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157 of 190 people found the following review helpful:
wonderful
I love the Power of Now but I think A New Earth is even more profound and lucid. I find that this book - like all Eckhart's books, but this one has it even stronger - has an almost uncanny power. Somehow you can feel the wisdom it contains seeping into you as you read and taking you a little closer to realisation. This book gives you a profound understanding of how the...
Published 20 months ago by Janie
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74 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
A big ego writes about ego
I was given this by someone who saw Oprah raving about it and bought two copies in a state of excitement. I thought that the first three pages were quite good then was extremely disappointed as the rest went no further than to rehash Buddhism. My overriding concern is Tolle's continual denigration of the ego and his attempts to persuade us that if we could just annihilate...
Published 15 months ago by Dreamcatcher
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157 of 190 people found the following review helpful:
wonderful , 25 Mar 2008
I love the Power of Now but I think A New Earth is even more profound and lucid. I find that this book - like all Eckhart's books, but this one has it even stronger - has an almost uncanny power. Somehow you can feel the wisdom it contains seeping into you as you read and taking you a little closer to realisation. This book gives you a profound understanding of how the ego works, and after reading it you are never quite the same person again. We are amazingly lucky that Eckhart possesses such an acute intellectual mind with an enlightened spiritual state. (The two don't often go together.) I've also been reading books recommended on Eckhart's website, including another stunning book called The Fall by Steve Taylor. It goes together very well with A New Earth. The Fall goes very deeply into the origins of the ego and its insanity and compliments Eckhart's profound analysis The Fall:the Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era
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74 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
A big ego writes about ego, 12 Aug 2008
I was given this by someone who saw Oprah raving about it and bought two copies in a state of excitement. I thought that the first three pages were quite good then was extremely disappointed as the rest went no further than to rehash Buddhism. My overriding concern is Tolle's continual denigration of the ego and his attempts to persuade us that if we could just annihilate any sense of being an individual or having individual thoughts or preferences we could all acheive permanent bliss. In fact, if we all followed this advice we would all coagulate in one big splurge of mush as no one would be allowed a personality at all.
This kind of spirituality feels very uncomfortable. I have always believed that the ego is a misunderstood beast and gets very bad press in New Age circles. We each represent a shard of God, here to express and experience our uniqueness and to evolve the whole while understanding we are part of the whole to which we will return following death. In addition, Tolle's regurgitated and extreme trashing of the ego is incongruent given that he benefits from the proceeds from a whole range of products, from calendars to cards, emblazoned with his name. No ego there then!
This book feels like a quick attempt to jump on the coat tails of his previous book and, for me, offers nothing new. I am sure this will do very well for the Eckhart Tolle franchise but am concerned about the cost to anybody who adopts this philosophy without understanding that 'God' the Universe or whatever you believe in gave us the ego for a reason. It enables you to find who you are and what you stand for. There is nothing inherently spiritual about voluntary self anhihilation. Even the Dala Lama left Tibet rather than adopting a stance of staying put and being 'meek' in the presence of danger. It isn't a New Earth it is a rehash and it doesn't say what it says on the tin 'awakening to your life purpose' should read 'putting your life purpose to sleep as it doesn't exist.'
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66 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
Some good points made, but not a keeper for me, 25 Mar 2008
I have mixed feelings about "A New Earth". While I thought some very good points were made, I didn't find it easy to read because the style of writing is so dense. Many of the ideas that Tolle presents are not original (e.g. how we interpret people or events is a result of our own thoughts or egos, we must strive to live in the present moment), but they are still well made and thought-provoking.
Some parts of the book do get hard to follow. While Tolle acknowledges this, he also tells us that if we find the book incomprehensible and meaningless, it means that we have not begun the process of awakening - i.e. any fault is with the reader, which strikes me as a cop out. Tolle also implies that his view is the only correct way of viewing the world, with sentences like: "If you don't become speechless when looking out into space on a clear night, you are not really looking, not aware of the totality of what is there."
My main criticism of this book is that I didn't find it of much help in a practical sense. Tolle talks a lot about how you can effect change in yourself by bringing awareness to situations. This has not been my personal experience - while I agree it's the first step, I think sometimes we need a little more "how-to" guidance if we are to make real change. Often when I was reading this book I'd think: "wow, that's such a great point he's just made", but then it would get kind of lost as the book moved on. And ultimately it comes across as being a bit selfish. This idea that your spouse may leave you and your friends may drift away when you achieve spiritual growth, but that's all for the good.
