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Thread: The Power of Now

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    Torchbearer Demian's Avatar
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    The Power of Now

    I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in almost one sitting. To me, it was like a guidebook on Zen, although he claimed to have no allegience to any particular religion. In tone it was reminiscent of the books by Deepok Chopra or Wayne Dyer. I was wondering if anyone out there is familiar with Tolle (or these others) and what they think of them. Are these New Age prophets ushering in the Age of Aquarius or simply schlockmeisters seeking only to raise the profit margins on their books?

    "When you listen to the radio you are a witness of the everlasting war between thing and idea, appearance and reality--the human, and the divine."
    -Hermann Hesse

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    Ditsy Pixie Niamh's Avatar
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    Mod note As the text refared to in OP doesnt comply with religious Forum RulesI'm moving this to Philosophy, were it can get a wider perspective.
    "Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
    W.B.Yeats

    "If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
    Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer


    my poems-please comment Forum Rules

  3. #3
    Sweet farewell, Good Nite
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    Quote Originally Posted by Demian View Post
    I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in almost one sitting. To me, it was like a guidebook on Zen, although he claimed to have no allegience to any particular religion. In tone it was reminiscent of the books by Deepok Chopra or Wayne Dyer. I was wondering if anyone out there is familiar with Tolle (or these others) and what they think of them. Are these New Age prophets ushering in the Age of Aquarius or simply schlockmeisters seeking only to raise the profit margins on their books?
    i never quite understood why they called them "New Age" books when the principles they espouse are watered- watered-down versions of philosophies that can be traced back as early as Indian philosophy. are we to think that the ideas are new, for a new age of thinkers? our age must have become more enlightened. the modern world developed the atomic bomb, television, and boxed cereals. we must be brilliant. ugh.

    you read that book in one sitting because it doesn't demand the deepest part of yourself, your mind. it's purposely made as a quick read because any real contemplative engagement with the text would require you to read slowly and maybe even put the book down for a time.

    i never heard of Tolle because i don't read those books. what i can tell you is Chopra, Dyer, and the rest of them are fake, phony, frauds. their allegiance is to the mighty dollar and the publishing houses that mass produce their garbage.

    if direction and meaning of life is what you desire, i recommend that you stick with the ABC's philosophy book, Plato's Dialogues. Socrates will get you to think about your life differently, and maybe even ask you to read him a second or third time over the course of your life because there's so much to discover. and if you're really brave you'll read Plato's Phaedrus, a musing on love. once you have experienced the beauty of these great works, you will never go near the New Age section of a bookstore again.
    Last edited by jon1jt; 09-03-2007 at 11:18 AM. Reason: add
    "He was nauseous with regret when he saw her face again, and when, as of yore, he pleaded and begged at her knees for the joy of her being. She understood Neal; she stroked his hair; she knew he was mad."
    ---Jack Kerouac, On The Road: The Original Scroll

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    Torchbearer Demian's Avatar
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    You just can't beat the classics. I must admit that the majority of the classics in philosophy I've read have come from philosophy textbooks and the like. TV and mass media have given me a short attention span.

    "When you listen to the radio you are a witness of the everlasting war between thing and idea, appearance and reality--the human, and the divine."
    -Hermann Hesse

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    On the other hand, many of the self help books like Wayne Dyer and the like help people to make some improvements in their lives in a way pretty unlikely to happen reading the classics of philosophy. I think a lot of people who dislike 'New Age' culture simply dislike the aesthetics of the genre; the ideas themselves are often reiterations of established spiritual practices and ideas. Most of these books are basically like the lectures or sermons you might hear at church, putting a new spin on old ideas.

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    Torchbearer Demian's Avatar
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    It seems that more and more people are turning to these books along with 'self help' books as the power and community of the churches dissipates. We are all like an authority to ourselves. We are writing our own tomes in a script only we can decipher; an army of little Da Vinci's...

    "When you listen to the radio you are a witness of the everlasting war between thing and idea, appearance and reality--the human, and the divine."
    -Hermann Hesse

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    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Demian View Post
    I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in almost one sitting. To me, it was like a guidebook on Zen, although he claimed to have no allegience to any particular religion. In tone it was reminiscent of the books by Deepok Chopra or Wayne Dyer. I was wondering if anyone out there is familiar with Tolle (or these others) and what they think of them. Are these New Age prophets ushering in the Age of Aquarius or simply schlockmeisters seeking only to raise the profit margins on their books?
    The very term sounds very exciting. I do not the book you are subscribing or th e idea you want to put forth, and in fact this clause the power of now is really great. For, now is the moment we are alive and are very much with the universe , and therefore we can do anything or the whole universe helps to fulfill our wish.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

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    Registered User NikolaiI's Avatar
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    Ooh, I love Zen.

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    I think that the topic addressed by this book is one of the most important and fundamental issues in anybody's life (whether we are conscious of it or not). And as such, the book deserves a good reading and a deep analysis. The author mainly argues that we identify ourselves with our mind, which cannot function without time and therefore perceives the timeless Now as threatening. Furthermore, the mind is the source of sufferings in this world, since the past (which can only be perpetuated by the mind) contains a vast amount of residual pain and the future (which can only be created by the mind) is simply forever unfulfilled desires. And yet we all need the mind to function in this world. The author recommends that we stop associating ourselves with our mind, thus breaking the delusions created by time. In practice, this means a complete attention to, or awareness of, what happens in the present without the mind interfering and distorting that direct experience. This can only be achieved with a complete absence of fear, in particular the fear of losing our own identity (which is again strengthened by memory of the past accumulated in the mind, either consciously or unconsciously). In summary, the book may be inspirational for some. However, unless its reading is accompanied by a profound introspection into our own psyche, the importance of the message may not be fully grasped. I started reading the book but ended up reading myself.
    Last edited by TheSeeker; 09-21-2007 at 05:17 PM.

