As its name suggests, this book is all about living in the present moment. “You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future,” Tolle writes, “this creates an anxiety gap.” When we experience anxiety and fear, we are imagining events that might happen in the future. Similarly, when we experience guilt and shame, we are remembering things that have happened in the past. It is impossible to feel these (or other) stressful emotions, however, when we are experiencing the present moment. When we are here and now, our author argues, the only thing we can experience is joy.
There are plenty of strategies for living more presently; it’s the reason why “some people love to engage in dangerous actives, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on,” because it forces them into the Now. For other people, meditation does the trick. The Now is what our author describes as “that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.” It’s what people are referring to when they comment that “time flies when you’re having fun.” Of course, keeping our minds present can be a difficult task—the mind loves to wander, to think about people and events from our past and potential future. To this, our author posits that we are not our thoughts, that “when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought,” and while some thoughts might arrest us, some we can calmly let pass. Recognizing that we are not our thoughts enables us to start “watching the thinker,” a route to a higher level of consciousness, for, if we are not our thoughts, and can observe ourselves as thinkers, then we must be one with a higher level of Being. Some people believe this is what it means to be one with God.
While Tolle offers some Biblical sentiments throughout his writing, he also embraces those of Buddhism, including a quote from a Buddhist monk: “All I have learned in the twenty years that I have been a monk I can sum up in one sentence: All that arises passes away. This I know.” The truth of this profound statement makes us each consider the question for ourselves: what is time? Tolle’s answer is simple: nothing to be concerned about. Envisioning ourselves somewhere in time leads us to contemplate the past and the future. But, if we are living in the Now, there is no time, there is only presence.
So, what is the path to enlightenment? Living in the present moment and recognizing that we are not our thoughts. Our minds conjured up the idea of time in order to help organize our lives, but time is ultimately an illusion. The sooner we accept this reality in our hearts, the sooner we can start living our lives in the present and experiencing the joy of Being.
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