I couldn’t not share it. It’s been the most the way I perceived myself and all things, deeply with me and caused such a shift in she noted. “ helped me become more spiritually attuned,” Earth approval. Never like this, though. A given many authors her golden seal of Book Club, America’s richest woman has have a copy of the book. on. Today, more than six million people third week, 11 million people had logged the world’s largest ever classroom. By the for 10 weeks, creating what was, in effect, with the author – one chapter each week she presented Hawaii to Antigua. properties – from Chicago to California, tables of all the guestrooms of her various as “a wake-up call for the entire planet”. . She’s described the book no less a celebrity the past three years and been endorsed by topped best-seller lists across the US for the one I have next to my bed! been translated into 33 languages. described as the bible of our times and of Now books in the world. His first, the author of two of the biggest selling millions of others. Eckhart Tolle is today but I think the magazine is wrong, as do his teachings as mumbo jumbo, night like my own personal shepherd. some dream state, I feel him guarding the advice. At other times, deep in the grip of don’t sleep, I turn to him for comfort or that’s always there. Sometimes, when I the constant companion. He’s the one share him with others, of course, but he’s hart Tolle to bed with me every night. I HERE’S AN ADMISSION WW “I’ve read hundreds of books that have During the 12 years she’s run Oprah’s Last year, in an unprecedented gesture, Oprah has a copy of it on the beside His second book, Time , she said, had changed her life. , published in 1997, has been magazine might have dismissed | | A New Earth wellbeing A New Earth and A New Earth celebrity-maker than resonated so in online seminars writer Eckhart Tolle into a spiritual guru, writes help best-seller Oprah Winfrey loved it. Millions more have bought it. The self- . I take Eck The Power , has That’s New HOW TO LIVE -

IN TH E NOW accurately, it is not so much that you use becomes very destructive. To put it more used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it from it, so it is considered normal. this because almost everybody is suffering affliction,” he says, “but we don’t realise “Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful dysfunctional because of too much thinking. about how the human mind has become In never encountered before.” some kind of special quality that I’ve coaches, guides and gurus, but he has are many people claiming to be teachers, Perhaps what I should say is that there label on him, which could be misleading. it’s almost like I’m putting some kind of he’s truly exceptional, but in saying that, Eckhart’s praises, declaring, “I think good endorsement after all other. in one hand and She arrived at the gates clutching the Bible Facility in California on a driving offence. entered the Century Regional Detention for Eckhart’s wise counsel when she her and, in June 2007, Paris Hilton opted first recommended time homeless spiritual seeker. Meg Ryan to have endorsed the teachings of this one- awaken to their lives in such profoundwitness ways.” millions of people all over the globe this book online with Eckhart Tolle and rewarding experience of my career to teach The Power of Now “The mind is a superb instrument if Singer has also sung Oprah Winfrey isn’t the only celebrity Well, okay, maybe that’s not such a The Power of Now The Power of Now The Power of Now , Eckhart Tolle writes . in the

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happened in the past. It happened in now, nor will there ever be. Nothing ever was never a time when your life was thing. It’s all there is. Life is now. There asks, rhetorically. “Because it is the precious thing there is. – the more we miss the Now, the most on time – in other words, the past and future present moment. The more we’re focused it is not needed – and focus instead on the from the past or the future – at least when says, is to withdraw the mind’s attention The How of the Now, overleaf), Eckhart came during a time of mental quietude.” reported that their creative breakthrough inner stillness. Even the great scientists have not, create from a place of no mind, from All true artists, whether they know it or but consciousness does not need thought. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, is only a small aspect of consciousness. synonymous,” he continues. “Thinking the mind, from beyond thought. love, inner peace – arise from beyond matter to us – beauty, creativity, joy, intelligence and all the things that truly Thinking is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence exists beyond thought. not what we think, that a vast realm of comes from the realisation that we are delusion. The instrument has taken over.” believe that you are your mind. This is the it at all. It uses your mind wrongly – you usually don’t use “Why is it the most precious thing?” he The way to access this stillness (see “Thinking and consciousness are not Eckhart says the beginning of “freedom”

