The Power of Now

[FallentoReason]

is a book by Eckhart Tolle.

Has anyone ever read it before? He's supposedly a spiritual leader of some sort after selling 3 million copies. I'm open to the idea of spiritualism but the way he introduces it makes it seem like 'it is, because I said it is'. He only has anecdotal evidence for such stuff.

Either way, I thought it might be a good book to read for the philosophy of it all. Thoughts anyone?

[Kayenneh]

Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living.

If this is the definition of spiritualism, I call bullshit. Good book to read? Nah, I say something else in the department of fiction would be better and more entertaining.

[FallentoReason]

So you've read it?

Well the thing is that the guy self-proclaims his book as being 'spiritual' but when I read the first 4 pages at the store, it didn't sound anything like the description you've given.

He starts off by explaining his past frustration in life. After a few suicidal thoughts every now and again, he started thinking 'I just can't live with myself anymore'. Then, in a nutshell, he realised there's more to him i.e. two of him. The 'I' that couldn't live with 'myself'.

From that starting point, I think he goes on to explain how we can control ourselves and be able to experience some sort of higher consciousness where our bodies aren't so in control of our conscious mind. I think the best way to illustrate what that might look like is e.g. an addiction. The mind wants to stop but the body says otherwise.

Like I said, he self-proclaims this as being spiritual, but I see some interesting philosophy instead, namely, Buddhism and Taoism (judging by other pages I flicked to).

[Red Celt]

is a book by Eckhart Tolle.

The title is off-putting. There's no such thing as "now".

[FallentoReason]

is a book by Eckhart Tolle.

The title is off-putting. There's no such thing as "now".

I think he loosely uses the term in relation with the past and future. So in a nutshell he says pondering on the past is useless and worrying about the future isn't much better.

[Red Celt]

The title is off-putting. There's no such thing as "now".

I think he loosely uses the term in relation with the past and future. So in a nutshell he says pondering on the past is useless and worrying about the future isn't much better.

If your ancestors hadn't worried about the future, you wouldn't be here reading these words.

[FallentoReason]

I think he loosely uses the term in relation with the past and future. So in a nutshell he says pondering on the past is useless and worrying about the future isn't much better.

If your ancestors hadn't worried about the future, you wouldn't be here reading these words.

I doubt a less powerful brain would have the capacity to understand such a concept. They would have actually been worried about the 'now' ironically, like don't starve, don't die in a fight...

[Red Celt]

I doubt a less powerful brain would have the capacity to understand such a concept. They would have actually been worried about the 'now' ironically, like don't starve, don't die in a fight...

That's still the future, however short term. I repeat; there's no such thing as "now". Only the past and the future.

[FallentoReason]

I doubt a less powerful brain would have the capacity to understand such a concept. They would have actually been worried about the 'now' ironically, like don't starve, don't die in a fight...

That's still the future, however short term. I repeat; there's no such thing as "now". Only the past and the future.

Yeah, I agree with you about there being no 'now', but for practical terms I think you can get by. It's almost like a saying in a way, because no one would say e.g. 'I feel like a pizza in 1x10^-99 seconds'. You just say 'I feel like a pizza right now'.

---

Wait... there's a thought! Would it ever be right to say 'I will feel like a pizza' when you mean 'now'? That feeling will have to come eventually. It can't linger in the future forever, meaning that eventually it has to happen in the 'now'.

[Red Celt]

It's almost like a saying in a way, because no one would say e.g. 'I feel like a pizza in 1x10^-99 seconds'. You just say 'I feel like a pizza right now'.

Well, what you think in the "idea of now" motivates your actions in the immediate future.

e.g.

I feel like a pizza
Walk to kitchen
Open drawer containing odd 'n' ends and takeaway menus
Find one that sells pizza
Walk to phone
Make phonecall
Order pizza
...etc

Short-term future events work a little like short-term memory of past events. You're planning the series of events that will lead to the phone call, starting with your walk to the kitchen. As the events unfold, short-term future events become short-term memory. The transition between those two states are what we think of as "now". Even though it doesn't actually exist.