Stillness Speaks

Rating:
Summary: Heard it, but wish I had read it
Review: A friend lent me the CD version of STILLNESS SPEAKS, written
and read by Eckhart Tolle . . . this was my introduction to the
author, and because I was so impressed with what he has
to say, I now look forward to reading his classic book (THE POWER
OF NOW).

Tolle talks about living in "the state of the presence," a living in the
"now" that is both inspirational and practical . . . in doing so, the
pressures of future and past thinking disappear . . . fear and
frustration also vanish, conquered by the moment.

STILLNESS SPEAKS takes the form of 200 individual entries,
organized into 10 topic clusters that range from "Beyond the
Thinking Mind" to "Suffering and the End of Suffering" . . . the
entries are concise and complete in themselves, but heard
together, they make a powerful whole.

Be forewarned that Tolle speaks v-e-r-y slowly, so it might
take you some time to get used to his narration.

The other drawback to listening to the book was that I was
driving when listening to it and, as such, could not copy
down all the entries; e.g., to share with you . . . but I
was able to jot down the following that caught my attention:

Reincarnation doesn't help you if in your next incarnation you still
know who you are.

Love does not want or fear anything.

Naming something as bad causes an emotional contradiction
within you.

Rating:
Summary: Don't trust your ego
Review: This is another great gift from the delightful Mr. Tolle, a soul who has done the nearly impossible: achieved stillness in a human incarnation.

I have called the Power of Now the best self-help book ever and have listened to it over a hundred times. I always hear something new because my ego feels threatened and doesn't want me to learn this stuff.

My ego almost fooled me once again when I first listened to Stillness Speaks. It said to me "Eckhart is just rehashing stuff in aphorisms". But soon I found that there is much richness and wisdom to be mined here and if I can just take the principles to heart and start practicing them I might very well achieve inner peace in this lifetime. The deeper truth about this work is that it is divinely inspired and is of incredible depth and value.

What we do with this priceless gift is up to us.

Rating:
Summary: Silliness Speaks
Review: This is the worst I've seen from Tolle yet. Nothing more than a collection of tautologies and scribbles from a man with way too much time on his hands. In fact, I am quite certain this work was plagiarized from a collection of fortune cookies stolen from a cheap chinese buffet.

RM

Rating:
Summary: Profound Truth and Wisdom
Review: Once again Eckhart Tolle brings us a gift of enlightenment that speaks to our soul. I read this book from cover to cover, enthralled by the simplicity of the messages and their important application to my life. What I love about this book is how wonderful it is to go back to and re-read even a simple sentence, and how much of a difference that sentence makes when our ego has us caught in appearances, rather than in simply Being.
Thank you Eckhart Tolle for adding much needed Light to our world. This book is a classic, a wonderful contribution, and will certainly raise the peacefulness within the consciousness of humanity for all who are wise to take in the messages you brought us. Highly recommended.
Barbara Rose, author of: If God Was Like Man

Rating:
Summary: For spiritual beginners only!
Review: Eckhart Tolle is now making it as a writer. So much so that he hardly appears in public and when it does it is often to deliver a non-evolving monologue with no question time - proving that those who can't teach write! So that was what Tolle did for 8 years on a park bench.

The masses - those that read "to sleep perchance to dream" - may have earned brownie points by taking Oprah's recommendation to buy yet another book from her library, following in the steps of John Gray and Gary Zukav. However, hard-bitten veteran's of the cosmic circuit have asked why Tolle became a best-seller. Did the masses suddenly get religion?

Yes, they did. They got a watered-down mix of pop psychology and far-eastern promise dealt out by yet another Western philosopher to follow in the charismatic steps of Nietzsche and Wittgenstein.

Tolle may appear to be lofty but that's just because the guy is basically a geek. He likes words and is more than happy to get paid for repeat lectures - not unlike Jeffrey Masson. Ram Dass had a bit more class, because he was upper class by US standards. But words don't cut it for real seekers. They are beyond all that.

Tolle's sequel is OK for beginners - and probably more digestible. However real seekers are better of staying out in the mountains and looking for a high lama or descending it the cities to find an urban guru like Dave Oshana. A trip to the bookstore for this sort of book is just a useless waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: If you are new to Eckhart Tolle, I would suggest 'The Power of Now' and the wonderful 'Realizing the Power of Now' as introductions to this amazing material.

Personally, after studying Mr Tolle's work for several years I got to a point where no more explanation was really necessary. I think he would say that it's essentially a simple message, but it can be difficult for it to get through our years of habitual and continual mental chatter.

Once you finally find that quiet place, a wonderful little handbook of 'signposts' like 'Stillness Speaks' is really all you need to help get back in that quiet place when you lose it.

I highly recommend this book to those who have experienced for themselves the stillness that Eckhart tries to help us find in ourselves.

Great stuff!

Rating:
Summary: Is Tolle in the NOW when he writes these books?
Review: I doubt it! How can you be in the now while you're writing? Writing involves organizing thoughts and viewing them through the lens of memory and experience. And ironically, thoughts according to Tolle take you away from the NOW. So how can you be in the "NOW" when you are engaged in regurgitating so many word in so little thought :)

Is Tolle a enlightened individual as he portrays himself to be - in the very portraying he unwittingly reveals he's not. However, I do agree that he sure is realizing decent chunks of royalty payments from all his books. It would have been nice to see him credit to ancient Indian scriptures from where he borrowed his ideas by referencing appropriately. But there are so many spiritually starved individuals that they would drink shoddy spiritual gossip and drink it as if it was eternal nectar - that would qualify them for a free ride

Rating:
Summary: Book of Value
Review: Through my experience I have found that when I am desperately looking for answers a book will come along that shows me a way out of my currently turmoil. Eckhart Tolle's, The Power of Now and Stillness Speaks, articulate softly and lovingly an alternative paradigm of experiencing life. He is able to lead the reader to the state of present moment awareness through his words which both teach and enlighten. Truly a master teacher/mystic.

Rating:
Summary: Oh Mind.........................Relax Please
Review: Another Masterpiece By Eckhart Tolle.Just Amazing.

After reading Practising the Power of Now I read this one.It goes more deeper than that.

Author gives us Profund Idea About Stillness.Stillness is our inner space of awareness. Stillness is our essential nature.

Author successfully describes how our egoic self controls our behaviour,Our Action & reactions.The ego need to be in conflict with something, that explains why we are looking for Peace joy & love but cannot tolerate them for very long.

Our daily lives are run by Desire & Fear.Desire is to add something to be what we are (We believe that we must have so many things to be a worthwhile person But its not true.Actully we are seeking for others Approval.) & fear of loosing it.It is just an Illusion.

We are not happy in our relationships because of our 'Ego' which tries to control others Life.

When We are still,We have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.

We cannot find ourself in the 'Past' or 'Future' it is in "Now".

That's How "Stillness Speaks".

Rating:
Summary: One-Star Reviewers Exposed!!
Review: The negative posts here tell far more about the reviewers than about Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks.

Perhaps his wondrous words are written in a style so simple and elegant it far exceeds their level of understanding?