A New Earth

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

Thank goodness for books on CD. If AudioBooks haven't been invented, I don't think I would have got around to reading any of Eckhart Tolle's books. So I started off with A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose which was first published in 2005, instead of The Power of Now which was published in 2000, because the former worked in my car's CD-player. For some reason my audio system did not take too well to The Power of Now. Not yet, at least. Filled with heady monologue, mysticism, and new age wisdom, A New Earth is modern-day spiritual guide to living mindfully and humbly. Being a best-selling novel and Oprah's Book Club pick, this work borrows from Christianity, Sufism, Buddhism, and other spiritual teachings with a focus on self-development and not being ruled by the "ego". There were several "kernels of wisdom" that I may have to review in this book. Since I listened to A New Earth while driving, my concentration was divided and I felt that I missed some things which I would have loved to rewind and listen to again if my CD player was working better. A message I took home is that in order to make a generous contribution to the world, one must begin with the self and that today there is a collective move towards introspection and living more consciously. One must find his or her own inner and outer calling. The inner calling is enlightenment or awakening. The outer calling is a reflection of the inner calling. Eckhart Tolle says that in order to eliminate the suffering of the self and others, one must choose activities or apply oneself to his or her work with at least one of the following: acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm. I find that these three qualities are necessary in the application of oneself toward work and great guidelines for finding one's own purpose and destiny. Today, I finally got The Power of Now to work on my car's CD player so I look forward to gaining an even deeper understanding of Eckhart Tolle's work.