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GETTY IMAGES. the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the “LIFE IS NOW. THERE sense of who you are, but it’s always an future. It will happen in the Now. What WAS NEVER A TIME uneasy sense of who one is. That is how THE HOW Wherever you are, be there totally. If your here and you think of as the past is a memory trace, WHEN YOUR LIFE WAS the ego works. So one is never quite at Now makes you unhappy, you have three options: stored in the mind, of a former Now. The ease with oneself, or if one is … it’s only 3remove yourself, change it or accept it totally. future is an imagined Now, a projection NOT NOW, NOR WILL for short periods and then the unease comes OF THE NOW If you keep your attention in the body as much as of the mind. When the future comes, it THERE EVER BE. back. The unease can also easily become Do these exercises each day possible, you will stay in the Now. You won’t lose comes as the Now.” NOTHING EVER fear … many kinds of negative emotions and feel more joy in your life 4 yourself in the external world and you won’t lose All our negativity, Eckhart goes on HAPPENED IN THE PAST. can arise [and] you live from this really Start listening to the voice in your head as often yourself in your mind. The more consciousness you bring to say, is caused by an accumulation of IT HAPPENED IN THE artificially generated sense of self.” as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive into the body, the stronger your immune system becomes. “psychological” time and a denial of the NOW ... WHAT YOU All of Eckhart’s egoic consciousness or 1 thought patterns. Don’t judge what you hear. Don’t It’s as if every cell awakens. It is also a potent form of self- present. In other words, all the unease, false sense of self collapsed one night in take your thoughts too seriously. When you listen, you are healing. When you are unoccupied for a few minutes and anxiety, tension, stress and worry we feel THINK OF AS THE PAST England, not long after his 29th birthday. In aware not only of the thought, but of yourself as the witness especially last thing at night and first thing in the morning, are often caused by too much future, not IS A MEMORY TRACE.” his darkest moment, he had said to himself, of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come “flood” your body with consciousness. Lie flat on your back. enough present. Conversely, all the guilt, “I cannot live with myself any longer” and in. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly Close your eyes. Choose different parts of your body to focus regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, (He changed his name to Eckhart in honour it was then that he’d become aware of what subsides. When the thought subsides, you experience a your attention on briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, bitterness we feel – all the forms of non- of the 14th century German spiritual leader, a peculiar thought this actually was. “Am discontinuity in the mental stream – a gap of “no-mind”. At abdomen, chest, head … Feel the life energy inside those forgiveness – are caused by too much past. Meister Eckhart.) I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each part for about As long as we remain unable to access At the age of 13, he moved with his father there must be two of me: the ‘I’ and the gradually, they will become longer. When these gaps occur, 15 seconds. Then let your attention run through the body the present moment, every emotional pain to Spain, but refused all formal education ‘self’ that ‘I’ cannot live with.” you feel a certain stillness and peace inside. like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again. we ever experience will continue to live on because of what he claimed was the “hostile As he explains at the beginning of The In your everyday life, you can practise this by If you find it hard to get in touch with the inner body, inside us. It will merge with the pain of our environment”. He still managed as an adult Power of Now, he was so stunned by these taking any routine activity that normally is only it’s usually easier to focus on your breathing first. past and become lodged in our minds and student to graduate from the University thoughts, his mind stopped and he felt 2 a means to an end and giving it your fullest 5Follow the breath with your attention as it moves bodies. This is what Eckhart refers to as the of London and then complete research drawn into what seemed like a vortex of attention. For example, every time you walk up and in and out of your body. Breathe into the body and feel your “pain body” and the only way to break that at Cambridge University in the field of energy. Gripped by fear, his body started down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close abdomen expanding and contracting slightly. pain body is to observe it and feel its energy literature, language and philosophy. shaking uncontrollably. He