当下的力量英文版ThePowerofNow.doc

The Power of Now

CONTENTS

About this Book
About the Author
Acclaim
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgments

Introduction
The Origin of This Book
The Truth That Is Within You

CHAPTER ONE: You Are Not Your Mind
The Greatest Obstacle to Enlightenment
Freeing Yourself from Your Mind
Enlightenment: Rising above Thought
Emotion: The Body's Reaction to Your Mind

CHAPTER TWO: Consciousness: The Way Out of Pain
Create No More Pain in the Present
Past Pain: Dissolving the Pain-Body
Ego Identification with the Pain-Body
The Origin of Fear
The Ego's Search for Wholeness

CHAPTER THREE: Moving Deeply into the Now
Don't Seek Your Self in the Mind
End the Delusion of Time
Nothing Exists Outside the Now
The Key to the Spiritual Dimension
Accessing the Power of the Now
Letting Go of Psychological Time
The Insanity of Psychological Time
Negativity and Suffering Have Their Roots in Time
Finding the Life Underneath Your Life Situation
All Problems Are Illusions of the Mind
A Quantum Leap in the Evolution of Consciousness
The Joy of Being

CHAPTER FOUR: Mind Strategies for Avoiding the Now
Loss of Now: The Core Delusion
Ordinary Unconsciousness and Deep Unconsciousness
What Are They Seeking?
Dissolving Ordinary Unconsciousness
Freedom from Unhappiness
Wherever You Are, Be There Totally
The Inner Purpose of Your Life's Journey
The Past Cannot Survive in Your Presence

CHAPTER FIVE: The State of Presence
It's Not What You Think It Is
The Esoteric Meaning of "Waiting"
Beauty Arises in the Stillness of Your Presence
Realizing Pure Consciousness
Christ: The Reality of Your Divine Presence

CHAPTER SIX: The Inner Body
Being Is Your Deepest Self
Look beyond the Words
Finding Your Invisible and Indestructible Reality
Connecting with the Inner Body
Transformation through the Body
Sermon on the Body
Have Deep Roots Within
Before You Enter the Body, Forgive
Your Link with the Unmanifested
Slowing Down the Aging Process
Strengthening the Immune System
Let the Breath Take You into the Body
Creative Use of Mind
The Art of Listening

CHAPTER SEVEN: Portals into the Unmanifested
Going Deeply into the Body
The Source of Chi
Dreamless Sleep
Other Portals
Silence
Space
The True Nature of Space and Time
Conscious Death

CHAPTER EIGHT: Enlightened Relationships
Enter the Now from Wherever You Are
Love/Hate Relationships
Addiction and the Search for Wholeness
From Addictive to Enlightened Relationships
Relationships as Spiritual Practice
Why Women Are Closer to Enlightenment
Dissolving the Collective Female Pain-Body
Give Up the Relationship with Yourself

CHAPTER NINE: Beyond Happiness and Unhappiness There Is Peace
The Higher Good beyond Good and Bad
The End of Your Life Drama
Impermanence and the Cycles of Life
Using and Relinquishing Negativity
The Nature of Compassion
Toward a Different Order of Reality

CHAPTER TEN: The Meaning of Surrender
Acceptance of the Now
From Mind Energy to Spiritual Energy
Surrender in Personal Relationships
Transforming Illness into Enlightenment
When Disaster Strikes
Transforming Suffering into Peace
The Way of the Cross
The Power to Choose

About this Book

To make the journey into The Power of Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the beginning of the first chapter we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where one breathes a lighter air, the air of the spiritual. Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle offers simple language and a question and answer format to guide us. The words themselves are the signposts.
For many of us there are new discoveries to be made along the way: we are not our mind; we can find our way out of psychological pain; authentic human power is found by surrendering to the Now. We also find out that the body is actually one of the keys to entry into a state of inner peace, as are the silence and space all around us. Indeed, access is everywhere available. These access points, or portals, can all be used to bring us into the Now, the present moment, where problems do not exist. It is here we find our joy and are able to embrace our true selves. It is here we discover that we are already complete and perfect.
Many of us will find that our biggest obstacle to this realization is our relationships, especially our intimate relationships. But again, we are in "new territory" and all is not what it had seemed before. We come to see that our relationships are yet another doorway into spiritual enlightenment if we use them wisely, meaning if we use them to become more conscious and therefore more loving human beings. The result? Real communion between self and others.
If we are able to be fully present and take each step in the Now; if we are able to feel the reality of such things as the "inner-body," "surrender," "forgiveness," and the "Unmanifested," we will be opening ourselves to the transforming experience of The Power of Now.

About the Author

Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany, where he spent the first thirteen years of his life. After graduating from the University of London, he was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University. When he was twenty-nine, a profound spiritual transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life.
The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating, and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey.
Eckhart is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition. In his teaching, he conveys a simple yet profound message with the timeless and uncomplicated clarity of the ancient spiritual masters: there is a way out of suffering
and into peace.
Eckhart is currently traveling extensively, taking his teachings and his presence throughout the world. He has lived in Vancouver, Canada, since 1996.

