Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Awakening to A New Earth


Not only have I devoured Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth
I'm participating in Oprah's 10-week live web event, which discusses each chapter. It's a phenomenal series of online "classes" and a life-changing book. Of course, I was immediatly pulled in from the opening, "The Flowering of Human Consciousness":
"Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays of the sun. Prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of years. ...One day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the plant--if a perceiving consciousness had been there to witness it. Much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers wold come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of anther species. Humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them..."
As Eckhart Tolle writes in Stillness Speaks: "Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness." The flowers pictured here are Oconee Bells, found nowhere else on the earth except Oconee County here in the Upstate of SC. Photo courtesy of Mike Landau.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you dig this tome. I first read "Power of Now" and though "New Earth" would be a rehash... but it was much better. I've read and listened to it dozens of times now and I must say it has changed my life for the better.

    As you know, I studied Eastern Philosophy in college but I understood it only intellectually. Attempting to live it is entirely a different matter.

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