I Read The Power of Now For You
A summary of one of my favorite spiritual books ever.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is the book that truly kicked off my spiritual awakening.
I first began to doubt my atheism only a few short months before picking up this book. One day, while working reception at a hotel in Washington, D.C., I got an intuitive hit - "You need to read The Power of Now.” I knew nothing about the book, but regardless, I marched over to a used bookstore, and just my luck - they had exactly one copy in a box in the back.
Score!
The first time I read this book, I had a very shallow understanding of everything it said. Since then, I must've re-read the book about five more times. With each new read, I find something new that transforms the way I see the world.
Of all the books I've ever read, this is the one I recommend most to others. It has helped me develop more meaningful connections, ground myself in the present moment, and release a ton of old baggage.
I love this book, and I am thrilled to present an easy summary of it for you. Spoiler: You'll either love these ideas or hate them. (Let me know which camp you fall into!)
Core Concepts
Living In The Now
The Power of Now focuses on the idea that life happens now. Tolle argues that the only way to experience true peace and happiness is by fully experiencing the moment you're living now. The past and future are unimportant, and if you can't be fully present in the moment you're living, you're not truly living.
Anything other than complete focus on the moment at hand is either an attachment to the past or anxiety over the future. Tolle says it is this attachment and anxiety that are at the core of all suffering. If we're able to live in the moment we're in, the only feeling available to us is peace and joy.
However, Tolle doesn't define joy as extreme happiness. Instead, it is a deep understanding of your role in the universe, a true acceptance of everything around you, and a lack of negativity.
Joy, he says, is what remains when all negativity falls away.
“Wherever you are, be there totally.”
- Eckhart Tolle
If you're washing the dishes, focus on the sensation of washing the dishes. If you're stuck at your desk working, focus on doing the best possible job you can do. Even if the present moment is horrible and unpleasant, focus on feeling the unpleasantness now to avoid bottling it up for later.
The Ego & The Pain-Body
Throughout all my re-reads, one of the most interesting parts is the parallels between Tolle's ideas and other spiritual books. The main difference is simply the words he chooses to use. To explain his idea of the ego and the pain-body, we first have to understand his definition of these two terms.
The ego is a false self. It is created by your identification with thoughts, emotions, labels, and past experiences. It is everything you tell yourself you are but in reality are not. Your nationality, age, gender, race, profession, and all other social labels can never come close to fully describing the truth of who you are. All the ways in which you attempt to define yourself or all the things you attempt to create an identity out of are part of your ego.
Your ego wants you to view yourself as separate from all that is, better than others, or more special than they are. The ego is based on the story you tell yourself about your past and your future. Thus, the ego is a huge source of our suffering.
Carl Jung would call this the persona, Buddhism would call this the illusion of the self, and Toltecs would call this the mitote.
“To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only the past and future are considered important.”
- Eckhart Tolle
The pain-body is the energetic accumulation of all unprocessed past emotional pain that still lives on within you. There is no such thing as a feeling avoided - just delayed. All the negativity you have avoided processing because your ego was busy living in the past or future still exists within you. It has just been sent to the pain-body.
The existence of the ego is what allows for the existence of the pain-body.
It is your pain-body that seeks out drama, negativity, and more suffering. It forces you to re-live unresolved toxic patterns from your past, looking to feed out of your energy so it can sustain itself.
The only way to dissolve the pain-body is through awareness and presence in the current moment.
Carl Jung would call this the shadow, Buddhism would call this the samskara or dukkha, and Toltecs would call this the parasite.
The ego and the pain-body together are the core of all suffering. They work together to ensure their survival, wanting to feed off of your energy at all costs. The only cure is living in the now.
Observing the Mind
I said earlier that the ego is created by mind-identification with your thoughts, emotions, labels, and past experiences. That sentence might be a bit confusing without understanding Tolle's separation of the thinker and the watcher.
You are not your thoughts—you’re the awareness behind them.
Trippy, right?
The ego tricks you into believing otherwise. All thoughts are just noise that comes and goes.
The thinker is the incessant stream of thoughts in your mind. Most people unconsciously understand this voice to be themselves. The watcher is the deeper awareness that thinks and notices the thoughts without identifying with them. The watcher watches the thinker, notices the patterns it has, and uses this knowledge to create greater healing.
You are not your thoughts. You are the observer of your thoughts. Understanding this distinction is the key to inner peace.
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”
- Eckhart Tolle
All thoughts are an attempt to label or explain something or to live in any moment other than the moment you're in. Your identification with your thoughts is the number one roadblock preventing you from truly living in the moment you're in. And the less you're presently living your life, the more unprocessed junk you feed into the pain-body. It's all connected in a rather vicious cycle.
Freedom from Psychological Time
Of course, the past and the future have some use. However, their utility comes secondary to the present moment.
To refer to the difference between useful past and future and harmful past and future, Tolle introduces clock and psychological time.
