What he describes is ego-death, or the complete dissolution of the “self,” that is angry, sad, fearful, dependent on external circumstances and people for validation, and a bunch of other junk that causes us to bypass our own ever-present joy. While he went about his daily life, he understood that the intense suffering right before this reckoning caused his consciousness to withdraw from a deep identification with his fearful self. His fear was eliminated and he was deeply peaceful. What transpired next is what many have described as a spiritual awakening. After being gripped with an existential fear with his body shaking, he heard from within, “resist nothing.” Becoming enlightened was never the primary focus of his life, but this is what happened. When he speaks in this book, you can hardly recognize the man who he says he once was.

Tolle was an anxious man, with suicidal depression. Introduction: Tolle’s Interesting Past and Your True Nature I’d even go as far as to say there are some direct downloads or what we call “diksha” in yoga, in this book. You can tell that Tolle has been reworked from his own personal journey, at once homeless and wandering the streets of his hometown London, into a masterful mind that is strangely at peace and fully present. It helps that his advice is never condemning or highfalutin as many self-proclaimed spiritual gurus can be. It helps that Tolle is so completely calm and steady as he narrates his own work.

My deepest self is revealed in Tolle’s superbly simple teaching. This book isn’t dense or complicated but the ideas presented touch you to your core, and I found it helpful to take pause on occasion and to just let them simmer deep into my consciousness. Nobody makes the truth so simple yet so compelling. As far as spiritual enlightenment goes, it’s the real deal. There are few books that speak to you on such a deep level that you have a-ha moment after a-ha moment, but The Power of Now is one of them. I came to Tolle’s book after years of meditation, lots of spiritual angst, and a hunch that I was spending too much time with worries about the past and anticipation about the future. These are two no-no’s I know well from over a decade in mindfulness training and teaching yoga. This presence is felt as you read through the lines of this book. The publishers were “compelled” to publish the book due to Tolle’s profound spiritual presence. This is your inner purpose, which will reveal itself as an outer purpose once you hone your inner energy. According to Eckhart Tolle, you’re here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. The Power of Now has one goal – to remind you why you exist.

Note: This The Power of Now summary is part of an ongoing project to summarise the Best Mindfulness Books and Best Self Help Books of all time.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle