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The Power of now summary

Who is Eckhart Tolle?

The power of now summary

Welcome to this The Power of now summary.

Eckhart Tolle is a Canadian writer and lecturer born in Germany.

He studied and researched at university but did not feel fulfilled until he was 29 years old and the moment of his “enlightenment”. This is the essence of his book: The power of now

This book is based 100% on excerpts from his lectures or answers to questions people have asked him. However, I remind you that this summary does not replace the reading of this book, which will provide you with details and breaks to assimilate the elements evoked.

Moreover, as Eckhart Tolle says so well, in this summary of the book “The power of now” we should not stop at the words used and employed, but rather at the general idea that is conveyed.

Finally, it will be difficult for me to completely summarize this book knowing that it is only a few flanges of answers to various questions. Then this summary is also completed and interpreted by my understanding and will never be worth reading the author’s complete work.

The power of now summary, what is this book about?

His book is as he called it: A guide to spiritual awakening, the goal being to help us live better by enjoying and focusing our attention on what really matters: The present moment.

After spending the second part of his life understanding, integrating and deepening the system of inner transformation, he decided to share it and share it with the world.

So he wrote this book and its sequel: “Practicing The power of now. – Meditation and Exercise,” with the goal of helping people feel better in spite of what society imposes on us.

The power of now summary: Introduction

In his introduction, the author presents his story and how his enlightenment came to him. How he began to move towards spirituality and the present moment.

Moreover he uses his introduction to dispel all the myths of spiritual awakening but also to give us advice to better understand his book whose 2 main ones are: “Take breaks as soon as it is requested” (he uses a specific sign for the breaks) & “Do not stop at the meaning of words, understand the global meaning”.

The power of now summary: Chapter 1: You are not your mind

The greatest impediment to enlightenment

First of all, for this The Power of now summary, Eckhart Tolle reminds us that what most prevents us from going towards enlightenment are our beliefs.

That our way of thinking in a negative way and the division of the world prevent us from really finding our way. To make it simple here: The mind prevents enlightenment. It also reminds us here that our thoughts are weapons of mass destruction, a disease created by our mind when they are misused or overly negative.

He also explains to us in this part why in all his work he uses the term “Being” and not “God” because according to him God has been too diverted and he prefers the image of the being rather than the word god to put it simply.

How to free oneself from the mind

In this second part of the first chapter, he gives us a simple trick to free ourselves from the mind which is “Observe the thinker. “Basically, he wants to force us to take a step back from what we think, what we feel in order to free ourselves from the hold that the mind has on us. Why is this? Because when we observe a thought, we are no longer affected in the same way and we understand it better than if we were living it because we become conscious of it.

To free oneself from the mind here = To be conscious of one’s thoughts and way of thinking = To dissociate oneself from the mind.

Enlightenment is to rise beyond thought

For this third part, he shows us that as humans we are addicted to thinking but that thinking has become compulsive and incessant in most cases and that we still identify with them without taking a step back and without “observing the thinker”. In seeking to elevate ourselves or seeking enlightenment, we need to put our minds to it, that is, step back from our thoughts and create a “mental vacuum” to create thoughts being much more in creative thoughts that will help us achieve enlightenment.

Emotions, a reaction of the body to the mind

In this last part of the first chapter, Eckhart Tolle shows us to what extent our thoughts induce our emotions and conversely, to what extent our emotions are related to our daily thoughts. Indeed, he tells us that the more we associate ourselves with all our thoughts that go through our heads, the more our emotional charge will grow proportionally.

To summarize this last point, he tells us that in most cases: “An emotion is the amplified and revived manifestation of a form of thought”.