Acclaim for “The Power of Now”

"If I were allotted only one book, I would choose Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. Why? Because this book emanates a spirit of love, not only through its words, but in the spaces between the words. No book has touched me, nor embraced me as this one has."
— Patricia Gordon, Calgary, Alberta

"This book offers us a wonderful gift, but we must have the courage to seize it. I encourage you to accept this gift. I believe our very survival on this planet is dependent on the inner journey that Eckhart Tolle is urging us to take."
—Bill Carpenter, Businessman and Fellow Spiritual Seeker

"I found this book to be a wonderful perspective for people like me who wish to integrate the message delivered so eloquently by A Course in Miracles and Deepak Chopra's Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Every time I return to a segment of the book, I am surprised to find a new deeper meaning than the previous read."
— Jean-Pierre LeBlanc, CEO, SAJ E (manufacturer and retail chain of natural health products)

"This manuscript is like a collection of 'Daily Bread' in that the gleanings of knowledge that are made available by Eckhart are in a spiritually digestible form of question and answer. These conscious awareness triggers are a must read in this present age of truth seekers."
— David L. Jones, author of A Warrior in the Land of Disease

"The book gave me comfort and inspired me no end and gave me insight after insight regarding my own personal journey. It was a revelation and a joy to read."
— Albert Koopman, Business Executive

"I have searched for meaning, well-being, health and life, but unfortunately I was searching outside myself. The Power of Now has shown me how to find life's elusive treasures within."
— John Kuchenthal, Organizational Development Consultant

"I heartly recommend this profoundly inspiring book to all seekers today."
—Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within

" . . . a reminder to be truly present in our own lives and liberated from our past and future. It can transform your thinking. The result? More joy, right now!"
— O: The OPRAH Magazine

"Tolle has succeeded on two fronts: synthesizing the teachings of masters such as Jesus and the Buddha into an easily accessible guide to achieving spiritual consciousness and making a strong case that the inability of humans to free themselves from dominance by the mind and live in the present is the root cause for misery in the world . . . . He makes enlightenment seem attainable and necessary for both individual peace and the health of the planet."
— ForeWord Magazine

"Fresh, revealing, current, new inspiration. Out of the many spiritual books that cross my desk this one stands out from the flock . . . . If you are considering getting back in touch with your soul, this book is a great companion."
— Common Ground, Vancouver, British Columbia

"With intense and compelling clarity, Tolle's guidance holds the promise of leading us to our own best and highest place within, to resonate with and reflect the energy of true transformation."
— Spirit of Change Magazine

"This seems to be the 'right book' for many people at this point in time. The writing is clear as a bell; the words ring true. Truly an exceptional book that promises to make a real difference in people's lives."
— Tom Oakley, Banyen Books, Vancouver, British Columbia

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE

BY MARC ALLEN
Author of Visionary Business and A Visionary Life

Perhaps once in a decade, or even once in a generation, a book like The Power of Now comes along. It is more than a book; there is a living energy in it, one you can probably feel as you hold it. It has the power to create an experience in readers, and change their lives for the better.
The Power of Now was first published in Canada, and the Canadian publisher, Connie Kellough, told me she heard repeated stories of positive changes and even miracles that have happened once people got into the book. "Readers call in," she said. "And so many of them tell me of the wonderful healings, transformations, and increased joy they are experiencing because they have embraced this book."
The book makes me aware that every moment of my life is a miracle. This is absolutely true, whether I realize it or not. And The Power of Now, over and over, shows me how to realize it.
From the first page of his writing, it is clear that Eckhart Tolle is a contemporary master. He is not aligned with any particular religion or doctrine or guru; his teaching embraces the heart, the essence, of all other traditions, and contradicts none of them — Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, indigenous, or anything else. He is able to do what all the great masters have done: to show us, in simple and clear language, that the way, the truth, and the light is within us.
Eckhart Tolle begins by briefly introducing us to his story — a story of early depression and despair that culminated in a tremendous experience of awakening one night not long after his twenty-ninth birthday. For the past twenty years, he has reflected on that experience, meditated, and deepened his understanding.
In the last decade, he has become a world-class teacher, a great soul with a great message, one that Christ taught, one that Buddha taught: a state of enlightenment is attainable, here and now. It is possible to live free of suffering, free of anxiety and neurosis. To do this, we have to come to understand our role as the creator of our pain; our own mind causes our problems, not other people, not "the world out there." It is our own mind, with its nearly constant stream of thoughts, thinking about the past, worrying about the future. We make the great mistake of identifying with our mind, thinking that’s who we are — when, in fact, we are far greater beings.
Over and over, Eckhart Tolle shows us how to connect with what he calls our Being:

Being is the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death. However, Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don’t try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still, when you are present, fully and intensely in the Now . . . . To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of 'feeling-realization' is enlightenment.

The Power of Now is nearly impossible to read straight through — it requires you to put it down periodically and reflect on the words and apply them to your own life experience. It is a complete guide, a complete course, in meditation and realization. It is a book to be revisited again and again — and each time you revisit it, you gain new depth and meaning. It is a book that many people, including me, will want to study for a lifetime.
The Power of Now has a growing number of devoted readers. It has already been called a masterpiece; whatever it is called, however it is described, it is a book with the power to change lives, the power to awaken us to fully realize who we are.
Marc Allen
Novato, California U.S.A.
August I999

FOREWORD

BY RUSSELL E. DICARLO
Author of Towards a New World View

Blanketed by an azure sky, the orange-yellow rays of the setting sun can, at special times, gift us with a moment of such consider able beauty, we find ourselves momentarily stunned, with frozen gaze. The splendor of the moment so dazzles us, our compulsively chattering minds give pause, so as not to mentally whisk us away to a place other than the here-and-now. Bathed in luminescence, a door seems to open to another reality, always present, yet rarely witnessed.
Abraham Maslow called these "peak experiences," since they represent the high moments of life where we joyfully find ourselves catapulted beyond the confines of the mundane and ordinary. He might just as well have called them "peek" experiences. During these expansive occasions, we sneak a glimpse of the eternal realm of Being itself. If only for a brief moment in time, we come home to our True
Self.
"Ah," one might sigh, "so grand . . . if only I could stay here