My wife says she bought me an Oprah recommend for my B-Day next week, I'll ask her...but it is "Pillars of the Earth". Oh well.
I'll start it after I finish "1491".
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A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle - has anyone read it?
by Scully 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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shopaholic
I'm reading it now and I also signed up for O's class. I am REALLY enjoying the book. If you're open-minded and still have issues with fading, I think the book helps you set outside of yourself and view things how they really are. To put it in action is a different story! I was skeptical at first as well but now I don't hesitate to recommend the book.
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Sunnygal41
Scully, I was going to post a thread about this book this morning, but, decided to search and see if anyone else had started a thread first...........glad I did..........I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone who wants to get to the heart of what life is all about.. For me, it has been a HUGE eyeopener........the third chapter on the EGO has explained sooo much of why I act the way I do, why we, as a human race, react and act towards one another. My understanding is that ego is based in fear. It arises by identification with form, and deep down it knows that no forms are permanent, that they are all fleeting. So, there is always a sense of insecurity around the ego even if on the outside it appears confident. WE are NOT our EGO. Our ego is a false construct/facade of who we really are. It is the incessant stream of involuntary and compulsive thinking and the emotions that accompany it. This is the egoic mind. Some of the subheadings in this chapter are:
Complaining and Resentment
Reactivity and Grievances
Being Right, Making Wrong
In Defense of an Illusion
Truth: Relative or Absolute?
War Is a Mind Set
Do You Want Peace or Drama?
Beyond Ego: Your True Identity
The Ego's Need To Feel Superior
Ego and Fame
Once we become aware, conscious that we are NOT our ego, and others are not theirs, we can learn to step back and laugh at the games that it plays to keep it's power. Then, we don't personalize the games and we come from our true self, which is interconnected with all other things, which are rooted in LOVE.
My girlfriend, who is also an X-JW and I get together once a week to listen to the Skype broadcast with Oprah and Eckhart's discussion online............it is awesome.........the first week there were over 500,000 people online joining in the discussion. Of great importance to me is the fact that one of the things that was stated at the very first program was that Mr. Tolle has NO wish to be anyone's guru. He said that the book wanted to be written and that it is up to each of us to decide what we want to do with the information. When I first bought the book and looked at it, of course there were triggers........A New Earth.........yes, we heard this as JW's. Yes, he got the phrase from the Bible, but, he is NOT a christian or any other faith. He believes that ALL faiths have the ability to lead us deeper to connect with Source. He warns about labeling, asking: "Do you believe some combination of such basic sounds could ever explain who you are, or the ultimate purpose of the universe, or even what a tree or stone is in its depth?" How profound. So, in my opinion, I say feel free to explore this book with an open mind, without fear. This is just a small fraction of the awesome wisdom I have already gained in a very short time...........but, this is MY experience.
Terri
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BurnTheShips
My wife is reading it. I will pick it up when she is done and force myself.
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Meeting Junkie No More
3/4 of the way through - reading on the advice of a friend, not normally something I would pick up. Hence skeptical going in, but loving it...he has a wonderful way of explaining very-difficult-to-explain concepts. Well worth the read in my opinion.
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Sunnygal41
just wondering what anyone's personal experiences have been with this book/topic..........bit of an update if you will........it has changed my life and i can truthfully say that as he says in the book, once you "awaken" you will never be the same again..........i.e., once you realize what the ego does and how we all have been raised within its framework, it changes you.........anyone else care to share?
terri
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Mystery
...entangled in them instead, and these are the people who will struggle and likely give up in frustration. For those who stick with it there can be a marvelous discovery: the unconditional peace that is the core of your very being, and an inner silence and stillness that heals all sense of separation. This is what JamesThomas often referred to in his posts. He highly recommended anything by Tolle, and I share his recommendation. poppers
JamesThomas is the reason I read The Power of Now. If you go back through his history and read his post you will see that there is not a hurtful, disrespectful, condemning word said to anyone by him. If someone can be at such a peace as he is, not to be demeaning to others, not to cut them down but to tell them to search inside THEMSELVES – not trying to change to HIS view, but to look inside our ownself.
I don’t know about you but when I am reading a thread sometimes I look at the author and either completely skip or make sure I read their comments. After you have been on a forum for awhile you ‘get to know’ some of the authors. You know who is a pessimist and who is an optimist. You know who is going to downgrade everything that is said and who is going to play ‘devils advocate’, not downgrading but making you think of a different side. Each time I saw JamesThomas I make sure I read him. When I first found this site I could not get enough of it, I was obsessed with it - every free second I had I was reading and reading and reading, others full of hurt, of rage, of distrust… just as I was. This site helped me see that I was not alone, it helped me grow, I learned who to ‘listen to’ and who to ignore. I couldn’t understand how anyone could say ‘good bye’ to this forum. Now I know – you grow and you take the turns that complete you as a person.
I still drop back in, glance at the topics – looks to see if there were any post on JW’s passing kool-aide around – and then pull up JamesThomas to see if he had any topics and then be on my merry way.
I am a person that – since discovering I lived the first half of my life as a lie due to my belief – that researches everything, does not take anyone’s word for anything, that feels I will never embrace ANY religion, that has never had that ‘she’s got the holy spirit’ thing going on. But JamesThomas touched a spot in ME, the calmness he has, the peace…. If I can just have a small portion of what he has I feel that I will be finally on my way of accepting ….
… be much easier for a person to 'get' tolle if a person had done learned just a bit about meditation. Reading him without experiencing is a bit like reading about swimming, without ever getting into the water. Satanus
I agree wth Satanus it is a hard read at first. I had never read anything like this book. I had to reread and I will be re-reading it again. Meditation…. I’m not the type……. But you know forcing myself to go outside, by myself and simply close my eyes … meditate… I am still not there….but I have heard the birds singing, noticed the differences in their voices, noticed that they stop ‘talking when another one is ‘giving an answer’… Have I meditated? I have found a calmness at times, I have fallen asleep at times J… I don’t know if JamesThomas or The Power of Now has changed my life, I do know that I am more at peace with myself right now than I ever have been before.
If you are looking for all of your answers in a book – personally I don’t think it is there.
If you are looking for knowledge, if you are able to come out of your box and look inside yourself with different perceptions than you have ever known before then you may find what you are searching for.A book changing your life forever – no I don’t believe it.
A perception – your perception changing because of opening your mind because a book has showed you how to think on different levels… I do believe.Well – I have a garden calling my name (along with my 2 grandbabies…. Enjoy some sunshine today.
Take care.
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oompa
I started reading it, but instead burried a magic 8-ball under a crystal pyramid beneath a red oak tree under a full moon....feel much better now and it was a lot quicker...............oompa
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BurnTheShips
Started on it yesterday. Syncretic.
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Sunnygal41
Mystery, I am familiar with JT and feel much the same about him as you do. I agree with the point you make that the book is a stepping stone, but, wow, what a giant leap, imo. As Meeting Junkie says, Tolle has a wonderful gift in that he makes it much easier to understand by his clear, consise explanations..........believe me, I, too have read and read and of course, everything you read gives you a little more understanding, it's a compilation of bits and pieces to a puzzle........but, Tolle helped me to be able to tie alot of loose ends up, and lots of aha, that's what this or that author or person meant.
Oompa, you are too funny.........big kidder........
Burn The Ships - very much so........(syncretic)