Review of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth
Spiritual Guidance From one of Canada’s Bestsellers
Feb 17, 2009
As one of Oprah’s latest fixations, Canadian Eckhart Tolle is getting a lot of attention, especially with the release of his newest spiritual book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Tolle’s second bestseller has been featured on Oprah’s Book Club and is currently being offered as an online course at Oprah.com. Needless to say, A New Earth is causing quite a stir in both the spiritual and literary worlds.
“Presence” With a Capital P: The Purpose of A New Earth
According to Tolle, A New Earth will awaken you and shift your consciousness, if you are ready. The book centres on the idea of ‘ego’ and ‘Presence.’ Ego, as suggested by Tolle is dysfunctional and causes illusions in our mind and body. It is the ego that stops our connection with God and it is the ego that continues to live in the past and the present. This ‘duality’ is something we need to eliminate.
To do this, Tolle suggests we must transcend the ego and live in a state of ‘Presence,’ or the “now.” He focuses on the idea that we need to eliminate our need for material wealth and power and instead focus on internal ideas such as spirit and harmony. Tolle explores the current state of humanity in an attempt to banish the ego and find inner harmony away from the egoist mind.
Tolle makes it clear that one’s purpose in life is to live in a state of consciousness. And, to do this, one will have to negate the past, present and future and connect with the now.
A-Ha Moments or Utter Nonsense
There have been serious mixed emotions towards Tolle’s second book. On the one hand, many followers (Oprah included) swear that have had an “a-ha” moment while reading this book- a moment in which you think, “a-ha, it all makes sense now.”
Many people, on the other hand, tossed the book off as utter nonsense. After all, how can one live in the ‘now’ without the past and present? And, how can one eliminate the ego, a very important part of our internal structure and still remain connected internally?
Many others are on the fence. Although Tolle’s A New Earth may not have given them a spiritual awakening, the book is written beautifully and does resonant well, regardless of if you believe in the “Presence” or not.
More About Tolle
Eckhart Tolle’s second book was first published in 2005. It is available in hardcover, paperback and on audio CD. It has been on the New York Times bestsellers list and has sold over 3.5 million copies. Furthermore, Tolle’s online course, which is being taught through Oprah.com, has over 500,000 registered participates in more than 100 countries around the world.
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