Eckhart Tolle , born Ulrich Leonard Tölle , February 16, 1948) is a German-born resident of Canada, best known as the author of
The Power of Now
and
A New Earth
: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose . In 2011, he was listed by
Watkins Review
as the most spiritually influential person in the world. In 2008, a New York Times writer called Tolle “the most popular spiritual author in the United States”.
Tolle has said that he was depressed for much of his life until he underwent, at age 29, an “inner transformation”. He then spent several years wandering “in a state of deep bliss” before becoming a spiritual teacher. Later, he moved to North America where he began writing his first book, The Power of Now , which was published in 1997 and reached the
New York Times Best Seller
lists in 2000.
The Power of Now and A New Earth sold an estimated three million and five million copies respectively in North America by 2009. In 2008, approximately 35 million people participated in a series of 10 live webinars with Tolle and television talk show host Oprah Winfrey . Tolle is not identified with any particular religion, but he has been influenced by a wide range of spiritual works. He has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia since 1995.
Eckart Tolle’s Top Ten Quotes:
1) The past has no power over the present moment.
2) Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.
3) The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.
4) Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.
5) Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.
6) Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.
7) You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.
8) As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.
9) The moment that judgement stops through acceptance of what it is, you are free of the mind. You have made room for love, for joy, for peace.
10) When you don’t cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought.