Oneness With All Life: Awaken to a life of purpose and presence with the Number One bestselling spiritual author by Eckhart Tolle
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Oneness With All Life: Awaken to a life of purpose and presence with the Number One bestselling spiritual author

by

Eckhart Tolle

(Author)

4.8

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2,119 ratings


#1 New York Times bestselling author Eckhart Tolle highlights the most inspiring and beautiful insights of A New Earth

When Oprah announced A New Earth as her 61st Book Club selection, it skyrocketed to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, selling over five million copies in paperback and remaining at the top of the list for twenty-two consecutive weeks . In A New Earth, renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle describes how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. The purpose of this book is to bring about a shift in consciousness, or in his words, an awakening. An essential part of this awakening is the recognition of the ego, and our attachment to things, the past, and enemies.

In Oneness With All Life, Eckhart Tolle has picked the essential phrases and paragraphs-the gems of the book-that he feels are most important and reorganized them so readers can focus on the most powerful ideas. Beautifully packaged with evocative artwork and design, it is the perfect gift for anyone with a well-worn copy of A New Earth who wants deeper insight into this seminal work.

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ISBN-10

0241395518

ISBN-13

978-0241395516

Print length

182 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Penguin Life

Publication date

November 03, 2008

Dimensions

5.08 x 0.43 x 7.8 inches

Item weight

4.5 ounces


Product details

ASIN :

B001OLROVW

File size :

6957 KB

Text-to-speech :

Enabled

Screen reader :

Supported

Enhanced typesetting :

Enabled

X-Ray :

Enabled

Word wise :

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Editorial reviews

Praise for Eckhart Tolle and his work:

"I keep Eckhart’s book at my bedside. I think it's essential spiritual teaching. It's one of the most valuable books I've ever read." —Oprah

"I would do anything to be anywhere in the vicinity of Eckhart Tolle." —Jim Carrey

"A gentle journey, one that could take you to a spectacular and very special place of new awareness and deeper understanding." —Neale Donald Walsh, author of Conversations with God

"One of the best books to come along in years. Every sentence rings with truth and power—the power to bring you into the gap, the space between our thoughts, where we find, as Eckhart so beautifully puts it, deep serenity, stillness, and a sacred Presence." —Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success


Sample

INTRODUCTION

For this companion volume to A New Earth, I selected passages from the original book that felt particularly suitable for inspirational or meditative reading. For this reason I do not recommend that you read this book straight through from cover to cover. It would be far more beneficial to read, at the most, one chapter at a time, stopping at and perhaps rereading whatever passages elicit an inner response. Then let the words sink in and sense the truth to which they point, which is, of course, already within you. It can also be helpful to open the book at random occasionally, read one page or just one passage and let the words point the way to that dimension deep within that is beyond words, beyond thought. The truth to which the words point, the timeless dimension of consciousness, cannot be arrived at through discursive thought and conceptual understanding.

This book is not a condensed version of A New Earth. Although it contains some of the most powerful pointers from the original book, there is relatively little here about the ego and nothing about the pain-body. In other words: If you want to understand and thus be able to detect those mental-emotional patterns within you that block the arising of a new consciousness, you have to go to the original book.

This book will be of greatest benefit to those who have already read A New Earth—perhaps more than once—responded to it deeply, and experienced some degree of inner transformation through it. The informational content of this book is of relatively little importance. You read it not so much to learn something new, but to go deeper, become more present, awaken out of the stream of incessant and compulsive thinking. If there is no inner recognition, however distant or fleeting, of that to which the words point, then the words will be quite meaningless and remain no more than abstract concepts. If there is such a recognition, however, it means that the awakened consciousness is beginning to emerge from within you and the words you are reading help to draw it out. If you come across passages in this book that you feel are powerful, I want you to realize that what you are feeling is your own spiritual power, that is to say who you are in your essence. Only Spirit can recognize Spirit.

Chapter 1

Going Beyond Thought

Thinking is no more than a tiny aspect of the totality of consciousness, the totality of who you are.

What is arising now is not a new belief system, a new religion, spiritual ideology, or mythology. We are coming to the end not only of mythologies but also of ideologies and belief systems. The change goes deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In fact, at the heart of the new consciousness lies the transcendence of thought, the newfound ability of rising above thought, of realizing a dimension within yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought.

You then no longer derive your identity, your sense of who you are, from the incessant stream of thinking that in the old consciousness you take to be yourself. What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am.

Who am I then? The one who sees that. The awareness that is prior to thought, the space in which the thought—or the emotion or sense perception—happens.

The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.

Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it. Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, “I am ruined” is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. “I have fifty cents left in my bank account” is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering. Be aware that what you think, to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.

The wisdom of this world is folly with God,” says the Bible.1 What is the wisdom of this world? The movement of thought, and meaning that is defined exclusively by thought.

