I got this rather interesting post sent to me this week and the timing was perfect. I had just listed my top 10 overhyped and overrated self development books, and The Power of Now was firmly entrenched in the said list. I have to be honest and say a major factor for me was Tolles sleep inducing voice and the book may be better than I give it credit for, but I still didn’t ‘get it’.
Apparently neither did Haider Al-Mosawi and he explains in this guest post why, far more eloquently than I ever could……
If you are an Eckhart Tolle groupie, then what I am about to say will shock and offend you. If you find “groupie” offensive enough, then you’ll be happy to know that it’s the least of your worries.
Read on only if you’re brave enough…
When I first heard about Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now – and the massive popularity it was receiving – I thought that it addressed a problem I was suffering from.
For a number of years I had been suffering from an over-active mind, which I was desperately seeking to tame.
Every time I was exposed to a new idea I began to analyze it and re-analyze it. Then re-re-analyze it. And the vicious cycle continued.
Whenever I had a task to do, the task kept looping in my head all day.
I couldn’t spend time with family without thinking about my to-do list or the latest belief I’d been exposed to.
I realized that I needed to be able to appreciate the present. To enjoy the place I’m in and the people I’m with, without having my mind projecting backwards (to the past) or forwards (to the future). To simply experience the moment. The Now.
And this is what I thought the Power of Now was about.
Boy, was I mistaken!
Tolle’s book isn’t about knowing how to use your mind more effectively. It’s about how to avoid using your mind altogether!
It’s not about inner peace, but mental numbness.
I’ll give you a minute to take a deep breath and gain your composure. I know this is tough to take in all at one go.
But if you’re willing to re-consider your opinion of the Power of Now, then you might find this post valuable.
I’d like to look at a few key ideas Tolle presents in his book, and to offer an alternative outlook.
Tolle considers the mind an obstacle to consciousness, which we need to overcome in order to reach enlightenment. In fact, he wrote his book to avoid arousing intellectual discussions and awakening the beast he seeks to silence!
It appears that Tolle’s understanding of spirituality is pretty simple: If it sounds mysterious, then it must be spiritual. If it doesn’t make sense, then it must be profound.
Many people who read the book and swear by it don’t actually understand it! They think there’s a message in it somewhere that they can’t seem to decipher. But since Tolle wrote the book, then he must know the secret to inner peace and spiritual harmony!
If you try to argue with Tolle or any of his raving fans, then that will simply prove that you haven’t attained enlightenment, since you’re still using that pesky mind of yours!
And how can a book be considered a spiritual text if it doesn’t beat the “ego” to a pulp? Tolle condemns the ego for identifying with our minds and our possessions. He blames the ego (or the “egoic mind”… whatever that means) for all our spiritual and social woes.
I have a totally different perspective on the relationship between the mind, the ego and spirituality. If you managed to survive to this point, then you have my highest respect!
My impression of human nature and all that it entails is a positive one:
There is nothing in us that is intrinsically evil or sinful. Every part of us plays a life-affirming role, from the hair on our heads to the nails on our toes. This includes our minds. Everything in us works together with the single purpose of advancing human life. There are no intrinsic inner conflicts.
The mind isn’t evil. It’s beautiful. It’s a faculty we use to make sense of the world around us and ourselves, so that we can take appropriate action to enhance our lives and experience happiness.
However, just like all other human faculties, it can be misused. It can try to make sense of the world, without inciting us to action. It can reach wrong conclusions and, therefore, prescribe wrong responses. It can form wrong impressions or cling to issues we would be better off leaving behind.
The solution isn’t to abandon the mind, but to use it properly.
Should we identify ourselves with our minds?
Of course not! The mind is not who we are. It is part of who we are. I don’t see myself as my stomach or my bladder. And I certainly don’t see myself as the food in my stomach or… well, you get the picture.
The point is, we can’t associate ourselves solely with the mind or with the content of the mind (i.e. the ideas we hold). The content is simply the product of our minds, which can be true or false, but we should always be willing to replace this content with something else, as long as it’s life-affirming and helps us understand the world and ourselves a little better.
The “ego” is the mind’s attempt to make sense of who we are. In most cases, our minds aren’t very good at determining who we are. It jumps to conclusions about past actions. Because we were lazy at some point in our lives, the mind can conclude that we are – by nature – lazy, and doesn’t challenge this conclusion, therefore, perpetuating a behavioral pattern we could’ve easily abandoned.
At times it fails to notice the connection between us and others – the shared human nature we all possess – and, therefore, concludes that “I am me and they are them,” and disregards the happiness and well-being of others.
