The Most Life-Changing Book I’ve Ever Read: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Before you begin reading this post, I would just like to mention that I personally agree with about 75% of this book. Some things may have been over my head for one reason or another. Some I don’t undertand. Still other parts, I was like, “This is just stupid”. I pressed on and finished the book to find it one of the most amazing reads ever. It has no religious backing, although there are many references to quotes from religious teachings from many of the major religions and utilizing them to get the author’s point across. Some of these quotes made me think, “How do you know the speaker meant this? Were you there? Did they explain it to you?” Maybe it’s just me and my Ego not wanting to accept it, maybe I just don’t understand because I’m not at this level of conscious, or maybe still I just hate it when people translate the written word to make it mean what they want it to. After all, that’s a pretty sizeable part of why the world is in such horrible shape right now.

I hope you enjoy this post and more importantly, get something out of it. This book has done amazing things for my own personal perspective on life and cleared my mind to a once thought “unimaginable state”. Thank you, Karenlee for thinking of me when you read this book and letting me borrow it. So sorry that I spilled Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi on it.

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I’m not an avid reader of “books”, but I do love to read. It seems that I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge, so I tend to pass by the bookshelves of local stores when I am looking for some sort of “entertainment”. Stories of fiction written by the latest best-selling authors just don’t interest me. If I want a story, I’ll pick up a movie and get the entertainment aspect of my life completed in an hour-and-a-half long DVD. Then, find myself back to watching the History Channel or surfing the Internet to quench my thirst for knowledge.

A friend of mine came into work one day a few weeks back and said, “I have a book for you.” She opened up the bag she was carrying and handed me a paperback: “The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Inner Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. I responded with, “Do I need it?” “You might!” she said, and laughed just a tiny bit in the process.

So my curiosity had been peaked. What was it about this book that made my dear friend think that I would benefit from reading it? It sounded interesting enough. Maybe, just maybe, this book would be just what I needed, although I wasn’t exactly sure what it was that I did in fact really need.

About a quarter of the way through the book, I had my first epiphany. “When you’re aware that you’re thinking, you’re not thinking”. This basically refers to one’s conscious self. When you think, you do it with your “unconscious” or “subconscious” mind. And you aren’t aware that you’re doing it. As soon as you become aware of the thinking process, or become “present” as Eckart puts it, the thinking process subsides and you are no longer thinking with your subconscious and are aware of the present moment.

My next epiphany came when the book went into detail about the human “Ego” and it’s undying hunger for greatness. We’ve all heard the term “feeding the ego”, but when you can begin to understand that the Ego is not who you are (it’s just a part of you that wants to rule you), you can control it and hopefully one day be able to diminish it into non-existence. Your car or your couch doesn’t define who you are. In fact, these are the just the things that “clutter” your mind with needless thoughts that aren’t important at all. It’s not to say that you can’t have a nice couch or an amazing car, but these things are material items that don’t have a thing to do with who you really are. The Ego wants all that it can get, and it is never satisfied. I can remember a time when I won $3,200 in the Massachusetts State Lottery back in 1986. I can also remember crying in bed one night because it wasn’t “enough” money to do all of the things that I wanted to do. I was completely at the mercy of my Ego and the greed that comes along with it. The next day, I realized how stupid it was to be a bumbling fool bawling my head off over not winning “enough” money. This money was a gift. I had not worked for it. How could I be so upset? After all, it was better than nothing, right? It was greed: a horrid feeling to have for those who know better.

In my opinion, the reason that oil prices are ridiculously high right now is greed, and therefore, the Ego. Stockholders, investors and corporate “big wigs” are making a ridiculous amount of money right now at the expense of the working class individual. Their bonus checks simply aren’t big enough. Their stocks aren’t worth enough—“we must make more money to be great”. And here we are, the working class schmucks, cringing every time we pull up to our local petroleum replenishment establishment. What these corporate Ego’s don’t realize (or maybe they do) is that the average, working class Joe’s don’t automatically get more money to pay for fuel. We don’t get to give ourselves pay raises to compensate for the lack of funds in our checking accounts. We can’t “expense” it to a corporate account. We can’t tack on a “fuel surcharge” to our places of employment for the extra gas money that we have to come up with to get to work every day. This money that is paying for the excessive oil prices has to come out of our budgets, from an “envelope” that was supposed to be for something else, like food or clothing. Sure, we can cut down on our driving, but one still needs to get to work, so this expense can only be cut down so far. The money that was supposed to be for something else (food, clothing, entertainment) is going into the greedy pockets of corporate American big wigs. The money, for it’s original purpose, isn’t going where it was intended. Supermarkets have already begun to see the drop in their sales, as well as the discount department stores (who have had to jack up their prices to pay for their fuel cost increases, as all of their products are shipped in by trucks, who have to pay a higher price for fuel). Movie theaters are hurting, as the $20 used to go see the latest blockbuster will buy 5 gallons of gas to get to work for a few days. With all of this in mind, I can’t help but wonder what will happen this winter when the price of home heating oil is likely to hit $5 a gallon. Combine this with the declining housing market and adjustable rate mortgages resetting to a higher point, and you’ll be seeing an even higher percentage of bankruptcies, foreclosures and people living in their cars. That’s great for the economy. But don’t worry, the corporate American big wigs will have their extra cash compiling interest in the bank, so you can rest assured that they wouldn’t do a damn thing to help. It’s not their fault completely; it’s just that their Ego’s won’t let them.