To get the most out of "A New Earth", you probably want to read it slowly and let each chapter sit with you for a while before moving onto the next. Even better, have someone to discuss it with as you go and help you to explore the apparent contradictions e.g. when Tolle says on one hand that you don't want to dwell on the future but stay in the present, and then on the other hand he says that you must have a goal or vision that you are working towards. There is definitely a lot of interesting material in here, but I have found other books to be more accessible and useful.
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62 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
Waking up - and losing your mind, 9 Mar 2006
"A New Earth: awakening to your life's purpose" is both deeply profound and wonderfully liberating. Tolle is particularly well known for "The Power of Now" and "Stillness Speaks", yet this new book takes his spiritual teaching to an altogether different level. In a simple and profound way he is able to illuminate several of the deepest truths revealed by teachers over the past 2,500 years. His characterisation of the ego mind, its obsession with form and content, the accumulation of the individual pain-body, and the way in which humans have become so identified with the incessant mental chatter - "lost in thought" - is brilliant. Tolle acknowledges that words can never be adequate to describe the liberation that arises from awakening into consciousness, and our connection to both the space within and the universe of space, yet his ability to convey our ever-present access to Source and the joy of just Being is wonderful. There is nothing to do in this book - no activities, no exercises, no checklists - just a shift in consciousness that lets you come alive. I'm not sure any of this would have made much sense to me ten, or even five years ago. Today it's absolutely mind-blowing at this stage of my spiritual journey.
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61 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
What a wonderful book, 23 Aug 2006
A manual for the 21st century. As the author says "we are a species that has lost its way" and are completely trapped in the rat race of our thoughts, judgements and constant analysis of events, rather than directly experiencing life. Every chapter guides and encourages you towards a return to an awareness of the miraculous life within you, and gives practical pointers on how to access and maintain this awareness. I wholeheartedly reccommend this book, it will lead you to joy.
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46 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
A New Earth, 25 Dec 2006
At a time when everyone is searching for answers during what must be one of the most precipitous times in human history Eckhart Tolle provides hope and inspiration, not by providing answers, but by encouraging people to look within themselves and discover their own truth.
In my view this is not a book to read, but a book to study, a book to thoroughly digest and a book to use to create a better life for yourself and for humanity as a whole.
If you want to understand yourself better, if you want to understand others better and you want to understand life itself, get the book!
[..]
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46 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
Intriguing and provocative, 5 May 2006
My ego has real problems with this book! It doesn't want to really believe that the 'normal' way of living is, in fact, a hollow sham, based on illusion. But it has had to admit that there is a ring of truth about this book which raises it above the normal, self-help pap that lines bookstore shelves.
I doubt whether I shall ever be able to implement the way of being that Tolle exhorts. However, even to allow a small awareness of something beyond the usual rat-race, pushing and shoving, grabbing and consuming can only be a good and helpful thing. I loved reading this book - and I'm sure that it is one that I will read again and again. Thoroughly recommended.
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39 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic book written with great clarity, 27 Nov 2005
In short a brilliant book, I have read a lot of books on this type of subject, and a lot of them are heavy going or difficult to grasp.
For me that is the beauty of this book it is very easy to read and understand the point of what is being said.The author shows us clearly how we create unhappiness in our lives, and even better, shows us how to change the habitual way we see the world, and ourselves within it, to bring the happiness back. A highly recommended read. For what it is worth, my advise to anyone reading this type of book is to read carefully, ensuring each word and sentence is absorbed and understood, if need be go back and read a sentence again and again until it 'sinks in'.
Because, if you are like me when you are reading, you can end up skating over entire pages, which you have read but not absorbed, ultimately missing the point, which would be a shame for this truely enlightening book.
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34 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
Brilliant!, 7 Oct 2006
What a fantastic book! Tolle has an increadible insight, depth and understanding of human life. This is not an ordinary 'self-help' book but a beutifully written master piece and one that gives you inspiration, hope and clarity. Very highly recommended.
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27 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Not convinced, 14 Jul 2008
I watched Oprah and was really interested in reading this book. It covers the egos' many faces very well and has very good discussions around the pain body etc., but where it let's itself down is the 'beating up' of the ego without balancing this with guidance and understanding of the person reading the book who has egoic conditioning clouding their view. It preaches to the converted in my view and in doing so, unfortunately, says 'if you don't agreed with me you are wrong'. Precisely what the author claims he is trying not to do.
My recommendation - read chapter 10 first, then the rest of the book. If not, you will start believing you are evil and damned. Better yet, read 'If you're falling - dive by Cheri Huber, it is far more human in its approach to us mere mortals.
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