The power of now summary: Chapter 2: Getting out of suffering through consciousness

Don’t create more suffering in the present

In this first point, he reminds us of the fact that most of the suffering we know as human beings is not justified. It (suffering) is only present if we let the mind take care of our thoughts and get the upper hand. Indeed, the suffering of the past should no longer be present in the present moment. It is the mind that denies the present moment and life in the expectation of a better future or in the remorse and regret of the past. This is why we must come out of suffering by refocusing on the present moment. To stop resisting the present moment is to oblige oneself to suffering, as the author says, “Whatever the present has in store for you, you must accept it. »

The pain of the past: how to dissipate the body of suffering

For this second point, he presents to us what he calls “the body of suffering”. According to him the body of suffering is the accumulation of all the sufferings of the past which react and amplify with the moment of suffering or its sensation. He even explains to us that this body of suffering is linked to the ego and that the only thing that exists to fight it is consciousness. This body of suffering is afraid “of the light of consciousness” as the author says.

Identification of the ego with the body of suffering

For this point he explains to us how the ego is one of the primary elements of the body of suffering. He also tells us that it is necessary to be able to identify the emotions and thoughts felt and to take a step back. Indeed, the body of suffering will take resource of the ego to grow and create its cycle of suffering. The idea is once again to observe the resistance of the moment and to always focus on the present moment in order to “kill” this body of suffering.

The Power of now summary: Origin of fear

Here he explains the origin of fear and what fear prevents us from doing or how it makes us suffer… He also tells us that fear can come from many causes such as loss, failure or injury, but that above all the real fear is “the fear of death at the ego of death”. If you no longer fear death then fear no longer means anything to you.

He also tells us that everyone today lives in fear but has a more or less elevated form, ranging from anxiety to terror.

The search for the wholeness of the ego

For this last point, he explains to us that the ego seeks to be whole, to know everything, to have everything and to fill the skills it lacks. He even tells us that it is for this reason that people run after material goods, power or recognition.

But he also tells us that this search for wholeness is 95% due to our ego and that we are the only ones responsible for our attachment to our mind!

To summarize: Let’s dis-identify ourselves from our mind !

The power of now summary: Chapter 3: Diving into the present moment

Don’t look for your self in the mind

The ego lives in a constant state of fear and will always push you towards problems or tell you “damn I have a life of problems” or “my life is a constant problem”. What I have just written to you here is the daily sense of self that people feel on a daily basis because they have not been able to detach their sense of self from their mind and the mind will more easily make sense of your problems. This is why the author tells us that it is very important to become aware of the “sense of self” by detaching oneself from the mind”.

Put an end to the illusion of time

To do so, he explains to us what time is for him and why he considers it an illusion. For him time is a creation of the mind. Indeed, if you detach yourself from the mind, time stops unless you give it importance. Indeed, he explains here that the more we are attached to our mind the more we are “prisoners” of time. We live by anticipating and taking time through the memory that our memory offers us.

He begins to explain to us in this part that time is not precious because it does not really exist and is only psychological, the only moment that is precious according to the author is the present moment.

Nothing exists apart from the present moment.

To support his thesis, he takes an excerpt from an answer he gave to a person in a seminar explaining that we never do anything in the past or future, the only things we do are in the present.

In his words he tells us that :

“Nothing has ever happened in the past: it has happened in the present.

Nothing will happen in the future: it will happen in the present”.

These two sentences are strong with meaning and allow us to understand that the important thing is to refocus on the present moment.

For him, what we imagine as the past is the memory of an old moment, a revived memory.

The key to enter the spiritual dimension

In this part, he explains the essence of the Zen philosophy, which is to live one’s life only in the present moment. To be so present in the present moment that no suffering no pain no preoccupation with memories or our suffering body can reach us.

How to access The power of now

According to Eckhart Tolle nothing is better than being an observer of the mind (thoughts, emotions and reactions) to be in the present moment. He explains that it will be difficult and that it is with time and training that it is possible to live 100% in the present moment.

His path is simple:

– Be an observer of the mind

– Pay as much attention to your reactions as you do to the situations and people that make you react.

– Notice the repetitiveness with which your attention focuses on the past or the future.

– Do not analyze or judge what you observe.

– Look at the thought, feel the emotion and monitor the reaction.

