I’m on my third reading of Eckhart Tolle A New Earth, one of a few spiritual personal improvement books I’ve read over the last couple of years and I have to admit, there are some concepts I have already started to live in my life from this book…stillness, living in the NOW moment and having faith that when you live in the moment that you are tapping into something much bigger than ourselves, or earth – in fact putting ourselves in the hands of the universe.
But…that’s where I struggle a little – it seems from reading Eckhart’s A New Earth, as opposed to other spiritual awakening authors such as Wayne Dyer or Deepak Chopra – he calls for TOTAL alignment with nothing more than what you are doing right now.
Certainly, eliminating fear, anxiety, and managing stress in our lives is a massive stepping stone to achieving greater things in our lives as was outlined in our newest step-by-step program "Beyond Greatness"
In fact, he argues that there are only 3 states that are congruent to being in-tune with the universe – Acceptance, Enjoyment and Enthusiasm.
I have to 100% agree that when we are in a state of enjoyment or enthusiasm, we are in line with the universe, but there is only one other state and I wonder how any progress is made given that the only other choice we have is acceptance?
Let’s say I am struggling in a crappy job that I hate, I can’t enjoy it or be enthusiastic about it…so I have to accept it?
Hmmm…that doesn’t seem right?
I’ve listed to different Tolle audio’s – the extensive series he did with Oprah which seemed to only raise more questions about this "passive" resistance technique that I just can’t see will lead to successful enlightenment.
However, I do see the following advantages of Eckhart Tolle’s advice in A New Earth:
- Living in the NOW means you remove a great deal of stress, strain and unhealthy anxiety from your life. I still strive, but now I’ve learned to be a little calmer about it and not worry so much
- I do believe there is an energy that operates things at a far higher level than we exist – congruent with the teachings of the Secret and other spiritual books
- His concept of the ego constantly trying to drive you beyond the current moment is earily believable as he touches on this again and again in A New Earth
Overall, I know that the advice and concepts given in Tolle’s A New Earth will improve my happiness and ability to reach the next level of awareness – somehow though I have to still understand how that co-exists with progress and the need to improve the situation around ourselves.
Leave a Comment