The One Thing”, by Eckhart Tolle

[Guest guest]

January 30 2008

Are You Ready to Be Awakened?

Oprah Winfrey's new book club selection was announced today. The new

pick is Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

For the first time ever, you can join Oprah and best-selling author

Eckhart Tolle as they teach " A New Earth " in Oprah's worldwide

classroom live Monday nights on Oprah.com. Find out what you need for

the first class Monday night, March 3, at 9/8c. Reserve your seat now

for this free Web event only on Oprah.com.

A NEW EARTH

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now,

Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state

of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is

based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of

dangerous insanity.

Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to

this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any

previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving

world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic

consciousness to an entirely new one.

In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle

describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness

operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into

this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly

are—which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently

think we are—and learn to live and breathe freely.

Paperback Edition

ISBN: 1-45228-758-8

Pages: 336

Size: 8 x 5.4 inches

(click here to purchase)

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Hardcover Edition

ISBN: 0-525948-02-3

Pages: 309

Size: 6 X 9 inches

(click here to purchase)

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AUDIOBOOK on CD

ISBN: 0-14-305737-5

Audiobook read by Eckhart Tolle

Running time: 7 hours

Size: 8 CDs

(click here to purchase)

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" The One Thing"

by Eckhart Tolle

In the Gospel story of and Martha, Jesus says to

Martha, "You are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one

thing is needful." (Luke 10:41)

As I was writing A New Earth, people would sometimes ask me, "What is

the new book about?" And invariably, my answer would be, "I only ever

write or speak about one thing." What is that one thing? Spiritual

awakening. Can a person be awakened spiritually by a book? Yes, if

three conditions are met:

Firstly, there must be a readiness on the part of the reader, an

openness, a receptivity to spiritual truth, which is to say, a

readiness to awaken. For the first time in history of humanity, large

numbers of people have reached that point of readiness, which explains

why millions have responded so deeply to The Power of Now.

Secondly, the text must have transformative power. This means the

words must have come out of the awakened consciousness rather than the

accumulated knowledge of a person's mind. Only then will a text be

charged with that power, a power that goes far beyond the informational

value of the words. That is why such a book can be read again and

again and lose none of its aliveness.

Thirdly, the terminology used needs to be as neutral as possible so

that it transcends the confines of any one culture, religion, or

spiritual tradition. Only then will it be accessible to a broad range

of readers world-wide, regardless of cultural background.

All these conditions were met in The Power of Now, which is why the book has had such an impact on the collective consciousness.

Why write another book?

Since the publication of The Power of Now, I have given hundreds of

talks and teaching sessions all over the world, and in the course of

those seven years, the teaching evolved. While the essence remained

the same (The Truth is timeless.), new perspectives arose, new

signposts, alternative approaches to the Truth, as well as an added

sense of urgency. A New Earth reflects this evolution and this urgency.

If The Power of Now worked for you and changed your life – as it did

for countless people all over the world – there is no need for you to

read A New Earth (although you may enjoy reading it and may find some

of it helpful in recognizing the ego and thus sustaining the state of

Presence).

My feeling is that A New Earth will make the teaching (the one thing)

accessible to an even wider audience, including people who perhaps

would not have dreamt of reading a "spiritual" book but have within

them a hitherto unrecognized longing for spiritual awakening.

A New Earth will also be extremely helpful for those who read The Power

of Now, found it interesting, but somehow missed the essence of it. It

presents them with new perspectives on the same truth, new signposts,

pointers towards Presence. Different pointers work for different

people.

Millions are now ready to awaken because spiritual awakening is not an

option anymore, but a necessity if humanity and the planet are to

survive. Everything is speeding up – the madness, the collective egoic

dysfunction, as well as the arising of the new consciousness, the

awakening.

We are running out of time. From the perspective of the ego, that's

bad news and will give rise to fear. From a higher perspective, the

running out of time is exactly what is needed for the new consciousness

to come into this world.