Maddenation
The Power of Now
I was talking with Kathleen a week or two ago and she mentioned a book she is reading called, The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle. She thought it might be a good idea for both of us (or many of us) to read and discuss it. I told her I would do that, but it might be a while before I got to it.
Yesterday, I was driving past the library and decided to stop in. I remembered the title and looked it up in the eletronic card catalog. They had two books, one of which was available. I went to the stacks, but the book wasn’t there. When I told the librarian, she said that was probably because it had just been returned that day. I waited while she went to get it.
At the checkout counter, another librarian said she had just reserved the book on tape that day. Her daughter had recommended the book to her. Kind of interesting, don’t you think, that I popped in at that opportune time? Or was it merely a coincidence?
I haven’t read the book yet, but suffice to say it’s a “guide to spiritual enlightenment.” The author had a life-changing spiritual experience when he was 29, that caused him to write the book and become a spiritual teacher ever since. Like many other mystics and gurus, he is apparently entreating us to embrace the present moment and live life to the fullest. His philosophy seems consistent with that of Dr. Wayne Dyer, who talks about being in touch with our spiritual “source” and imagining that everything we need to achieve our ultimate goal is already available to us.
I don’t have any serious objection to anything any of these guys say. And I’m sensitive to their arguments that any negative comment creates bad karma that sabotages my efforts to become enlightened. Nonetheless, I wonder why so few of us ever seem to reach the highest levels of fulfillment in life. I also wonder how many “regular” folks, like butchers and bakers and candlestick makers ever reach this high level, and if they would continue their regular jobs if they did. We can’t all be itinerant preachers, after all. Can we?
Dad • News • 08/05/05 • 2 comments
Comments
Dad • 08/30/05 • 11:29 PM:I finished the book, but must return it to the library tomorrow. I liked it. I didn’t understand or agree with what he was talking about all the time, but I think he’s got something. His main point is not letting your “ego” take over your brain and make you think that you are your thoughts. You are more than your thoughts, he says. In fact, your thoughts can get in the way of your simply “being” in the present moment.
Analytical thoughts especially take you away from the present into the past (where you gather the data) and the future (where you project your speculation. If you’re guilty, you’re dwelling too much on the past. If you’re fearful, you’re focusing too much on the future (on things that could happen, but haven’t yet, and probably won’t). By embracing the present moment to the fullest, accepting your current situation (even if you’re stuck in traffic or waiting in line) you can avoid negative thoughts that lead to negative emotions and all kinds of “bad vibes” that affect you and everyone around you.
Dad • 08/30/05 • 11:44 PM:This is such a big change in subject I decided to make it into a separate comment. Tolle in his book refers to what someone has called “the knife edge of the present moment,” which I think is a good analogy. It’s like the infinitessimals they speak of in calculus, which are arbitrarily tiny increments of time or space that only take on significance when they are “integrated” over some finite interval. How long is “now”? Very short indeed. It almost doesn’t exist. The minute, the second, the moment, the picosecond you acknowlege it, it has slipped into the past. Your short-term memory keeps it a live for a little while (how long is that?) but it soon fades away to make room for the next moment.
In speaking of eternity, Tolle says it is not “endless time” but really no time at all; perhaps an endless “now.” I believe God lives outside of the constraint of time, but have difficulty imagining it. Tolle suggests excersizes to expand your present-moment awareness, and these seem a lot like meditation, although I don’t think Tolle used the term meditation. He says, like many eastern gurus, we should not resist the now, but accept it (or take immediate action to change it). Resistance, he says, causes pain, and he’s at least partially right.
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