The daily news is filled with unprecedented forms of violence and madness. Fear, greed and the desire for power are causing a state of violence and warfare between nations, tribes, religions, ideologies; they also trigger even conflicts in our personal relationships.
The author helps his readers rediscover themselves and recapture their identity. However, the book’s main purpose is neither to add new information or beliefs nor to convince us of anything but to initiate a shift in consciousness. Eckhart Tolle explains in an easy language how our ego operates individually and collectively. The ego is the consciousness of our own identity that is responsible for one’s thoughts and feelings. The ego also refers to an exaggerated sense of self-importance, conceit and pride in oneself.
At a very early stage in our life, our ego builds itself up through a process of identification. This process is used and even abused by the advertising industry to convince consumers that buying a product will add something to your life and make us stand out from the crowd.
The things we identify with vary from person to person depending on age, income, social class, fashion and surrounding culture.
“Paradoxically, what keeps the so-called consumer society going is the fact that trying to find yourself through things doesn’t work. The ego’s satisfaction is short-lived and so you keep looking for more, keep buying, keep consuming,” writes Eckhart Tolle.
As we identify with things, we get attached to them and this forms the basis of the consumer society where we measure our success by having “more”. We also measure success through fame. Fame is seen as a superior identity in the eyes of others. By imitating a famous person, people believe they will be better and happier.
The gross overvaluation of fame reflects the numerous manifestations of egoistic madness in the world today.
Most of the ads from coffee (George Clooney and Nespresso) to real estate (Omar Sharif vaunting a housing complex in the Gulf) for example feature famous people. By imitating a famous person, people believe they will also attract attention. Our ego thrives on others’ attention. If they cannot get praise or admiration, some people may even act wrongly to attract attention.
One of the most common problems facing our ego is alienation. Most of us are alienated from who we are. We don’t feel at ease in any situation, any place or with any person, not even with ourselves. We are always trying to get home but never feel at home.
“There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One With Life. Being one with life is being one with now. You then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you,” explains Eckhart Tolle.
When you welcome the present moment with an open heart and mind, life opens up to you and good things happen to you. You realize that wealth is not outside you but it is part of who you are. This state of mind enables you to grasp the fullness of life. Enjoy the magical beauty of sunsets, the pleasure of eating and the joy of laughter. Very often, our minds are so cluttered with thoughts; things to do and things to think about that we are unable to find that timeless space within us that will help us live freely into the moment.
Eckhart Tolle believes that we are so obsessed by the materialistic side of our lives and the importance of time that we are ignoring the importance of the essence and eternity. Our main purpose is to transcend the world.
In an interview with Andrew Cohen, Eckhart Tolle explained that “transcending the world does not mean to withdraw from the world, to no longer take action, or to stop interacting with people. Transcendence of the world is to act and to interact without any self-seeking. In other words, it means to act without seeking to enhance one’s sense of self through one’s actions or one’s interactions with people. Ultimately, it means not needing the future anymore for one’s fulfillment or for one’s sense of self or being… Many times people feel, ‘Yes, I have arrived,’ and then they realize that, no, they haven’t arrived, and then the striving continues. So, ultimately, suffering arises through not finding. And that is the beginning of an awakening, when the realization dawns that ‘Perhaps this is not the way. Perhaps I will never get to where I am striving to reach; perhaps it’s not in the future at all’. After having been lost in the world, suddenly, through the pressure of suffering, the realization comes that the answers may not be found out there in worldly attainment and in the future.”
“A New Earth Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose,” the acclaimed follow-up of the New York Times bestseller “The Power of Now,” are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time. Born in Germany, Eckhart Tolle studied in London and Cambridge. At the age of 29, he went through a spiritual crisis that completely changed his life. He began, then, to help people as a counselor and spiritual teacher. His teachings written in a simple language have helped people from all over the world to find peace and contentment in their lives.
