Self-help book, part 4

   "The Power of Now" is the most difficult self-help book that I have read or attempted to read.
  The basis of the book is the fact that there is and always has been only one spiritual teaching, although it comes in many forms.  And often, other things obscure the spiritual essence.
   This may be considered 'New Age', but it is really getting at the root of all world religions.
Quote: "Love, joy and peace are deep states of Being- three aspects of the state of inner connectedness with Being."
  I found the book simple but profound.  It was wonderful to discuss the book in depth with two other family members- each of us in different stages of life.

   I read "A New Earth" eleven years ago.  Perhaps because my brain was younger, I was able to understand it more clearly.  I wrote this review at the time:
In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind.  He points out how we create our own pain and shows how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present.  The author shows how to connect to the essence of our Being: "the eternal, every-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death".

Eckhart Tolle

    I see now how the two books are connected  and each one was appropriate for  my stage of life at the time.
     Keeping focussed on the present is more  difficult as I age, and I appreciate the  reminders and suggestions for ways to stay  present and 'live in the Now'.

   I just watched a lecture by Eckhart Tole where he talked about the importance of laughter.  If you have ever listened to Eckhart, you may appreciate how bizarre that experience was.  He is so droll that it made me laugh!