflect on the words.

There is scant formal research cited in the book...Tolle draws on his own interpretation of the teaching of Jesus in the gospels and on other eastern religions (e.g., Buddhism, Hinduism) to support his ideas although he attempt to frame the ideas in somewhat "neutral" language.

The thesis of the book is to "live in the now" by being present to the moment:

the place of Being

using the body as a gateway to feeling deeply

with full and intense awareness/attention

without judging/labeling

surrending to what IS 

without resisting or denlying

from this place of now, we know how to act...to change, remove ourselves, or go deeper into the experience

the now is an experience, not an object of knowledge


To practice, watch/observe/listen with full intense attention when first encountering someone or some beautiful scene in nature...keep the attention on the feelings inside the body, let go of judging/labeling, stay with the experience of the now of the moment as long as possible...notice when the ego-mind comes into play and begins to think about and label the experience...at this point, one is reliving the memory of the original experience and no longer in the now...try to lengthen the time of BEING in the now...the now is the eternal ground of Being, the place where the peace of G that passeth all understanding exists, it is the part of us that lives on after the death of the body...we have access to this state of consciousness right NOW.



  



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