The Power of Now Online Book Club

I’m sharing information about an online book club I’m participating in.

These posts will be to help keep me accountable and give a place for me to take my notes and share if you want to follow along.

The Power of Now Book Club

Week #1: Introduction and Chapter One: You Are Not Your Mind

Maybe as you read you can take notes or highlight anything you might be drawn to in the journal or a notebook.

You could consider questions like the following:

1. What do you think about the title and subtitle of this book?

The title is simple. While it can be interpreted differently by people on various spiritual paths, it’s pretty straightforward and encompasses most religions while trying not to alienate anyone.

2. Will you be able to read this with an open mind, and read over things that might seem to be at odds with your current beliefs?

Oh, I am very open-minded and eager to learn and relearn what western society and mainstream religion has taught.

3. What in this first section resonates with you?

I like the format of the information with some Q&A from the editor. The language is simple and easy to understand. It is broad enough that it shouldn’t offend any religion. I love Tolle’s use of Being as a benign word for Creator or God.

It struck me that Tolle skimmed the idea that western society values of rushing and worrying about time with our collective and personal trauma history seem to explain a lot of physical and mental illness in our bodies. I hope he explores more of this later.

Tolle uses the term “watching the thinker” to disidentify from our busy minds. He says compulsive thinking can be an addiction. Did he just explain away anxiety and depression?

I feel we as a society are in constant pain, fear, and anger. If we learned to identify the causes of those feelings, sit with them, learn from them, and heal them, we could really advance towards love, peace, and joy.

I highlighted many sections to review for later.

4. What in this first section creates an object of aversion for you?

I didn’t have any real aversions. I had to reread some parts to make sure I understood. This is not easy or narrative material. It’s a spiritual study and I feel I could reread it often and get more from it each time.

I don’t feel there is anything especially new in this first chapter. I have read extensively and this echoes many other authors and spiritual teachers.

5. Tolle says at the end of this first section, “You also realize that all the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond your mind. You begin to awaken.” Is this something that you have ever experienced in any way before personally?

I am slowly realizing the significant spiritual aspects of living more and more. For the past ten years have been a breaking down and rebuilding of my values and I feel I am gravitating toward more spiritual maturity.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Summary:

To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle’s extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us.

A word of mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.

Read an excerpt from the book here.

Also available: Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now and The Power of Now Journal

Click here

About the Author:

Eckhart Tolle is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and visionary spiritual teachers in the world today. With his international bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth—translated into 52 languages—he has introduced millions to the joy and freedom of living life in the present moment. The New York Times has described him as “the most popular spiritual author in the United States,” and in 2011, Watkins Review named him “the most spiritually influential person in the world”.

Eckhart’s profound, yet simple teachings have helped countless people around the globe experience a state of vibrantly alive inner peace in their daily lives. His teachings focus on the significance and power of Presence, the awakened state of consciousness, which transcends ego and discursive thinking. Eckhart sees this awakening as the essential next step in human evolution.

Eckhart Tolle also has many educational and inspirational videos on YouTube.

You might also like:

• You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh 
• The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See by Richard Rohr
• Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change by Pema Chödrön
• Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying by Ram Dass
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
• Gabor Maté

Comment your thoughts about the book!