Well this is my first proper post on this forum and it has to be here because if this topic were a woman she'd be my perfect 10.

I'm half way through The Power of Now and am no expert on Tolle at all but I find it fascinating and I think there's at least some good advice in there. Even though I've read half of his book, I couldn't say I fully understand what I'm reading. I haven't decided how profound or nonsensical it is yet. I say this partly as a disclaimer so it's clear I'm not fanatically defending Tolle and also as an explanation of why I want to discuss his ideas.

It's obvious from all your posts you know a lot about psychology. I can maybe explain Tolle's point of view here.

To address your point first, there is some evidence that people should trust their gut instincts more than they do - and that they should correspondingly think a bit less sometimes. Some research on this can be found here and I think there are quite a few studies showing similar results. Tolle accepts that of course you need to consciously think sometimes but it should be thinking that is focussed in the present moment and on the task at hand, not endlessly pondering different possibilities that might play themselves out in the future. His way of phrasing it will naturally be different to the psychologists' because he's arriving at his conclusions in a different way but the gist of what they're saying sounds quite similar to me.

That said, Tolle is also getting at something else, which is probably more important. You shouldn't identify with, or create an identity for yourself, out of your thoughts. There are many ways you can do this without being aware of it. For example, you might believe in your thoughts too much. Anyone with a limiting belief is arguably identifying with a thought that they are making real in their mind. Alternatively, you might base your self-esteem or your sense of self on something you did/thought/felt in the past. Maybe you're the guy who always got top marks in maths, or the guy who's a virgin at 25. These identities might be based on true stories and they might be positive or negative but Tolle argues it's not a good idea to get too invested in them in any case.

Yes I took it to be a spiritual metaphor to tie together a lot of other ideas that I can't remember now. I didn't find it all that useful when I read it either but maybe it would help me remember all those ideas...

Yeah you're right it's not a new idea, though Tolle himself does point to the ancient religions and says he's just rephrasing the same messages for today.

I will check out your book recommendations and am curious why you advocate meditation. What have your experiences been with it? I'm also reading Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, which seems more about that than the Power of Now is.

And I agree Tolle sometimes seems a bit patronising and full of himself, which strikes me as ironic.

I think Tolle is talking about something he calls awareness. It's a sense of being aware (without thinking about it) of what your mind is thinking, of what your body is feeling and of being present and connected to everything else in the world. He talks about the watcher of your thoughts, who is aware of what your mind is thinking without identifying with the mind and thoughts.

I'd be lying if I said I understood this myself, and it might all be nonsense. However I think it's an idea worth investigating, not least because it echoes what meditators have been saying for millenia. Meditators often try to observe their thoughts without engaging with them. Sometimes they try to focus entirely on bodily sensations, like breathing, which calms and quietens their mind. I guess Tolle is talking about a similar state when he talks about awareness but it's an intangible and hard to understand thing.