– Don’t make it a problem

– Thanks to all this you will be able to observe the calm presence that observes all this content: the inner calm.

His message: “To identify with the mind is to give it energy & To observe the mind is to take energy away from it”.

How to get rid of psychological time

In this next part, he gives us his tips to face and fight psychological time. To do so, he explains the difference between what he calls “clock time” and “psychological time”.

Clock time is the time we use for the practical and obligatory aspects of our lives, a doctor’s appointment, anticipating the future…

Psychological time is, according to the author, “identification with the past and perpetual compulsive projection into the future”.

He then advocates continuing to use clock time for the needs of life but completely eliminating psychological time.

Example: If you set yourself a goal and you want to reach it, there is no problem if you concentrate on the actions you are doing in the present moment. On the other hand, if you are trying to reach a future goal based on past experiences, you are on psychological time.

The difference is very fine when it is explained like that and that is why I used the examples given in this book to explain it to you, if you wish to have more details and information do not hesitate to leave a comment or to contact me so that I can explain it to you in more detail.

True success and true achievement is the path we take when we are fulfilled.

The madness of psychological time

Eckhart Tolle considers psychological time to be a real mental illness, which can be found in the phrase “the end justifies the means”. He takes the example of Hitler and the different regimes that caused the death of hundreds of people by arguing that psychological time pushed them to make these decisions thinking “that the future would be better after”.

I can’t really go into detail, only an advanced reading of this part will allow you to support his point and to understand in detail all the examples he gives.

Time is the instrument of negativity and suffering

He goes on to explain how time is the very heart of negativity and suffering: “All negativity results from the accumulation of psychological time and the denial of the present. »

He even quotes us the negative emotions related to the past and those related to the future (in all cases related to the concept of psychological time).

Emotions related to the past: Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness => Too much past and not enough presence.

Emotions related to the future: Discomfort, anxiety, tension, stress, worry, and all the fears => Too much future and not enough presence.

How to discover your life behind your current living conditions

We then come to the explanation of our life through our living conditions. It explains to us in this part that very few people are aware that our life is not our living conditions and that is the whole difference.

Let’s take a simple example: “You have very little money, you would like to have more fun but you can’t and it makes you sad”. Here it is not your life that is sad because you are in good shape, in good health, you have a present entourage etc etc etc, but it is your living conditions that are sad or at least more negative.

Once you have succeeded in making this difference, which is very well explained in this section, your life will change almost automatically.

He advises us to give importance to our life which is real and present in the moment and to forget our living conditions which are, according to him, only the reflection and creation of our mind.

All problems are illusions of your mind

According to Eckhart Tolle, all the problems you face are just the creations of your mind.

“But that’s not possible, I have big problems I can’t solve.”

That’s probably what you tell yourself in your head, and I was thinking the same thing at the beginning, however, the author gives us some little tips to help us understand how problems are just illusions of the mind. He advises us to ask ourselves the following question:

“Fix yourself in the present moment and tell me what your problem is now? »

Having done the test several times, he tells us that it is impossible to give a problem at that moment, because problems do not exist when you are 100% concentrated in the present moment, problems do not exist in the present moment.

For more details and for those who are not yet convinced, he explains in detail why problems are only creations of the mind (especially by taking the example of death).

The Power of now summary: The joy of being

“Do you feel joy, pleasure, satisfaction and happiness in what you do? »

If the answer is no, Eckhart Tolle tells us in this section that psychological time has taken over the clock in our case.

And this is where the questioning is important.

The power of now summary: Chapter 4: Strategies of the mind to avoid the present moment

Losing the present moment is the fundamental illusion

Losing the notion of time is often correlated with losing the present moment. However, in this section he explains that we never lose the present moment, we live it and it is up to us to live it to the fullest.

Ordinary unconsciousness and deep unconsciousness

To continue in his explanation justifying the fact that our mind does everything to avoid the present moment, he tells us about the fundamental difference between ordinary unconsciousness and deep unconsciousness.

Here, he reminds us of the fact that we are present in our daily life, are we aware of what happens around and in us when we sit in a room or when we walk? The more unconscious you are, the more you will suffer. Ordinary unconsciousness is only the first stage of deep unconsciousness. It is up to you to bring your consciousness back to the everyday and to the present moment.

If you want to know your level of consciousness, Eckhart Tolle tells us that it can be measured directly by the way you face the daily challenges of life. For as he points out, challenges cause a person to become even more unconscious than they already are and a conscious person to be even more deeply conscious.

What are they looking for?

He reminds us of works written in ancient times which say that we (the white man) are always looking for something and that this prevents us from living fully and even represents a disease for society. A disease that in some cases has made us kill each other and has made us violent towards all human beings, nature, and all living beings.

How to eliminate ordinary unconsciousness

He goes into detail on this part, but the essential message he wants to convey is that the best way to fight unconsciousness (ordinary or deep) is to put consciousness back at the center of everything. Unconsciousness, even if it’s silly to say it, doesn’t resist the force of consciousness for long. It is therefore sufficient to become aware that one is unconscious. The more conscious you are, the more unconsciousness will disappear.

How to free yourself from torment

To free yourself from the turning point, he advocates letting go of negativity, bringing awareness and changing the things you don’t like. Express what you feel, remove the suffering. Eckhart Tolle considers in his book that unhappiness/negativity is the worst of diseases and even worse if it is not treated.

To face the torment it is therefore important to listen to each other, to face and to let go of negativity in order to live the present moment fully and be fully happy.

And if you can’t do anything about the current situation then letting go will be the best solution to free yourself from this torment.

Wherever you are, be totally there

Once again, we come back to the strength of the present moment in this part, the idea that the author wishes to transmit to us here is that it is very important to be 100% in the present moment and not to let one’s mind project itself into the future. “Later when I have that, I’ll be happy…” The most beautiful moment of your life will always remain the present moment, the search for long term satisfaction will always ask for more. You should always celebrate small victories and live the moment to the fullest.

The spiritual purpose of your life journey

Here he explains to us that in our lives and for each journey we have two goals, an external goal and an internal goal. To summarize them, the external objective is the final objective (to reach a destination) and the internal objective (your will).

However, the author explains here that if our attention is much more preoccupied with thinking about what we will do later, we totally miss the purpose of our journey. It is therefore more important to focus on what we want to do now than on what we want to do later.

The past cannot survive in your presence

As mentioned above, the past is only a memory, a memory created by the mind. Consequently, it cannot survive the present moment if we focus all our attention on the present moment.

Forget your willingness to understand the past and live the present fully.

The power of now summary: Chapter 5: Presence as a State

It’s not what you think

For this The Power of now summary, New chapter, new examples, here we are talking about presence as a state and the first thing the author tells us is that we cannot “reflect” presence, it is not understood but simply lived. It is noticed, judged, but we cannot reflect it.

The esoteric sense of expectation

Later, he tries to explain to us that the state of presence can be compared to waiting. The state of presence allows you to be always on the lookout, ready to receive information, it is not the expectation of something specific, but rather a state of intense concentration that allows us to understand and quickly capture something that is submitted to us (a vigilant presence).

“Be like the servant who waits for the return of his master” – Jesus

Beauty is born in the calm of presence.

Beauty is often found in the stillness of presence, because beauty is deep and is considered an inner essence, yet to perceive it you need a full presence.

Exemple: The song of the blackbird: a person who observes and pays attention to a blackbird and its song will surely find it beautiful, whereas a person who is busy playing soccer will surely not notice it at all and will not find it more beautiful than that.

In short, the more conscious and present you are in the moment, the more you will notice the beauty of life as a whole.

How to reach pure consciousness

To reach pure consciousness, it is necessary to have the ability to free yourself from all forms of the mind (created by thoughts, ego…) and to become an observer.

Indeed, he explains to us in this part devoted to pure consciousness that: “When consciousness frees itself from its identification with physical and mental forms, it becomes what could be called pure or enlightened consciousness or even full presence. »

So you know with this extract what you still have to do to reach pure consciousness.

