Book Review: The Power of Now (by Eckhart Tolle)
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Eckhart Tolle might be a prophet, for he could not have picked a better time to sell the world on “a guide to spiritual enlightenment.” According to one study, nearly two thirds (72%) of Millennials are claiming to be “more spiritual than religious.” Sam Harris, neuroscientist and prominent “new atheist,” is publishing a “guide to spirituality without religion” a month from now. Despite the rapid secularization of Western society, it would seem that we are not quite ready to give up our long-held (some would argue, evolutionary) religious sensibilities entirely. By and large, it appears that the postmodern individual still desires to be a “spiritual” one – just don’t use the word “religious,” lest you offend his/her enlightened sensibilities.
The Power of Now is a work that seeks to strip religion to its “essence” that, “has become almost completely obscured by [extraneous matter] . . . [the] deeper meaning is no longer recognized and [the] transformative power lost” (pp. 9). While there are no churches, no authoritative texts, no rituals, and no dogma in Tolle’s religion (for lack of a better term), it is functionally cut from the same familiar mold. He doesn’t seek to persuade by appeals to rational argument or scientific evidence; rather, much like Jesus in the New Testament, he invites the curious reader to “come and see” for themselves. “Is there any scientific evidence for this?” he asks hypothetically at one point. ”Try it out and you will be the evidence” (pp. 123). Frustrating to the skeptical reader, no doubt, but completely true to religious precedent, where knowing is a matter of feeling and where “the truth is recognized when it is heard” (pp. 10). “The mind cannot know the tree. It can only know facts or information about the tree. My mind cannot know you, only labels, judgments, facts, and opinions about you. Being [i.e., one’s inner self] alone knows directly” (pp. 54).
In truth, despite Tolle’s multiple invitations to “come and see,” I cannot review this book based on personal experience, for my attempts to practice the teachings have been limited. Thus, my judgment of the material is, admittedly, based solely on the persuasiveness of the arguments and my familiarity with religious experience. Despite my incredulous tone, there are several ideas in this book that are worthy of discussion. Here were a few that I found intriguing:
- The mind is a tool, not our complete identity. We should cultivate the ability to detach from our mind and “watch the watcher,” or observe the voices in our head dispassionately. “Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful” (pp. 21-22).
- Words are signposts – they point to higher meaning, but are inherently meaningless in and of themselves. Thus, we should avoid becoming too attached to a certain interpretation of a word, for it can “lend itself too easily to becom[e] no more than an idea in your head that you believe in, a mental idol” (pp. 14). “A word is no more than a means to an end. It’s an abstraction. Not unlike a signpost, it points beyond itself. . . . [Y]ou can talk or think about God continuously for the rest of your life, but does that mean you know or have even glimpsed the reality to which the word points? It really is no more than an obsessive attachment to a signpost, a mental idol” (pp. 108-109).
- We always have three options for dealing with any present circumstance: “remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally” (pp. 82). The point is, whatever you choose to do, be sure to do it fully, with conviction. “[I]s there something that you ‘should’ be doing but are not doing it? Get up and do it now. Alternatively, completely accept your inactivity, laziness, or passivity at this moment, if that is your choice. Go into it fully. . . . [Your mind] may say: ‘You should be working. You are wasting time.’ Observe the mind. Smile at it” (pp. 83-84).
These insights are not necessarily original – indeed, anyone who has delved into any of the world’s major religious traditions at any level is likely to find familiar territory. If Tolle has done anything noteworthy, it has been to synthesize weighty religious thought and abstract philosophy into something palatable for the everyday reader. Unfortunately, while Tolle’s prose is easy enough for the beginner to follow, much of the text is still seeped in masturbatory jargon that gives the impression of depth while offering little substance. I often felt like Tolle would purposefully hide behind buzzwords such as “Being” and “the Unmanifested” without explaining himself very clearly; as if verbosity were evidence of enlightened thought.
The Power of Now will primarily appeal to (a) those who are already adept at living in the present moment and (b) those who want individual religious experience without the baggage of organized religious experience. The book will validate the lifestyle of the former group while providing a lifestyle for the latter group. While I appreciate Tolle’s efforts to get us more centered on the present – “the most precious [time] there is,” (pp. 49) according to Tolle – there are those of us, myself included, who derive great meaning and spiritual understanding from reflection on the past and preparation for the future. Tolle argues that “[a]ny lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now,” which I wholeheartedly agree with. The only moment we can act upon is now.
But Tolle’s extreme, some might say myopic, focus on the present causes him to lose perspective at times, such as when he argues that, “If a fish is born in your aquarium and you call him John, write out a birth certificate, tell him about his family history, and two minutes later he gets eaten by another fish – that’s tragic. But it’s only tragic because you projected a separate self when there was none” (pp. 100). Tolle seems to be advocating that we become so divorced from our external identities founded in past experiences and perceptions that there can be no tragedy in death. But those external identities are precisely what keep us from being expendable. To strip humans of these identities is to dehumanize, and one need only briefly review the history of man’s inhumanity to man to understand why.
The past is important – not in some superficial way that bolsters our external egos, as Tolle frequently argues throughout the text, but as a fundamental part of our “Being” with a capital B. Indeed, there is no self of the “Now” that is not informed and molded by the past. A voice for balance in approaching the past, present, and future would have been appreciated; but, alas, with a book entitled The Power of NOW, the imbalance is understandable, albeit regrettable.
In conclusion, The Power of Now provides some interesting religious commentary to ponder and a handful of spiritual practices that aim to help one better focus on the present moment. I would hope, however, that readers do not mistake it as a “definitive” work on “spiritual enlightenment” – a new infallible Bible, if you will. At the very least, you are likely to find a few beneficial insights within these pages. However, treat it more like a stepping stone than a final destination.
