A New Earth was the second famous book written by Eckhart Tolle after his bestseller publication – The Power Of Now.
A New Earth was published in 2005.
8 years after The Power Of Now.
To give you a quick overview of the ‘A New Earth’ book: all the delusions of the mind that Eckhart Tolle is describing in ‘The Power Of Now’ book are leading you towards awakening.
In the New Earth the author is talking about ‘a shift in the global consciousness’ – how the people’s awakening can change our world.
Also the book tells us how ‘being present in the now’ can be implemented in the people’s everyday life.
To understand properly ‘A New Earth’ let’s quickly have a look at ‘The Power Of Now’ book.
The Power Of Now
“The Power Of Now” book by Eckhart Tolle was first published in 1997.
In 1997 only 3000 copies were printed. First larger publishing took place in the year 1999.
- Eckhart sold probably more than 10 million books.
- There are various Facebook groups about Eckhart Tolle and his books, they group around 300k members from all over the world.
- Eckhart Tolle’s Instagram page has more than 1 million followers.
- “The Power Of Now” was the #1 New York Times bestseller.
- Celebrities like Oprah or Jim Carrey were publicly recommending Eckhart Tolle’s teachings and books.
- There are over 20k Google searches monthly for keywords related to Eckhart Tolle and his books.
- For sure we can assume that millions of people somehow got in touch with Eckhart or his books.
It clearly means that it is a revolutionary book.
And it really is (as the book sub-title says) a guide to enlightenment.
What is The Power Of Now about
Your mind is a very noisy machine. You can never really stop thinking, can you?
That is the state of the vast majority of the humanity – compulsive, continuous thinking. A never ending stream of thoughts.
Practically all of your thinking concerns your future or your past.
All the mind projections are taking place in these imaginary states.
You are projecting your past (which is only your view on it, composition of memories) or you are projecting your future. Both these spheres (past and future) are not real states. Thinking about them creates stress and anxiety, as your mind is projecting states that you can’t change in the reality (now).
The only time where you can a feel pleasant inner peace, and where your mind can clear up, is now.
This requires from you creating a gaps in the thinking processes – literally to stop thinking for a while.
This can sound trivial or crazy for you. But can you really do that? Can you stop thinking and be fully present and at peace now?
Most of the people can’t.
This is what is The Power Of Now about. The author guides you how to be present in the moment – to be here now.
To stop thinking and to be able to observe your own mind is the first moment of the awakening.
It can change your life and benefit you in a multiple ways.
It will not only make you open your eyes on many things. It will also improve your work, relationships, self-esteem – literally everything!
If you are not familiar with The Power Of Now – you may want to read this introduction to the book.
A New Earth book review
In the book ‘A New Earth’ Eckhart Tolle is talking about the next stage of the humanity. A stage where the awakened people will emerge and change the world.
As much as this may sound like a fairy tale for you, it is somewhat already happening.
The group of the awakened people is growing constantly and ‘The Power Of Now’ book is for sure the most ‘approachable’ guide on how to experience the awakening.
In the ‘A New Earth’ book Eckhart Tolle is also simply talking about implementing ‘The Power Of Now’ into a daily life, how to live in the present moment and go through life being present.
My short ‘A New Earth’ book review.
My personal opinion about the book is that it loses the energy and the message that The Power Of Now has. It is more theorizing than deepening your way into presence.
I wouldn’t call it a continuation of The Power Of Now.
There are however great publications of Eckhart Tolle that are much less known and very underestimated: ‘Practicing The Power Of Now’ and ‘Gateways To Now’.
I’m introducing these publications here, in the further paragraphs.
First, I would like to quickly show you a comparison of the books ‘The Power Of Now’ and ‘A New Earth’ – the most popular Eckhart Tolle’s books.
A New Earth vs The Power Of Now
One thing worth mentioning is that A New Earth was never more popular (according to Google Trends) than The Power Of Now.
Except one moment. Year 2008.
Oprah Winfrey did a series of online video shows with Eckhart Tolle in 2008, talking through the ‘A New Earth’ book.
Here are the videos:
The Problem I See
There are crucial things that you need to do in order to experience what the author is describing in his books (pleasant inner peace, awakening, amazing bliss of being in the now).
You need to practice it, simply try it.
Most of the people however don’t do it.
Especially ‘A New Earth’ for many people is a book that is describing a great world where everybody will be enlightened. But most of the readers only mentally acknowledge the book and its contents – and this is not the point.
Without practicing The Power Of Now you can’t really achieve the awakening and be in the state of presence.
The popular trap that many people fall into is that they are ‘thinking’ that they understand the book, whereas actually thinking is not the thing to do here.
There are 2 great publications that are less popular but crucial to read / listen and practice.
Both of them I will shortly introduce below. These are Practising The Power Of Now and Gateways To Now (video embedded below).
The 2 Great, Less Known Publications
The book ‘Practicing The Power Of Now’ was published shortly after ‘The Power Of Now’ as there was a demand from the public to get to know more precisely how to actually get into the state of NOW.
There is also another great publication, also much less known than others.
The name of this publication is ‘Gateways To Now’.
Here’s the ‘Gateways To Now’ video series (read by Eckhart Tole himself):
‘Practicing The Power Of Now’ and ‘Gateways To Now’ – Summary
These below listed are the portals that can stop your thinking processes and take you to the NOW.
They are based on both publications (Practicing The Power Of Now and Gateways To Now):
- Take a few conscious breaths. In and out.
- Try to feel your hands. Feel the energy within them.
- Try to feel your whole body. Felling just your hands might be easier for you at the beginning. When you will be able to do that, then try to feel your whole body, scan your body, feel the energy inside, you can try to feel different parts of your body – one at a time – and then feel your whole body.
- Try to listen to the silence around you. There is always a dimension of silence around you. Listen to the silence. It diverts the attention from the thinking mind to presence.
- Accept everything as it is now. The present moment is as it is. Surrender yourself to the present moment. Don’t think, don’t assess, don’t judge.
- Try to observe your own mind. Wait for your next thought. Observe your mind as a rabbit hole. Wait for your next thought. What thought will come out next? Wait for it. Observe Your Mind. If a thought will appear just let it go. Return to presence. Wait for your next thought.
This is a very powerful practice as it allows you to stay longer in the present moment.
At the same time try to feel your body – this will help you to stay rooted in the present moment.
To be in the present moment (to take away your attention from your thinking mind) you need to anchor yourself in the reality. All the described above gateways to the now, can serve you as that anchor.
If you are just starting your journey with The Power Of Now – that’s great. Amazing times ahead.
This book was a motivation and inspiration to start this Now Watch website, and I (Greg, website founder) never look back.
Here’s also a short video summary of the ‘A New Earth’ book. Feel free to share it with your friends if you like it:
Good luck and stay present 🙂