The power of now summary: Chapter 6: The Subtle Body

Being is your deepest self

It speaks to us in this part of the link between being and body. According to him the body is one of the privileged access points to anchor oneself and to get in touch with what he calls the being.

He also tells us that it is very difficult or even impossible to want to understand the being, but that it is simply lived.

The Power of now summary: Beyond words

In this second part devoted to the subtle body, Eckhart Tolle reminds us that we should not get too carried away and give too much importance to words. Indeed, words are only sequences chosen to describe a situation but as he says so well: The word honey is not honey, despite all your studies you will not know honey before you have tasted it. By this he means that words do not represent everything, they are used to give a name to something but do not replace what it is supposed to define.

How to find the invisible and indestructible reality in you

Throughout his work, the author specifies that identification with our physical body is only an illusion. We need to inhabit our body or anchor ourselves, in order to be able to find and appreciate the invisible reality that is within us. Once again the mind is a key element in the search for the invisible reality. Indeed, if you focus all your attention on the mind, you will not be able to reach your inner Being and enjoy full consciousness.

How to get in touch with your subtle body

To get in contact with the subtle body, nothing very complicated, just work as during a meditation or a sophrology course. It is therefore important to close your eyes and concentrate on all the sensations you feel when you focus your attention on the different parts of your body for example. However, to help us, the author also advises us to focus all our attention on the sensations we feel and to avoid putting images on what we feel because images close the mind because they are fixed.

The transformation by the body

He uses the example of Adam and Eve and other religions to show us how transformation can take place through the body and more specifically how we can become aware and more easily attain enlightenment. Here the idea is conveyed that we are not our body, and that our physical body is just a tool, an envelope to be maintained.

Sermon on the body

In his sermon on the body, he tells us that this body which is a symptom of illness, old age, birth and death is not real in the end. Not in the sense that it doesn’t exist, but rather in the sense that it doesn’t represent us, because according to the author we all have an inner Essence that characterizes who we really are. However, he also tells us that we should not fight against our body that we should take care of it, but that after all it is only an envelope that masks what we really are “a subtle body”.

Create deep roots in yourself

In this next part, he reminds us of the importance of creating deep roots with your subtle body indeed, he tells us how important it is: “The key is to be in constant contact with your subtle body, to feel it at all times because this will quickly deepen and transform your life. «

Being in constant contact with your subtle body will allow you to bring light into your lives and therefore push back negative emotions, thoughts and reactions in an almost natural way.

It is necessary to forgive before inhabiting one’s body

In the rest of his book, he talks to us about the fact of forgiving totally before inhabiting one’s body before anchoring oneself. But what does he mean by this? What he means by this little passage is that you need to be ready and aligned to give 100% of your attention to the will to inhabit your body and the present moment. Otherwise, you may feel very bad mentally and/or physically.

So take a moment before connecting to yourself to forgive yourself for your emotions, feelings and reactions (especially negatives). This is important and essential to focus your full attention on the present moment, the moment when you reconnect with the subtle body.

And as you have now understood if you have followed the reading so far, attention is one of the greatest keys to transformation, one of the keys that leads to enlightenment.

The link between you and the non-manifest

It is the energetic body which, according to Eckhart Tolle, is the link between you and the non-manifest because the energetic body is the source from which consciousness comes, it is simply us, what we are.

How to slow down aging

Becoming aware and having a pure consciousness through the energetic body has benefits in our way of looking at life, but not only. As stated in this book one of the other forces in the “awareness process” is the slowing down of old age. Why is this? Because this part explains that no matter how old we are, our subtle/energy body doesn’t age whether we are 20 or 80 years old, it will remain the same if we pay attention to it. The fact of bringing less importance to our physical body will allow you to accumulate a less strong dose of psychological time in what it calls your psyche and will thus increase the capacity of your cells to renew themselves.

