An Enlightening Read - Rated 
I found Eckhart Tolle's newest book "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" an enlightening read. I really liked chapter 5 "The Pain Body" It had never occurred to me that thinking is involuntary, that it is no different then other bodily functions such as circulation or digestion. How true it is that many people are totally lost in their thoughts never present or listening to a word anyone says. In chapter 6 "Breaking Free" Eckhart Tolle tells us how to break free. I kept thinking to myself (what I have thought so many times before) the only thing that gets in my way is me!
Another book I really enjoyed reading is "Being Here Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment" by Ariel & Shya Kane. It is a light and delightful book of short stories about 'being' that will keep you entertained and put a smile on your face.
Something here if you can tolerate Eckhart's colossal ego... - Rated 
There's something here but you will need to be very tolerant to find it. Read a friend's copy... but had real trouble not scribbling all over it and ripping a few pages out here and there. Its full of sweeping generalisations, buried assumptions and his own beliefs justified by little more than rhetorical trickery.
The ego stuff is all accurate enough but it's not exactly brimming with new inspiration. Very judgemental too. Everyone who egoic is miserable and screwed up. Excuse me..! I know loads of egoic people that are content and satisfied with their world.
Thought the external/internal purpose stuff was good. All very Zen and written in an accessible way. Liked the acceptance/enjoyment/enthusiasm ideas and the internal space stuff is refreshing to read. Didn't really understand what he was on about with the pain-body though (=subconscious?). Unfortunately it was far too poorly explained for me to relate to.
He makes liberal use of pseudo scientific terms like vibration, frequency, energy-fields. These words have no meaning I can relate to in this context. I am sure that they do have a meaning to Eckhart, but without explanation, it becomes little more than part of a belief system. And if Eckhart is creating his own belief system, then that's a colossally egotistical thing to do.
He spends a lot of time explaining that a new species of enlightened people is now evolving but doesn't present any evidence that this is the case. Then there's the universal purpose and universal consciousness stuff. Wibble. The universe just "is". He even says so. It's got no purpose or meaning or consciousness. Plus the universe is created by you, not the other way round. He really should have figured that out by now.
Reads a bit like someone who popped out of their ego over lunch, then came back thinking - cool, I'm really good at getting out of my ego, I'll write a book about it and become rich and famous.
Anyway, problem is that truly enlightened people are never going to waste time writing books, so I figure you have to be tolerant if you going to learn anything. With that in mind, I did enjoy the book. There's something there, behind Eckhart's colossal ego...
One of the best - Rated
The message of this book is great: that one should try to rid oneself of the "ego." While I agree with many principels in this book, there are a few I can't swallow. Even so, this is one of the better "self-help" books out there. "The Power of Now" and "You Can Heal Your Life" are also very helpful.
A NEW EARTH is written well--something you need not expect with this type of genre. And while part are familiar to anyone who has studied the religions and outcomes: "Turn the other checck, Karma, etc," there is a freshness to Tolle's take on how to apply these ideas.
If you're new to the thinking of the collective consciousness, then you'll want to read this. My advice on reading this is to take it one chapter at a time and not try and cram everything in together. Let it sink in. That way you'll be more open to the concepts. A great book for spiritual growth; both accesible and useful.
Good Follow Up To the Power of Now - Rated
A good follow up to The Power of Now. I wrote the following review about TPON and here it is repeated, but additional comments.
Reading this book was like a condensed version of the many classes I have attended from my spiritual teacher. Eckhart Tolle presents difficult to comprehend subjects in simple to understand language. However, do not expect that this "easy read" will result in instant enlightenment. He sets the basics down, it is up to the reader to absorb and act upon the lessons.
I always leave a weekend workshop at my spiritual teacher's ashram on a natural high. This book gave me that same feeling. It is a wonderful book to help guide you on your spiritual journey.
A New Earth guides the reader further along the path with excellent commentary. The book is grounding. Good reminder to keep my ego out of my way!
Author of the award winning book, Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet.
Avoids what I really dislike.... - Rated
It is a common mistake amongst seekers to think that books on the non-dual are good books merely by reason of their content, or becuase of the imagined exhaulted state of their authors. This is not so. People in the non-dual state can write bad books just as easily as can those of us stuck in duality. Here are three common faults I have found with such books:-
1. Saying a thousand true things, and saying nothing useful. When books like these are written they seek to do something very difficult - they seek to describe another state of conciousness, and this allows of the possibility of saying many true things about the other state, none of which are of any use, and which very often don't make any real sense, until tht state is reached i.e. until the point comes when they are supefluous. This is far worse than useless because it will create in the seeker a huge effort of the mind to try understand. With considerable intelligence this can in fact be done, but if it is achieved it will have been destructive, (a) becuase it will plunge the seeker into thought - exactly where he does not want to be and (b) because he will find himself in a the place that many ernest people find themselves, i.e. that of having good mental understanding of what is being said, but of being looped within the topic and therefore not being able to obtain the transformation. This is a bad place to be.
2. Scaring the bejeebers out of the reader. There are many points at which this is done in the non-dual literature but perhaps the most common is that the transformation requires that the ego, your self, be undone. Some authors like to refer to this undoing as the "death" of the ego. This is is a terrifying metaphor and almost guranteed to put the ego into a survival mode - exactly the *wrong* mode to be able to hear the gentle truths that must be taken in if the transformation is to occur. If you find yourself being scared by a nondual book *sling it* and get another one.
3. The author failing to remember the nature of the dual state. Many authors in the non-dual state have actually forgotten what the dual state is like. They have done so to such an extent that their ability to truly relate to the reader is gone. Instead they pronounce from a position which is ultimately innaccessible.
OK but none of these errors occur in New Earth. Instead Eckhart gently rolls out the material, never once becoming scary or incomprehensible, and never once does he pronounce from a place of inaccessibility. By contrast, the book sweeps into you and over you like a gentle wave over warm sand. There is nothing to run from - just bathe in it.
So the book is superb, it's as simple as that. Get it if you want to see through the illusion.
Regards
Adrian
PS I reckon there are about 200 spelling errors in the book (yes I am serious) and that will quite possibly irritate you, but maybe that's a good thing - you'll see why.
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