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The Power of Now

a Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Skokie Public Library.
Mar 02, 2017
This book is really a mixed bag and I agree with others that it could have been said succinctly in 10 pages. Here are the pros and cons: With the past a trigger for depression and the future a trigger for anxiety, living in the now is important (as has also been pointed out to me through several years of yoga practice). I have felt an improvement in my physical and mental health by learning to feel whatever is happening and then simply letting it go. The more conscious you are, the less drama comes into your life and I would even say conflict with others (p. 181). This has been true for me. The suggestions of mindfulness are a good reminder as well, just taking the moment before bed to breathe deeply and relax your body have been helpful. Not new, but helpful. Now, the idea that all suffering is caused by the ego in response to resisting is naive. People will sometimes cause us harm, physically or otherwise and the idea that pain is mind over matter is a little insulting. We learn from those experiences. POW's and victims of natural disasters don't tell stories of transcending their imprisonment or losses for a reason. Some things are painful. The assertion that monthly female pain is the accumulation of the subjugation and mistreatment of women throughout history, rather than something physiological is absurd because a) Eckhart has never had menstrual pain and b) once again, it is a man telling women what they feel and why, which is the exact thing he claims the problem to be: patriarchy and a man dictating the state of a female body. Ageing being a state of mind, well, it is also a state of genetics. He also mentions being gay as a confusion that benefits the individual in its otherness.. This is an awful stereotype. Each individual is different. And the point that single people are only half of a whole, I also disagree with. Very whole, healthy individuals exist on their own. It's another very male statement. Lastly, I liked his point of not attaching our mind to one term for redemption like Jesus or Buddha and that forgiveness is not really required when we live presently (even though he references Jesus and Buddha often). Things are what they are and if you don't build your identity on the past, there is no reason to rehash it or decide forgiveness. You accept what you have now, who you are now and how to best live today. In case anyone is interested, an exponentially better read of this genre is: Bringing yoga to life by Donna Farhi.