6/16/08

Chapter 6: Breaking Free


Again this chapter is about the pain body and again it is just as easy to substitute the word demon. Tolle even makes the transition easier with words like "unholy alliance" and "a person possessed".


Chapter 7: Finding Who You Truly Are

This is so far the best-written and smartest chapter of the book. Why does it take 185 pages to get to real substance and advice on how to live happier? Still pantheistic themes but a lot of Zen and "living in the now" and mindfulness examples and exercises.


Chapter 8: The Discovery of Inner Space


This is a continuation of the previous chapter. Smart, insightful with good explanations of a quiet place you can reach with some lifestyle changes and meditation exercises. I would have liked to see less preaching on the evils of TV and more advice and exercises on different meditations, Zen and Christian.


Chapter 9: Your Inner Purpose


This is a pretty good self-help chapter about living in the moment and being mindful in everything you do. It ties in well with Chapter 7 & 8.


Chapter 10: A New Earth


Overall, not a bad conclusion to the book or more accurately the last 3 chapters of the book. It seems Tolle kind of hurried through it though. There are a lot of Zen, Sufi and Christian references without Tolle expounding on any of them. He could have kept the last 3 chapters as they were and cut the rest of the book down to at least half of what he wrote and came out with a better book.


In Conclusion: A New Earth is not a book for beginners or people that are in a deeper place in their spiritual lives or reading. It works well for the average, intermediate spiritual seeker and introduces good starting concepts on emptiness, space, ego and mindfulness. I would recommend it to a person that seems chronically unhappy or angry all the time and is hostile toward religions or God. The psychology in it is very down to earth and well written, but Tolle's theological ideas seem hastily put together and are most of the time inconsistent. It's a good jumping off point in reading about what is wrong with you but I wish he would have offered more solutions or at least added a recommended reading list for meditation, mindful living, etc. I think it will and does click well with some people and not so well with others. I guess that's okay since Tolle addresses that very issue in the book.


On a more personal note, I appreciate my aunt for sending me the book and though I don't agree with everything in the book, I do love reading all kinds of books. So my heartfelt thanks to her.