"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle

Normally, I do not have time to read a book. However, one day I was flipping on the TV and discovered Oprah recommending a book, "A New Earth - Awakening to Your Life's Purpose", by Eckhart Tolle. As I stopped and listen to a few of her comments on this book, there was something that drew me to wanting to look into this book, the words, "Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" and the word "ego". These were familiar words to me because of my own spiritual journey I have been on. Before I rushed out to buy the book, I went on Amazon.com to see if I could preview the book and read the reviews.

Fortunately, there were a few pages of "A New Earth" on Amazon that gave me an insight of what the book was going to be about. And fortunately after reading this book, it was more than I expected.

Eckhart Tolle is not new to writing enlightening books. He has another one which was a best seller called "The Power of Now". There he inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of living in the presences - the now.

"A New Earth" expands on the "The Power of Now" by driving home to the reader that how our ego-based state of consciousness is not only important for personal happiness, but also is a solution to end the world's suffering and conflicts.

Tolle explains to the reader how we attach ourselves to our ego which creates a dysfunction that does lead to negative traits like anger, fear, jealousy and unhappiness. He shows how there is more to ego than meets the eye. Ego can be negative or positive.

Most times, we think of ego as someone who thinks they are "all that". That is what you would consider a positive ego. However, an example of a negative ego is someone who chooses to be a victim in a circumstance in their life by acting like "why does this always happen to me" type of an attitude.

Tolle shows you, when you take things personally, you are feeding your ego. He shows you how you can chose to awaken your new state of consciousness when all you do is recognize that "ego" trait and the final result becomes a truly fulfilling existence.

Tolle demonstrates how when we hold onto the past, we are not living in the "now" and we continue to feed into that personal attachment that the ego thrives on.
Tolle does not follow a religious affiliation. He is considered a spiritual teacher on a universal level with a purpose of enlightening people to their own awakening. He referenced many spiritual teachers, Jesus, Buddha, and others that were humanity's early messengers. This is such a positive and uplifting book that whether you have a religious affiliation or not, it won't make a difference because it is all about unity; through our diversity there can be unity. However, it is important that we do not feed the ego.

I recommend this book to all that feel they are on a journey for spiritual awakening or who wonder why they are not happy in this life. . Tolle lets us know that nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have? I leave you with a passage from the book about what humanity is really doing when we carry our past with us:

The inability or rather unwillingness of the human mind to let go of the past is beautifully illustrated in the story of two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.

The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself any longer. "Why did you carry that girl across the road?" he asked. "We monks are not supposed to do things like that."

"I put the girl down hours ago," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

Now, imagine what life would be like for someone who lived like Ekido all the time, unable or unwilling to let go internally of situations, accumulating more and more "stuff" inside, and you get the sense of what life is like for the majority of people on our planet." What a heavy burden of past they carry around with them in their minds.