The Power of the Now (Eckhart Tolle)

The Power of the Now

I have recently completed reading "The Power of the Now" by Eckhart Tolle. The book is a wonderful read and resides in our Library for your review. This book is filled with amazing insight to human enlightenment without getting too eccentric. I found this book transforming and liberating.

The Buddha's definition of enlightenment is "end of suffering'. It is that simple. The definition in itself is incomplete, it tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. The Buddha uses a negative definition so that the human mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment. The goal is always just out of your reach, unattainable.

I would like to ask questions of my fellow Jedi on their journey to enlightenment based on Mr. Tolle's book. I invite you to participate. If you have read the book and been transformed, please participate.

How do you (as Jedi) get closer to enlightenment? What exercises and daily practices get you closer?

PloKoon wrote: How do you (as Jedi) get closer to enlightenment? What exercises and daily practices get you closer?

Is not the very act of trying to attain enlightenment missing the point of enlightenment.

When I walk, I must make a physical effort and a decision of what direction I must go. I have learned to walk without giving much effort in my actions (kinestics). I beleive enlightment requires a us to dwell in a state of participation/ being(not trying) in order to get closer to an uncouncious state. I have made an effort to close my mind to silence and stillness where I am building my enlightend state. I am particpating in the steps toward enlightment. This is what I do as an conscious exercise.

We must participate in our process.

Excellent book. I read it years ago, but I plan to read it again.

You know, I never really thought of "trying to gain enlightenment." Maybe I should...maybe I shouldn't? I don't know...yet.

I do know that reading what I've read since joining this Temple (from Sermons, Initiate Program, other Jedi, my Master) I've begun to react differently to things that normally would have bothered me or caused an outrage from me. And by reacting I simply observe the emotions, or as Tolle would have said, I "watch the watcher."

Without actually trying to gain enlightenment, I think what has really helped has just been slowing down and doing what Tolle said: live in the now. Be your hands as they grasp the handrail going upstairs; be your toes as they walk and hit the ground; see the wind ruffle the leaves as you feel the sun hit your face.

It sounds so simple, yet I've found such inner-peace doing it...

MTFBWY,
LTK

I have not yet read the book but I believe a Zen Master once said 'eat when you eat and crap when you crap'!

This is a great topic!

My experience teaches me that if I am thinking about gaining enlightenment, I am missing the point. I can think my way through my life OR I can live it. I think that is the power of the book. When I live in this moment, I am free of all the things that cause suffering-fear (the future), regret (the past). I know this and yet it is a difficult practice. My experience is that I have to have something to support it or I wind up in my head.....meditation and people on a similar path.

I don't do this perfectly but doing it imperfectly carries me forward.

I agree with what Mikhal said; living in the moment and realizing that this very moment is a miracle in and of its self.

It also helps me to think of the teaching that everyone and everything is connected. That if "they" are happy - I am happy. If "they" are sad - I am sad. etc.

Meditation on these things is, I would say, almost essential. Meditation doesn't have to be a formal thing.. just a constant thought through-out the day.

May the Force be with you.

Tolle was one of the authors, for me, that reading made everything click. All the paganism and Buddhism that had come before I'd always had a sort of intellectual distance from, I couldn't quite assimilate it. Between The Power of Now and A New Earth the way he puts it really clicked into place. It was what allowed me to be comfortable enough in myself to undergo the single greatest life-change I've ever done.

While "trying" to find enlightenment does defeat the purpose, you either do or you do not, different authors, different techniques all should be considered as they may phrase things or frame things in just the right way to best mesh with your life experience and thus provide you the guidepost you've been needing. To this day, while I no longer actively pursue the methods he advocates, I go back and read his books from time to time and still get "quote of the day" from him on Facebook because it serves as a reminder of where I've been and where I am and what I aspire.

PloKoon wrote: How do you (as Jedi) get closer to enlightenment? What exercises and daily practices get you closer?

Makes me wonder if enlightenment is the end goal, or just a new beginning. Wouldnt it be good if Jediism not only was a path to it, but also a system of mastery with it!!

Rise Above Thought

The mind is a instrument. You use it for a specific task then you lay it down. Tolle states that 80 to 90% of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but is dysfunctional and often negative and much of it is harmful. Observe you're thought and you will notice it. Energy is lost.

The ego equals the false self. The ego feeds on the endless chatter. To the ego, the present moment hardly exists, only the past and the future are considered important. It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because without the past... who are you? The ego will project itself into the future in order to ensure its continued survival.

Even when the ego seems to be concerned with the present, it is not the present it sees. It cannot recognize the present because it misperceives it completely because it looks at it though the eyes of the past.

The present moment hold the key of freedom for the mind. Tolle's mantra, Is that you cannot find the present moment as long as you are in your mind.

Enlightenment means rising above thought, not falling back to the level of an animal or plant. In an enlightened mind you use your mind in a more focused and effective way.

Earlier, I asked what you do in order to reach an englightend state. The ego must be tamed before you can begin your journey, therefore, training to tame the mind.

For me, enlightment takes more then just being... I do not posses the disipline. I must learn to unlearn what the ego has instilled in me all my life.

How do you tame the ego in your mind?