Preface: I recently reread this amazing book and felt compelled to share my revised review on it. This book deserves to be read! 

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

by Eckhart Tolle

Warning!

This book can change your life. It can change the way you see yourself, the universe, and how you fit into it. It can wake you up.

In ‘A New Earth’, we are given the powerful concept of overcoming the ego-driven state of mind. Tolle explains about how ego attachments that may hinder us from attaining our desired happiness. This book is all about becoming mindful, free of ego-based thinking and reaction, and finding YOUR happiness.

I love that the author starts the introduction with offering you the choice of taking his ideas or leaving them, and then entice you to read on with his statement that those already on the road to enlightenment will be more likely to get it. Is this hubris or confidence? You will have to decide for yourself.

Eckhart Tolle has an evident understanding of spirituality and he simplifies Eastern spiritual teachings into easy to digest concepts. He illustrates the ‘ego’ as a complex challenge to understand, and offers-up various examples where it surfaces in our lives, through great examples of how we are attached to things, and in turn feel pain, anger, jealousy, and resentment. Then he explains how you could be indifferent to the things in your life, and calling for an unattached way of interacting with them.

If you are turned off by religion, please read through it in this book. It’s worth it. He is unnecessarily apologetic about having a more Christian perspective, and his explanations are deeply rooted in Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and at times, common sense. I found no bias in his writing and lots of connections between the major philosophies.

Everything about this book challenged my way of thinking and perceiving and moved me closer to being.

It is beautifully written and the concepts are well defined and illustrated, without the spoon feeding or vagueness I’ve sometimes encountered in books on this subject.

I would recommend this book for those who are looking to understand a different perception of themselves and how that can be applied in the real world in bringing about change. Like the famous teachings of Loa Tzu, this is not a `how to’ guide to spiritual enlightenment, it is mainly a narrative backed up by positive theories and a buttload of paradigm shifting introspections.

I hope you enjoy it. I would love to hear your experience with this book. Please share it with all of us.