Okay, back to the book. Another way that the Ego makes itself “strong” is to make other people feel “weak”. Take, for example, the somewhat recent unpleasantness of Hilary Clinton crying under pressure on her campaign for the US Presidency. The media, which has a HUGE Ego, combined with other candidates (predominantly male, who have a bigger Ego than females), made her out to be a hysterical woman who couldn’t control herself. And if she couldn’t control herself under this pressure, how could she effectively run the country, right? The fact is that everyone reacts differently to “pressure”. My opinion of this whole ordeal, after reading this book, is just this: It wouldn’t have been a big deal if the Ego’s of Hilary’s fellow politicians weren’t trying to make themselves “bigger” by making her Ego “smaller”. John Stewart, a fabulously talented late-night talk show host, actually had the guts to air several male politicians crying hysterically under pressure in front of the camera. These clips were probably never seen in this light before, and definitely never received that publicity that Hilary’s “performance” did.

Another interesting point made in the book is the “pain body”. This is a part of the Ego that actually wants to be miserable. It repeats stories of personal experiences, only the bad ones, to keep the misery alive. This is where “drama” comes into play. Do you really need the drama? Or is it your “pain body” trying to survive? Only you can break this cycle. No body or thing can do it for you. “If I had this or that, I’d be happy.”

I remember a point in my life not all that long ago in which I’d get up in the morning and couldn’t wait to go back to bed. Nothing in the middle of my day was worth anything to me. I was filled with anxiety and stress, worried about every little thing to the point where it consumed my entire existence. I was exhausted all the time. All I wanted to do was sleep. I was frustrated beyond capacity. I was trying desperately to find my purpose in life, but my “pain body” wanted something different. It wanted to be miserable. It got to such a horrid point that I actually was actually thinking about leaving my family because I didn’t want to burden them anymore. I didn’t want to be “me”, so if I left, I wouldn’t be “me” anymore. But one of my bud’s said something to me to make me realize how stupid this chain of thoughts was, but he didn’t even know that what he said triggered my “wake-up”. He said something to the effect of “You know that you’re always welcome at our place”, as he was concerned about me driving an hour-and-a-half home late at night. (Thanks, “Little Kyle”—) This made me realize that no matter where I was, I would still be there, just as miserable as ever. Friends told me that I needed to change my anti-depressants, but that was just putting a proverbial band-aid on a brain tumor. Medication isn’t the way I wanted to go- I wanted to fix my head, not put a band-aid on it. So I consulted shrinks, who in turn would charge me a ridiculous amount of money (that I just didn’t have) just to get my name and address-oh, and my insurance information. I figured out that the only one who could fix “me” was in fact “me”. I just didn’t know how. I had way too much stuff floating around in my head to try to sort out what I needed to. This book came to me at the perfect time, via an angel.

It has often been said, “A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind”. Many of us find this to be true, as it’s difficult to find what you’re looking for in a discombobulated mess. After reading this book, I’d have to say, “A cluttered mind is just that”. How can anyone expect to find their “true purpose” when they have all of this needless crap running through their head? People get wrapped up in situations, which tend to be filled with drama and stress. I found that “This too shall pass”, both good and bad, is a great way to help your mind stay “clear”. If you can’t do something about a situation, but yet you think about it constantly, it’s called “worry”. “Worry” is a huge cluster of thoughts that take up a lot of room in your mind. If you had a giant pile of trash on your desk, would it not distract you from doing your work? Of course it would. So what would you do? You’d go through it and throw away what you don’t need and organize what you do. I’m not implying by any means that you need to “throw out your worries”, but you need to sort through them. You need to “accept” them, especially the thing you have no control over. I can’t even begin to tell you how to do this; you’ll have to read the book. But I will tell you this: A New Earth will definitely help you sort out what you need to, shed light onto situations that matter, and “give you permission” to not get caught up in the drama that so many of us know as life.