You know them, you see them, and there always seems to be one around making the top seller. I tried to leaf through one of them "the power of now" by eckhart Tolle. It was hard to get through it with all the claims with no basis and just wanting you to accept them as true. As though some aspect of them is self evident. He likes to demonize the mind and thinking, saying we are slaves to the mind. But what irks me is how immune to criticism these people claim to be. As though any word against them is just the ego trying to defend itself, like this case http://themakelifebetterguy.com/the-power-of-now-criticism
Do all these books do this? Try to wave off any challenge to their wisdom as just the ego defending itself? It doesn't seem right to me.
I didn't read this because I heard him in an interview and could tell he had nothing to offer. His story is, he wrote the books to help him work through thoughts while he was depressed. It did help him, and others with similar issues say it's helped them. But so what? I can put a salve on a wound, but that doesn't make me a doctor. I can tell you everything is going to be okay, and it might make you happy for a moment, but that doesn't make me a psychiatrist.
Words invoke feelings, why is that surprising? The questions are, what feelings? How long do those feelings last? Do the words provide anything lasting, anything constructive?
The words invoke a feeling that apparently seems to be like the state they are trying to achieve in the book. I can't explain if it really was a taste of that state, but it happened, it was strong, and different than anything else I felt.
But if the book has sold 5 million copies that has to mean something right? Also I know someone with over 32 years of clinical experience in psychology that apparently swears by the book.
5 million copies may just mean there are 5 million suckers. Bad books always outsell good ones. It's the lowest common denominator that buys all the crap. They should never have been taught to read.