How to strengthen the immune system

Another important element brought on by aging is the impact of the subtle body on the immune system. And as you can imagine, when you anchor yourself in yourself you offer yourself extra comfort and thereby improve your immune system, which strengthens day after day, year after year. The more attention you pay to your body, the more it will give back to you. This is where the most powerful self-healing process in the world comes from, the consciousness and attention paid to your body.

The author also tells us that we should not take all of his words literally, but if you want to push the subject a little further, he gives more examples directly in his book. It is up to you to acquire it.

The power of now

Let the breath take you into the body

This part is very short and simply reminds us how breathing can be a key and very important element to help us get in touch with our subtle body; He also gives us a little guided meditation in his book to help us breathe and get in touch with our inner self.

The Creative Use of the Mind

Although the mind generally takes us away from our subtle body and our energetic body, its creative use, if linked to the subtle body, can bring its share of benefits.

Indeed, the author shows us how it is possible to control our thoughts by establishing moments of calm and peace, before returning to your thoughts some time later. This has the direct consequence of boosting your creativity. However, he also tells us that this is only possible if you are in complete control of your mind.

The art of listening

He also discusses in the last part of this chapter the art of listening with a simple idea: Don’t pretend to listen, don’t let the sound go through one ear and out the other. You need to be able to listen fully with your whole body and all your energy. He tells us that listening attentively and with a strong focus on someone prevents the creative thinking system of the brain from setting up and therefore being calmer and more conducive to interaction.

And as he says so well, showing someone that you are listening is the greatest gift you can give them.

The power of now summary: Chapter 7: Various Gates to the Unmanifest

Living fully in your body

The first door of access to the non-manifest for you is to anchor yourself in yourself to bring out the subtle body.

To facilitate this work, he advises us to use meditation and even recommends a way of functioning directly in this part of the book.

The Source of Chi

Following a question that was asked during one of his seminars, the author specifies at this point in the book that the non-manifest is not the chi (Oriental name) but the source of the latter. He justifies his point by explaining in detail that chi is movement while the non-manifest is only immobility. According to him, chi is the link between the non-manifest and the physical universe.

Sleep without dreams

One of the other gateways to the non-manifest is sleep and more particularly deep sleep, that is to say the period when you sleep deeply and do not produce any dreams. So you unconsciously come home with the non-manifest every night when you sleep and it is this connection with the non-manifest that according to Eckhart Tolle gives you the power to take charge of your day.

Other Access Doors

After evoking chi, anchoring and dreamless sleep, the author shares with us other possibilities to connect you to the non-manifest.

These other doors are the following:

– Spread out the psychological time to enter the non-manifest.

– Stop the flow of your thoughts and simply observe (meditation can help you stop the flow of your thoughts).

– Adopt let go to access the non-manifest

Silence

Silence is also very powerful because without it sound would not exist and understanding silence is one of the ways of visualizing and accessing the non-manifest.

To support his example he gives us the example of a washing machine that makes a noise but we have become accustomed to it and we realize the noise it made only when it stopped. This is the power of silence.

The emptiness

In the same way as the previous example on silence, emptiness is also a doorway to the non-manifest for much the same reasons. For more details please refer to page 153 of his book

Conscious death

To conclude this chapter on the doors of access to the non-manifest, he reminds us of another non-voluntary door of access to the non-manifest. Conscious death, this door only opens in the last moments of life. The author reminds us of the fact that many people have seen this door with their own eyes as a radiant white light before coming back to them. This experience is more commonly referred to as the near-death experience.

The power of now summary: Chapter 8: Enlightened Relationships

Enter the present moment, no matter what the circumstances:

Whatever it is and whatever your living conditions, it is important in order to have enlightened relationships to be able to enter into the present moment. To do this, you need to let go and let the elements unfold so that you can give your full attention to it.

Relationships of love and hate

This part is very specific and goes a bit against the grain of everything we read about love. Indeed, according to Eckhart Tolle all love relationships are false and selfish if the partners have not reached full trust.

