The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Tolle begins Chapter 3 by telling readers not to try to intellectually investigate the mind to prime themselves for enlightenment because studying the mind “won’t take [them] beyond the mind” (47). Tolle warns that the ego enjoys over-analysis, which turns common dysfunctions into “a complex personal problem” that it can use to support its identity (47). He advises the reader to stop valuing the past and the future, which he calls “illusions,” and instead become deeply invested in the present moment (49). One way some people engage with the Now is by practicing extreme sports such as rock climbing or car racing that allow them to intensely experience the present moment. Tolle claims that many religious texts, including those from Sufism, Christianity, and Zen Buddhism, encourage the reader to live in the Now rather than remembering the past or worrying about the present.

Tolle makes a clear distinction between the mind and Being, writing that the mind can only know “facts or information,” while the Being can achieve “a knowing of which the mind knows nothing” (54). Being can be accessed only in the Now, which means overcoming “resistance” to or “denial” of the present moment (54).