Tolle has nothing new to say, He is a guy that had a spiritual awakening he realized there is more to life than the voice you have in your mind talking to yourself.

What makes him stand out is that our western ears aren’t used to such concepts such as being in the now or present. We have been brought up on the aristolean logic that any other method of thought seems irrational

The following is a talk by Dr (link to follow) basically she describes after having a stroke that destroyed the language center of brain, she went from immense pain to lala land as she describes it, she started feeling euphoric experiencing the world as it is without the symbolism of language to just experiencing. If you listen to what she describes and you listen to the start of the power of now you can see the similarities.

I still think he's wrong about a whole load of things such and the pain body and "actual self" As soon as you start thinking about who the real you is then you’re asking psyso. The way I like to see it is that it’s another way of thinking, nothing more than that, there is no deep self or higher self, it’s all just another expression of you, my favorite quote of the moment is “Running away from fear is fear. Fighting pain is pain. Trying to be brave is being scared. If the mind is pain, you are pain. The thinker has no form other than the thought.”

Anyway to those that got this far, a few weeks ago I had a satori / enlightening experience. After hours going over old note pads and seeing how my own way of seeing the world was just something I was creating myself by my own beliefs. I had a moment where I saw everything around me as another expression of myself. The thoughts I was having moved from inside my head to what I saw around me. Where before I’d try to stop the voice in my mind and try to be in the present before it would work its way back, this time there was no effort, while it was no way euphoric like the above it was a liberating experience. Living in your own reality is how it’s been described before but for the first time I understood you are what you do with the world you see, you’re not a mind locked in skin and bone prison.

If you want to change who are you need to do so by effecting how you relate to the world. I don’t expect anyone here to know what I’m going on about I’m not sure I know myself. What a matter is that I felt as I feel now, the world you see is down to you, you create your own reality. It is down to you and no one else what you experience. The world is you plaything it can either be a tragedy or a comedy. Thoughts welcome please, for my sanitys sake

I agree on the nature of reality. people underestimate the power of reality definition. Things are what you say they are, atleast to you, if you walk into a room and say 'this room is shit' it could be the nicest, most expensively decorated room but you will experience it as being negative. If you walk into the scuzziest room and say 'I like this room, its really excellent' you will have a good time in that room. THe thing about core self is that it exists without age and status. Ego is necessary to reference what others expect from you, like 'I am expected to act as a responsible adult citizen and obey the laws'. Core self acts without appreciation for imposed thought constructs on a more 'what is good for me, what do I feel like doing' path. Example when threatened by a large gang of children, core self says 'fight' ego says 'no'.

Lol Maxemillion, were they after your Cherry Bonbons?

Darood, out of curiosity do you practice zazen?