The solution isn’t to curse the mind, but to nourish it with an outlook that recognizes the connection between us all.
For me, this is what spirituality is all about.
Spirituality is not some mystical experience or a peek at another dimension. It’s an outlook that helps us see the big picture of life.
It includes an acceptance that there are things beyond our understanding, but its focus should be on what we are able to understand and appreciate.
It includes appreciating the beauty of the world. The beauty of human nature. The beauty of the people around us. The beauty of our own being. The beauty of life. With all our flaws and idiosyncrasies, there is always beauty to be appreciated. This appreciation doesn’t happen outside the mind. It is a mindful, purposeful outlook on life.
So rather than spend your time seeking a mystical experience of the Now, appreciate the value your mind brings to your life and nourish it with the ideas that will help you lead a great life that values your own happiness and the happiness of the people you share your life journey with.
You can follow Haider on Twitter here or read his blog Personal Growth Map.
Finally we have the RSS and e-mail subscribtion for the How To Be Rich and Happy blog up and running. We plan on running weekly posts about topics that we cover in the book and talking about real life examples. We really hope you’ll take the time to subscribe, espcially if you have the book!
NOTE: We will be running monthly teleseminars exclusive for people that have bought How To Be Rich and Happy or read this blog starting in either late November or early December. In the calls we will be covering off any topics that people may be struggling with on their journey to be Rich and Happy.
We’re also looking to run interviews with people that lead the Rich and Happy life to get tips from them. If you have anybody you’d like us to interview or questions you’d like either myself or John to cover off, please let us know either in the comments or e-mailing tim at howtoberichandhappy dot com
Oh, but we’re supposed to get rid of the ego. Or certain qualities. But done with them and have them surgically removed forever. (I jest. Therefore I am.)
I have a distaste for books that ask us to numb out and believe that things that are real aren’t real and become another avoidance tactic in disguise. (As evidenced by what Tim called my guest post the other night.) ;-)
All the best!
deb
Hi Deb!
Thanks for leaving your feedback!
I absolutely HATE avoidance disguised as enlightenment!
And I also hate any idea that remotely suggests that we have to experience a contradiction in our lives: those who confine spirituality to a realm beyond this world and condemn life on earth as an “illusion” are effectively telling us to feel guilty for living!
We can’t go on with our day to day lives without feeling that it’s a distraction from a higher truth, which only burdens us in life, rather than contributes meaning to it.
All the best to you too! :D
Haider Al-Mosawi, you write:
“Tolle’s book isn’t about knowing how to use your mind more effectively. It’s about how to avoid using your mind altogether!”
Yes, that’s exactly correct. That’s not, in fact, an overstatement at all.
And I’ve always felt that as fascinating and fun a read as “The Power of Now” is, it’s really not a very good book if your intention is to read a book that can truly change your life.
It’s a good book if you want some philosophical stimuli. If you want to be reminded on how being in the now can be very helpful.
But if you want to break negative behavior patterns that hold you back: This is not the book. It really isn’t.
Tolle’s whole thesis is that the mind is the enemy and you have to abandon the mind and all its thought forms and simply have all your attention consumed by the present moment.
Well… That’s not very practical and more significantly: It abandons the most amazing tool we human beings have!
Here’s my philosophy about the present moment: Learn how to use your present moments wisely. Learn how to think thoughts, in the present, that propel you in the direction you really want to go.
But to suspend the mind is simply not wisdom in my book.
So while I advocate NOT dwelling on the past. And NOT worrying about the future… I do advocate using the *mind* in the present in life enhancing ways!
I gotta be honest, I feel like “The Power of Now” is more of a philosophical work than a personal-development book that will truly enhance one’s life. If you want to do that I recommend “Awaken the Giant Within” by Anthony Robbins.
I would have to disagree with many of the statements above.
Tolle never suggests we avoid using our minds. He instead outlines why we need to use our minds purposefully instead of letting our minds(egos) use us.
Tolle also addresses the need to analyze ideas. Haider Al-Mosawi, you say you were suffering from an over-active mind and that you had trouble spending
time with your family without things running through your head. This is an experience I have quite frequently and believe many others do to. Tolle recognizes
that that our minds are completely necessary but that when we do not control our minds, we describe them as problems, as you have. Instead, it is better to
engage with the mind as needed. Tolle goes deep into the ways our minds constantly try to identify with: being right (others must be wrong), stuff (marketers know
we crave stuff), the future (if only… I would be happy).
This idea supports Tolle’s insistence on the power of now. It is a simple statement to say there is no past and not future, but quite another to believe it.
