Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
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This is a difficult book to review. I know it has had a profound and positive impact on the lives of millions of people around the world, and I'm sure many of you have read it and followed Oprah's classes on the subject. I found it thought-provoking, but I wouldn't call it enlightening. I suppose that may tell you more about me than about the book. I simply did not find anything in this book I have not read before in other spiritual, self-help types of writings, including Tolle's earlier The Power of Now.
Perhaps the hype doomed it for me. When Oprah says that "this book will change your life," it puts too much pressure on one little book. Having said that, if we can drop the marketing for a moment and look at some of the language, there are many thoughts in this book worth pondering. Like this one: "The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I am." There are many lines like this that mirror Biblical phrases.
Here is another one I highlighted, "Unhappiness is an ego-created mental-emotional disease that has reached epidemic proportions. It is the inner equivalent of the environmental pollution of our planet." That's interesting. Or this one, "The stronger the ego in you, the more likely it is that in your perception other people are the main source of problems in your life." Tolle defines ego this way, "a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment."
I think I may re-read this book. I sense there is more there than I grasped at first reading. While I cannot give it the power Oprah does, I do recommend Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth.
