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

A 5 minute book summary

I read The Power of Now a few years ago, and it was one of the most transformational spiritual books I’ve ever read. Eckhart Tolle draws on teachings from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Zen and a variety of other philosophies to impart some timeless pearls of wisdom. Although this book contains timeless wisdom, it can be a little difficult to read, and can at times be repetitive, so I thought I’d distill the ideas of book in a way that’s practical and easy to understand.

The book starts of with the following anecdote:

Enlightenment — what is that?

A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger. Then he asked: “What’s that you are sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.” “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point? There’s nothing in there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.

“But I am not a beggar,” I can hear you say.

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.

The book starts out with the premise that a deep sense of peace and well being are actually our natural state of being, but we lose touch with that state due to our habit of excessive thinking. The path to that state of being, according to that book is found through the Now — a state of consciousness where you are completely alert but not thinking. It is a state where we are much more connected to the world around us, and one that empowers conscious choice. The entire book talks about the dysfunctional nature of compulsive thinking, and how ultimately the path to lasting peace can be found through presence. Here are some of the key ideas from the book:

1. You are not your mind

If you’ve ever tried meditation, you’ll notice that it is almost impossible to still your mind for even a few seconds. Our mind activity is essentially a constant stream of thoughts, emotions, dreams, hopes, fantasies, frustrations, regrets, judgements and stories. It is estimated that we roughly think 50,000 thoughts a day, and a vast majority of those thoughts (probably over 90% of it) is useless, repetitive and sabotages our happiness and peace of mind. Often times, our mind will project into the future, and if the future seems better, we feel hope and excitement and anticipation. If the future seems worse, we feel anxiety and worry. Or our mind regresses to the past, where we may harbor resentments against certain people, or feel guilty about certain choices we made, or have regrets about some of our decisions. Sometimes, we engage in comparison thinking, where we compare ourselves with other people, and we often feel life we’re not doing as well as them in some area of our life, so we feel envy or inferiority. At other times, we feel resistance towards some events or life circumstances in our life, leading to frustration and despair. All of this happens unconsciously and compulsively and we have no control over this. These patterns of thinking rob us of our happiness and peace of mind.

It is therefore of paramount importance that we learn to dis-identify from the content of our minds. We need to become the observer of our thinking patterns, or the conscious awareness behind our thoughts.

2. Strategies to enter the Now:

As we can see from the above, being completely identified with the content of our minds is very harmful for our happiness, peace and overall well being. Fortunately, there is another way. It is possible to dis-identify from the mind, and reach a place of conscious awareness. It is a state where you’re completely alert, and compeletely present, without being lost in your thoughts. Eckhart Tolle recommends several strategies to enter the Now (which is nothing but a state of presence), some of which I will mention here:

• Awareness of sense perceptions: As often as possible during the day, try to become acutely aware of your sensory inputs. For example, when you are eating a meal, can you become aware of the taste, the texture, the flavor and the temperature of each bite? You’ll find that you enjoy your food a lot more, while grounding your mind in a state of presence. When you are taking a shower, feel the water against your skin, listen to the sounds of the shower and take in the smell of your soap. When you are in conversation with someone, give them your undivided attention. When you are walking outside, feel the contact between your feet and the ground, feel the breeze on your skin, listen to the sounds in your surroundings. Wherever you are, be there completely. Not only will you enjoy life a lot more, your thinking will become a lot clearer when you do choose to think about something.
• Become aware of your breathing: As often as possible during the day, become aware of your breathing. Feel the air enter your lungs, your lungs expand, and the the air leaving your lungs. Do thins for 2–3 breaths of possible. This will create a much needed space in the continuous stream of thoughts in your mind, and center you in the present moment.
• Watch the thinking mind: As often as possible during the day, try to pause and observe your internal world. What thoughts are you thinking? Is you mind in the future, projecting imaginary scenarios that are causing you anxiety and worry? Or is your mind in the past, replaying events that happened, causing guilt, or regret? Are you comparing yourself with someone else? Are you fantasizing about the future? Whatever maybe the case, realize that the only thing “real” in life is this moment. Take a few conscious breaths and come back to the present moment.
• Inner body awareness: As many times as possible during the day, check in with your body to see how it feels. Do a little “body scan” — Try to scan your body from head to toe and become aware of any sensations in your body? How do you feel? Try to label any emotions that you may feel in the moment — boredom, restlessness, anxiety, nervousness, excitement, frustration, anger, sadness, etc. Observe if there is any tension or stiffness in your body in the moment. This will help ground your attention in presence.

3. Awareness is the greatest agent of change:

The thinking mind, or the ego is your conditioned mind, or your subconscious mind, which basically operates on an autopilot program. It consists of conditioned thought patterns, emotional reactions, habits, core beliefs, fears, insecurities that most people have no conscious awareness of. People try to take control of their life by taking on new habits and behavior patterns, but because of their lack of conscious awareness, they often fall back into the same patterns of behavior. Consider the following classic example — you make a new years resolution to lose weight. The first few days of the year, motivation runs high, and you get everything right — you exercise regularly, eat right, etc. After a few days, once the motivation runs out, your conditioned mind patterns start operating again, and you start to slip back to old patterns:

“I’ve had a long day at work. What’s the harm in skipping the gym, and getting some pizza and beer?”

“ Oh god, why did I get pizza and beer? It’s just been a few days into the new year, and I’m already starting break my resolution. I should never make new years resolutions again. I’m not the kind the person who has the will power or self control to follow through on my commitments. What’s the point of all this? I’m never going to change.. ”

Before you know it, you’re back to same old habits and you’ve given up on your resolutions. It is through conscious awareness that we become aware of the patterns in our mind, and through patience and sustained awareness, we can start to make new choices, and try to live a life that is more aligned with our ideals and values.

4. Acceptance and Surrender:

One of the most fundamental teachings of Buddhism is the idea of impermanence. The source of human suffering and discontent is that we crave and cling to the things of this world under the mistaken view that they will last forever. But nothing does. The world around us may appear solid and unchanging, but even rivers change course, mountains crumble, seas dry up, and stars burn out. The entire universe is in a process of constant flux, arising and falling away. Our brief lives give us the privilege of witnessing this grand spectacle for just a moment.

The way to lasting peace ultimately, comes from surrender. Surrender does not mean to give up, or lose hope. It means to yield to the flow of life, rather than oppose it. It means to loosen our attachments to external conditions and things, and realize that everything is ultimately temporary. This too shall pass. Our state of internal well being, then does not depend on circumstances being this way or that way. We can find peace in the midst of the most challenging life circumstances.

That’s it for today folks! Hopefully that gave you a good idea of what to expect. The book goes into extreme detail about the dysfunctional nature of thinking mind, and the importance of becoming present to the moment. I highly recommend checking it out if you liked this book summary. If you liked this blog post, give me a few claps, please leave a comment below, and subscribe to my channel for more!