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 1999
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