Vonia's Reviews > The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

I spent the last five plus hours researching, reading this stupid Eckhart Tolle book. Pardon me. Wasted. Wasted the last five hours. What do I think?

This is essentially the same book as The Power Of Now! The only valid point Tolle has is this: it is mentally unhealthy to obsess endlessly over things that we didn't cause in the past, and over things we can't control in the present, and over things that have no likelihood in the future.

He doesn't need 220 pages to make that point. He doesn't need a book. He doesn't even need a whole page within a book.

In fact his teachings can be very detrimental, since it is urging us to reduce the amount of time we spend planning for the future. Remember you are on this planet for a while, and most worthwhile things are created over a long period of time, and usually involves some aspect of long range planning and long term envisioning.Oh, right... none of that matters: either good luck falls from the sky and/or we can be murderers that are also drug addicts that are homeless and are being abused on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times, because the only thing that matters is that we are in an individual state of "Being"... Remember, gullible audience, The Power Of Now!

He also advocates dropping the past immediately, which avoids putting sufficient time and attention into first acknowledging and accepting the past - and thereby learning from it before we discard it.

Basically, he wants people to stop thinking so much. With my most insincere apologies, I like to think. Yes. Imagine that.

Obviously, I agree with the idea that we should minimize the amount of time spent lamenting about the past overdoing it with worrying about the future. But he takes it to a illogical, stupid, and, frankly, offensive level...

What he is saying is that "We are nothing" It does not matter. We should do nothing, anything, be nothing, anything, it is all the same... because nothing really matters except this "state of being"... Fine, do not care about anything, be completely apathetic, detached and/or unfeeling- you know, we basically do not even know who we are. We could be anything.

Other things the ego will identify with in order to feel good include our work, social status, knowledge and education, physical appearance, belief systems, and also political, racial, nationalistic, religious or other collective identities. "None of these is you," Tolle states. Oh I see. Obviously some of these I agree with to a certain extent, i.e., your work is not you, your race/looks/status mean much less than a lot of people often make it out to be... But belief systems? Values? Knowledge? Political beliefs? Are you fucking crazy, Tolle?????.... None of that matters? Oh, now I get it. Nothing matters. Then why don't you die right now? "Being" when you are in some fantasy bliss world when nothing besides your state is important would be great if it was actually possible ("Ignorance Is Bliss")... But the only way this is humanly possible is to be subjected to solitary confinement from the moment of birth. Sorry Eckhart, but not all of us can wander around for years at a time, sleeping on park benches in a state of euphoria.

Plus... the cherry on top is The Oprah not only fully endorsing Tolls, but naming him the sole person to ever engage in a business partnership with the multi-million dollar The Great The One The Only The All Knowing Oprah Winfrey. With few exceptions, the stronger Oprah's support, the stupider it is.

Yes, I do realize that I may have been slightly overly harsh with Tolle. Like I explained earlier, I do believe and/or agree with most of the basic teachings... but there is no way that stands in this extreme end of the spectrum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...