Thinking isolates a situation or event and calls it good or bad, as if it had a separate existence. Through excessive reliance on thinking, reality becomes fragmented. This fragmentation is an illusion, but it seems very real while you are trapped in it. And yet the universe is an indivisible whole in which all things are interconnected, in which nothing exists in isolation. The deeper interconnectedness of all things and events implies that the mental labels of “good” and “bad” are ultimately illusory. They always imply a limited perspective and so are true only relatively and temporarily.

There are no random events, nor are there events or things that exist by and for themselves, in isolation. The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars, and the causes of even the smallest event are virtually infinite and connected with the whole in incomprehensible ways.

If you wanted to trace back the cause of any event, you would have to go back all the way to the beginning of creation. The cosmos is not chaotic. The very word cosmos means order. But this is not an order the human mind can ever comprehend, although it can sometimes glimpse it.

When we go into a forest that has not been interfered with by man, our thinking mind will see only disorder and chaos all around us. It won’t even be able to differentiate between life (good) and death (bad) anymore since everywhere new life grows out of rotting and decaying matter. Only if we are still enough inside and the noise of thinking subsides can we become aware that there is a hidden harmony here, a sacredness, a higher order in which everything has its perfect place and could not be other than what it is and the way it is.

The mind is more comfortable in a landscaped park because it has been planned through thought; it has not grown organically. There is an order here that the mind can understand. In the forest, there is an incomprehensible order that to the mind looks like chaos. It is beyond the mental categories of good and bad. You cannot understand it through thought, but you can sense it when you let go of thought, become still and alert, and don’t try to understand or explain. Only then can you be aware of the sacredness of the forest. As soon as you sense that hidden harmony, that sacredness, you realize you are not separate from it, and when you realize that, you become a conscious participant in it. In this way, nature can help you become realigned with the wholeness of life.

This is most people’s reality: As soon as something is perceived, it is named, interpreted, compared with something else, liked, disliked, or called good or bad by the phantom self, the ego. They are imprisoned in thought forms, in object consciousness.

You do not awaken spiritually until the compulsive and unconscious naming ceases, or at least you become aware of it and thus are able to observe it as it happens. It is through this constant naming that the ego remains in place as the unobserved mind. Whenever it ceases and even when you just become aware of it, there is inner space, and you are not possessed by the mind anymore.

Choose an object close to you—a pen, a chair, a cup, a plant—and explore it visually, that is to say, look at it with great interest, almost curiosity. Avoid any objects with strong personal associations that remind you of the past, such as where you bought it, who gave it to you, and so on. Also avoid anything that has writing on it such as a book or a bottle. It would stimulate thought. Without straining, relaxed but alert, give your complete attention to the object, every detail of it. If thoughts arise, don’t get involved in them. It is not the thoughts you are interested in, but the act of perception itself. Can you take the thinking out of the perceiving? Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out? After a couple of minutes or so, let your gaze wander around the room or wherever you are, your alert attention lighting up each thing that it rests upon.

Then, listen to any sounds that may be present. Listen to them in the same way as you looked at the things around you. Some sounds may be natural—water, wind, birds—while others are man-made. Some may be pleasant, others unpleasant. However, don’t differentiate between good and bad. Allow each sound to be as it is, without interpretation. Here too, relaxed but alert attention is the key.

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About the authors

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany. When he was 29, a profound spiritual transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. He is now a counsellor and spiritual teacher, and the author of The Power of Now, Practising the Power of Now and Stillness Speaks. He lives in Vancouver.


Reviews

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

2,119 global ratings

Bryan

Bryan

5

Amazing book if you're looking to get into mindfulness

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2024

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This book distills the wisdom of Tolle's earlier work, "A New Earth," into concise, thought-provoking passages that inspire a deeper connection with the present moment. Each selection encourages mindfulness and a sense of unity with the world around us. Tolle's insights are both profound and accessible, making this a perfect companion for daily reflection. Whether you're familiar with his teachings or new to his philosophy, this book is a valuable guide to achieving inner peace and spiritual growth.

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2 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Kindle Customer

5

Perfect Companion

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2018

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Perfect companion to the full book A New Earth. Provides a smooth and in-depth synopsis that brings the essential messages and pointers from the book. Yes you can read alone and receive its power and truth. The full book has other elements not covered in this book, such as the pain body. I would suggest reading A New Earth first but it is not necessary. If you are new to Eckhart's teachings, I recommend A New Earth first. However, as always, Eckhart brings such simplicity and ease to his teachings you'll be fine starting here.

May we all rest in this moment, no longer gripped in our stories and conditioning. Awakened and aware of the vitality, love, and joy of this moment and feel the New Earth within. We start with ourselves not pointing to others, the past, or future. Deep bow to Eckhart for being a graceful and compassionate portal for Life.

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103 people found this helpful

Julianna

Julianna

5

rich and deep

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

Having read A NEW EARTH and now later reading this, it has been a great reminder and perspective to the continuum of life beyond our body, our ego, the I AM.

5 people found this helpful

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