The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

I just started reading this book (because of the recommendation of an High School acquaintance that I reconnected with through facebook) and the book speaks to me in a way that makes everything clear and possible. I can feel a huge shift inside myself. I can feel a change for the better happening right now.

In the introduction Tolle describes how he came to be the spiritual teacher that he is today and then he proceeds to write the book in a question and answer format.

I will quote the most profound thing I read today,

"You have probably come across 'mad' people in the street incessantly talking or muttering to themselves. Well, that's not much different from what you and all other 'normal' people do, except that you don't do it out loud. The voice [or your mind] comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes, and so on. The voice isn't necessarily relevant to the situation you find yourself in at the time; it may be reviving the recent or distant past or rehearsing or imaging possible future situations. Here it often imagines things going wrong and negative outcomes; this is called worry. Sometimes this soundtrack is accompanied by visual images or 'mental movies'.... It is not uncommon for the voice to be a person's own worst enemy. Many people live with the tormentor in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them and drains them of vital energy....

The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind....

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You'll soon realize: there is a voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind."

I connected so much with this portion of the text because I have always felt as if I have had two warring sides inside my brain -- not necessarily voices telling me to do things -- but two voices arguing with each other, constantly arguing with each other. I suddenly felt as if I understood what has been going on all this time. My self was arguing with my mind -- that old devil and angel on your shoulder thing.

But more importantly is that I realized that Tolle is right -- allowing our minds to go on and on unchecked like we do -- that is a form of insanity. The ego, he says later in the book, is when you believe that you are the thoughts in your mind. For example, you have evil thoughts, so you are an evil person or you have brilliant thoughts so you are a brilliant person. This is what keeps us from being enlightened and finding our true selves.

Suddenly, after years of reading about meditation, studying buddhism and hinduism, and searching for peace, I found in this book very simple instructions that not only made sense to both my mind and my self, but also seem very doable.

He also says the description of an addiciton is that you cannot stop yourself from going back for more, and so we are addictted to thinking. In this way we have become slaves to our minds. When a memory comes to mind and we begin feeling anxious or nervous or any other kind of emotion, the mind has taken control of our bodies and is using it like a puppet. He continues to explain that the mind is a tool to be used when necessary and then put down when we are finished with a task.

It will no doubt be extremely difficult at times, but I can do this. I can practice monitoring my thoughts without judging them. I can learn to use my mind when necassary and then put it down. I can become enlightened.