Eckhart Tolle Discussion Community

I picked up this book the other day and started reading it. Does anyone have any experience with it? Would you like to share?

Hey Yougarksoo,

That's funny, I just started reading it as well . Actually I borrowed it from the bib because you see it a lot as reference in other books. For the rest I think it is a huge book and it is sometimes written very complicated. Not always simple to follow, but there are definitely some things that I can use for myself. Especially the fact that the existence of the false self (the ego) is often discussed was for me the big reason why I borrowed it. I hope to deepen my understanding of the ego even more and for the rest I hope to get some interesting insights. But I don't think that I will read it completely. It is divided into 3 books I guess and each book goes above the 400 pages I think?

Why are you reading it and did you get already some good information for yourself out of it?

Greetz,
Aanwezigheid

It's a lot of words that can be condensed into this: Be still. I found it ponderous and formulaic myself. After PON nothing else was needed.

Why are you reading it and did you get already some good information for yourself out of it?

In Tolle's Findhorn retreat, Tolle explained that the lady to whom the dictation came, which led to the"A Course in Miracles" had the following vision before it was dictated to her.

She found an old scroll in a box. She picked up the scroll and started unrolling it. It unrolled from the center out to the left and right side. As she unrolled it, she saw on the left everything from her past. Everything that happened. She saw on the right everything about her future, that would happen. She rolled the scroll inward to where only the center panel was showing. It said, "God is." She then heard a voice say, "you finally made it."


That intrigued me. That is why I picked it up.

Hey Kiki and Yougarksoo,

The central message of the book is indeed 'Be Still'. In the beginning of the book there also stands the following:

Where the Course is dealing about:

Nothing real can be threatened
Nothing unreal exists
This is where the peace of God lays

(Translated from Dutch into English so forgive me the faults that may stand in these 3 sentences, as well as my other posts ).

For Yougarksooo, I hope that you will share interesting insights with us as you're making progress in this book .

For the rest I agree with Kiki. I too have the feeling that after having read the books of Tolle, nothing else will give me insights of that intens and deep level. Yet I'm interested in other things and this book seems to be a classic

It's a lot of words that can be condensed into this: Be still. I found it ponderous and formulaic myself. After PON nothing else was needed.

Yes, I feel the same way. Once I read PON, I stopped searching. However, I do like to read spiritual texts for entertainment, history, perspective. So I will give it a try. But if I find it is too cumbersome or that it gets in the way of presence or self-realization, I will drop it like every other method I've dropped which did that.

My first taste of spirituality came from the Course. I have to admit, even after 20 years I can't understand the text part of the book because of the language. I went to catholic school as a kid, and my old interpretations would come back when certain words were used. I know alot of people who have it, at without exception they say they can not read the text all the way through, but the lesson part is great if your just starting out. I still occassionally pull it out, open to a lesson at random and apply it for a couple of days. Still get an AHA every NOW and again. I also love in the back, Manual for Teachers part, reading " what are the characteristics of Gods Teachers" on page 8.

I'm finding it difficult too read. Too esoteric. Vastly different than Tolle's simple clear writing style, which was one of the first things that appealed to me about Tolle.

I too have the same feeling. It is not so practical applyable I think.

I have to say that I really love the latest book by the Course teacher, Robert Perry. The book is called Return to the Heart of God: The Practical Philosophy of A Course in Miracles. His web site is also great:

http://www.circleofa.org

After reading most of this book (I am still reading it) I find that I can read the Course with more understanding. I also find Perry's book to be similar in format to Tolle's A New Earth. Both of them seem to take the first part of their books to detail the "problem." Then the second half is focused on the "solution." I find that Perry's book simplifies the Course for me. And as a result, I love the Course more and more as I continue to understand it's "thought system."

A Course in Miracles has in essence saved my life. When I had no spiritual connections in this world to hold me up, after a winding trail that started with Power vs. Force ~by David Hawkins I decided to purchase A Course in Miracles (all three volumes).

Though the beginning felt awkward do to the language pattern the Course uses I eventually found within the Text my exact heartfelt beliefs about the world and existence. Suddenly there was an intricately woven spiritual compendium that reflected my beliefs. It literally saved me from giving up on life. It recharged my faith/hope batteries and sent me forward with purpose.

Unfortunately just as some have mentioned I found the Lessons volume of the Course to be highly impracticle. But this did not diminish what value I was gleaning from the Text. This is when I came upon the Power of Now. Tolle provided the practical guidance I needed to fulfill the vision provided by the Text of A Course in Miracles.

"Reality belongs only to spirit." ~acim

Right there a quote from the Course that has a direct connection in my mind to what Tolle teaches of the universal nature of Being.

"What is not love is always fear, and nothing else." ~acim

Again, in no uncertain terms, the Course clarifies quite firmly that one is either living in love or living in fear; or from Tolle's language, one is either asleep and in ego or awake and in Spirit/Now.

"Infinite patience calls on infinite love, and by producing results now it renders time unnecessary." ~acim

This quote ties it up all nicely for me. To drop the mind and enter the Now one touches the essence of Spirit which is infinite patience and love. And because the results of those infinite values show up now as an immediate consequence of resting in Being, time loses all meaning.

There is nothing to wait for.
There is nowhere to go.
There is nothing to fear.
There is nothing meaningful to be lost.
There is nothing out there to be gained.
There is only what you have, and that is everything.
There is only one "place" to be, and that is Heaven here in the Now.

A Course in Miracles teaches Oneness Absolute. That "nothing real can be threatened and that nothing unreal exists... herein lies the peace of God." As far as the Course is concerned all that is not Spirit does not exist. And because Spirit is eternal, Love, Joy, Peace, and perfection nothing we see in the world around us that does not reflect these qualities must invariably be untrue... the veil we have placed before our eyes to hide God(Spirit) from our selves.

"When you remember, you will know that what you remember is eternal, and therefore is now." ~acim

In other words when I wake up to Spirit I will recognize its eternal nature and know within that it is only what It Is Now; eternity is now, it does not extend like a line from the past to a place in the future.

A Course in Miracles spends a good portion of the beginning of the Text diving into the dynamics of the ego and how it affects the mind. Now the word mind in the Course is not definable the same way as it is in PON. It is more of what one might call the soul.

After grinding things up with the ego for awhile one is then taken on a gradual journey towards the Light with more emphasis on what we are in Truth rather than on what we are according to the ego.

The ego has power because we believe ourselves to be the ego. Thats why spiritual paths which move one away from ego identification can be rough because detaching from the ego can feel like suicide. Once Spirit is let in through even the smallest point we then have the chance to see a choice between what we thought was us to what we really are in Truth.

The spiritual journey then becomes a series of choices in the Now, though the choice is only ever between two things: Spirit and illusion. How we know the present moment all depends on what our choice is. Are we choosing Being in the Now or are we choosing to lose ourselves in the illusory machinations of the ego?

Near the end of the Course it says: "Choose once again." Everytime you must, choose once again. Choose continuously for Heaven and you will continuously know Peace. Choose continuously for illusion and you will continuously know nothing but sleep.

"For here is God, and where He is only the perfect and complete can be." ~acim

That means here in me, here in you, here in all of us. We are all perfect and complete right now. We need nothing more, and nothing need be taken away but that which we foolishly added thinking it would give us more than that which we already have. How can one have more than everything? To attempt as much is to play with dreams. We seem to have added something but it was made by a thought born of the mad idea that everything is not enough.

According to the Course time is not real. And as such when we truly realize this all effects of past and future disappear.
According to Tolle time is not real. And as such when we trully awaken to the Now the Presence of Being will fill in and replace all the useless illusion with which we had littered our perceptions.

The Course gives me the big picture in extensive intellectual prose, so much so that my faith has somewhere to turn for verses, quotes and metaphysics; stuff I need when I'm stuck in time. These quotes and concepts point my motivations and aspirations toward the divine within.

Tolle gives me the grass roots operations and procedures for traversing through my life as an awareness weaving in and out of Reality. Tolle provides the manual I can use to directly plow through the veil of illusion and awaken to the Now regardless of how far I perceive I have fallen.

Both sources provide an invaluable spectrum of teaching that I cherrish together as One. Though I cannot fit them together perfectly in my mind concept to concept... I do hold them together most snuggly in the room in the castle of my mind set aside for spiritual teachers, teachings and insights.

If you're still awake at this point in my post I thank you and congratulate you.

I do have a tendency to be rather verbose, though I hope I am equally able to share something valuable or at least entertaining...

"Everything you teach you are learning." ~acim

"As you teach so shall you learn." ~acim

"What you believe you will teach." ~acim

"You are always teaching." ~acim

Resheph

Beautifully said, completeinthenow. Many thanks.

Oops... I forgot another one of my most favorite quotes from the Course:

"Teach only love, for that is what you are."

I beg your deference for I feel moved to share more here on the Course as it is a compendium of teachings that are effectively woven directly to my appreciation of not just Eckhart Tolle but of existence as a whole.

"Seek not outside yourself." ~acim

This clearly states the start of any "journey" to our One Home. There is nowhere to look but within.

"Creation gives no separate person and no separate thing the power to complete the Son of God." ~acim

only in Spirit can we find completion for Spirit alone is that which bonds all Life together in eternity. All temporal objects and egoic personhoods can provide no relief to the heart which seeks completion.

"Fear is a judgment never justified." ~acim

Being/Spirit is invulnerable to all that does harm to the bodies and minds of those that sleepwalk in this dream. A mind firm in Spirit cannot be shaken by the finite "tangibles" that pass by our way.

"Be innocent of judgment, unaware of any thoughts of evil or of good that ever crossed your mind of anyone." ~acim

Here we are cautioned to hold no thought of analysis, be it of good or evil, for only Spirit is unopposedly qualified to declare the value of what you encounter each step of the way. Here we must rest in faith that the infinite Being within will judge perfect the person, place or situation and that whatever is made clear in Spirit is far more pure and just than any assessment we could ever dictate with our minds.

"The truth in you remains as radiant as a star, as pure as light, as innocent as love itself." ~acim

This sums up the Divine Testement of our salvation. We are not the flawed, finite, fragile blunders we may often see in the mirror or in the face of our neighbor. We are radiant as a star beneath the mundane clay exterior that we see wrapped around our inner selves. We are not worthy of condemnation rather we are smiled upon by Spirit as beings complete with the innocence of love itself.

"As you perceive so shall you behave." ~acim

We will act out in the world according to how we choose to perceive it. If we see a world of attack and revenge then we will move around in a posture of defense and counter attack. If we see a world of doorways leading deep into the Spirit within we will always find ourselves moving into the Light of our infinit Home, liberated completely from the worldly motions that batter the ego identity and five corners of our temporal flesh.

"Reality belongs only to Spirit." ~acim

Enough said.

Peace Is With Us All

Resheph

Hello everybody

If anyone should be interested in the course in miracles but doesn't want to read the whole book, I have a tip: start out with the book from Gary Renard "The disappearance of the universe". This book "leans" on ACIM and it is written in easy understandable words....it will make you understand the ACIM better.

And for me, what the main message of ACIM is, is "forgivness"....it's all about forgivness. But you will read that all in Gary Renards book. I did like that one very much and it help me personally a lot to bring more awareness into my consciousness about the Illusions we live in.

have fun with it
love
Claudia