According to him, the vast majority of initial love stories become mixed love and hate stories, which gives you both pleasure and pain at the same time. Why is this? Because polarities do not go one without the other, so without full consciousness to restore balance love will inevitably attract hate. For him, uncontrolled love is like a drug. You are positive and full of fullness during the moments spent together, but as soon as you no longer see each other everything changes and negative feelings often come and go because you need the other.

For a love relationship to be beautiful, stable and real, it is not necessary to know the need or negative feelings such as jealousy for example. It is necessary that you love the person for what they are by letting them live and not for the emotions they bring you.

Dependency and the search for completeness

The author explains in this part why man is constantly looking for someone who completes him and ends up becoming dependent on him. To justify his argument he bases his argument on two points.

Firstly, on the physical level, man is not complete and he needs his opposite to feel complete. You are only half looking for the second half.

Secondly, on the psychological level, finding a person is seen by many of us as a solution to our ego problems, a solution we have been looking for for a long time. Unfortunately this is not the case and this is what ends up causing the loss and failure of some relationships.

I have tried to summarize this part in the clearest and simplest way possible, but once again, the author goes into much more detail and if you are interested I strongly advise you to read the passage from his book. ( page 166 )

From dependency to enlightened relationships

In order to change this harmful system of dependency relationships, Eckhart Tolle offers us a simple and effective solution to implement. First of all, the partners will have to be able to detach themselves from the body of suffering to expel all negative emotions and become much more present ( Presence is again the key )

Once you have succeeded in dis-identifying yourself from the mind, all that remains is to give love by accepting your partner as he is in his totality, without trying to satisfy your personal needs, as the author says love is a state and is to be given You should not try to think too much or expect too much in return.

And the author ends up reminding us also that: “Love is within you, that it belongs to you and is not dependent on someone else. »

Relationships as a spiritual practice

In this section he discusses how relationships can become a spiritual practice. There are different scenarios, however, what is common in all cases is that during an argument or conflict the mental patterns become amplified and emotions, feelings and reactions can become very virulent. As a result, either your relationship is strong enough and allows you to share two of your feelings to avoid escalations of violence. Or your energy will be used to ease tensions through your strong presence.

If your partner does not understand your spirituality and your extreme presence is always present in conflicts this will at least have the merit of calming tensions and little by little perhaps pure consciousness will come to her as well, or at least open one of the doors to full consciousness.

Why women are closer to enlightenment than men

In this 6th part, the author evokes us the fact that women are closer to enlightenment than men and this for a precise reason: Nature.

Indeed, it is easier for a woman to feel her body and to inhabit it notably thanks to the process of reproduction, menstruation and pregnancy.

How to dissipate the body of collective female suffering

Later, we learn from Eckhart Tolle that the suffering body of women is much more present and that it is the element that takes them farthest from enlightenment, but why? Simply by past experiences, the collective suffering body of women has made them less “strong” because of the collective suffering they have experienced for decades or hundreds of years (rape, childbirth, exploitation, slavery, loss of a child …).

So it is appropriate for all women to develop their self-confidence and especially their attention in order to bring awareness to all this and allow them to evacuate the body of collective suffering they may feel while de-identifying themselves from the mind.

Renounce the relationship you have with yourself

The last point discussed in this chapter is the relationship we have with ourselves.

In itself, and to summarize this part, it is necessary that each one is able to understand and accept that he is different from others, that he has qualities and faults but that this is what makes him unique. We will then have to learn to feel good about ourselves in order to end the relationship we have with ourselves. This will finally allow us to live a real relationship with our half, or future half.

The power of now summary: Chapter 9: Beyond Happiness and Torment: Peace

Beyond Good and Evil: The Higher Good

First of all, he talks to us about the difference between happiness and inner peace. For him, happiness depends only on living conditions that are perceived or not perceived as positive, whereas, on the contrary, inner peace does not depend on these conditions.

The idea here is to push us to understand that peace is the most powerful element that we can attract and this thanks to a strong presence.

