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 enlarge | Author: Eckhart Tolle
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  1349 reviews
Sales Rank: 45
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0452289963
Dewey Decimal Number: 204.4
EAN: 9780452289963
ASIN: 0452289963
Publication Date: January 30, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 At times, it's brilliant and deep; other times, it's fuzzy and mumbo jumbo December 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
PROS:
- Exceedingly challenging and profound philosophy. I doubt 1% of the readers can achieve what he is asking them to do (transcend your body, your desires, and this world). I suspect Tolle is unable to do it. If he cared so little about what people thought or his own ego, he probably wouldn't have fought so hard to get on Oprah and promote his book. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to do what he advises or that there isn't wisdom to what he's saying.
- Usually it's easy to read and fast.
CONS:
- He gets repetitive at times.
- He fills many parts of the book with new age, fluffy, mumbo jumbo. These vague, elusive statements can be interpreted many ways and can leave the reader feeling great (if the reader interprets the way he/she likes it) or feeling confused (if the reader is trying to understand what the author is saying).
- Could be more "how to" oriented. He should offer more practical steps on reaching this wise state of mind and spirit. He tells you that it's important to get there, but offers few useful ways on how to get there.
CONCLUSION: In many ways this is an extremely advanced book. I doubt most people can truly appreciate it, and fewer can live up to it. The subtitle is misleading. This book has little to do with finding your purpose. It's more about transcending your purpose, not really caring whether you have a purpose or not and just being content. Period. I recommend this to deep, spiritual people who are already not attached to many things. We often like to think that we aren't attached, but if I take away your home, car, degrees, job, and money, then you might feel differently. This book can help you get detached. It's tough to write a great book about this subject. Tolle has written a good one (hence, 3 stars), but not a great one.
 An excellent read! December 22, 2008
This came highly recommended by someone for whom I have a great deal of respect and I've not been able to put it down- it offers clarity.
great book, full of insight December 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
a must have book for any library. guide to change which we have to do if we are to make it.
 hyped: would recommend in some cases December 18, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
New Earth
This is a review of the Power of Now and The New Earth, 2 very popular works by E Tolle.
In my opinion, there is value in Tolle's writings. .. and also some sillyness. I do not think it matches up to the great spiritual traditions of the world, though it can make some of their dogmas more clear and personal. Here are some of the pros and cons I remember after reading his works a few months ago:
1) Pros
*The core of Tolle's approach is 'living in the present'. This is a very simple and powerful idea. It does not mean you drop all responsibilities or future concerns or memories. Rather, it is the practice of awareness, presence, and Love... of which many religions speak. There are many simple portals to being in the present: observing natural beauty (flowers/painting), sensory attentiveness, silence, watching one's thoughts and emotions, etc. But these portals are NOT Methodologies, which one must practice. Rather, the joy of being in the moment is always available, just as in the Western religious tradition, grace is not one's own doing... but is freely given and always present. One only needs to "knock". Thus, the word portal rather than methodology is used.
*A second practice of which he speaks has also been around a long time. This is the practice of "observing one's thoughts" or being attentive (I simply call it caring or giving a damm). In watching thoughts it is as if you enter a new dimension because, in watching them, you are not them. and in this state you feel the natural state of grace, one that Tolle calls being in the present. You also come to better understand your thoughts and emotions. There are various forms of meditation and prayer the world over that create methodologies for a person to do just that. Also Sartre recognized something about this phenomenological exp too. The benefit is that Tolle does not carry the traditional theological baggage... it is as if the creators of each religion knew these simple truths, but over the centuries, the intellect and battle for dogmatic supremacy and logical consistency placed a fog over these simple yet powerful truths. IF YOU CAN WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS, YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS. On the other hand, this does not mean you have no feeling... au contraire, it is in this sort of activity that one touches the ground of all Being and true feeling and experiences/feels a Love, Joy and Peace that is not like other emotions.
* He recognizes that the Love, Joy and Peace described in every culture by mystics, gurus, and saviors is "inseperable from your state of inner connectedness with being" (23). That is, this Love is not an emotion or thought, though a feeling is associated with it. It is a silence, a space between the thoughts and emotions, that brings value to the world rather than judging value or seeking it in the world. Like C.S. Lewis might say, this Love informs the world with value rather than seeking it in the world. These are simple experiences most people experience, but are difficult to verbalize. Tolle plays the game of trying to verbalize it.
Thus, "Love, joy and Peace... have no opposite. This is because they arise from beyond the mind. Emotions, on the other hand, being part of the dualistic mind, are subject to the law of opposites. " 24
*His foundational ideas are really simple. They can be adopted/assimilated by religious and atheist and agnostic....And many people are inspired by his works, so there is a common appealing element... (and I do not think this common element is solely a vice like selfishness).
2)Cons
*Tolle really doesn't present much new, but presents it a very concise and simple way. One could use his works as a prerequisite to the study of Taoism, Buddhism, Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta, and other strands of religious thinking in the East.