heard the words attention to every step, every movement, even your Stay rooted within. Then observe how this changes field inside us. Or, as Eckhart says, become That was in 1977, the same year he “resist nothing” and then he has no idea breathing. Be totally present. The moment you realise your state of consciousness and the quality of what the “silent watcher” of our own minds. went from a suicidal depression to a what happened next, only that he awoke you are not present, you [itals]are[end] present. Or when 6you are doing. Whenever you’re waiting, use that “Once you have understood the basic profound awakening, one that would to the sound of chirping birds. you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense time to feel the inner body. The art of inner-body awareness principle of being present as the watcher transform not just his own life, but the “I felt deeply at peace,” he tells me perceptions associated with the activity: the sound will develop into a completely new way of living, a state of what happens inside you – and you lives of millions of others. now in his even, tranquil tones, “although and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, of permanent connectedness with Being, and will add a understand it by experiencing it – you In a rare interview with The Weekly externally nothing had changed in my the scent of the soap. Or when you get into the car, depth to your life that you have never known before …. have at your disposal the most potent prior to his arrival in Australia, Eckhart life. Everything was alive, fresh, beautiful. after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and Edited extract from The Power of Now, by Eckhardt Tolle, transformational tool … This means that explained how anxiety had taken hold of I actually realised later that I was fully observe the flow of your breath. published by Hodder Headline Australia, rrp $24.95. [the conceptual mind] cannot use you him throughout much of his early life. “If living for the first time. I was fully in anymore by pretending to be you and it can it wasn’t one thing, it was another,” he says the present moment.” no longer replenish itself through you. now. “Financial difficulties, difficulties For the next few years, Eckhart drifted “You have found your innermost strength. with relations, unhappiness, sometimes around Cambridge and then moved back to You have accessed the Power of Now.” loneliness … there were always different London, homeless and almost penniless. reasons. Great fear about the future, about “I stayed with friends here and there, slept ECKHART TOLLE LIVES on the 16th not making it in this world. on people’s sofas, sometimes on floors. floor of an apartment building on the “So all these things seemed to be the Occasionally, I didn’t have anywhere to outskirts of Vancouver, Canada. From cause of the depression, but I later realised sleep and so I spent a lot of time just going two sides of his living room you can that the depression was something to do with around parks and sitting on benches, and almost touch the treetops in the aptly not so much what was happening outside being totally in the present moment, really named Pacific Spirit Park, a 763 hectare in my life, but the structure of my mind. having no concern about what was going deciduous forest separating the city from “My mind was continuously creating to happen to me. That’s because that me the University of British Columbia. thoughts that generated unhappiness. wasn’t there anymore. I was very much at From the other side of this eyrie, you Thoughts about me. I was the centre of peace, but an external observer might have can see on a clear day all the way to the my life, as is the case for most people, said I was no longer functioning very well.” coastal mountains of British Columbia and and I was very much obsessed with Did you look like a bum in the park? then, just to the left, the distant sea and myself, this mental image of who I am I ask him, half-jokingly. “No, not quite,” mountains of Vancouver Island. or who I should become. he replies, giggling like an elf might if This is where Eckhart Tolle lives “It’s the voice that most people have you tickled him under the arm. “I always with his partner, Kim Eng, a yoga and in their heads that they may not even be managed to kind of still look acceptable.” ETai Chi instructor, although often, in aware of because they’re so identified with (Eckhart is prone to wearing waistcoats, summer, they will repair to their house it. It’s the continuous thought processes and corduroy pants and shirts buttoned to the on Salt Spring Island, a two-hour ferry in the centre of these thought processes is top. He also has a preference for parting ride from Vancouver, so that they might this imagined I with my possessions, my his hair on the left!) fully immerse themselves in nature. achievements, my successes, my failures, In 1995, at the age of 47, Eckhart was Life was not always so settled – or my ambitions, my fears, my problems, my “called” from his hermit-like existence to salubrious – for this man born Ulrich past, my future. the West Coast of America. “One day, I woke  Tolle in Dortmund, Germany, in 1948. “It is all mind activity that gives you a up and I suddenly realised ‘I have to GETTY IMAGES. move’. There was a very strong pull, but example, a couple of years ago, both my I couldn’t explain what I had to do there parents died within the space of six months. or why I had to go.” First, it was my mother, then my father. He bided his time between Vancouver Of course, tears came. Sadness came. and California, where he knew barely a soul, Yet even then, I felt, ‘This is the human and began to write The Power of Now. By condition and death is totally natural. 