The Power of Now (and other books)

General Discussion
1

I was wondering what people here thought about spiritual help books (like the power of now by eckhart Tolle). Do you think they provide any assitance, or are they just as useless as normal self help books?

2
I was wondering what people here thought about spiritual help books (like the power of now by eckhart Tolle). Do you think they provide any assitance, or are they just as useless as normal self help books?
Yes, just as useless as other self-help books (none of which is "normal"). What sort of "assistance" do you think they provide? Can you define "spiritual"?
3

Well I guess all advice is based solely on personal experience so your mileage may vary. I was wondering if anyone else read that book and what they got from it (if anything).
Spiritual, that’s a pretty vague word. I’m not really sure where to begin with it.
So far from what I’ve heard about the power of now, it preaches mindfulness. To keep mind on the present moment. I help to reign in compulsive thinking that clogs your mind. I can see the appeal. I, more than most, suffer from thoughts that work their way in more than I would like.

4
Well I guess all advice is based solely on personal experience so your mileage may vary. I was wondering if anyone else read that book and what they got from it (if anything). Spiritual, that's a pretty vague word. I'm not really sure where to begin with it. So far from what I've heard about the power of now, it preaches mindfulness. To keep mind on the present moment. I help to reign in compulsive thinking that clogs your mind. I can see the appeal. I, more than most, suffer from thoughts that work their way in more than I would like.
You are no different from anyone. We all have unwelcome thoughts. Pretending there is a supernatural force causing them is as inane an idea as any i've heard. Stick to reality and rationaliity and unwelcome thoughts will not be an issue. Lois
5

Elkhart Tolle was depressed when he started writing. There is a lot of depression out there, so he was able to speak to it and I’m sure some people found his books truly helpful. But he doesn’t offer anything that had not already been found in Buddhism and similar practices. And, like those, he gets into magical thinking pretty quick. So, I’d say he is slightly more helpful than most self-help books, which isn’t saying much.

6

“Normal” simply refers to where the bulk of a given population lie on a particular characteristic. Thus it depends on what the particular characteristic is and on the population. There is no value judgment. “Normal” is not necessarily better or worse. Is just is.

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"Normal" simply refers to where the bulk of a given population lie on a particular characteristic. Thus it depends on what the particular characteristic is and on the population. There is no value judgment. "Normal" is not necessarily better or worse. Is just is.
Right, but another dimension to "the particular characteristic". Time. What was normative then is not normative now. Time. I am always fascinated by irony. And now that you mention it, I think time may be behind the ubiquity of irony. Change is the only constant. (a statement that, itself, seems to have an oxymoronic quality) But I wax poetic, and maybe a bit cuckoo.
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We all sound a bit cuckoo when trying to define time.

9
This is not about defining time. It began when the word "normal" was used TimB offered an answer that referred to a “particular characteristic" which sounded fine except he didn't account for "time". The "particular characteristic" could be the exact same then and now. All I am saying about time as an attribute is the "particular characteristic" that was normative then may not at all be normative now.
Sorry, AMH, I went off track a bit, there. Sure a given population, at a moment in time. Populations do change over time, hence, the particular measured characteristic, that comes up in the middle of a bell curve (i.e., what is normal) could be different in a similar population, separated by time.
10

I also heard him mention that the ego is nothing more than a story that we tell ourselves and that it’s a source of pain and dissatisfaction in outlives. That whole self is an illusion thing.