Essentially, time melts away and you use the present moment fully. You can use the present moment for thinking about the past or future. You can use the
present moment for analyzing ideas. You can use the present moment to fully engage in conversation. You can use the present moment to realize that you can be happy.
This relates to the idea of flow very well. When you are in a state of flow, judgement falls away, time falls away, the past and future fall away.
I have experienced flow many times and consider it another way to describe the power of now. And I absolutely used my mind within these experiences. I believe Tolle is
outlining how we can achieve this state more often. I would encourage anyone to read any of his books and absorb yourself in the words. Tolle’s statements are not
prescriptive the way other texts are, but I do think his book is in the realm of spiritual text, as opposed to a personal-development text. There are no seven steps or secret steps to take. Tolle instead describes how to enter into the present moment and be more fully alive.
@Bamboo Forest: I totally agree with your description of living in the moment. I disagree with Tolle’s philosophy, so I didn’t find the book engaging. However, for people that can overlook the philosophy and experience the beauty of the moment while reading his book, or as a lifestyle, then they may find the book transformational.
Having said that, I consider any book that promotes spirituality while condemns the mind or the ego to be ultimately damaging.
@Mercin: I appreciate the importance of living in the moment, but I do believe Tolle considers the mind to be an inherent obstacle. His book is intended to be a spiritual book, and the experience he describes is a spiritual one.
I absolutely love experiencing flow, but I don’t think this is what Tolle is talking about. He’s talking about something beyond the mind. Higher than the mind. Which can only be experienced in the stillness when the mind is silent.
Thank you both for your thoughts. :)
One statement in this post is correct: you didn’t get it.
@jcbillings: I would very much appreciate it if you could explain what the book is about, so I can get it. :)
@ Haider – Thanks a lot mate for a very thought provoking post, as always. Sorry I posted it yesterday and then decided to take the rest of the day off! Not very fair on my guest posters.
I’m not going to get involved in the debate for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I never finished the book! I get about 2/3 of the way and it was driving me nuts, so I left it alone.
Secondly, I’m honestly not sure what I think. I’m not even sure if it’s not just completely over my head. Any time people are suggesting differing thoughts on what the author means has me thinking maybe the author could have done a better job explaining. Not saying that is the case, but that kinda jumps out at me.
@ jcbilings – What’s the point of that dude? I love to hear people offering different opinions, but that doesn’t exactly stimulate or broaden the debate. If you think he’s wrong at least tell him why.
@Tim: Thank you for the opportunity to write for your blog! It’s always a pleasure :)
And I’d rather you not get involved in the debate. Things could get bloody. We need someone left to clear up the mess. :P
I loath to call myself one of the “Tolle followers” but I did reap a lot of value from this book and his other book A new Earth. I was a constant thinker, full of doubts, worries and second guesses about myself and others all the time. I thought way too much. It wan’t because my mind was evil or wrong, it’s because I identified with it.
The book allowed me to free myself from that mental chatter and experience the present moment truely for what it is. I didn’t lose my mind, I didn’t numb myself or lose my awareness. I gained the freedom to see the present moment asit actually is without labels or constructs of the mind getting in the way.
It also shited my thinking from “I am” to “I have”. Most people say “I am angry.” which is a fallacy. The correct line would be “I feel angry.”, a far more apt statement. Just a simple shift in perception gave me more power over myself, my emotions and my thoughts.
Some people will really get a lot out of the book, and a lot of people won’t, but that says more about the reader than the writer. Even though the book didn’t fit you, what can you gain from that experience to help you grow?
Hi Eric,
Thank you for your wonderful comment.
It would be very unfair of me to overlook the potential benefits The Power of Now contains. The book title, in itself, can be inspirational for people to realize the importance of appreciating living in the moment.
I would say that there are many ideas to benefit from, especially depending on how you interpret them and what further ideas and perspectives they can trigger in you, even if these ideas have nothing to do with the message the writer intended to convey. I believe Mercin was able to pick out ideas from the book based on his understanding of living in the moment, when Tolle intended a different message (I could be wrong, but this is my humble interpretation).
Having said that, I do believe that we can experience a problem and find a solution that succeeds in alleviating the problem, only to introduce further problems. For example, if you experience an inferiority complex, the idea that you belong to a superior race can help you overcome your complex. However, it would introduce racial discrimination and a superiority complex! While you would’ve gotten rid of one problem, you ended up with another!
This is how I think of Tolle’s book. It offers a solution that comes at a price. If you’re selective about what you take from the book, then you can protect yourself from the dangerous ideas it contains (and vilifying the mind is as dangerous as ideas can get). But if you accept them wholeheartedly, then they will introduce new problems in your life.
Thanks, once again, and I hope my comment makes sense. :)