"In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground there is the voice, the thinker. You are not that voice but the one who is aware of it."
Awakening to Your Life's Purpose is a book that would not have made my Amazon wish list solely from my own research. A good friend of mine suggested it and claimed that it made her see the world in a different light. Any work of art-especially books- that have the power to expand my perspective are of great interest to me; once I found that this was one of those things, it did not take much to convince me to dive right in. The title and general air of the book are a bit on the hippie side, so I was apprehensive at first. But, I made a pact with myself to read with an open mind and not make a judgement on the content until I understood it thoroughly. Upon reaching this point, I can make the decision about whether to assimilate the information into my paradigm and way of living or not. With that being said, I read this book searching for truth; I was not disappointed.
The real goal of Awakening to Your Life's Purpose is to give the reader the tools that it takes to really find out who he/she is at the core. It addresses many of life's greatest questions, such as:
- Who am I?
- How do I know who I am?
- What is this thing we call life?
- How do I cope with existence and make the most of it?
- and many more.
A quote to introduce the main idea of the book:
"Most people are still completely identified with the incessant stream of mind, of compulsive thinking, most of which is repetitive and pointless."
The main premise of the book is the idea that to find happiness and figure out how to truly live in the Present, one must become aware of the ego. Tolle spends a large amount of the book defining what the ego is; one of its main components is the "incessant stream of mind" mentioned in the above quote. His idea is that you can become aware of the stream of thoughts that compose your mind and that awareness provides a sort of separation between the mind and the true self. Tolle goes on to define the thing that is aware of the ego-self as the thing that we truly are. We are the awareness that perceives the content that fills our head every day.
The remainder of the book is mostly further definitions of separate components of the ego and the repercussions of becoming conscious of the awareness that has the ability to shape, and minimize, the ego. The latter part becomes very important; Tolle identifies this as the "path to enlightenment." Many of the teachings in this book align very closely with Buddhism, but the author often uses Jesus and his teachings to convey his ideas.
Ultimately, Eckhart Tolle hopes that his ideas will be propagated and used throughout humanity. His backing by Oprah has helped that to begin, but that is far from the current situation. I just learned of him two weeks ago. What he calls this mass osmosis of consciousness is A New Earth. He believes that if everyone adopts this way of living, the world as we know it would experience a shift toward peace, unity, awareness and happiness. After reading the book and attempting to apply the principles contained within, I am inclined to believe him.
Here is an interview with Tolle that gives a good peak at the main premise of the book:
The odd thing about this book for me personally is that many of the ideas that it conveys are ones that have been bouncing around my head for a while now. Eckhart Tolle managed to polish those ideas up and then present them in a clear and concise manner. It is evident that he has spent much of his life contemplating consciousness and he has managed to develop a system that has the potential to bring about his idea of A New Earth. My wish is to do my part in aiding to spread these ideas and encourage the reading of Tolle's book. Any small step toward enlightenment is worth even the greatest struggle to attain. Applying the principles in this book to your life has the potential not just to be a small step toward enlightenment, but a great stride.
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