The End of Emotional Melodrama in Your Life

In this part, the author tells us about melodrama and how it is created. To summarize, he informs us that melodrama is a creation of the mind, of the ego and that it exists only thanks to unconsciousness.

He then reminds us that in order to get out and say goodbye to melodrama in our lives, we need only to be fully aware of what is happening and of what surrounds us.

The cycles of life and the impermanence of things

This 3rd part is used by the author to remind us that our whole life is governed by life cycles with “Birth” and “Death” as ends. The important thing here is to understand that life works this way and that we cannot always be at our best or at our highest level. We need to respect these cycles in order to acquire and live inner peace. The author also tells us that the more you resist things that happen the more you will suffer.

How to use negativity and renounce it

For this 4th part, Eckhart Tolle talks to us about negativity and explains how we can renounce it. First, he explains to us that negativity is nothing more than an inner resistance and can even trigger the body of suffering. (we then fall back into a cycle of negativity if we are not able to see it).

To face this negativity, you must once again disassociate yourself from the mind, learn to observe and accept things as they are, and be totally present.

He greatly develops his thesis and completes it with examples in his book ( To be found from page 206 for more details )

The nature of compassion

The author then shares with us what he considers the nature of compassion. For him, compassion is the bond that makes you think you are close and connected to other living beings. However, he also explains that compassion is not always healthy in human beings, in fact, we never really try to understand others, he even explains that when we make a gesture to help someone in need (like helping a homeless person), it is only a search for ego gratitude, we do it in part to feel useful and feel like we have done a good thing.

The power of now summary: Chapter 10: The meaning of letting go

Acceptance of the Present Moment

Accepting the present moment is one of the important keys according to the author, however he also tells us that the term “letting go” is misinterpreted in most cases. Indeed, for some people “letting go” has a negative connotation, “letting go” can quickly be seen as abandonment, as failure. However, this is absolutely not the case, it is even the opposite, “letting go” is rather to stop being in resistance and to improve one’s daily life as it is in order to live better.

Eckhart Tolle also reminds us that letting go is also a faculty to see clearly what remains to be done and therefore it is considered a passage to action.

From Mental Energy to Spiritual Energy

Mental energy is the one used by most humans right now. However, the transformation of this mental energy into spiritual energy is one of the most powerful and healthy forms of energy that exists.

Letting go in interpersonal relationships

The power of “letting go” is also very powerful in relationships with others. Indeed, to help you find inner peace and live better with others you will either need to “let go” or to take action, especially by talking about what you feel in your daily life, by putting words on your emotions, feelings to avoid reviving the body of suffering.

How to transform illness into enlightenment

When one is ill, the problem is not the illness itself but the image that the mind has of it. This is why self-healing can still be very present in our lives. Indeed, illness is a condition of life, but not our life, you can overcome illness and often it is one of the ways to reach full consciousness, to end psychological time and therefore to reach enlightenment. Indeed, the arrival of an illness makes you aware of many things and allows you (most often) to increase your presence.

When misfortune strikes

This section on misfortune is more or less the same as the previous section. In fact, the author tells us in his own words that: “As far as the majority of people are still unconscious, only an extreme and critical situation (loss of a loved one, a disaster, a total upheaval, great suffering…) has the potential to split the hard shell of their ego and lead them to let go, and consequently, to a higher state of consciousness”.

Misfortune is therefore one of the doors to full consciousness and “letting go”.

How to transform suffering into peace

In order to transform suffering into peace, the author Eckhart Tolle reminds us that we must first go through a period of “letting go” and acceptance of what is. Accepting a situation allows you to avoid the creation of negativity and will therefore take you away from suffering and push you towards a state of peace.

Having the power to choose

You have the power to choose what you are and what you do on the sole condition that you can dis-identify yourself from your mind. This is the whole lesson to remember. So to summarize this part and even this book more generally, learn to dis-identify yourself from the mind, to accept the situation as it is, to “let go” and then you will have the choice of your life.

Thank you for reading this “The Power of now summary”