A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose » (Reprint)

Eckhart Tolle is a renowned contemporary spiritual counselor and bestselling self-help author. At the core of his simple yet profound teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution.

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.

Publishers Weekly

According to Tolle, who assumes the role of narrator as well, humans are on the verge of creating a new world by a personal transformation that shifts our attention away from our ever-expanding egos. This idea is well realized through Tolle's remarkably well-paced narration. Naturally, the author understands his material so thoroughly that he is able to convey it in an enjoyable manner, but Tolle's gentle tone and dialect begs his audience's attention simply through its straightforward approach. Something about this reading just seems profoundly important, whether one agrees with the material or not, and listeners' attention is sure to be captured within seconds of listening to Tolle's take on the universe in which we live. Originally released in 2005, both book and audiobook were reissued when Oprah Winfrey chose the title for her book club this year. A Penguin paperback. (Feb.)

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The Flowering of Human Consciousness     1
Evocation     1
The Purpose of This Book     5
Our Inherited Dysfunction     8
The Arising New Consciousness     13
Spirituality and Religion     17
The Urgency of Transformation     20
A New Heaven and a New Earth     23
Ego: The Current State of Humanity     25
The Illusory Self     27
The Voice in the Head     30
Content and Structure of the Ego     34
Identification with Things     35
The Lost Ring     38
The Illusion of Ownership     42
Wanting: The Need for More     46
Identification with the Body     49
Feeling the Inner Body     52
Forgetfulness of Being     53
From Descartes's Error to Sartre's Insight     54
The Peace That Passes All Understanding     56
The Core of Ego     59
Complaining and Resentment     61
Reactivity and Grievances     64
Being Right, Making Wrong     66
In Defense of an Illusion     67
Truth: Relative or Absolute?     69
The Ego Is Not Personal     72
War Is a Mind-set     74
Do You Want Peace or Drama?     77
Beyond Ego: Your True Identity     77
All Structures Are Unstable     79
The Ego's Need to Feel Superior     81
Ego and Fame     82
Role-playing: The Many Faces of the Ego     85
Villain, Victim, Lover     87
Letting Go of Self-Definitions     89
Pre-established Roles     90
Temporary Roles     93
The Monk with Sweaty Palms     94
Happiness as a Role Vs. True Happiness     95
Parenthood: Role or Function?     97
Conscious Suffering     101
Conscious Parenting     103
Recognizing Your Child     104
Giving Up Role-playing     106
The Pathological Ego     109
The Background Unhappiness     112
The Secret of Happiness     114
Pathological Forms of Ego     118
Work-With and Without Ego     121
The Ego in Illness     124
The Collective Ego     125
Incontrovertible Proof of Immortality     127
The Pain-Body     129
The Birth of Emotion     131
Emotions and the Ego      134
The Duck with a Human Mind     137
Carrying the Past     139
Individual and Collective     141
How the Pain-Body Renews Itself     144
How the Pain-Body Feeds on Your Thoughts     145
How the Pain-Body Feeds on Drama     148
Dense Pain-Bodies     151
Entertainment, the Media, and the Pain-Body     152
The Collective Female Pain-Body     154
National and Racial Pain-Bodies     157
Breaking Free     161
Presence     164
The Return of the Pain-Body     167
The Pain-Body in Children     169
Unhappiness     172
Breaking Identification with the Pain-Body     174
"Triggers"     177
The Pain-Body as an Awakener     180
Breaking Free of the Pain-Body     183
Finding Who You Truly Are     185
Who You Think You Are     186
Abundance     190
Knowing Yourself and Knowing About Yourself     192
Chaos and Higher Order     194
Good and Bad     195
Not Minding What Happens     198
Is That So?     199
The Ego and the Present Moment      200
The Paradox of Time     204
Eliminating Time     206
The Dreamer and the Dream     208
Going Beyond Limitation     210
The Joy of Being     213
Allowing the Diminishment of the Ego     214
As Without, So Within     217
The Discovery of Inner Space     223
Object Consciousness and Space Consciousness     227
Falling Below and Rising Above Thought     229
Television     230
Recognizing Inner Space     233
Can You Hear the Mountain Stream?     236
Right Action     238
Perceiving Without Naming     239
Who Is the Experiencer?     241
The Breath     243
Addictions     246
Inner Body Awareness     248
Inner and Outer Space     250
Noticing the Gaps     253
Lose Yourself to Find Yourself     254
Stillness     255
Your Inner Purpose     257
Awakening     259
A Dialogue on Inner Purpose     262
A New Earth     279
A Brief History of Your Life     282
Awakening and the Return Movement      284
Awakening and the Outgoing Movement     288
Consciousness     291
Awakened Doing     293
The Three Modalities of Awakened Doing     295
Acceptance     296
Enjoyment     297
Enthusiasm     301
The Frequency-holders     306
The New Earth Is No Utopia     307
Notes     311
About the Author     315