1999, barely two years after it was published, And in a few years it will be my turn, it had become one of the best-selling spiritual which is also totally natural.’ books of the modern age. Its authority lay “In other words, there was sadness and in the simplicity of its language and the depth tears, but there was also a deep acceptance of its inquiry into the human condition. and deep peace underneath. The peace does “I often talk about the importance of not mean there are no emotions, but the finding some stillness inside yourself,” he emotions are not artificially kept alive by tells me. “Because what we call stillness is unnecessary thought activity.” consciousness itself. The essence of who you This is the presence of mind that Eckhart are is not your past, it is not your thoughts, will bring to Australia in early March, when it is not your emotions, but a space in which he visits for the first time. (He’s coming all these things arise. A space in which a by ship so that he can avoid the jetlag and thought comes and goes, a sense perception enjoy the vast expanse of the Pacific.) comes and goes, an emotion comes and goes.” Although he still regards himself as Eckhart’s words resonate deeply with a recluse, a man whose natural inclination Buddhist and Hindu scriptures, as well as is to remain anonymous, he believes it’s the ancient mystical traditions of Judaism his duty, especially now in these troubled (Cabbalism), Christianity (Gnosticism) and times, to transmit his teachings to as many Islam (Sufism). All of them speak in various people as possible. ways of a timeless, formless inner space, “Whatever world we create is a reflection a transcendental reality existing under the of our collective state of consciousness,” surface of things, out of which all life unfolds. he says. “We cannot change the world “This is the essence of ,” by trying to change the outer structures, Eckhart says. “It is formless, or what if we haven’t tackled the basic dysfunction refers to as emptiness. Our in ourselves. essence is formless. Everything else is “And that’s where the individual comes form. The world arises when consciousness in. It’s only in the individual where change takes on shapes and forms, thought forms can take place. If the change has taken place and material forms.” in sufficient numbers of individuals, then And how do you access this formless a new world is going to arise out of that state, this stillness underneath the noise? new collective consciousness.” I ask him. “There are various methods Eckhart believes it is already happening. you can use as entry points into that state The election of Barack Obama. The rising of consciousness,” he replies (see The clamour to save the planet from catastrophic How of the Now, previous page). climate change. The growing thirst, “Sometimes, people have that when particularly in the West, for a spiritual they’re out in nature. It’s so beautiful that, framework for living. for a moment, there’s a stillness inside. Some “Look at what is happening in people have it when they’re engaged in a the financial world,” he says, finally, strenuous activity, like some sportsmen and “and, again, we are seeing many of the women. Suddenly, there’s a moment of structures that are a reflection of the intense aliveness and inner stillness. They state of consciousness of the ego now have an expression for that in sport, which beginning to collapse. is ‘in the zone’, where something else takes “This is a time when a shift is happening over. An energy takes over. You’re not in the collective consciousness. It will be thinking. You are just there as consciousness.” challenging to many people, but it has to happen, it is happening. It’s the rising of a FOR THE PAST 31 years, ever since his new state of consciousness … almost like “spiritual transformation”, Eckhart has a new species coming out of the old.” ■ lived in a state of almost uninterrupted peace. Occasionally, he experiences Eckhart Tolle will be presenting seminars “negative emotions”, such as anger or in Sydney on March 7, Melbourne on sadness, but never for long. March 10, Brisbane on March 12 and “I just don’t keep those emotions alive a weekend retreat on Queensland’s through my mind,” he says. “Just a little Sunshine Coast from March 20 to 22. flush that comes and then it’s gone. For For details, visit www.hayhouse.com.au.