Clock time refers to the time that helps us function in society. If we need to be somewhere at 2 o'clock, having an awareness of clock time is helpful. It is also helpful for things like planning to move, figuring out your career path, or learning valuable lessons from what you've been through.
Psychological time is the illusion of past and future. It is the constant rumination over a stressful past moment or the anxious anticipation of a moment yet to come. It is suffering created by the mind. Psychological time is the denial of the present moment.
“Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now.”
- Eckhart Tolle
To live in the present moment, you have to let go of psychological time. To do so, you must die to the past and detach from the future.
What has happened has already happened. No amount of thinking will change what is already done. What is yet to come has not yet happened, and no amount of thinking about it will give you control over what might happen. Even if you got a pinky promise from everyone involved and a dozen signed contracts, you could die tomorrow, and all your plans would be wasted.
You can't change the past, and you can't control the future. What can you do? Thoroughly enjoy what you do have: the present moment.
This is freedom from psychological time.
But how do we break free from this illusion? The answer lies in surrender.
Surrender to What Is
Surrender is the act of fully accepting the present moment as it is. This means living it joyfully and lightly without creating resistance or inner distance from it. Don't label it, judge it, or attempt to make it anything other than it is. Live the present moment as fully as you possibly can and give it as much of your energy and focus as you can.
This is what leads to deep peace and clarity.
Surrender does not mean passivity - you shouldn’t let others take advantage of you just because you’ve accepted the present moment. Rather, it means you understand it is your responsibility to make the present moment enjoyable. If you can change a stressful situation, change it. Don't wait for someone to come save you in the future. If you can't change it, accept it fully. Feel and process the discomfort in real-time.
It is only in full acceptance of the present moment that you can decide the right action to take.
"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”
- Eckhart Tolle
Die Before You Die
You are suffering because you have convinced yourself that you are the thinker, i.e., the story you tell yourself about your life and the labels society gives you. You have created a false self and tricked yourself into thinking this false-ness is you.
The trick to lasting peace is letting yourself - this false self - die.
Give up defining yourself. Who cares what people think of you? Who cares if they understand you or have a nice little box to fit you into? Do they need to know what your work is, your sexuality, your age, your race, your nationality, your level of education in to know, love, and respect you?
The specifics of your life situation can never change the essence of who you are.
Dying before you die means stripping away all that is not you and letting it die. Doing so won't kill you. It will bring you to life.
“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, we call a butterfly.”
- Eckhart Tolle
Enlightenment is only available to those who have achieved a deep state of presence and freedom from identification with their egos.
You are only suffering because you have tricked yourself into thinking you are something you are not. If you want to be enlightened, you need to deeply realize that all you have is all that is right now. All else is simply an illusion.
Exercises & Meditation Practices
Mindful Breathing
Focus on feeling your breath move through your body. It is impossible to be focused on breathing and simultaneously living in the past or the future. The quickest way to access the now is by watching your breath. Feel it as it passes into your nostrils, down into your chest, as it fills up your lungs, and follow it as it exits your body. The slower you can breathe, the more peaceful you'll feel.
Observing the Thinker
Pay attention to your thoughts without creating an identity out of them. Try to recognize the voice in your head as separate from the truth of who you are. Look for the patterns this voice creates and repeats over time. Watch it and create emotional distance between it and you. Let thoughts come and go freely; just because you think it doesn't mean you believe it.
Deep Listening
One common way we live in the future is when we are talking to others. When someone is speaking to you, resist the urge to pre-plan your response. Instead, give all your attention to them, their words, and the way they present themselves. When someone is speaking to you, your task is to listen to them. Only when it is your turn to speak should you focus on speaking.
"What Problem Do I Have Right Now?"
When you feel overwhelmed, you need to ground yourself back into the now. To do so, ask yourself "What problem do I have right now?" and if a problem exists, resolve it or accept it completely. By simply asking yourself what is lacking or wrong with the present moment, you bring your attention back into the now rather than the past or future.
Accept As If You Choose It
Sometimes, the present moment is deeply uncomfortable and disagreeable. When this happens, you need to accept the present moment as if you had chosen it. Instead of thinking about how this circumstance may change your future, your reputation, or your identity, focus on how you can make the best out of this situation right now. Pretend you have chosen this stressful moment and aim to take full advantage of any possible blessings around you.
All in All
Reading this book felt like a series of gentle (and not-so-gentle) slaps to the ego—but every one was worth it. If I could make the world read one book, this would be it.
I'll leave you with a passage that still takes my breath away every. single. time:
Q: How will I know when I have surrendered?
A: When you no longer need to ask the question.
- Eckhart Tolle
Now, over to you: Some critics call Tolle's advice unrealistic. I’ll admit: when my dog won't stop barking or I've got a million things to do at once, 'just be present' can feel impossible. What about you - what do you think? Honest thoughts are welcome below.