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    I used to think some things were good and others bad, especially in terms of books and opinions. More and more I now think that most things are useful in certain contexts, and that even really great things do have a limit to their value as well.

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    On the brink of... Starving Buddha's Avatar
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    Enlightenment is taught in every religion. I studied Crowley and studied St. John of the Cross. Two polemically different perspectives... There are passages that you could not tell one from the other... It is all about reunion with the divine. Which is to say, shedding off corpreality and becoming pure light. We can only do this on a conscious level. So being in a human skin is the only opportunity. Tolle experienced a breaking away, a coming to terms with the eternal present, which is all there is: NOW. No future, no past, only NOW. Our minds project emotion onto the reality screen, and what is projected is reflected back. Enlightenment is coming to understand that what is done (in words, thoughts, and deeds) will come back on you. Perfection (like Christ or Buddha) is perfecting ones thoughts, words, and deeds so that negativity is abolished and only positivity comes back. "The kingdome of the lord is spread out before men and they don't see it..." Gospel of St. Thomas...

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    We are mind with a body, not body with a mind. Mind is the intangible, the 'energy' that connects us to a life that existed before 'we' arrived, and will be around after we are gone.

    It is the only part of us that can really survive after death, if such a belief shared by many, is possible. The rest of us, the physical. we can see decays and goes back to earth from whence it came. The mind, or spirit, is invisible. Like electricity, it exists but we can't see it - only its effects if we attract, intentionally, or inadvertently, its power.

    It is the 'mind' in another which really attracts us, if at first it was the physical that opened the door. Often we find that 'love' can remain long after the physical has declined from age, or destroyed by accident, or health. It is also our mind's ability to continue to see another person we loved as they used to be before their mind had been damaged by accident or disease.

    So whether we see the world in 'now' terms, or not (I have not read the book, only people's comments here) we cannot exclude the mind. Mind is the key, and keys can open, and lock, in or out.

    We cannot change the past, but thought applied there when necessary can be useful, however we cannot go back there, and we cannot dwell there physically, so, to be in mind too long where the body cannot be, can lead to an unbalanced life. That brings disharmony. As in music, it brings discord.

    The present is not only what we are living NOW, we can change it. By that I mean we can change how we perceive it, and react to it, Like a computer we can reprogram ourselves to how we would like to be. While plastic surgery can change the physical, it needs a skilled surgeon, and plenty of money. But we can change our mind. That costs nothing, only needs a firm decision, and a clear visual plan in the mind.

    What we will be tomorrow, is dependent on what we are, and do, today. Therefore, for our future it is necessary to get our 'now' life right. For our tomorrow, all too soon, becomes our 'NOW'.
    Last edited by Midas; 10-16-2007 at 09:13 AM.

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    James, do you like your life? When will you write your masterpiece?

    I know you have a masterpiece. Oh please remember all that helps you to write it! Far be it for me to express any discontent. God wills what will be done and hath gladdened my heart in the process. Peace to all who come~

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    Bibliophile JBI's Avatar
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    I haven't read this particular book, but New Age philosophy to me isn't even philosophy. It lacks discipline, and peer review. It has no methodology, and is essentially a long-winded sophism, and as said before, a watered down version of pre-existing philosophies, in the form of a self help book. For most of them, they seem to answer themselves. The key to success is writing a book on success, do that, and you've got money, and will be happier. The books offer in themselves no answers that haven't been stated, or that make any logical sense however, and result one to the loss of said dollars.

    The problem with this stuff however, is that the East still hasn't entered the Western Canon at such a large level. Most people read classic philosophy, ending before contemporary times (text books I find stop somewhere around Derrida), and are ethnic biased. Because of this, people get away with mock-plagiarizing Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other eastern religious philosophies and disciplines.


    As for this book, I have not read it so cannot fairly judge. But all this key to changing one's life is a complete logical fallacy. No person has any control over their life, simply because everything is pre-decided. Every choice one makes is an inevitable choice, being that, in accordance with the flow of time, with the exact same situation in parameters, each choice would have been made in the same way, time and time again, each action done in the exact same manner, each dice toss showing the exact same numbers. To say anyone has any control over their life is to say that the control is manifested in the person, and not the society as fueled by time. But the concept of knowing you have control is outside of the "controllers" hands. He was forced by fate to become someone who read the book, and therefore got control. The book merely does nothing.

    If it makes you feel good, read these books, if it doesn't, save your money. As for philosophy, this sort of stuff isn't really philosophy, it is pseudo-philosophy to make people feel good. Real philosophy is usually quite depressing, since all signs point to nothing.

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    amor fati CognitiveArtist's Avatar
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    Thanks TheSeeker, I am completely unfamiliar with this book and your summary has given me a sense of what it's about.

    This idea of not associating with our mind I find bad philosophy. The mind is always there, involved in the world, it's not a yes or no question that a person makes to be a mind. This is a general caution I have about much eastern philosophy & religion, particularly Buddhism and it's nirvana, which promote the 'virtues' of detachment.
    Of course we can't always be attaching and actively living with our mind/being, we have to relax now and again. But this idea of striving after a fear-less life I think tries to negate what human beings are. We attach to things and value things, we identify with them, as we are beings in the world. The idea of not forming attachments so there won't be anxiety over losing our attachments I find bizarre, not something I could think of as good. It reminds me of a "will to nothing". To repeat again we can't always be "in the moment" or attaching, we have to reflect and we have to relax/clear our mind. Promoting a general state of detachment though is too much, and it tries to negate the embodied mind in the world that we are.

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