*If you are a literalist or dogmatist then his approach conflicts with your belief system. Thus, you must reject elements of his teaching and may not see the other elements of his system that can enrich your faith and life. It's throwing out the baby with the bath water, but how big is the tub is the important question.
*Tolle and certainly many Tolleites seem to believe that the new awareness needed is something new ... as if the stars have finally arranged themselves for a massive rebirth into a new consciousness. I find these ideas absurd. People have been discussing these same ideas for thousands of years and Tolle is another voice at the party. His is not the final voice, human nature is not shifting...The same consciousness of Love, etc accessible to us now was accessible to a medieval peasant or a Roman Soldier or an Egyptian Slave. Certainly, communication (internet) etc has made the world smaller, but this means all ideas are spread more... not just ideas of love or 'new consciousness'. His ideas are not new; it is the same fresh ideas presented in a new way/voice. This mistake is made in every generation and by many so called "enlightened" ones.
* In trying to explain simple truths, he (like others) gets bogged down. These types of truth will always be circular or foundational because they are experiential truths. Where shall I begin in explaining to you what the experience of color is like? I cant, I can only tell you to walk through the door of the black/white room. Anyway, there also seem to be inconsistencies in some of his ideas and the creation of unnecessary baggage in his creation of concepts like the pain body, etc.
* Many of his suggestions seem pretty difficult to put into practice for a parent with screaming children or for public school teachers. This is a work written by a single man, as are many works of a mystical, religious, or spiritual nature. If you are married with children, perhaps you could seek a book written by such...
*Attempting to verbalize certain truths is impossible.
*His 'philosophy' is logically inconsistent on many levels. Of course, what philosophy/religion isn't? However, the degree of inconsistency should also be examined carefully. In some ways, the traditions of the world have been "tested"...
In the end, my opinion is that his book can probably be summarized in two or three sentences and I dont think he would deny that. Something like, "Be in the present, watch your thoughts/emotions, dont seek a goal in this moment but do the ends necessary, ... in this state you experience the Love, Joy and Peace that you thirst for. "
I would say his point in a diff way: Awaken to the presence of God at the ground of your being in this moment. Everything else is baggage.
I would recommend this book to some people depending on their circumstances.
Acknowledgement vs. Solutions December 18, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
"To awaken within the dream is our purpose now. When we are awake within the dream, the ego-created earth drama comes to an end and more benign and wondrous dream arises. This is the new earth." ~ pg. 210
I began Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" with a sense of optimism and ended it with a sense of despair. I kept waiting for something new to reveal itself and all I kept running across were sentences that just didn't make sense.
Eckhart Tolle basically believes that mankind is suffering from insanity (a mental illness instead of a sin nature) and in general needs to awaken from this fallen state into a new state of consciousness. His analysis of world history brings him to the conclusion that there is a collective madness. However he keeps saying things that are obviously not true. Take for example this thought: "There is no one who does not want peace." I think that is definitely incorrect as our world shows that many prefer violence and unrest. Another thought struck me as incorrect, that we "cannot fight against darkness." Isn't that what we do every single day, we fight the darkness within ourselves.
Eckhart Tolle has some views about God and sin that I think go against what the Bible teaches. He seems to believe that God is just consciousness and that sin is "to miss the point of human existence." Isn't sin an action that goes against God's laws, for example the Ten Commandments. He also states: "It has been said `God is Love' but that is not absolutely correct." To be frank, Eckhart Tolle believes in evolution so if you believe in creation then you will most likely start to disagree with him on the first page.
In the Bible we are taught that heaven is a real place but Eckhart Tolle states that "heaven is not a location." He completely takes a verse from the Bible out of context. Later he describes the "kingdom of heaven" and gets it right. There are obviously two heavens, one we can experience while here on earth (joy and peace) and one we will get to enjoy for eternity (a real heaven).
Throughout the book Eckhart Tolle refers to the words of Christ and of Buddha. He believes that "salvation" is the same as "enlightenment." I thought it would have been helpful if he had mentioned some of Jesus' words in regards to death. Since most people fear death is might be useful to know that a belief in Jesus will give you eternal life.
Eckhart Tolle's main message seems to be mostly about nonattachment, forgiveness, nonresistance, detachment and nonjudgment. He talks extensively about the ego and something called a "pain-body." He seems to imply that if the pain-body acts out in an inappropriate way then the human being who is "sinning or being mentally ill" is not really responsible for their actions.
Oprah obviously chose this book because she feels it has a message the world needs to hear. There is a section with some good advice about addictions. However, I found very few practical applications (besides breath work) to solve the problems of mankind. This book is more an acknowledgement that the world has problems and that some people act insane. How can we make these people emotionally and psychologically well? That is the real question and that seems to go unanswered. While reading this book I didn't seem to come across anything about "awakening to your life's purpose." This mostly seems to be about Buddhist and New Age beliefs. It is more an analysis of life than a book filled with solutions.
~The Rebecca Review
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